CITIES DRIVE GLOBAL GROWTH

CITIES DRIVE GLOBAL GROWTH

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The world is going urban and no force whatsoever, save for geological cataclysm of a planetary scale, can wreck the social phenomenon of urbanization. My own country PH is now 70% urban population-wise, which is in far contrast to what it was once during my birthyear of 1958 when 85% of people were rural peasants and fisherfolks.

Cities were the ones that drove the domestic economies to higher growth, industrialization, services expansion, and international trade competencies. True they did manifest the negative sides to urbanization that are human ecology concerns that need to be addressed with determination. But cities overall are citadels of civilation or culture-building and economic development.

As a summary of global urban development, a book was published recently by the United Nations Habitat that deals with the subject of economic role of cities. Below is the update news about the matter.

[Philippines, 10 February 2012]

Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=3260

Economic Role of Cities
Global Urban Economic dialogue series (Series title)

This report examines the economic role of cities. It illustrates the important contributions of cities to national economic development and poverty reduction. It looks at the agglomeration economies, city clusters, city regions and mega city regions.

Other titles in Global Urban Economic dialogue series:

• Economic Development and Housing Markets in Hong Kong and Singapore 2011
• Economic Role of Cities 2011
• Fiscal Decentralisation in Philippines 2011
• Gender and Economic Development 2011
• Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Housing Finance 2011
• Infrastructure for Poverty Reduction and Economic Development in Africa 2011
• Microfinance, Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals 2011
• Organisation, Management and Evaluation of Housing Cooperatives in Kenya 2010
• Public-Private Partnership in Housing and Urban Development 2011

The Sub Prime Crisis: The Crisis of Over-Spending 2011

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ISBN Series Number: 978-92-1-132027-5
ISBN: 978-92-1-132361-0
HS Number: 067/11E
Series Title: Global Urban Economic dialogue series
Pages: 56
Year: 2012
Publisher: UN-HABITAT
Co-Publisher : - Not available -
Languages: English
Themes: Urban Finance, Urban Economy and Financing Shelter
Countries:
Branch/Office: Urban Economy and Finance

URBANIZING MYANMAR LAUNCHES INSTITUTE

URBANIZING MYANMAR LAUNCHES INSTITUTE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Myanmar has been mired too long in the rural backwoods of eternal militaristic damnation. So it would be a well appreciated news to learn of scaling up urban development in the struggling country.

Myanmar is juxtaposed next to the ASEAN 5—Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines—that are now citadels of urban development, industrialization and service economies. A member of ASEAN, Myanmar surely has a lot of catching up to do by releasing the innovative grids of its own peoples that congeal in urban development.

A contributor to the creation of High Culture in Southeast Asia, Myanmar’s deterioration across the decades of militarization has truly saddened its own neighbors and Asians. It is fortunate enough to see ASEAN peoples supportive of its efforts at social change, a support that translates to financing and technical reinforcements that Myanmar’s leaders can nil afford to squander.

Let us cross our fingers the urban institute will function as a truly autonomous institution that operate without the machinations of vested military interests there.

[Philippines, 05 February 2012]

Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=10724&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

UN-Habitat teams up with Myanmar at brand new urban institute

Yangon, 20 Jan 12

The Union Minister of Construction, U Khin Maung Myint Friday opened Myanmar’s first Urban Research and Development Institute (URDI) to help local and national authorities ensure a better urban future for country.

The institute, established with UN-Habitat support within the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development, will conduct research to strengthen policy formulation and arrange training programmes to build national and local government capacities in inclusive urban planning and management. It will also foster urban-rural linkages.

Officials said the opening of institute marks the beginning of a wider collaboration between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the United Nations in the field of urban development, with a view to making the urban sector all inclusive, environmentally sustainable and complementary to rural development.

In his opening remarks the minister expressed his hope that the new institute would help the government’s drive to build a new, modern and developed nation. He added that the urban research and training would facilitate capacity building in the human resource sector that is a basic need for tackling urban issues.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ashok Nigam said the establishment of the new institute represented a clear reflection of one of the United Nations core commitments to build the capacity of national counterparts. Mr. Nigam added that the United Nations and international community were currently witnessing exciting new developments in Myanmar, starting with the installation of the new government which created a clear window of opportunity to promote and strengthen collaboration and action for the country’s socio-economic progress.

UN-Habitat Myanmar Country Manager Srinivasa Popuri said the establishment of new urban institute was an integral part of the agency’s assistance being offered the government in its quest for a better future for the people of Myanmar.

UN-Habitat is cooperating with the relevant ministries in the sectors that are pertaining to Habitat Agenda and implementing several normative and operational activities focusing on basic access of services to settlements, while addressing matters of gender, risk reduction, environment and climate change.

UN-HABITAT and the Union Government of Myanmar, represented by Ministry of Construction, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2011 for various technical cooperation programmes in Myanmar of which establishment of the new urban insitute and the development of national building code projects are supported by Norway.

UN-Habitat Myanmar this year plans to boost its normative programmatic support and technical assistance to several ministries and interest groups in the areas of urban poverty reduction, urban planning and development, urban-rural linkages, research, training and capacity building, land governance, local governance and leadership training and capacity development.

RWANDA ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT TRACK

RWANDA ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT TRACK

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good day from Manila!

There are lots of good news that are being churned out today from Rwanda. Among the top great news is the upscaling of urban development in this developing economy.

Remember that Rwanda, like many other soft states, was once racked by fratricidal wars among competing ethnicities. The days of ethnic conflicts are not yet fully over, but it seems the healing of social wounds has been effective so far.

The urban development efforts there must be welcome by enthused stakeholders across the globe. Already the UN Habitat has lent support for the upscaling agenda, which is a most appropriate move.

[Philippines, 03 February 2012]

Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=10709&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

Kagame and Clos agree on new urban development for Rwanda

Kigali, 17 Jan 12

The Government of Rwanda and UN-Habitat will start work in coming weeks on a series of pilot projects to tackle growing urbanization confronting the country in recent years.

The announcement was made after President Paul Kagame of Rwanda this week received UN-Habitat Executive Director, Dr. Joan Clos, to discuss future collaboration and projects dealing with sustainable urban development policies. Both agreed on the priority of having a national urban policy for one of the most densely populated and least urbanized countries in Africa.

Between 1991 and 2002, the urban population growth in Rwanda increased three times, growing from 5.5% to 17%. The Government of Rwanda foresees that 30 % of the Rwandan population will be living in urban areas by 2020.

After the meeting with President Kagame, Dr. Clos expressed "the willingness of UN-Habitat to work together with the Rwandan authorities on future city enlargement plans, urban planning for intermediate cities and urban capacity building in order to develop new projects of cooperation to take advantage of the process of urbanization to create wealth and increase the quality of life of citizens". UN-Habitat Executive Director said that "on my first visit to Kigali, I have to congratulate the country for the quality of the public space of their capital. UN-Habitat wants to share Rwanda's experiences and to explain their best practices to other parts of the world".

The Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Albert Nsengiyumva, told a press conference after the meeting: "UN-Habitat is a strategic and important partner for Rwanda due to its expertise and their international network. Rwanda should prioritize urban issues and work on the implementation of master plans, not only for Kigali but also for existing emerging towns."

Dr. Clos was accompanied to the meeting with President Kagame by Dr. Aisa Kirabo, UN-Habitat Deputy Executive Director; the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mr. Aurelien A. Agbenonci, and the Director of UN-Habitat's Regional Office for Africa, Ms. Axumite Gebre-Egziabher.

URBAN SECURITY OF TENURE: CAN IT BE MONITORED?

URBAN SECURITY OF TENURE: CAN IT BE MONITORED?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Is it possible to fully monitor security of tenure in cities? What concrete policy measures and institutional requirements can be taken to conduct such monitoring efficaciously?

Cities often than not differ in their policy measures concerning tenure matters. Besides, there is the variegation in the level of institutionalization of rules and enactment—from weak to strong—so one can just imagine the challenge posed on authorities and stakeholders to enforce monitoring.

Below is a publication on the subject from the UN Habitat that can be aid to the monitoring challenges facing local administrators.

[Philippines, 01 February 2012]

Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=3261

Monitoring Security of Tenure in cities

This publication, presents and innovatiove method to ascertain the extent to which security of tenure can be measeured at three main levels. Targeting cities in developing countries the methodological framework presented in this publication is entrusted, in the concept of continuum of land rights where tenure can be realised at various levels: individual, household, settlement or communitye, city and national levels. Various options to measure tenure security at each of these levels are presented. You will also find in this publication a review of the experiences of several agencies and individual academeics in measuring tenure security. From these reviews, lessons are drawn and gaps are identified, which then form the basis of the range of methods presented in this report.

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ISBN Series Number: - Not available -
ISBN: 978-92-1-132415-0
HS Number: 130/11E
Series Title: - Not available -
Pages: 94
Year: 2012
Publisher: UN-HABITAT
Co-Publisher : GLTN
Languages: English
Themes: Land & Tenure, Land and Housing
Countries:
Branch/Office: Land, Tenure & Property Administration

URBANIZING WORLD NEEDS MORE TREES!

URBANIZING WORLD NEEDS MORE TREES!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The entire planet is going urban. One country after another is moving towards predominantly urban communities and populations. It matters much that as of this juncture, the strategic agenda of greening all cities in pursuit of a more balanced ecology, conservation, clean air and zero pollution.

My own country PH was predominantly rural for the longest time of its post-colonial history. By the 1990s the services sector began to outpace the primary sector in terms of manpower employment. By the year 2000, urban population exceeded rural population altogether. By the end of this year 2011, 68% of PH population will be cities’ habitués. 2% of people are added to urban population every year, while rural population decreases by the same increment annually.

It looks worrisome to see cities rising everywhere across the globe that tend to destroy the last vestiges of farming and tree canopies as a result of imbalanced urbanization. Big Cities that have lost their own green covers are no longer the models of future cities as these big players ought to catch up in the greening project.

Below is a report from the FAO regarding the need to plant trees in a rapidly urbanizing world.

[Philippines, 17 October 2011]

Source: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/92329/icode/

As world goes urban, new focus on role of trees in cities /More attention needed to maximize benefits of urban forests

3 October 2011, Rome - Focused policies and investments aimed at protecting and managing forest and trees in and around cities are needed to strengthen urban livelihoods and improve city environments, as the world becomes increasingly urbanized. This was the message offered today on the occasion of World Habitat Day by the international Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), of which FAO is a member.

As an increasing share of the world's population now lives in cities and their surroundings, the CPF called on countries to pay more attention to managing and protecting urban and peri-urban forests.

In addition to improving the quality of urban environments, forests in cities can also mitigate severe weather impacts by shielding buildings from strong winds and flooding and can help cities save energy by acting as a buffer from hot weather.

"The accelerating rate of natural disturbances affecting cities such as storms, droughts, floods and landslides reminds us that resilience to disasters is of critical importance and that trees play an important role in protecting city environments," said FAO Assistant Director-General for Forestry Eduardo Rojas-Briales. "Good practices in urban and peri-urban forestry can contribute to building a resilient city in terms of mitigation and adaptation to the effects of climate change."

Urban forests also improve the well-being and health conditions of citizens by cooling the environment, particularly in arid zones.

Ecosystem services

"Trees and forests in cities provide urban dwellers with much needed recreational and ecological values, and during the International Year of Forests we have seen many examples of community activities in cities from tree plantings to nature hikes," said Ms. Jan McAlpine, Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat. "These ‘green belts' also serve as valuable habitats for birds and small animals and create an oasis of biological diversity in urban environments."

Additionally, urban trees afford vital ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and carbon storage, and can serve as a source of alternative energy.

Benefits for food security, environmental education

Urban agriculture and agroforestry, home gardens, and the harvesting of non-wood forest products like mushrooms can supplement household food supplies, but are not common practices, globally.

Urban forests can also serve as a living laboratory for environmental education in urban settings helping to bridge the gap between urbanized populations and forests.

First ever guidelines on urban forestry

FAO is helping develop guidelines for policy and decision-makers on urban and peri-urban forestry to promote sound policies and highlight good practices.

"Often unclear responsibilities for different parts of the urban forests, lack of policies and legislation, as well as lack of comprehensive information, hamper successful integrated approaches to urban forestry," said Cecil Konijnendijk, Deputy Coordinator of a research group on urban forestry initiated by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). "Initiatives such as FAO's guidelines for urban forest policy and management are of great importance."

The guidelines, which set to be published in July 2012, will give a comprehensive review of good practices and highlight significant initiatives taken around the world in order to contribute to improved policy development and decision making.

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REFUGEES GET TITLE DEEDS: EAST CONGO SHOWCASE

REFUGEES GET TITLE DEEDS: EAST CONGO SHOWCASE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Congo went through couples of civil and political tumult, with so many deaths and refugees spilling off their neighbors. The world isn’t lacking in aid for the affected victims of the conflicts, and that is good news for the country.

The conflicts’ effects are familiar to me, being a citizen of a country (PH) that has seen so many wars and conflicts throughout my time. Fact is, I never knew of any year in my life when there was no war or large-scale conflict elsewhere in the country. Millions of peoples displaced by the conflicts decided to settle elsewhere, with the largest in Sabah while thousands migrated to the USA and other countries up North.

It surely is great news to see refugee settlers acquire their own title deeds, such as the story contained below about east Congo settlers. Nothing can be more humane then to ensure land tenure for people displaced by wars, calamities, and related force majeure.

[Philippines, 08 October 2011]

Source: http://www.unhcr.org/4e7076d16.html

Refugee returnees in eastern Congo get title deeds for first time

Making a Difference, 14 September 2011

© UNHCR/S.Kpandji

Salumu receives the title deed to his land during the ceremony in South Kivu's transit camp.

UVIRA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, September 14 (UNHCR) – Fifteen years after losing everything he owned and fleeing overseas, a joyous Salumu clutches a document that he believes holds the key to a new, better life.

It's a title deed, providing legal proof that the father of seven is the owner of the plot of land where he and his family have lived in Democratic Republic of the Congo's South Kivu province since returning home from exile in Tanzania in 2008.

"I can't believe it," Salumu said, his voice breaking with emotion. "Nobody can argue with me now about my land. I've become the owner," added the patriarch, who is in his 60s. His joy has been made possible by a shelter programme launched by UNHCR, in cooperation with the government, to avoid land and property disputes.

The former refugee was among a first group of 68 returnees given title deeds for land in South Kivu's Uvira and Fizi districts at a government ceremony last month in the province's Kavimvira transit camp. More are expected to have their land ownership claims recognized in the coming weeks.

Uvira and Fizi are the main areas of return in eastern Congo for refugees in neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi. Since the start of a UNHCR-run voluntary repatriation programme in 2005, more than 64,000 Congolese have come back home from the two countries with the agency's help.

Salumu lost everything when he crossed into Tanzania in 1996 to escape the civil war that was ravaging in South Kivu and other parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"My cows, my fields and my land, all were plundered. I had to flee with my family," he said. "Even when I returned, people still took possessions, but that's all behind me now," he said, brandishing his title deed and thanking UNHCR for helping him find a livelihood and build his brick home.

The absence of adequate housing and land has been one of the biggest challenges refugees face upon their return to South Kivu. After years of absence, many find their homes destroyed and have nowhere to stay. Others find their former land is occupied.

In the past three years, UNHCR has funded the construction of some 1,650 brick homes and distributed 2,655 shelter kits to returnees in Uvira and Fizi districts, or enough for 21,000 people.

But arguments over land ownership have persisted and boiled over into violence on a few occasions between refugee returnees and those who remained in Uvira or Fizi throughout the war, which formally ended with a fragile peace accord in 2003.

In a bid to avert such disputes and to protect returnees living in the new shelters, UNHCR, working through the National Commission for Refugees, has over the past two year held talks with the local and provincial authorities aimed at putting in place a system charged with issuing legally binding ownership documents.

"These steps led earlier this year to the establishment of a project aimed at granting title deeds to the residents of 675 of these shelters," explained Aminata Bamba, head of the UNHCR sub-office in Uvira. "This happy outcome will encourage other refugees living in the region to return home."

Célestine, a 55-year-old widow who was also given a title deed by the governor of South Kivu at the Kavimvira ceremony, said some Congolese exiles refuse to return because they remain concerned about the situation.

"Some refugees in Tanzania are not coming back because they don't believe they will get access to their land and belongings and this is an essential condition for them to return," she said, while adding that she was happy she had come back and acquired ownership of her land. "I am happy because my children will benefit from this land, even when I am no longer on this earth."

More than 60,000 Congolese refugees still live in Tanzania and 29,000 in Burundi. UNHCR and the DRC authorities are working with the governments of the two host countries to find durable solutions for these people.

By Simplice Kpandji in Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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CITIES’ CRIME PREVENTION GUIDELINE BY UN AGENCIES

CITIES’ CRIME PREVENTION GUIDELINE BY UN AGENCIES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Cities can be made safer as shown by big cities such as New York and Manila where crime rates have significantly dropped in recent years. Such local peace & order initiatives just recently received a greater boost as United Nations agencies launched a Safer Cities Program.

The UN-Habitat and UNODC in particular officially released the guideline for crime prevention in urban areas entitled Introductory Handbook on Policing Urban Space. The guideline is tailor fit for rapidly growing cities in poor and middle income developing countries.

In my opinion, this book is a must-read by the police and LGUs of affected cities. The report is reflected below. Relevant agencies as well as policy & governance think-tanks better take hold of the book by contacting the UN agencies concerned.

[Philippines, 06 October 2011]

Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=10375&catid=7&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

UN-HABITAT and UNODC release guidelines to help prevent crime in urban areas.

Nairobi, Kenya, 14 Sept 11

Under the Safer Cities Program, UNODC and UNHABITAT have issued a handbook to help prevent crime in cities and towns. The handbook, entitled Introductory Handbook on Policing Urban Space provides policy makers and practitioners, including government officials, police, municipal planners and members of civic groups, with strategies and good governance practices to help understand crime and crime prevention patterns in order to better control crime trends in rapidly growing cities in low- and middle-income countries.

Among the promising practices highlighted in the handbook are: state officials must establish links between police and other state institutions in order to effectively incorporate security concerns into wider government efforts; city planners should contribute to discussions about security and develop relations with police; and collaboration between urban planners, civil society, government officials, police and communities is essential in combating crime.

The handbook examines a variety of crime control strategies, including community-oriented policing, problem-oriented policing, intelligence-led policing, situational crime prevention and crime prevention through environmental design. It also addresses broader principles of managing urban spaces to control crime and strategies for evaluating crime control programmes.

The handbook includes references to efforts to control crime in the following countries: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.

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CHINA LOCALS EXHIBIT CITY PROTOTYPES

CHINA LOCALS EXHIBIT CITY PROTOTYPES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

China is indubitably the biggest ‘emerging market’ in the global economy. It comprises 1.5 billion people who are getting more concentrated in rapidly growing urban communities.

Eastern China has seen its urbanization treble at dizzying pace since 1980 yet. Development in the coastal regions have already reached maturity-to-overdevelopment (led by Shenzen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong), with urban saturation point about to reach the limits to growth.

Models of planned urban development should be perfected by Western China locals in particular, as they are now experiencing high growth economic booms that the East went through over the past two decades. To exemplify the agenda for such a planning success, the Chinese province of Zhejiang opened an exhibit on cities at Nairobi very recently.

The report on the exhibition is shown below.

[Philippines, 19 August 2011]

Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=9928&catid=7&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

Chinese province holds exhibition on human settlements

Nairobi, 26 May 11
The Chinese province of Zhejiang on Thursday unveiled an exhibition on human settlements development at the United Nations Office at Nairobi in Gigiri.

The exhibition has pictures depicting various aspects of life in Zhejiang, including countryside images, historical edifices as well as architectural and engineering masterpieces. Also being exhibited are books on Chinese history, culture, language, arts, architecture, environment and urban development. The books will be donated to UN-HABITAT at the end of the exhibition.

Speaking during the occasion, UN-HABITAT Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos praised the Chinese saying the country was attracting a lot of interest especially in the field of urbanization owing to its cities' rich cultural background and rapid urbanization.

"Chinese contribution to urbanization is very important and that is why we are very happy with this exhibition and the book donation. Because of rapid urbanization Chinese cities have become powerhouses for making China the biggest emerging economy in the world. Their experiences and lessons need to be shared with other cities around the world," he said.

The Executive Director hailed the Zhejiang Publishing United Group- the book donors- saying their gesture was appreciated by the agency. "Chinese language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. We need to diversify our information and collection in the UNON Library and therefore we need books about China to learn, study and to search, not only the long history and wisdom of ancient China but also the new policies and practices that make the new and strong China possible," he said.

In his speech, the deputy permanent representative of China to UN-HABITAT Mr. Zheng Guangda disclosed that the exhibition was the culmination of long discussions between his country and UN-HABITAT.

"The province of Zhejiang has taken the lead in this partnership but hopefully there will be more initiatives like this to follow because we want to expand understanding of China," he said.

The head of the Zhejiang delegation Mr. Mao Linsheng said the book donation was important not only from the cultural aspect but also due to the fact that they will help more and more people understand China better.

During the occasion, students from the Confucius Institute of the University of Nairobi entertained guests with a rendition of the all-time Kiswahili popular song Jambo Bwana and a Chinese number.

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IN AID OF CITIES: REGIONAL BANK SHOWCASE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Tapping Official Development Assistance or ODA by city administrators is no easy task to do. Often than not, a central/national government does the job of assessing local needs and recommending ODA allocations to specific towns and cities.

However, there are showcase cities in Asia that were able to tap World Bank funds directly for their development needs. One of them is Marikina for their infrastructure development. Another one is Quezon City, with a $300 million fund tapped for the development of North Triangle into a commercial hub. The two cities are component cities of the metropolitan Manila which is among the 35 or so ‘global nexus’ cities.

Such showcases of expertise and initiatives coming from the local government units or LGUs is surely a highly appreciable feat of self-reliance and good governance. Below is another showcase city in Asia, that of Tianshui City of China, moving along the same track as the Manila component cities.

[Philippines, 3 July 2011]

Source: http://beta.adb.org/news/adb-100-million-loan-upgrades-urban-services-western-prcs-tianshui-city

ADB $100 Million Loan Upgrades Urban Services in Western PRC's Tianshui City

Date

30 Jun 2011

Countries

China, People's Republic of

Subjects

Environment; Urban development; Water supply and sanitation

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending a $100 million loan to upgrade urban services and improve living conditions in Tianshui City in Gansu―one of the poorest and least developed provinces in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The ADB Board of Directors yesterday approved the loan for the Gansu Tianshui Urban Infrastructure Project, which will fund new roads and bridges, strengthen flood control facilities, and introduce a new environmentally friendly heating system using recycled wastewater. The project will deliver health and environmental benefits to around 670,000 residents in and around the city and create hundreds of jobs.

Tianshui lies along the ancient Silk Road trading route and has, like many cities in western PRC, lagged eastern and southern counterparts in terms of economic growth, investment, and poverty reduction. The PRC government is moving to redress that imbalance under its current five-year plan through to 2015.

Upgrading the existing district heating network to improve service quality and reduce harmful pollutants from coal-fired boilers and stoves is a key goal of the ADB project. A new transmission network will also be funded to carry recycled wastewater to a combined heat and power plant with the resultant hot water then piped back for heating needs.

“Reusing wastewater for district heating will improve air quality, reduce the need for municipal subsidies and improve affordability for the poor,” said Barry Reid, Senior Finance Specialist in ADB's East Asia Department.

A flood control embankment more than 10 km long will be built to combat seasonal overflows from the Xi and Wei rivers while the road improvements will help make the city’s transport system safer and more efficient. The project will also support government efforts to turn the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone into a key area of sustainable growth and investment for the northwest of the country.

Along with ADB, the China Development Bank is extending over $68 million and the Tianshui Municipal Government over $61 million, for a total project cost of nearly $230 million. The Tianshui Municipal Government is the executing agency for the project which is due for completion in December 2016.

GRANDEUR AND MAGNIFICENCE IN ASIA’S CITIES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good day to my fellow global citizens!

The year had just kicked off, and we’re already witnessing the contrast in images projected in the mass media between East and West. Just notice the projections regarding urban life in each hemisphere, and you can see the differences in the images.

Asian cities have been projecting themes of cooperation, growth, exquisite city plans, 21st century architectural wonders, and these themes were projected well despite the typical urban problems of decay (congestion, pollution, traffic jams). In contrast, those of Western cities’ projected crimes, street protests, snow storms, floods (e.g. Australia’s), and related pessimistic images.

Coming from the East makes me feel with awe and pride about the transfigurations that our own emerging markets and big cities are going through. Our economies are clearly the drivers of the world economy, our investments and treasuries in the West largely keep their economies alive, and our growth and rising middle class make for our urban accomplishments as well.

Whereas before our cities were citadels of flies, malaria, squalor, and crimes, today our big cities have mutated to model skyscrapers, exquisite urban plans with many mixed land use commercial centers, architectural wonders & cultural innovations, and multi-cultural cooperation. Peoples of the West who are truly appreciative of our feats would normally experience their jaws drop in awe over the marvels that our big cities can show to them.

Among recent depictions, I recall vividly the images of Christmas trees in malls all over Asia even in countries that are Buddhist, Hindu, and Moslem. Asian urbanites are showing the way to how a former sectarian event—the Christmas holidays—can be globalized and celebrated by every nation, race, and culture. Buddhist children in Thailand for instance showed deep fondness for Santa Claus and Christmas, so their respective schools respected their fondness and celebrated Christmas as well.

In Indonesia, Moslem workers were shown preparing the finishing touches for Christmas decors, Christmas trees, food & delicacies for the Christmas event, and related paraphernalia. Many of the exported decors from Indonesia’s Muslims reached the Philippines, with some of the Christmas lights reaching our home in suburban highlands east of Manila. China’s toys, Christmas lights, delicatessen, wines, and holiday paraphernalias made us equally happy as did the Indonesians.

Scenes of Asian cities celebrating the New Year—largely the Western New Year based on the Gregorian calendar—were well projected on television, internet, and print media. Taipei 101, the 2nd highest building worldwide, had its equivalent scenes of pyrotechnic fireworks and revelry of people in its surrounds. Such an event happened in all the big cities of Asia, rest assured.

Beijing with its trade exposition buildings, wondrous streets, magnificent palaces, and other marvels, were among those projected in the media. The world’s largest mall is in this city, and is owned and built by the SM Group of companies of the Philippines (owned by the Sy family).

The cities of Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Calcutta, Shanghai, Shenzen, Mumbai, Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka, Dubai, Abu Dhabi among others, were also projected with each one having their contributions to the grandeur of 21st century life and the bright beginnings of 2011. Till now the very positive projections of lustrous performance and compass of the future in such cities are still being churned out in the mass media.

Contrast those images to the still prolonged floods in Australia (cities affected too), another round of snow storms in the USA, massacre in Arizona by a sociopathic young man, hundreds of deaths in Mexico (how many dead in Acapulco? Mexico city?...), continuing protests in Europe over austerity measures and rising poverty,…well, negative images dominate those reportorials about Western cities, with some images shocking and unnerving.

Before the year 2010 ended, an American lady (professional) whom I met in a social network, shared to me a videofilm of hers about “3rd World America.” Depicting huge poverty incidence in the USA coupled with urban decay, huge income disparities between rich & poor, and deterioration of the once mighty physical economy there, the short feature film struck a cord. It amplified scenes of 3rd world deteriorations in America at this time, degenerations that we analysts thought would take place in the next decade yet.

The film was hair raising and admittedly effective in portraying its intentions. Knowing the rapid ‘decline of the West’ (ala Spengler) that is going on in the industrialized world, I could only but hope for a reversal of degenerative trends there, trends that are likewise manifested in the negative images about the Western cities.

Maybe it’s time that Western peoples should look up to the themes and images projected by Eastern cities, watch and learn from our nascent innovations and urban marvels, and hope that the experience could help to reverse the deepening pessimism and nihilism going on in Western cities and nations.

[Philippines, 19 January 2011]

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WATER RIOTS IN MANILA: TOO SOON!

water, nature, ecology, environment, climate change, Manila, water wars, war, peace, Erle Argonza, Philippines, technorati, Asia, economics, urban, post-industrial,

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good evening from the Philippines!

A water crisis is now looming big in Manila (the entire metropolis), the Philippine’s premier big city. The western side of the big city is particularly badly affected by pilferages and spillages (over 55% lost), thus reducing the volume of water available to around 7 million people more or less.

Such a situation has been causing panic lately on urban residents, a panic that could lead to water riots. The western side of the big city is flatlands, which renders it vulnerable to floods and consequent destruction of water pipelines during calamities. Contrast that to the eastern side that comprises of highlands where watershed areas are nestled.

Just recently, the palace officials in Manila have been pronouncing the mobilization of army troops to help deter possible water riots. This is a new twist in the history of army missions, as the mission is one of police task in an urban setting (most army missions comprise of anti-insurgency tasks in rural hinterlands).

The outbreak of water conflicts right at the heart of Manila appears culled from the futuristic narratives of Isaac Asimov. The sci-fi genius prophesied (right after World War II) that the future will see communities divided between suburban highlands and urban lowlands. The residents of the suburbs, whose living comfort in gated villages is accompanied by robot sentinels, will comprise the upper class, while those of the urban lowlands, who will be exposed to the hovels of pollution, will comprise the lower class.

The urban-suburban divide seems to be gelling so fast in this country today. The water crisis caught palace officials and utilities bureaucrats flatfooted, even as they have been acting in near-hysteria fashion. A water war right in the big city is looming ahead, and there’s nothing in the management textbooks of the officials that can offer them quick solutions to an escalating crisis.

I do recall well that in the late 1990s, when I went back to graduate school to hone my skills in development policy via retooling with state-of-the-art analysis and social technologies, we already forecast the possibility of water wars (during classroom discussions). At that time, certain towns in the Cordilleras (mountain range to the north) began matter-of-factly to quarrel over water source and distribution. And so the challenge for us development workers was to craft mitigation measures that can deter such wars.

As soon as the new millennium began, Singapore and Malaysia did have some diplomatic confrontation regarding the issue of Singapore’s access to water sources found in Malaysia. The water source, so to speak, was getting depleted, thus slowly disabling Singapore from meeting its water needs. Desalination was the strategic solution to the problem, a surefire solution by Singapore’s visionary leaders that averted another conflict between the two polities (the earlier conflict led to Singapore’s separation from the Malaysian federation).

Certain policy experts and development workers are quite prepared for the eventuality of water wars in this 2nd world country, true. But those in the palace and even the legislature just may not have that luck of being exposed to new policy and institutional tools to deal with water-based conflicts.

Certainly too, the local execs and bureaucrats of Manila are unprepared for such a gargantuan crisis and eminent conflict based on water access and distribution. They haven’t retooled, and I know this for a fact based on my interaction with local officials known to me in the big city. They are mired in the old world, a world that is long gone (10 years ago in today’s context of rapid change is too long a time gone).

A water-based Asimovian nightmare is shaping up fast in Manila, and probably in other mega-cities around the world as well, a nightmare that is over-stretching the competencies of Establishment bureaucrats and politicians. The crisis exacerbates the urgency for urban lowland dwellers to leave the flatlands once and for all for the greener and water-rich highland suburbs, which could be the lowlanders’ panic complex response.

As an analyst and development practitioner, I am critical of any decision to use police state tactics to resolve the crisis. Scare tactics won’t let the problem fade away at all. The stakeholders better do their homework well, by getting together to dialogue, think and act. Through good all consensus they can configure what course of action to take that includes desalination of waters off Manila Bay.

Meantime, I am now all the more discouraged from ever residing or working in urban flatlands. Safely niched in Manila’s western highlands and suburban Calabarzon for the longest part of my life, I’d now rather heed the Asimovian option of better living in the suburbs, with or without the robot sentinels in our subdivision villages.

[Philippines, 23 July 2010]


[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,
UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com,
COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,
BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,
ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

QUEZON CITY – MANILA’S BEST PERFORMING

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Good afternoon from Manila!

A most gladdening news about my city of residence, the suburban Quezon City, is that it ended up as the best performing city in the latest urban study by the Asian Institute of Management or AIM.

Primarily suburban, residential-government center-education in land use, this city had since grown to integrate mixed land use concepts in its renewal and development efforts. With a technocratic mayor at the helm, Sonny Belmonte, who was former president of the national champion Philippine Airlines, vowed to expand commercial engagements all the more and build more ambitious projects.

Witnessing the bankability of this city, the World Bank didn’t have 2nd thoughts in extending a financing package worth P3 Billion for developing the North Triangle area. The new mixed land use area is now rapidly rising, even as the ‘Sillicon Valley’ techno-park in neighboring University of the Philippines is shaping up and will be launched soon.

The news item about the bright situation of the city is summed up below.

[06 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to yahoo.com database news.]
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MANILA, Philippines – A week after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA), the local executive of Quezon City on Monday delivered his own version of the annual report to his constituents.

Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr reported before local city officials that the Quezon City government has aced two important factors needed to become a "well-run city" – these are: good governance and a growing economy.

"I am happy to note that we are getting good grades in both," Belmonte said in his seventh State of the City Address (SOCA), held at the Quezon City Hall.

Belmonte, who boasted having spoken before German and Singaporean audiences abroad to talk about the city's urban management strategy, said his government is determined to maintain the distinction of being the most competitive city in Metro Manila, as named by the Asian Institute of Management.

After recording its sixth consecutive annual budget surplus totaling to P283 million last year, Belmonte said their government has the right amount of tools to fuel their development programs for the years to come.

He said that the local government would be spending the next two years in alleviating poverty and unemployment in the city, by focusing on key sectors such as education, business and public works.

Belmonte delivered his almost hour-long "QC-style SONA" during an event that saw the coming together of local city government officials from regular councilors and village captains to well-known local leaders like QC vice mayor Herbert Bautista and celebrity couple Harlene Bautista and Romnick Sarmenta.

'Ten-fold' education

Belmonte, in his speech, emphasized the local government's commitment to strengthen further the education system, especially after the city's schools division ranked number one in Metro Manila in the National Achievement Tests for Elementary.

In the last six years since 2001, the Quezon City mayor said 87 more public elementary and high school buildings have been erected, providing almost 1,500 new classrooms. Currently, nearly 500,000 children are enrolled in the city public schools in the primary and secondary levels.

"Education is our biggest human resource investment channel. This is where we can maximize the use of our resources and spread the gains," Belmonte said.
Part of encouraging the city's young students to brush up on their studies is the "ten-fold" upgrade of the financial assistance awarded to class valedictorians and salutatorians – the previous P24,000 in stipend and tuition coverage every school year has shot up to P100,000.

The city's focus on education had even gone on to extend to the disabled youth, with more than 200 of them getting allowances and supplies.

As part of the school program, some 9,000 public teachers would undergo a comprehensive training under the "Training for Outstanding Performance in Education."

Belmonte added that around 13,000 Grade 1 pupils would also benefit from the city's feeding program while thousands of job hunters would get training in call center operations, as well as computer and cell phone repair.

The health sector has also benefited in the government's intensified efforts toward development, according to Belmonte, wherein the PhilHealth coverage has extended to more than 47,000 beneficiaries already.

As well, an ordinance is being eyed to develop a comprehensive and sustainable sanitation and septage management program to address the waste problem in the city. Belmonte also mused the government's saving of around P7 million by reducing biogas emission.
Public works

Meanwhile, leading the local government's infrastructure projects is the linking of major thoroughfare sprawled all over the city, including the connection of the Commonwealth Avenue and Quirino Highway; the Katipunan Ave and Commonwealth Ave; and Mindanao and Visayas avenues.

But the public works effort of the government does not only center in the widening and connecting of roads and highways, but also trickles down to the very walkways that people trek.

Belmonte encouraged peoples to walk more for them to cope with the soaring prices of oil.

"At this period of escalating gasoline prices, encouraging more people to walk is also good for our health and our pocket," Belmonte said.

Business beyond this term

He said that the business sector in the city has grown in the last six years, with number of registered businesses jumping from 30,000 last 2001 to over 53,000 last year.

He added he expected the numbers to grow further especially since the securing of business permits has been made faster and easier.

He cited as an example the government's practice – to drive in entrepreneurs - of allowing aspiring businessmen to begin the construction of their establishments while their papers are still being processed.

Although triggering uproar from affected residents, the local government, through a P3-billion project with the World Bank, is currently in the early stages of transforming a major area in the city – the North and East Triangles – into a leading business district that would rival that of Makati's.

"We have set the pace for transformation in Quezon City, and are laying the foundations to help make sure that these gains will last beyond this term," Belmonte said. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES GREEN THE EARTH, THEY DON'T DESERVE TO PERISH!

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Magandang hapon! (Good afternoon!)

I remember very well my first anthropology. I was then around 6 or 7 years old, a very innocent tot growing up in Tuguegarao (capital town of Cagayan). Among our yaya (child caregivers) was a young lady from Penablanca town just beside Tuguegarao, where the yaya invited my family for a visit one day.

In the neighbor town of Penablanca did I first encounter the Aetas (Atta in Ibanag language) who were natural inhabitants there, in the mountainous Sierra Madre side of the town. My eyes got transfixed on a little man, dark and kinky haired, and I looked at him wide-eyed without batting an eyelash, full of questions inside my head. Why was he looking so different, so diminutive in body built and height?

For the first time too did I see a White man, who entered my yaya’s house while I was still probing this small man. My gaze then got transferred to the huge man, and I was so wide-eyed then. It was surely bewildering for this innocent Erle Frayne to see the seemingly colossal White figure juxtaposed, upon his entry, to the dwarfish Dark man. What a strange world!

I always laugh with guffaws whenever I recall those days of innocence. I never thought that I’d some day I would take up sociology and anthropology (and later political economy), was enabled to comprehend the matter of ethnicity and race with greater depth and comprehension, and become a full-fledged social scientist. I also had Eros bonds with White ladies as soon as I reached middle age (one American, one European), and they shared banters with me whenever I narrated my first anthropology.

One thing that impressed me since that time on, when I met my first Aeta ‘subject’, was that the IPs were a bunch of folks who cared for their environment a lot. I remember that the Aeta man brought along lots of herbs, some of which were medicinal. I was also showed their huts when I went down the house to curiously see what things were in that area, and I saw lots of pets, livestock, gardens of families who were both Itawes (mainstream locals) and Aetas. Loves of my life all!

Having been exposed to diverse ethnicities as a child, I developed that sensitivity and multi-cultural orientation early. And I deeply scorned people who made fun of Aetas or any IP whatsoever. Likewise did I scorn folks who made fun of or disrespected ethnicities that weren’t of their own kind. Inside the classroom we were mixed Ibanags, Ilocanos, Itawes, Chinese, mestizos with European blood, and Tagalogs, and we loved each other’s company. In Penablanca they had IPs among the grade school classes mixing up with the Itawes. How pugnacious it was to hear ethnic profiling bigots!

Those experiences were very, very important as I’d find out later. Coupled with the sensitivity that I learned from my grandfather, who reared us grandchildren to do gardening, take care of pets and livestock, assured me of my ‘green consciousness’ early in life. The same experiences were also contributory to my choice to practice development work, and to go back to Cagayan upon graduation from the premier university in Quezon City (MetroManila) later.

After graduation I plunged right away into field works as part of my community development tasks for the Ministry of Human Settlements. I encountered the Aetas in the process. There was no lack of sympathy and partnering between us development professionals and the IPs then, as we did with the peasants and fisherfolks. IPs, peasants and fishers comprised the most marginalized sectors of Cagayan Valley at that time, and I guess since this time. We did everything we can within the limits of our mandated powers and tasks to get the IPs to the mainstream, including funding livelihood concerns.

Through all of my interactions with the IPs (including the Igorots of Cordillera), I was very conclusive about my observation that they had great respect for Mother Earth. Their practices of subsistence farming, hunting and foraging assured that the ecological balance will always be conserved, thus sustaining resource endowments for the forthcoming generations. They prayed before they would cut a tree, butcher a livestock (notably deer, cattle, swine), and hunting, ensuring a profound bond with the Earth and its endowments.

Having immersed myself in their lives, it surely pains me whenever I see every discriminatory and/or prejudicial act done to mistreat the IPs. Those narratives of native Americans who were rendered as target shooting fodder for White Americans during the Eastward expansion era fills me with rage. The continuing mistreatment of our IPs here, who are treated merely as ‘3rd world’ subordinates by their own city and town fellows, remain among the social issues of my advocacies.

If I were given a choice about which people to perish in the competitive decades ahead, between the urban parasites (who live in subsidies and food stumps from state and private Santa Claus) and IPs (who remain to be ecology balance conservers and self-reliance exemplars amid their simple life), I would prefer to see those urban laggards be swept off the Earth. But I don’t control the future, and who knows the urban laggards can be reformed, reshaped, microchipped for better control and productive behavior.

The Philippines is now 60% urban and barely 40% rural. If 1.5% were added to the urban population every year (which is too conservative an estimate), urban population will hit the 90% mark in 2028, and past the 97% mark in 2040. By that time, the dividing line will be largely the ‘urban-suburban’ divide, as anything ‘rural’ will simply be considered exotic.

I wonder where will that future context leave the IPs. Will they all become post-marginal and absorbed into the mainstream, behaving much like their urban and suburban fellows? Or will they simply silently disappear? I am no god incidentally, only a mortal who raises questions like anybody else.

[Writ 10 June 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]