World Urban Forum

Thank you Hassaan for being provocative! I think the two key issues that make my city stupid are
- lack of planning and
- corruption.
It all stems from there! Anyone else has view?

Although my city (Toronto) is not 'stupid' in general, we are engaged in a stupid deadlock around transit. We have a decent system, but we are rapidly outgrowing it. With three levels of government involved, we are paralyzed and unable to move forward with a sustainable, affordable - and desperately needed - expansion of our mass transit system.

As it stands, Toronto's downtown core is vibrant and propsperous but our inner suburbs are poorly served by a transit system pushed to capacity and quite expensive for many. This makes it hard for residents outside the core to fully participate in education, entertainment and employment opportunities to be found when one is able to fully engage with the city as a whole. Unsurprisingly, this then contributes to a sense of marginalization and has a polarizing effect on the city's social and political culture.

Hassaan - you raised the question but did not answer the question for your own city. What do you think?

Thanks for egging me on to spill the beans on my own city Cornie.To my mind, stupid cities are made, not born--and that is indeed the case with the City of Lahore.

So what makes Lahore a stupid city?

The first factor would be crooked (and rather stupid) politicians who love brick and mortar so much that they have been bestowing ill-planned benefactions of flyovers, underpasses, road widening schemes and the like as evidence of development to charm urban voters. Imagine taking public funds generated in towns and villages all across the province of the Punjab and expending them in one city--time and time again.

The second factor would be stupid (and rather corrupt) bureaucrats sitting in critical government departments such as the Planning & Development Department, Communication and Works Department, or the Local Government Department who forgot that the buck stopped at their end and started to think more like politicians than bureaucrats. Maybe this is all rooted in how we train our bureaucrats but that's a different topic for a different forum.

And last but not least, enlightened civil society, or the lack thereof, has contributed greatly to the unsustainable development trajectory of Lahore. There have been many public interest litigation cases where the "elites" of Lahore have risen up against development projects--only to find their objections are founded on vague or impractical ideas that are dismissed from the courtroom faster than you can say "concrete".

Perhaps Lahore could have taken a different path if key departments would have put their foot down whenever politics began to meddle with the lives of nearly 10 million people. Ever the optimist, I believe the time is approaching when 10 million people will be forced to put their foot down instead.

Love the framing of 'stupid cities' - thanks.

I'd add that 'Stupid Cities' measure success by quantitative goals: how much did the budget grow, how many new industries, how many new homes built. While Smart Cities measure also citizen satisfaction, and develop policies to increase it.

The urban design of stupid cities aims at people with money, and so prioritizes the car. Homes are separated from work, parks may be large, but far away, rich neighborhoods are segregated from poor. In contrast, the urban design of smart cities caters to people on foot, bikes or buses. Which means shorter distances to schools, shops, work and parks, more mix.

Mayors of efficient stupid cities see themselves as CEOs and their residents as consumers of the services they provide. While mayors of smart sociable cities may find themselves acting more as enablers, (community workers?), providing opportunities for people to meet others, try new experiences, voice their opinions and take ownership of their city.

I think one can also see the smart vs. stupid divide in city budgets. Stupid cities will spend a large proportion of their budgets on subsidizing a few flagship 'high' services, like opera, starchitect museums, expensive rail systems. While smart cities will also fund amateur music groups, open air markets, small sense-of-place public spaces.

For people with money, living in stupid cities can provide a feeling of privacy and efficiency. How do we change the aspirations, to recognize that individual comfort is not enough on its own, that equity and diversity and involvement matter?

Hi Hassaan - see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nOHTc4qDM&feature=related on how to move from stupid to smart.

Hassan in my case is CORRUPTION and POLITICS. Everything is simply politics, To give a cup of water to a poor widow is politically seduced-next-motivated by corruption, so how can sustainable water supply,energy,or housing be given to a community or town.A stupid city defines the gap between the Haves and the Have not.

The things that make my city (Mexico City) stupid are plenty:

-They make stringent urban plans intended to protect communities but for the right buck they have several loopholes and willingness to make an exception and give you beneath the table permits to built beyond the limits of the common people norms....

-If the necessary investment for the city is a relevant infrastructure that will not be very visible from the streetscape (such as water supply, sewage, subway) they will discard the project and instead they will built a massive not needed structure just to call political attention.

-In the rare event that a mayor has done a smart planning project for the city, the next one will erase the whole thing to the ground.

-Whenever the government log trees from an existing median to build a toll road, they will fill the adjacent areas with thousands of plastic campaign adds that say that the city is about to get greener..

We also need to address the issue of gender equality in cities and equitable access to the available resources for both men and women.

The ingredients of a stupid city includes lack of public engagement by the government and to some extent by us the so called urban planners and engineers etc.

Hi Rumbidzavi - this is a refreshing post which does not blame all on the government and the politicians. Can you clarify the "some extent" in which urban planners and engineers have gone wrong?

my Dar es salaam city is more than stupid!

1. most of the citizens lack patriotism and they are self centred towards the love of the city in making the city clean and proper!

2.all matters related to city planning are politically prioritised by corruptive and selfish leaders.

I would add another question: if we don't like stupid cities, what do we want? Smarter cities? Or another type of cities? Wiser Cities? Slower Cities?

This reminds me of an old proverb I've modified to fit our cities.

“A city that knows not and knows not that it knows not: it is a fool - shun it. A city that knows not and knows it knows not: it is simple - teach it. A city that knows and knows not it knows: it is asleep - wake it. A city that knows and knows it knows: it is wise - follow it.”

For making sustainable city, it is necessary to give emphasis on urbanization with high levels of economic development, Optimum utilization of resources and unique characteristics of cities, High level of decentralized industrialization, Minimizing rural to urban migration and advancement of technology.

the major issue is the inability of government to put in place the machinery for curbing excess rural-urban migration into the city. Urbanization is increasing in both the developed and developing countries. However, rapid urbanization, particularly the growth of large cities, and the associated problems of unemployment, poverty, inadequate health, poor sanitation, urban slums and environmental degradation pose a formidable challenge in many developing countries and it is exemplified by the people living in extremely deprived conditions and indecent housing with insufficient physical amenities like water supply, sanitation, sewerage, drainage, community centre, health care, nutrition, preschool and non formal education.

Ayetimiyi, how would you curb rural-urban migration, and more importantly, why would you do so? Possibly it would be a better idea to plan cities properly to adapt to the fact of migration and use it as an advantage?

am referring to the condition in Lagos, most people migrate to Lagos based on the development and improvements going on there.basically, if this improvements/developments are made in other sub-urban and rural areas, the population of people migrating into the city would be reduced.
that is, advocating for a system whereby infrastructures and other measures which can reduce urbanization rate are put in place.
@Carlos Felipe, rural-urban migration can't be stopped but reduced to a certain extent that the resultant effects would not lead to most adverse problems......
@ Hassan, yes, in a way, that it would not only provide employment and acces to economic activities but also reduce the stress of urban cities which may result to Stupid cities....