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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
Asian 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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