ISTANBUL, 8 JUNE --Just as a home is more than just "four walls and a roof", a city is more than just a physical space encompassing physical structures. In fact, it is not the physical, but the human that gives the city value. This was the main message of the Forum on Human Solidarity, where a panel of distinguished leading thinkers gathered to debate what may be the most important solution of all for urban ills: people.
Held as part of the Habitat II Conference, the Forum considered a critical question: Can human will and human values overcome the civic engagement and social ennui that threaten successful cities and the prosperity of future generations?
In his opening address, Dr. Wally N'Dow, Secretary-General of Habitat II, said that the human spirit will play a crucial role in creating successful, socially integrated cities. "To speak of solidarity is to speak of things of the spirit," he said. For we are well aware that the future of our human settlements -- our ability to provide the shelter that so many, many millions sorely need in hamlet and village, city and megapolis -- is not just a matter of bricks and mortar but equally a question of attitudes and determination to work for the common good."
Referring to the city as "humanity's most vibrant creation", Dr. N'Dow said that while the city can be a force of dynamic progress, it is also the site of much misery, poverty, crime and disease. "Now caught up in a historic transformation triggered by the urban explosion, our planet faces challenges of the unique inter-relationship that exists between a city and its people, challenges of the ability of both to re-adjust and re-adapt under unprecedented pressures. Habitat II is the international community's response that these challenges can and will be met, that human solidarity may well be our only salvation in the face of such overwhelming change."
Ruth Cardosa, Brazil's First Lady and President of the "Communidade Solidaria" Council, said that women around the world had already found new ways of forging human solidarity. Women, she said, had created new networks and processes whereby they could respond to the new challenges facing humanity.
Charles Correa, an eminent Indian architect and planner, said that too much emphasis had been placed on the physical attributes of a city and not enough to its "mythical qualities". For example, although his own city, Bombay, gets progressively worse physically, it gets progressively better as a "city" -- a place where things happen and where skills grow, a powerhouse of ideas and reforms.
Summing Bombay as a "great city but a terrible place", Correa noted that all great metropolises have a certain mythical and magical quality which sets them apart form other metropolises. "Think of New York, 5th Avenue or 42nd Street. Just the words are magic."
Dr. Ihsan Dogramaci, President of Bilkent University, said that "dignity is the essence of human solidarity". He said that rapid urbanization had led to loss of social and cultural values which had, in turn, destroyed community spirit. He added that self-reliance was the key to restoring dignity. "The key to future development and to the restoration of vibrant communities lies in getting people to help themselves without external aid."
Millard Fuller, President of Habitat for Humanity International, said that new ways of thinking can only come about through action. "People change their thinking through acting -- they act themselves into a new way of thinking," he said. For example, former President Jimmy Carter, who is a volunteer at his organization, only learned about the plight of the poor by engaging himself in their lives. "The challenge before us is to have wonderful cities and wonderful places -- not just places where only one half of the people enjoy what the city has to offer."
Dr. Farkhonda Hassan, Egyptian Member of Parliament, said, "Sustainable development, which puts people at the centre of its concern, can only be realized through human solidarity." While some conditions such as natural disasters increase human solidarity, other conditions such as poverty and widening disparity between rich and poor cause social segregation and reduce human solidarity, she said. "Our greatest challenge is to scrutinize the social, economic and political processes which leads to such social disintegration."
Hon. Teddy Kollek, former Mayor of Jerusalem, said that morality of people and their leaders was important for the survival of cities. "Without civil morality, communities perish; without personal morality, survival has no value," he said.
Dr. Benjamin Ladner, president of the American University, said that the pivotal link between human beings was understanding. The challenge lay in deepening this understanding which has been lost. "We have systematically destroyed our fellow human beings in this century more than in all centuries combined. We have not yet learned how to negotiate different values and beliefs."
Dr. Phyllis Lambert of the Canadian Center for Architecture, said that citizens' movements in Canada had shown that people can use their own skills to develop their communities. "Citizens have proven to be much better planners than the planners themselves. Citizens must demand more open channels for communication with local authorities," she said.
Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Billie Miller said that her own town Bridgetown, was wonderfully illustrative of human solidarity. "Despite its physical defects, Bridgetown survives as a city. This is because people are the life of cities. Cities are vibrant not because of environmental or technological reasons, but because humans are social animals," she added. "I'm sceptical about an electronic environment sustaining a city."
Dr. Frederico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO, said that while economic growth is indispensable to cities, it is not enough. "Welfare depends on the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind." He said that 20 per cent of the world's population controlled 80 per cent of its resources and yet this 20 per cent was unwilling to part with even a small percentage to promote international cooperation, including United Nations activities.
Dean James Morton of St. John the Divine, said that art and ritual are important modes of communication and must be allowed to flourish in cities. "Art is central to human potential and rituals are uniquely human as they serve as benchmarks of human experiences. What's needed is an interface centre in every city where there's a temple, a stadium, a marketplace and a theatre, like the Acropolis."
Nat Nuno-Amarteifo, Mayor of Accra, said that difficult times were often a catalyst for new ideas. For example, he said, 14th century Europe was a depressing time, but it was precisely at that time that new ideas such as the right of the individual were born. "In Ghana, we are surrounded by two full-scale wars, exiles, refugees and the new phenomenon of child soldiers. Institutions are breaking up. The very idea of nation is under stress in Africa. People are asking, 'Where are we going?'
"We are learning that if you are going to create a nation, it must be based on integrity. Africa should reclaim its integrity because a people without a memory are a people without a future," he said.
Arthur Schlesinger Jr., an eminent historian and chronicler of the Kennedy administration, said that throughout human history, cities had been appendages of rural living. "However, we face the age of the megacity and the humanization of the megacity will be our biggest challenge. He noted that corruption systematically undermined social trust and that people could never redeem the megacity until that trust was restored.
Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Vice President of the World Bank, said that inequity was growing in the world and that the top 20 per cent of the world's richest people were 60 times as rich as the bottom 20 per cent. He said that it was time to "assert our common humanity" and to reduce this widening gap.
Dr. Rajesh Tandon of the Participatory Research Centre in India, said that the question of solidarity in the urban setting was "knowing who your neighbours are".
"I am convinced that neighbourhoods don't get developed -- they get created. They require active intervention." Tandon noted that even places like Singapore, which are efficient and modern, are "yearning for a sense of neighbourhood" which is lacking in most modern cities.
Gorel Thurdin, Deputy Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, said that the main question facing humanity right now was "how to give our children homes, health and a future in peace". Referring to Habitat II as the "biggest peace project we have ever had", she added that legislation was not enough to change the world. "There must be political will based on ethics and spiritual values."