Abstract
Cities so far have been perceived as ‘engines’ of national economies and there has been no reason to depart from this view. With the world moving fast into an urban age and the vitality of cities gaining new prominence, cities are acquiring an added new role of becoming centres of prosperity where aspirations and dreams of people are being realized, increasing the collective well-being of the society. The State of the World’s Cities Report 2012–13, Prosperity of Cities brings out the fact that prosperity for all has been compromised by a narrow focus on economic growth. Prosperity as defined by UN-Habitat is a social construct that materializes in the realm of human actions. The report introduces a new gauge for the degree of prosperity in world cities. Known as the City Prosperity Index (CPI) and developed by UN-Habitat, it combines five dimensions of prosperity, namely, productivity, infrastructure, quality of life, equity and environmental sustainability; it pinpoints strengths and weaknesses and gives suggestions where policy action can address imbalances.
The three sections of the report discuss in detail the Prosperity and Urban Trends, Prosperity of Cities and Policies for Prosperous Cities respectively. Section I-Prosperity and Urban Trends conceptualizes urban prosperity and goes on to analyze the urban and regional trend through the urban change in both developed and developing countries. Section II-Prosperity of Cities analyzes the relationship of prosperity of cities with its five dimensions mentioned earlier and the final Section III-Policies for Prosperous Cities discusses the policy related factors underlying city prosperity and empowering laws and institutions to facilitate urban prosperity.
Prosperity and Urban Trends section, in its first chapter ‘Conceptualising Urban Prosperity’, highlights the various approaches towards measuring prosperity which came about due to a re-thinking on the subject brought about by a cascade of global crises from financial to economic to environmental to political to social. Since socio-economic conditions keep changing on a local and broader scale, they will have an effect on one or more of the five dimensions of prosperity, and it will be for policy interventions to restore balance. This has been suggested graphically (with a conceptual matrix the Wheel of Prosperity) by the profile of city’s specific CPI. Both the CPI and the Wheel of Prosperity together are meant to assist decision makers to design clear policy interventions. The chapter goes on to compare the CPI with the Human Development Index (HDI). Two of the dimensions—productivity and quality of life—correspond to the HDI and have been used to compute the City Human Development Index (CHDI). The Un-Habitat CPI is unique for two reasons: (i) it focuses on individual cities, as opposed to countries, and (ii) it is concerned with prosperity as measured across five dimensions, of which the local economy is only one. This concept is perhaps not interpreted in any other report, so far.
The second chapter ‘Urban and Regional Trends’ discusses urbanization in the historical context and its relation to growth, decline and prosperity of cities. The report asserts that there is no clear association between demographic growth or decline of cities and their degrees of prosperity. It is seen that although population numbers have declined in a number of cities in Western Europe, Canada and New Zealand, it did not affect living standards, which in some cases even improved. So, in the long run, regional and national urban planning through central government plays a critical role in creating a system of cities and in determining the prosperity and growth of cities.
The second section discusses each of the dimensions of CPI and the factors which affect them. While urbanization and productivity are positively correlated, it has, over the past five decades, also varied across and within regions, reflecting the multiplicity of factors affecting both phenomena. While population growth is one of the most obvious factors determining urban productivity, other factors such as ability of a city to maximize the technical efficiency of urban systems, both structural and operational, also become important as a city grows. Serious attempts at creating an international financial hub in Mumbai have been defeated by chaotic local transport conditions together with a prohibitive property market (sky high rentals), thereby pushing major financial companies away from the city.
Local experts around the world are emphasizing more and more upon the importance of ‘soft’ factors specifically corruption and lack of good governance which are the most significant barriers to economic productivity. This has been supported by the statement that with the decline of physical constraints on cities and communities as a result of technological progress in recent decades, creativity and innovation have arguably become major driving forces of productivity and economic growth in urban areas.
Experts from 52 countries consider quality of life as the second most important dimension promoting prosperity in cities after infrastructure development. As is obvious, cities that experience higher levels of prosperity are likely to find themselves more advanced in terms of sustainability. Interestingly, public safety, public space and access to information through internet have also been seen as important elements in determining quality of life. Equity and its impact on city prosperity discusses increasing income disparities leading to inequality and the need for placing equity on the developmental agenda, while environmental sustainability elaborates on environmental impact of growth in the various regions of the world and what are the drivers for environmental sustainability in cities.
Multiple reports corroborate the fact that the gap between rich and poor is increasing both in developing and developed countries. The comparison of figures among advanced economies and emerging economies reveals that this has been a result of an enormous increase in wealth around the world. But this process undermines prosperity as a whole. The report makes some very interesting comparisons among African, Asian and Latin American countries with respect to factors that restrict the scope of urban equity: corruption, lack of funds, weak civil society to claim or defend rights, lack of democracy and lack of interest from ruling elites. The most notable policy or action the city is implementing in order to be more equitable include easier access to employment opportunities, financial incentives to urban poor, financial support to disadvantaged groups, etc., which all strengthens the fact that there is no substitute for government leadership to address issues of equity.
The final section of the report discusses policies for prosperous cities through comparative advantage to urban prosperity and innovations to support the transition to a twenty-first century city. This essentially highlights policy related factors which would make the environment conducive for city prosperity. Effective urban planning and management, decentralized policies, elected local government, participation of civil society in policy matters, access to basic amenities, etc., are common areas of concern across all regions of the world. Lack of one or some of them would be an impediment to the above.
The transformative power of urban innovations in supporting city prosperity has been discussed in the concluding chapter of the report. While elaborating on individual case examples, it has been pointed out that innovations customized to suit local conditions have been successful rather than those transferred from foreign lands. Interestingly, the report does point out the fact that in developing economies, especially India, not only is there a need for strong and effective implementation of legal and institutional framework, but also a review of the existing regulatory framework supporting local government functions is also required. But the report does not give adequate emphasis on the issue of capacity building of the stakeholders involved in ensuring prosperity, an issue which in India is becoming the most serious impediment towards better governance which would ultimately lead to a better quality of life.
Overall the report is backed by substantial city level and regional level data the world over and the write-up complements the analysis. The discussions and data interpretations are lucid as is the statements of facts which help derive the policy conclusions in each chapter. The report has been structured in a very systematic manner which makes for interesting and effortless reading and is a valuable source of information to all urban stakeholders.