The poor dictate Asia's future, experts say
The poor dictate Asia's future, experts say
JAKARTA (JP): The future of Asia's cities lies in their poor
people who provide cheap goods and services, an international
conference was told yesterday.
But cities have yet to pay attention to their needs, as they
cater more to the consumptive needs of better-off residents, Ela
R. Bhatt and Adi Sasono said.
"The future of Asia's cities lies with poor, hard-working
people and particularly the poor women," said Bhatt, founder and
general secretary of a 220,000-strong trade union in India called
the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA).
But she said concerns over urban employment and the wealth the
so-called informal sector generates, trails far behind worries
about urban population explosions.
When it comes to urban investment, Bhatt said it is often
forgotten that the private sector also includes small-scale
industries and firms.
"If the cities of Asia are to prosper, it is this private
sector which is going to make it happen," Bhatt said.
The trade union based in Ahmedabad now has its own bank. Many
of the women, who include incense stick rollers living in slums,
are the sole supporters of their families, Bhatt said.
Bhatt and Adi, the director of the Center for Information and
Development Studies (CIDES), were addressing a three-day seminar
titled: The Future of Asia's Cities.
The international event is organized by CIDES with the New
York-based Asia Society. It ends today.
Many speakers at earlier sessions raised the need for the
development of cities to be sensitive to the aspirations of the
poor.
Governments and the private sector need to agree on a common
vision for urban development, which includes the aspirations of
the common people who are actually the city's income generators,
according to one speaker.
Adi said cities are a continuous battleground "of economic
needs and wants."
He said the question is how to accommodate both the needs of
people working only to survive, and those who have disposable
incomes. The urban poor working in the informal sector often
exceed 70 percent of the population of Indonesia's large cities,
Adi said.
He told of a project in which he was involved in Samarinda,
East Kalimantan. The Citra Niaga commercial center which
accommodates small scale traders, developed a slum area which was
hit by fires three times.
It received the Aga Khan award in 1989 as an exemplary model
of community and private sector partnership.
Other speakers in a session on residents' participation in
city planning included Osborn Elliot, the chairman of the
Citizens Committee of New York City, and Masafumi Nagao of the
Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation. (anr/swa)