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Asian Poor People's View of a Sustainable City and develop a plan of action to raise public awareness about our views of Habitat II. Our Cities Our Home: A to Z Guide on Human SettlementsIssues

Our Cities Our HomeAsian Poor People's View of a Sustainable City

We are mostly urban poor leaders and NGO activists representing 9 cities from Asia and the Pacific (Australia, Cambodia, Hongkong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand). We gathered and met together for the first time to share ideas on how we view the city, formulate our vision of a sustainable city, and develop a plan of action to raise public awareness about our views of Habitat II. We called the meeting the Regional Consultation Workshop on People's View of the City: Localizing Habitat II. It was held at Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines from January 15-17, 1996. For many of us, it was the first time we had travelled outside of our country and far from our families.

Our process involved presentations on the housing and urban poor situation in each country, developing and presenting graphical representations of our vision of a sustaianble city, discussing the Habitat II agenda and developing this statement of principles. this occurred through extensive group discussions and workshops. Working in our six languages allowed us to freely express our views.

We found that despite our diversities, we share many commonalities. For one, we were able to conclude that our cities now are not just, are biased against the poor, and are not sustaianble. Our long years of struggle to be able to stay, work study and raise our families peacefully in the city is a testament to this. We are concerned that in many of our counties, we are being thrown out of our homes and cities. We are doubly concerned that we are being called "criminals", "squatters", "eyesores", etc.

We have undertaken various and numerous initiatives to improve our cities. Unfortunately, all our efforts, as individuals or as groups, are not adequately recognized and supported by many of our governments.

We therefore collectively state that it is time for us the poor, which comprise at least up to half of the dwellers of the city in many of our counties, to be heard.

We, the women and men of Asia and the Pacific have decided to commit our lives to helping ourselves and other partners to build a sustainable community in a sustainably city.

The following principles guide our vision of a sustainable city.

People-centered development focusing on the needs of the poor

We envision a city that pursues the development of all people _ a city that answers the needs of the people. A city that seeks to create opportunities and distribute wealth equitably. A city that provides jobs near our places of residence. We want a city that values our health because it provides us good life; nutrition because it enables us to work well; education because it transforms our character, molds our minds and builds our skills; security and safety because it allows us freedom of action and offers peace; and recreation, leisure and cultural activities rooted in our tradition because they liberate our bodies and our minds and build on the continuity and vibrancy of our heritage. We also demand a city with appropriate disaster-mitigation measures.

We envision a city that is equitable, productive and sustainable. A city that pursues the provision of goods and services to all based on a sustainable and productive use of resources. We are opposed to unproductive, speculative and wasteful concepts of development which benefit a few and act to displace us.

We envision a city that recognize the poor as agents and beneficiaries of development. We want a city that legitimizes our presence and continued stay in it. This creates incentives for us to become more active and responsible partners in development. We want a city that values our contributions to its development; a city that views development as a community effort, a collaborative work of all sectors of society.

Respect for Human Rights

We envision a city that is founded on a deep respect for human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights. We especially stree people's rights. We want affordable houses. We want freedom from forced evictions. We want security of tenure. We strongly call upon our governments to reaffirm the right to housing in the Habitat II Agenda and implement policies and concrete programs to achieve it.

We envision a city that pursues social justice by ensuring that all form of discrimination and violence against people especially women and children are eliminated. A city that ensures the narrowing of the gap between the rich and the poor.

We also envision a city that pursues gender equality in the devleopment and democratization process. A city that enhances gender consciousness. More specifically, we want a city that eliminates marginalization, subordination, and violence against women. We envision a city that ensures the recognition and participation of women at all levels of leadership and decision-making. Our major priority is to ensure women's legal access to land as well as property, and equal acess to credit.

Democratic, participatory and transparent insitutions of development

We envision a city that has public and private insitutions that are more representative and responsive. A city that will recognize our right to participate in processes to make decisions that affect our lives. A city that appreciates, values, and translates people's alternatives into policies through pressure and creative politics and through elected progressive officials.

Healthy Environment

We envision a city that pursues a development strategy where environmental protection and sustenance of basic needs can be combined to maintain a sustainable ecosystem. We promote the development of smaller cities. Our communities should be provided with basic services such as water, sewerage and solid waste disposal. We promote the practice of recycling.

We envision a society that advocates for the use of energy-efficient technologies. We support mass public transport over car-based transport.

We also envision a city that provides green areas, parks, museums, community centers and places of worship. These are venues for expression of cultural ideas and practices, for extension of mutual support, for caring and nurturing family and community and for the continuous regeneration of life.

Most of these features have yet to be found in many of our communities. The challenge for us is not to seek after them alone but to help build a strong and democratic community of people committed to pursue and enrich our vision and practice of a sustainable city.

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