Putting People First: Building Sustainable Cities with Communities

Putting People First: Building Sustainable Cities with Communities. This was the theme for one of the SD Learning sessions presented by LEAD International at Rio+20 Summit. The workshop provided a brief overview of LEAD mission and activities, followed by case study presentations focused on the social pillar of sustainable development and how it relates to the built environment. The panelists presented three case studies from the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the townships of Port Elizabeth in South Africa and downtown Calgary in Canada where project teams led by “LEAD fellows” engaged stakeholders in the development of their projects and encouraged community action.

The project in the Favelas of Rio was presented by Leonardo Martins Dias and tackled a very important challenge, for Brazil especially, which is hosting Rio+20, the World Cup and the Olympic games within a very short timeframe. How to capitalize on major events and ensure that they will leave a legacy to host cities/communities, particularly to deprived groups? The presenter focused his talk on the process of engaging people in the Favelas as part of the development of community projects. This process builds up on good understanding of the needs of the community through effective dialogue;  a good communication plan to build up endorsement and visibility within the Favelas and with external stakeholders;  co-creation or collaborative project development with emphasis on capacity building, leadership development, fostering autonomy and engagement; and effective  project follow up and monitoring.

The second project from South Africa tackled the topic of “Sense of Place” through a case study presentation from the townships of Port Elizabeth. The project which is called Zanemvula (which means new beginnings and blessings in the local language), is a community relocation from a slum built on a flood plain to a purpose built social housing development in a different site. The project significantly improved the living conditions of the local population but also triggered community instability, public violence and for some dwellers return to the floodplain. The presenter, Anton de Wit, argued that this is linked to the loss of sense of place and presented some supporting examples to illustrate his view. One of these examples is the “water well” in the old slum where women used to meet to chat and take a break away from their households. In the new compound, the houses are connected to potable water networks, which meant that women lost their opportunity for socializing. No other alternative was available since the construction of the houses had to be completed fast before an election deadline and the community ended up built with no supporting community facilities such as schools, clinic, parks...etc

The last project presented was the Bow to Bluff initiative from Calgary. The presenter, John Lewis, presented a citizen initiative that aimed to improve public spaces around a transit corridor in downtown Calgary after the introduction of a new Light Rail Transit line. This was a very innovative and successful public engagement initiative where people from everywhere in the city of different ages and from various social groups collectively shared their ideas and re-imagined what this transit corridor should look like. The project team implemented numerous platforms for interaction ranging from idea wallboads, to design workshops and social media and managed to achieve a strong engagement from the public, businesses and the local government. More information can be found on the Bow to Bluff Process Guide.

This session left me with a few valuable take-aways:

• There are four “prerequisites” to sustainable cities: (1) equality, (2) engagement, (3) sense of place and (4) sustainability.

• Acting at a local level is the most efficient way to tackling the challenges facing neighborhoods cities and maximizing opportunities to transform them into more sustainable ones.

• The engine for change is people. They have to be engaged from the onset to define the destiny of their communities. Effective engagement relies on leadership, network, and “Co-creation”.

Your thoughts?