Urban Planning and Politics in the Global South

1 Urban planning and politics in the Global South Introduction Urban planning is important in ensuring that the population living in cities and towns live a good life. Urban planning focuses on the availability of services such as transport and communication, health, education, water supply, sewerage, housing, and recreational facilities (Gugle, 2003). However, the planning process involves politics of resources and opportunity allocation. Political changes affect how cities are planned and developed because of policy priorities. The uneven development of cities is impacted mainly influenced by the interests of the ruling class (Bayat, 2000). Rebellions and protests linked to urban panning are common in cities in the global south, from Africa, Asia, and South America; the people raise against what they think is discrimination or infringement of their rights by administrations. Politics in the global south affect urban planning, as seen in the metropolitan rebellions that emerged from the 1990s.

Research questions Why did metropolitan rebellions emerge in the global south?

Should the public interests of cities be left in the hands of private developers?

Does politics contribute to unequal development and conflicts in the global south cities?

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2 Theoretical foundation Urban planning is linked to politics, impacting the allocation of development projects and services to various groups living in cities. Kusno (2020) observes that urbanization in Southeast Asia is associated with challenges of planning and peri-urbanization. The informality of development in urban areas is a major problem to urban planning in the global south. How cities are planned creates layers and competing interests between various groups (Hoslton, 2018). As urban planning focuses more on the rich, the poor are pushed to the periphery, underscoring the development of shanties and low-cost houses on the outskirts of cities. The city of Jakarta has experienced messy urbanization that is basically a product of the politics of urban planning.

Kampong settlement around Jakarta serves the interests of the low economic class, especially those transiting from village life to urban. The ears are considered irregular settlement because it is not well planned. In general, city planners do not pay attention to guiding the development of poor neighborhoods, hence leaving the residents and property owners in these areas to develop houses and other infrastructures without proper guidance.

According to Roy (2009), the growth of cities in India has created crises in urban areas that have resulted in insurrections. Poor planning of cities has led to the exclusion of some of the populations from public services and development in general. Urban informal settlements in Indian cities are linked to poverty (Kusno, 2020). However, a critical look at the structure of cities reveals that urban planning is impacted by politics of the day, which hardly prioritizes the interests of the lower economic class. With a huge population of the poor, India has found itself grappling with the demand for public services in poor neighborhoods that are usually unplanned (Kusno, 2020). City administrations and the national government are blamed for neglecting areas

3 occupied by the poor. Various insurgents emerged in reaction to discriminatory politics of urban planning that impact Indian cities.

Informalization in cities is an endemic problem the Global South deals with. The marginalized turned to informal structures such as housing to cater for their needs for shelter and business premises (Bayat, 2000). These problems started during colonial times, where colonialists propagated segregation of cities to create a difference between the privileged and underprivileged (Bayat, 2000). The city of Johannesburg experiences the legacy of colonial segregation. The urban planning then focused on the areas occupied by colonialists and their collaborators. On the other hand, areas occupied by the colonized were neglected by urban planning authorities and the government.

Divisions in cities are premised on class differences, which result in a clash between various parties in Beirut; immigrants and refugees dominate the southern part of the city.

According to Silver (2017), the planning and development of Beirut were skewed to favor the rich. Regardless of the efforts to develop the city, there has always been a problem of inequality that has widened the division between the rich and the poor. With refugees and immigrants forming a substantial fraction of the population, they have become the face of metropolitan rebellion, rejecting the attempt by the city administration to disenfranchise their right to property ownership. The areas occupied by immigrants and refugees are poorly developed in terms of transport and communication infrastructure, housing, and healthcare facilities. During the war, the government used bulldozers to create roads to access interior parts of the southern part of the city. However, these efforts were met by protests and violent resistance from locals (silver 2017).

Poor planning of areas occupied by low-income earners serves as a recipe for future clashes

4 between authorities and the population when plans are made to develop the targeted areas properly.

Clarno (2013) holds that the city of Johannesburg has faced tremendous changes in the post-apartheid era, impacted by urban planning. The colonial region advanced a racist policy of development that restricted the African population to underdeveloped parts of the city while the white lived in leafy suburbs, creating long-term effects of discriminative development of the city.

The attempt by the post-independence governments to impose retributive taxation led to the formation of neighborhoods associations. These political formations aim to protect the interests of their respective members against the urban planners. Johannesburg is divided into rich and poor neighborhoods. The former is well developed and mainly inhabited by the whites, while Africans dominate the latter. The planning of the city is biased against the low economic class (Clarno, 2013). The attempts by the government to address inequalities created by apartheid through redistributive taxation were rejected by the rich, who were the target.

The gated communities and residents' associations have asked for residential city improvement districts as a part of proper urban planning. The associations are so powerful when it comes to development projects that touch their members (Bayat, 2000). The rebellion staged by the rich against taxation and development policies that favor them shows how metropolitan rebellion can be diverse, depending on groups impacted by urban development plans. The rich are equally concerned about protecting their interests and privileges. Associations are transformed into lobby groups that pressure city authorities to implement development that favors their members. When the authorities do not heed their calls, they turn to protests and petitions. In this respect, metropolitan rebellions are creations of urban planning politics, where

5 each group fights for its interest in any project taken by authorities or changes in policies that may affect it.

The urban planning in most of the cities in the global sought is influenced by neoliberalism, emphasizing the freedom of the government and private developers to rollout development projects in the manner they deem good for them. For example, the emergence of metropolitan rebellion in Turkish cities in the 2000s was mainly linked to the government's neoliberal policies. The government sought to close public spaces in a new redevelopment plan fervently opposed by the public. While private developers may have the right to use their spaces in the manner they consider useful and appropriate to them, members of the public feel that their interests must be considered, hence setting the two against each other. As a result, the governance of cities is compelled to balance between various interests in the planning and implementation of various projects.

Analysis Political interests dominate the planning of cities in the global south mainly because the political class and bourgeoisie control administrations. For example, the Piqueteros uprising in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, was influenced urban planning politics that marginalized the poor (Hoslton, 2018). The demonstrations saw the blocking of traffic in the city as the demonstrators voiced their grievances over the city's government's continued discrimination against the low-income earners. Demonstrations are a new form of voicing the challenges of social exclusion in cities within the global south.

Poor road networks within poor neighborhoods in cities such as Bueno Aires speak to the negligence of the regions by city planners. The main focus of the city government is developing rich neighborhoods that host foreign investors and the local bourgeoisie (Bayat, 2000). Such kind

6 of development creates systemic discrimination that takes the form of economic and social. In 1999, the city of Bueno Aires witnessed violent protests from the lower economic class, who demanded better roads and services from the city government (Hoslton, 2018). The political class is more likely to improve the livelihood of the people living in poor neighbor Planning of cities does not take into account the place of lower economic class businesses such as vendors. Instead, the planners focus on big business and the respective supportive networks. The consequence of this mistake is the increase in the number of street vendors in cities such as Tehran, Istanbul, Cairo, and Nairobi (Hoslton, 2018). The increase in the number of street vendors has led to the clash between them and shopkeepers. In some instances, the business people push city planners to relocate hawkers or street vendors to the outskirts of the city. However, in some instances, governments try to push them outside the streets by force without providing alternatives, resulting in protests. In essence, informalization in cities is a product of poor urban planning and politics of discrimination against the poor.

Metropolitan rebellions in the global south have also been influenced by urban planning without the input of the public. The participation of members of the public in decision-making is handy to avert the rejection of development projects by city administrations. In 2003, there were mass demonstrations in Istanbul over planned redevelopment projects that would eliminate public spaces (Hoslton, 2018). The city planners thought it wise to remove public spaces for the sake of development that would boost the city's economy and infrastructure. However, their plans did not augur well with members of the public. To keep the protests alive and strong, the protestors occupied Taksim Square and the Gezi Park, supported by an organized supply of food and medical services; they occupied the two squires day and night (Hoslton, 2018). The proposal to redevelop was supported by a bourgeoisie and government actors, which included urban

7 developers, the political class, and credit institutions that occupied the targeted areas. Public spaces serve the rich and the poor alike.

However, the rich do not make use of these spaces so much; hence their feeling that alienating them was good. The Turkey government responded to the protest by the use of force, leading to countrywide protests (Holston 2019). Consequently, more than 70 cities in Turkey were occupied by protestors decrying lack of consultation and other issues impacting people living in urban areas. The protest exposed the weakness of urban planners in the global south, especially when it comes to public participation (Burayidi, 2015). The planners hardly take into account the views of the low economic class while planning cities. Demonstrations in Turkey would have been avoided if the government had involved members of the public in making decisions about the development of the city. The input from the public ensures that the interests of all groups are taken care of in plans that are put in place (Holston 2019). Open spaces are resting and sometimes recreational places for the low-economic class; hence an effort to eliminate such spaces without giving them better alternatives is an affront to their interests.

The protestors in cities across Turkey also complained about the lack of urban services they needed most. The services included education. City planners do not factor in some needs, such as educational institutions, in their planning (Holston 2019). Available schools are often not enough, especially in poor neighborhoods that cannot afford to take their children to quality schools. The rich can easily pay for the cost of taking their children to expensive but quality schools in the city (Burayidi, 2015). However, the poor need government support in areas such as the development of educational infrastructure for their children.

Private developers play a vital role in the development of urban areas but at the same time infringe on public welfare. The crises Indian cities face have largely been created by urban

8 planning allowing private developers much freedom to influence development. Developers finance political campaigns and offer other favors to the ruling class in return for favorable business and investment conditions. The link between policymakers and private developers influences many of the decisions that are made (Holston 2019). However, in most cases, private developers pursue their interests at the expense of the public welfare. Insurrections in cities such as Delhi are mainly due to government failure to provide basic services to poor neighborhoods.

Calcutta's urban planning has been impacted by a clash between the displaced people and the government. According to Roy (2009), the government asked people to move away to make way for development projects that would benefit the town and its people. The expansion of cities requires that surrounding agricultural lands be converted into the city through developer’s investments. The Communist Party of India has led the campaign to turn agricultural land into private development areas for the expansion of the city of Calcutta (Roy, 2009). Resistance was met by the use of force. The government did not seek public participation in the expansion project. In essence, the government suspended laws to the benefit of private developers.

The metropolitan rebellion in India was seen in Nandigram as the opposition party led farmers to protest the decision by the government to displace them to create Special Economic Zone (Roy, 2009). The politics of creating special economic zones are influenced by the need to increase exports and grow possible taxes to benefit the high economic class and ruling elites.

Urban planning requires planners to factor the expansion of cities into their plans. However, the space for expansion belongs to other private personalities, making it hard for urban administration to acquire it without confrontations (Roy, 2009). In Nandigram, poor farmers were beaten by state functionaries because of resisting urbanization plans. Despite the resistance, the government managed to force its way forward with new development projects. In the long

9 run, rebellion leaves behind bitterness among the displaced people, who are forced to lead poor life on the outskirts of the city.

Political leadership in cities has failed to advance public interests in the allocation of resources and planning of development. Infrastructural projects such as roads and airports are mainly structured to promote investors' welfare. The lower economic class, which usually provides most of the unskilled and semi-skilled labor in cities, is ignored in the planning of cities (Gilbert, 2000). While industries and businesses are established in highly developed areas of cities, the employees in low cadre jobs leave long distances away from their workstations.

Conclusion Metropolitan rebellions in the Global South are a problem that has been created by the effects of urban planning. Politics of urban planning and development are ridden with prejudice against the low-economic class. Discrimination in the development of urban areas creates social and economic classes that are often at loggerhead. The poor occupy the lowest economic class and are often excluded from government development. Protests are explored by victims of discriminative politics of managing urban areas to try and voice their grievances and find solutions. As seen in the case of Jakarta and Calcutta, the government turns to violence to try and manage metropolitan rebellion. The main cause of rebellion is inequality that is perpetuated in development or urban areas. Urban planning in most cities in Global South concentrates on the welfare of the affluent at the expense of the underprivileged. Metropolitan rebellion will remain active as long as urban planning continues to discriminate against the poor or public interests.

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