#187 Building and Managing Cities in a State of Permanent Crisis

By Jorge E. Hardoy

From the Introduction

The global discussions in recent years are rightly concerned with preparing an agenda for future action. Peace and disarmament and the end of the Cold War and the nuclear threat, the guarantee of civil and political human rights, and the development and consolidation of independence, democracy, and social justice are ranked high on the agenda--as are certain key environmental issues such as deforestation, destroying the ozone layer, global climatic change, and the loss of biodiversity. International agencies are discussing the creation of new world funds, such as the World Atmosphere Fund, and the launching of the health-in-the-cities decade, the natural disasters decade, and the urbanization decade. More recently, governments have approved the expansion of resources available to certain major multilateral banks for development projects that take into consideration their environmental impact.

We can look forward during the next decade and after to an unprecedented mobilization of economic and highly trained human resources for development projects (e.g., hydroelectric projects, comprehensive rural development schemes, regional infrastructure, etc.). International conferences will try to create an awareness of impending environmental problems and (perhaps) a broader discussion about ways of solving the debt of Third World nations, the circulation of drugs, the destruction and misuse of natural resources, and the use of the open sea and of forests. However, I am afraid that no comparable mobilization of economic and highly trained human resources will go to satisfy the basic needs of low-income groups and to improve the critical situation of Third World cities. What governments request of richer nations and international agencies too often is not what the needy half of the human species would ask if given a chance.