{"id":935,"date":"2006-06-29T06:30:57","date_gmt":"2006-06-29T10:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=935"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:43:50","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:43:50","slug":"the-wealth-of-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/06\/29\/the-wealth-of-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wealth of Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

HiMY SYeD\u00a0is sending reports\u00a0about the World Urban Forum to the Spacing Wire. Here is his\u00a0third report.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"World<\/p>\n

\u00a0A thousand people are squished in and outside of Ballroom C of the
\nFairmont Waterfront Hotel. 15 minutes of polite negotiation through
\nthe crowd, yet I have barely weaved into the ballroom proper.
\nUN-Habitat Award winner John Friedmann is delivering his special
\nlecture as part of the first annual UN Human Settlements Lecture
\nseries:<\/p>\n

‘The Wealth of Cities: Towards an Assets-Based Development of
\nUrbanizing Regions’.<\/p>\n

In John Friedmann’s worldview, the traditional divying up of the four
\nfactors of production into land, labour, capital, and management
\n(entrepreneurship plus technology), with the latter three being
\nglobally mobile, give way to seven assets of urbanizing regions,
\ngrounded locally in a region’s numerous neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

The city region’s seven assets:<\/p>\n

1. Human Assets: these fulfill people’s basic human needs (shelter and
\ngood health) while also addressing quality of life needs like
\nco-education. In the “final analysis, this is a state responsibility.”<\/p>\n

2. Organized Civil Society: as an asset, it has self-organizing
\nattributes and translates into social networks. Friedmann’s numerous
\nexamples include: church, synagogue and masjids with
\nmulti-generational congregations; cooking clubs throughout Spain;
\namateur sports teams across city regions; yet paramount are grassroots
\npeople becoming “active politically” who then “lobby civic
\ngovernments.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Heritage Assets: more complex than the catch-all word of ‘culture’,
\nheritage as an asset is measured by the “spirit of the people and the
\nvibrancy of a city’s cultural life.” Physical heritage (buildings and
\nmonuments) and heritage values preserve relics (murmur) and
\nmemory (t.ode) of a bygone era. Such continuity is important as
\nFriedmann argues designated heritage districts (Old Cabbagetown) are
\nvery important. Afrofest, Pedestrian Sundays Kensington Market, Word
\non The Street are Toronto examples of “spontaneous appearances of
\ncreative annual events [and] are things to look forward to. [The]
\nstrength of a region are its people and traditions.”<\/p>\n

4. Local Intellectual and Creative Assets: the Japanese name such
\nindividuals, “living human treasures”. Contradicting Richard Florida’s
\nCreative Class thesis of cities competing for nomadic talent,
\nFriedmann emphasizes, “creative work deserves creative support.”
\nConsequently local people must have the “freedom to create”. This
\nsuggests support for creativity from ordinary people rather than
\nextraordinary support for the already creative.<\/p>\n

5. Natural and Physical Assets: forest and rivers and the fringe. “The
\nFringe is where village and city meet: airports and strip
\ndevelopments”. The cost of “fractured, fragmented and out of control
\ndevelopment” in a “city’s relentless expansion undermine its own
\ndevelopment.” Suburbs are in fact a ‘public space’ between rural and
\nurban.<\/p>\n

6. Environmental Assets: water, air, and high density living.
\n“Draconian measures are needed, otherwise we drown in our own waste.”<\/p>\n

7. Quality of Urban Infrastructure as an Asset: Friedmann asks, “what
\npurpose and social groups are being served?” Is it the “15% emerging
\nmiddle [automobile] class” or the needs of “the 80% bike, [public]
\ntransit, and walking [class]…city building can be a 15% or 80%
\nsolution.”<\/p>\n

Being first to the second mic during the Q&A, I ask John Friedmann,
\n“How does public space support your seven assets?”<\/p>\n

“The first public space was the street. The state shouldn’t regulate
\nthe street other than order. [In] states where public space is absent,
\npeople use ‘semi-public space’, a teahouse or a pub, wherever people
\nare gathering together. Public space in contemporary China is the
\nneighbourhood temple where congregations share belief. The question is
\none of regulation or absence of regulation. Public finance is
\nnecessary but savings is important. Cities around the world live hand
\nto mouth with money from federal governments. You need urban savings
\nto finance the city.”<\/p>\n

In other words, Friedmann answers my question with a question: will
\nthe city be 15% full or 80% empty ?<\/p>\n

HiMY SYeD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HiMY SYeD\u00a0is sending reports\u00a0about the World Urban Forum to the Spacing Wire. Here is his\u00a0third report. \u00a0A thousand people are squished in and outside of Ballroom C of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. 15 minutes of polite negotiation through the crowd, yet I have barely weaved into the ballroom proper. UN-Habitat Award winner John Friedmann isContinue reading “The Wealth of Cities”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21758,3],"tags":[2710,149,1846,2706,2711,2707,21,26,2708,2712,2709,1934,19,1170],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-events","tag-amateur-sports-teams","tag-cabbagetown","tag-china","tag-fairmont-waterfront-hotel","tag-john-friedmann","tag-organized-civil-society","tag-other-cities","tag-people","tag-public-finance","tag-richard-florida","tag-social-networks","tag-spain","tag-toronto","tag-united-nations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Wealth of Cities - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/06\/29\/the-wealth-of-cities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Wealth of Cities - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HiMY SYeD\u00a0is sending reports\u00a0about the World Urban Forum to the Spacing Wire. 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