Kerwin Datu
Kerwin Datu is editor-in-chief of The Global Urbanist.
Authors
Book review: Death of a Suburban Dream: race and schools in Compton, California by Emily E Straus
Emily E Straus takes on three critical issues which have shaped the Los Angeles suburb: the history of race and educational equity, the relationship between schools and place, and the intersection of schooling and municipal economies.
Renewing our mission: maintaining a critical perspective on cities
Founder and outgoing editor-in-chief Kerwin Datu reflects on our purpose in a changing media world.
Africa's Urban Revolution, part 2: de-urbanisation is futile
Sean Fox's provocative new theory that urbanisation is driven by demographic transition, not by economic growth, and that even rural development initiatives will directly cause increased urban populations.
Africa's Urban Revolution, part 1: the second-generation policies our cities need
How policies surrounding issues such as decentralisation, food security and armed conflict must now adapt to the maturing of Africa's urbanisation experience.
The road to Habitat III: a wake-up call to the New Urban Agenda
We set out our intentions for the next two years leading to Habitat III in 2016, with a call to think beyond the tick-a-box approach to the Habitat Agenda currently being encouraged.
What the Habitat III Agenda fails to consider
We argue that the Habitat III Agenda currently on the table comprises several serious omissions, including any acknowledgement that conflict routinely arises in urban areas.
Ending discriminatory development: a truly new Habitat III Agenda
We propose mechanisms to resolve the conflict that arises in urban areas in a routine manner, with recommendations in the areas of democratisation, accountability, and statistical capacities.
A network analysis approach to the Syrian dilemma
A chart doing the rounds of social media shows what a tangled mess the Middle East is. But if we tease it apart, we see a region neatly divided into two camps; it's just that one is divided amongst itself.
Istanbul and Rio protests show that "cities matter", but urbanists shouldn't be too triumphant
It's too easy to overlay an urbanist narrative onto the past month's protests. It's more important to see how the protests contradict even some pro-urban discourses, and to reform the world's police forces.
England's experiment with neighbourhood planning brings ethnic tensions to the surface
In a quiet London suburb two rival "neighbourhood forums" put forward under new "localism" laws have brought religious and cultural divisions into the light.
A tiny step closer to an enforceable right to housing
With Uruguay ratifying the Optional Protocol of the ICESCR, ten countries will soon have a right to housing somewhat enforceable under international law.
2012 in review: How democracy is forcing itself onto the global urban agenda
This year we have been compelled to denounce evictions and discrimination, but have also heard the call that questions of identity cannot be sidestepped.
Paris: city of suburbs? Restructuring the little city-museum
Kerwin Datu reflects on the available options for reuniting Paris with its extensive suburbs.
'People Before Profit': what do forced evictions look like?
Witness' documentary People Before Profit portrays forced evictions around the world, expressing the trauma that citizens feel when their homes and possessions are violently taken from them.
How can we enforce the right to adequate housing and end the culture of impunity?
In a second review of issues raised at this month's World Urban Forum in Naples, we look at the progress being made to create enforcement mechanisms for the human right to adequate housing.
The four keys to urban expansion identified at the World Urban Forum
Global urban policy and quantitative research are converging on a single conclusion: that spatial planning of new urban expansion areas is one of the most important tasks to make urbanisation sustainable.
Our cities need a global political debate, not just politically correct ideas
Our editors exhort the global urban development community to raise the level of media debate from awareness building to constructive engagement with the political conflicts that confront our cities.
The global urban agenda must focus on employment and income levels, not just housing and services
Kerwin Datu argues that the global urban development community has lost sight of its own agenda, and must focus on urban employment and income levels alongside its obsession with housing and services.
Demolition of Makoko, 'the Venice of Lagos', is violence against human rights as well as urban beauty
This month the Lagos State Government has begun demolishing Makoko, one of the world's most iconic informal settlements, with a violence resulting in at least one death and in contravention of international law.
How logistics operators and local authorities are learning to deliver on sustainability
The world's biggest logistics company maintains its largest African hub in Lagos. Kerwin Datu take a tour and learn how logistics operators and local authorities are learning to make the industry more sustainable.
The buying and selling of African city futures
The Economist conference 'Future Cities: managing Africa's urban transformation' was held in Lagos last month. A rosy picture for foreign investors, but what kind of future is being offered the ordinary African?
Africa is not urbanising rapidly. Now what do we do?
Africa is not urbanising as rapidly as we think. What are the implications for the business world, or for the possibilities for local economic development?
Has our focus on housing distracted us? Towards a right to space
Slum neighbourhoods are teeming with industry and commerce, yet the policy sphere still tends to treat them as residential spaces alone. What are the consequences of this misconception, and is it time to invoke a right to space, not just of housing?
Not all grand plans can be great plans: evaluating Foster's Thames Hub vision
There is much to be commended, and much to be weeded out, in Foster's vision for a new London airport in the Thames Estuary and the proposal for a new transport, utilities and data spine running the length of the country.
How Bangalore's non-profit sector is picking up the slack on technical capacity building
Governments in many places can exhibit a loss in the basic competencies required for effective urban planning. In the UK and India, some of the slack is picked up by the private and non-profit sectors, with surprising and innovative results.
Happiness and misery on five dollars, one dollar, or fifteen cents a day
There is much happiness and much misery amongst the urban poor, as these portraits of three households in Manila testify. The point is not to draw lines between them, but to accept that poverty has several gradations, all of which require assistance.
Seeking a global urban agenda: The Global Urbanist Debates
Who sets the global urban agenda? What are the world's urban priorities? What should they be? Three international experts and a roomful of readers battled out these questions and more.
The other 'middleweights': new hopes for old cities in the West
A bold future may await rust belt cities in North America and Europe if asset manager Pippa Malmgren's vision of smart manufacturing hubs and recent research on revitalised industrial centres come to fruition.
Urban prosperity doesn't automatically mean gender equality
While there is a strong relationship between increasing urbanisation and increasing prosperity, it cannot be assumed that inequalities such as gender are reduced at the same time.
Philippines: mobilising savings rates is part of the key to universal housing
Singapore's experience suggests that housing supply can be increased only when matched by aggressive demand-side policies.
Manila to relocate 500,000 informal residents ... but to where?
The Philippine government is planning to demolish 104,000 homes across Manila. Everyone involved knows that this is a bad idea, yet we have no international framework to stop them going ahead.
It's mindless for leaders to denounce the violence in London instead of fixing the problem
While many are outraged, it is senseless for city leaders to sow further division and resentment by dismissing young looters, especially when the systemic causes have been hidden in plain sight for decades.
Mapping the way to a more accessible bus network
Bus maps can play a role in drawing people into greater engagement with the city they live in.
London's useless bus route 'spider maps' due for an overhaul
It's time to revisit London's bus maps, whose design is so poor they often don't even show any destinations!
Riyadh's Wadi Hanifah suggests a model for sustainable water reuse in desert cities
The greatest achievement of the Wadi Hanifah may be its potential to provide water for up to three million people.
Now to walk the walk on service delivery in South Africa
South Africa's recent local elections were a minor milestone on the road to democracy. Now it's time for the DA to show they can deliver on policy.
The slow-moving beast of urban political science
The Politics of Urban Governance by Jon Pierre leaves too many questions unanswered to bring any new energy to the science of urban politics.
Politics needs to be part of the global urban agenda
Authorities meet in Nairobi this week to set the agenda for UN-HABITAT, but domestic politics makes a lot of that agenda impossible. How can we put domestic politics back on the table?
DfID withdrawal from UN-HABITAT displays naivety on slums
DfID's decision to withdraw from UN-HABITAT demonstrates an ignorance of the contradictions in the mainstream development agenda, and the intractability of the problems facing urban areas.
Coming out of the shadows: connecting Australia's secondary centres
We argue for a sense of global ambition for Australia's regional cities and outer suburban centres, and that the issues that confront smaller cities be brought out of the shadows of the megacity.
What's a national urban policy for? Three scenarios for Australian cities
A national urban policy must set the strategy for the national urban system--the balancing of small, medium and large cities--and offer a 'global city' future for Australia's regional cities and outer suburban centres.
Can you have a private city? The political implications of 'smart city' technology
The political questions that face local authorities seeking to implement 'smart city' technologies within their cities.
European cities getting smarter about parking policy
Congestion charging isn't the only way to disincentivise drivers. Many cities are being very clever with parking policy, using pricing, regulations and design to make commuters think twice about relying on their cars.
Bullish on Africa's cities: the case of Khartoum, Sudan
The international community is increasingly optimistic about the wealth generated in Africa's cities. But with rising slum populations projected from the same trends, how shall the former overcome the latter?
Enrique Peñalosa and the mathematics of democracy
Applying the principle of democratic equality to the planning of road space leads to powerful arguments for the pedestrianisation of our streets and the expansion of bus and cycle networks.
The pros and cons of relocating a capital city
Transferring the national government to a new city is an escapism that won't solve Jakarta's problems.
From egalitarianism to urbanism: notes on a moral philosophy of urban commentary
While governments remain focused on economic indicators and the image a city projects, writers who wish to remain egalitarian must discount both of these in favour of the basic needs of all people.
Understanding the interpersonal dimension of gender and poverty
The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty edited by Sylvia Chant explores how some of the noblest intentions in development can be undermined by the interpersonal dimension of poverty.
Reinventing the shack will not get the poor out of slum conditions
Vijay Govindarajan's proposal to design a $300 one-room shed to solve the world's housing problems is riddled with stereotypes and prejudices.
What role do city networks play in international development?
In the world's wealthy regions, economic activity is articulated through networks uniting cities around the world. So shouldn't we also be looking to intercity networks as the key to international development?
A city doesn't need a centre! (But it does need realistic planning)
The cities of the twenty-first century are too big for the old hub-and-spokes models; cities like Los Angeles, London and Sydney should be planned as tapestries, with ruthless disregard for the traditional dominance of our city centres.
Six months on, Haiti reconstruction has ground to a halt
Customs officials blocking supplies, international donors blocking funds, and land owners blocking redevelopment: a wrap-up of international reporting on the stalled reconstruction efforts in Haiti.
Relocation policies do not excuse forced evictions, still a denial of human rights
Forced evictions are usually illegal, yet they are increasingly routine for many governments, assisted by international institutions. Rather than helping governments justify evictions, institutions need to steer governments towards true 'voluntarism'.
Alan Gilbert and the future of urban development geography
As colleagues and past students celebrate the career of the British geographer Alan Gilbert, Kerwin Datu reflects on the direction of research into urban poverty…
How should private developers take responsibility for Manila?
Manila's urban landscape is characterised by ineffective government planning alongside strong, ambitious private sector developers. Arguably, the city will only develop economically if the private sector takes over the role of planning the whole metropolis.
105,000 Australians are homeless ... and more young women than you think
With rent prices up sky high around the country, more and more young Australian women are drifting from couch to couch, leaning on friends and sleeping with strangers rather than end up on the streets.
Why a 100-mile Paris metropole is just a rhetorical dream
Formally, rhetorically and economically, the 100-mile metropole touted by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his advisor Jacques Attali stands for a lot less than we would like to imagine.
How mayors can learn strategically on climate change: C40 Cities
The clear strategies employed by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group to exchange lessons and best practices on climate change action between mayors provide a great lesson in knowing what one can really achieve, in order to fully achieve it.
The poor clashing with the poor over electricity in Soweto
While residents in the Soweto suburb of Protea South clash with shack dwellers over electricity…
Rahul Mehrotra and the "kinetic city": designing for informality in Mumbai
Mumbai architect and MIT Professor of Architecture Rahul Mehrotra argues that the positive aspects of the kinetic city or bazaar city that Mumbai embodies must be embraced to overcome the false formal v. informal conception of the city and to turn density into economic opportunity.
Bill Easterly and why we don't know how to solve poverty
Last night's presentation by development economist William Easterly demonstrated very well the ignorance of most economists when it comes to understanding the connections between poverty and growth.
The Global Urban Agenda - 16 May 2010
Monthly reflections from The Global Urbanist.
This month's topic: the international relations of cities.
This article was first released as an email newsletter on Sunday, 16 May 2010 to our subscribers, and posted here on Friday, 28 May.
Lagosians respond to Welcome to Lagos
Last week we published a review of the BBC Two documentary Welcome to Lagos, which has been criticised by many arms of Nigerian government.
It's the Nigerian government clinging to colonial ideas, not the makers of BBC2 documentary 'Welcome to Lagos'
The Nigerian government is demonstrating a strangely Eurocentric mindset in its display of anger over the BBC2 documentary, Welcome to Lagos, which shows only a people who are resourceful, enterprising, organised and content.
Pasig river cleanup looks murkier from slum dwellers' perspective
While Manila's corporate philanthropists such as the ABS-CBN Foundation are to be applauded for tackling some of the biggest development problems in the city, they need to become much more enterprising in how to solve those problems…
Measuring the world's largest cities: the UN's latest revision of world urban population projections
A list of the world's largest urban agglomerations for 2010, following the release of UN-DESA's revised World Urbanization Prospects tabling population predictions for the world's cities.
We've got more than a century of infrastructure spending to catch up on
That the world's leaders have renewed their focus on infrastructure in recent years is a good thing. Whether they can retain that focus long enough to overcome centuries of neglect by colonial and independent leaders is another matter.
A missed opportunity: reviewing UN-HABITAT's State of the World's Cities 2010/2011 report
UN-HABITAT's State of the World's Cities reports, like the World Bank's World Development Reports, do not so much document how the world has progressed from year to year as they do portray the evolving research interests of the two institutions.
The beginning or the end of the urban age?
Almost too many articles on urbanisation in the popular media today begin by citing the fact that the majority of the world's population now lives in urban areas, as of 2005, 2007, 2008 or 2009, depending often on when the writer started paying attention!
The mega-regions of Africa in global perspective: an interview with Edgar Pieterse
On the occasion of the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Kerwin Datu speaks with Professor Edgar Pieterse, director of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, on retheorising the African city, the politics of Africa's mega-regions…
The right to proximity: understanding the World Urban Forum's "Right to the City"
The World Urban Forum opens today in Rio de Janeiro, under the slogan "Right to the City: bridging the urban divide." Recent advances in urban economics allow us to see that this is a fundamental part of how cities function, not a radical concept.
Haiti: Transitional shelters must be planned for livelihoods from the beginning
NGOs in Port-au-Prince are preparing to roll out thousands of transitional shelters--timber structures that they hope will withstand the hurricane season better than the tents, plastic sheets and other makeshift coverings currently being used.
What's going on in Barangaroo's communications office?
An unusually raw press release from the Barangaroo Delivery Authority's media team raises questions about the Authority's internal organisation.
The privatisation of East Darling Harbour
Lend Lease and Richard Rogers have won the right to develop the Barangaroo site in East Darling Harbour, overriding the Hill Thalis-led competition winning scheme.
Explaining the fuel crisis hitting Nigeria's cities
Despite being one of the world's largest producers and exporters of oil, Nigeria has been gripped by fuel scarcity at its filling stations for a week. A round-up of articles attempting to explain the current crisis.
Welcome to the Global Urbanist!!
Today we launch the Global Urbanist, an online newspaper on urban affairs from cities across the developed and developing world. Click through the headline to read a letter from the editorial team.
Hints of reform for China's hukou system
The Chinese government hints at relaxing the hukou system, but only for smaller cities and towns, while Beijing fiddles with the management of its floating population.