18
The World Bank Legal Review
a direct, hands-on, and contextually sensitive manner. Valuably impressed on the reader are the many practical solutions to problems creatively derived from researchers’ context-specific engagement with and practical application of the concepts of voice, social contract,38 and accountability to deliver beneficial outcomes. One such outcome is the use of the Kenyan Constitution as the legal basis of ongoing litigation that asserts Mukuru residents’ rights when threatened by the state or other stakeholders.39 Furthermore, through harnessing such concepts in researchers’ cooperation with Mukuru residents, new legal and planning tools and practical strategies of engagement (e.g., public advocacy) that improve residents’ living conditions have been delivered. As the authors showcase clearly, these evolving and progressive outcomes have been derived from research and other activities that are necessarily multidisciplinary in nature and draw on the values and concepts of voice, social contract, and accountability. Ending part III is chapter 11, “‘Good’ Legislation as a Means of Ensuring Voice, Accountability, and the Delivery of Results in Urban Development,” by Maria Mousmouti and Gianluca Crispi. Demonstrating first that urban legislation functions as a social contract that navigates a complex web of competing interests,40 the authors illuminate the meaning of “good” legislation. For example, “good” legislation is simple, easily understood and implemented, and delivers effective and efficient outcomes for urban residents and other stakeholders. One problem illuminated in Glasser and Berrisford’s chapter is that urban legislation, when implemented, often falls far short of its ideal and intended objectives.41 Among a range of solutions, Mousmouti and Crispi suggest that such incongruity is appropriately addressed by “evidence-based law making.” This refers to law making that derives its goals, design, and implementation from harnessing the value of voice to discover, comprehend, and gather evidence on the contextual realities and urban problems faced by residents and stakeholders so that they may be addressed. In so doing, such legislation is designed so that, first, it may be implemented harmoniously with contextual realities and, second, where beneficial and appropriate, it may also more equitably reshape any preexisting social relationships, formal and informal, that may not currently, fairly, or optimally apportion economic, social, and other benefits among urban residents and other stake-
38
Id.
39
As understood in its conventional sense, a nation-state’s constitution is a social contract on which rights are justiciable. For an explanation of a nation-state’s constitution as a social contract, see supra note 26. See also supra note 12.
40
Although not explicitly stated by the authors, their description of urban legislation accords with Glasser and Berrisford’s concept of urban legislation as a social contract apportioning rights and obligations among private and public sector stakeholders, including residents, with respect to numerous shared resources and other aspects of urban living. See supra note 34 and its accompanying discussion in the main text. For an explanation of the broader and more fluid sense of a social contract as reflected in this volume, see supra note 12.
41
This problem is particularly acute in the rapidly growing cities in developing countries.