The case for social cities

Inclusivity - sharing the city

A social city is inclusive, meaning it allows every citizen, regardless of their background, to participate in its social, economic, cultural and political opportunities. This includes planning urban transport systems to be accessible and convenient for everyone, including people with disabilities. It also means providing social housing to the poor and supporting informal economy workers, since they provide essential public services like recycling waste and selling food.

Collaboration – creating the city

A social city fosters collaboration between civil-society actors. Even with limited resources, residents and civil-society organizations have shown their ability to collaborate to positively impact their local community during the Corona crisis. In Myanmar, these groups raised awareness, organized food donations and sold masks at cheaper prices. In Vietnam, civil-society actors donated food, masks, and even invented a “rice ATM” to support poor households with free helpings of up to 3kg rice a day.

Participation - transforming the city

A social city is a city that allows for citizens to participate in planning processes. As recent protests on the streets of Hong Kong and Bangkok have shown, citizens are using public spaces to voice their opinions and show discontent. To transform a city into a social city, citizen participation shouldn’t be limited to formal processes. Residents should have forums to debate policies related to urban issues as well as make use of streets, parks and city squares to vote with their feet.

Constructing a social city

Smart technological solutions are often viewed as a way to solve the various urban challenges, the most recent example being two healthcare apps developed by the Vietnamese government to both gather and spread information related to the coronavirus pandemic. But without the cooperation of citizens in downloading and using the apps, as well as actively supporting other COVID-19-related regulations, this measure would not have been effective. In this case, the issue of data protection might limit public cooperation as well as transferability. In other cases, like using smart technologies for waste management, a lack of expertise or regulatory pressure might impede implementation.

Cities need to empower their citizens to be a part of the solution by constructing social cities that allow for inclusivity, collaboration and participation. The increased quality of life will foster solidarity across different groups of society as well as free-up space for the creativity needed for innovation in our cities. That way social cities can improve the capacity of citizens and thereby, cities to not only survive, but take on challenges, without destroying the environment or further increasing inequalities.