(Draft)
Democracy and Social Participation in Latin American Cities1
Diego Carrión M.2
Abstract
At a national level, democratisation, structural adjustment, state reform –which
includes decentralisation-, and liberalisation of the economy –which includes
privatisation-, have introduced dramatic changes in LAC societies and cities.
These processes have challenged local governments to face new roles and to
strengthen their managerial capacity in order to cope with increasing urban problems
and people’s demands, while central governments transfer new responsibilities.
In response to state incapacity to address local problems, there has been a
consequent flourishing of organisations of civil society to engage in self-help, build
social networks and mutual support groups in order to meet their needs for basic
services.3
Deepening democracy and promoting popular participation for dealing with urban
matters requires guiding principles and methodological criteria. These should be
driven from the large experience gained in Latin American cities during past
decades.
1.
RE-READING THE CONTEXT
a.
Modernisation
Within the new world scenario, for the last number of years a series of social, economic
and political changes have begun to spread across the planet. Modernisation has made its
appearance, within the context of the parallel reorganization of capital and the State.
The reorganization of capital is expressed, on the one hand, in flexibilisation, which seeks
to eliminate legal and labour-union based forms of protection, and, on the other hand,
through de-regulation of the market, which seeks to stimulate the circulation of goods
and make it possible for private companies to fix prices and determine the quality of
consumer goods.
1
2
3
Paper presented at ESF/N-AERUS International Workshop, "Cities of the South: Sustainable for
whom?” (Group 2: Urban innovation and social participation: What role for the community?),
Geneva, Palais des Nations, May 3-6 2000.
Faculty of Architecture and Design, Catholic University of Ecuador. Centro de Investigaciones
CIUDAD. Quito, Ecuador
McCarney, P. (Ed.), The changing nature of local government in Developing Countries, Centre for
Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1996, p. 11.
1
The re-organization of the State seeks to redistribute a series of functions and attributes
towards non-governmental actors. The privatisation policy has meant that the more
profitable functions of the State are sold cheaply to large national and multinational
companies, while non-profitable social policies are handed over to municipalities, the
Church, NGO’s and inhabitants themselves. This is accompanied by the slimming of the
State, which includes lay-offs as well as reductions in public spending for productive
investments and social policy. Meanwhile, the State’s repressive apparatus, mechanisms
for controlling the population and political patronage networks remain intact.
b.
Globalisation
Key to this new scenario are processes through which national economies are becoming
internationalised, foreign trade is increasing, and a global economy is becoming
consolidated as transnational corporations grow stronger and implement new strategies.
Countries and cities are coming to depend to a greater degree on the dynamics and
behaviour of the globalised economy, in which the movement of capital, information and
inputs determine the patterns of the reorganisation of production and consumption.
Among these, the series of adjustments, the new rules being applied to local markets and
the dismantling of forms of social protection benefit only the very few, and provoke the
growing impoverishment of great sectors of the population.
c.
Latin America and the Caribbean: a highly urbanised region
One of the components of the new scenario in Latin America and the Caribbean, with
differences from country to country, is the tendency towards urbanisation. By the year
2000, the region will have more than 500 million inhabitants (more than Europe), and
70% of them living in urban areas. Currently, the region has 36 cities with more than 1
million inhabitants, two of the five largest cities of the world and 8 of the 50 largest
world’s cities. Urbanisation patterns in Latin America follow concentration in one or two
major cities, but also, in recent years it is observed an important development of medium
size cities.
A highly heterogeneous set of cities and towns. There are approximately 16,000
municipalities in the region. Cities and towns –even in their own countries- are very
diverse in size, location, economic and productive functions, history, culture, and
relationships with external environments and markets. Because of this heterogeneity, it is
difficult to speak about “the” Latin American city.
The concentration of the population in cities and towns, without meeting basic needs, has
caused a deterioration of the quality of life of the majority of inhabitants. Cities have not
made the adaptations necessary to receive this impact nor for the future.
The urbanisation phenomena in the midst of economic difficulties has meant that cities do
not have the necessary resources for maintenance and for new investments; the jobless
population is increasing; poverty is growing; private investments have dropped and the
norms of human neighbourliness and coexistence have been violated, giving way to
various forms of violence. Meanwhile, the popular sectors face increasing problems in
2
terms of access to housing and urban services, and it has become more difficult to
establish a context which could ensure forms of urban development which would be more
equitable, democratic, efficient, and environmentally sustainable.
2.
CONSOLIDATING DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP THROUGH
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND CVIL SOCIETY
As mentioned above, one of the central issues in the current reform of the State involves
the transfer of powers from the national level to local governments. A central purpose is
to relieve the institutions of national government and to transform the municipality,
assigning it roles and functions so that it can better provide services.
The challenge here is that this be accompanied by effective transfer of decision-making
power, technical capacity, financial resources and autonomy in terms of control and
administration to facilitate the democratic management of local affairs.
The problems of Latin-American cities pose new demands and challenges to the
international community, national governments, local organisms and local society. These
go beyond current administrative, technical and financial policies and capacities for
managing the development of cities. It requires that progress be made on various fronts in
order to broaden and strengthen the capacities of social organizations and institutions.
It is thus important to recognize the existence of the specific competences and dynamics
of the institutions of national governments and of municipalities, as well as those of
NGO´s and communities. Arenas for confluence, encounter, coordination, interrelation
and cooperation must be established to contribute to the process of improving conditions
necessary for local development. This will require coming to agreement around certain
guiding principles, which could lead towards the consolidation of such important issues.
a.
Guiding principles

The constitution of a new realm of sustainable development. The objective of
such development would be human welfare in balance with nature, based on the
values of democracy, equity before law and social justice, for present and future
generations, in the absence of ethnic, economic, social, political or gender
discrimination, or that based on creed.

A broadening of the democratic management of cities. This would articulate
forms of planning, producing, operating and governing cities, based on the
participation of and control by all social actors and institutions of local society,
where the common good would prevail, with respect for the values of local culture
and attention to the need for long-term sustainability.

The construction of citizenship. Inhabitants and their organisations would have
full exercise of their rights and would fulfil their obligations. Decisions would be
based on consensus, multilateral dialogue and negotiation and political will, in a
context of transparency, public consultation, adequate information and
knowledge of the affairs related to the management of the locality.
3
b.
Local governments, democracy and citizenship
It is assumed that local governments to be the institution of government closest to the
every day lives and problems of citizens and that which can partially exercise governance
over the city. 4 This recognition points toward the need to broaden and strengthen
citizenship as a starting point for deepening democracy, while fortifying the municipality
in its protagonism in the management of the affairs of the city. It is in the encounter
between citizenry and the State that progress can be made in the construction of broader
forms of democratic government, that is, of good government.
For that reason it is vital that the municipality be strengthened through effective
de-centralisation and de-concentration, and through the existence of a civil society, which
forms itself into a free and active citizenry.5
c.
NGO´s and popular organisations: initiating processes and influencing
policies
“(…) the quality of life in cities is not a matter which only involves the State or
which is exclusively conditioned by the market. In fact, civil society has exercised
the right to intervene in the city.”6
The problems of cities and popular urban habitat in Latin America in most cases confront
enormous difficulties for their resolution within traditional frameworks of governmental
practice and formal market mechanisms.
Bureaucracy, corruption, political patronage, and the lack of creativity on the part of the
State sector have proven inoperative in the face of the magnitude and nature of the need to
attend to the habitat demands of popular sectors. The private business sector, because of
its own profit-seeking logic, does not orient its supply towards low-income sectors.
Within this framework, popular sectors have developed their own strategies and
mechanisms for resolving vital needs. For some years now, NGO´s have emerged as an
important option for popular habitat activities, in spite of the limited reach and impact of
their programs.
Popular processes supported by NGO´s in many cases attempt to reinforce the principle
of “ensuring that projects contribute to the development of autonomous social subjects,
capable of representing themselves, capable of promoting their own interests in aspects
which concern them, capable of interacting from a favourable position with other actors
and agents each of which responds to its own logic”.7
4
5
6
7
The word “governance” is used to refer to how power is exercised in a society. The concept of
governance recognizes that only authorities do not govern society, but rather that authorities are
part of a complex network of interactions between institutions and groups. Governance is that
network of interactions. The citizenry is established when people incorporate themselves and
actively influence this network. (Rodríguez, A.; Winchester, L. “El municipio: lugar de la
ciudadanía. In: Revista Ciudad Alternativa, No. 12, Centro de Investigaciones CIUDAD, Quito,
1996, p. 36.
Rodríguez, A.; Winchester, L. El Municipio... (op cit), p. 36.
Patrimonio Societal e Intervenciones Urbanas. Trece experiencias en América Latina. Ediciones
SUR, Santiago de Chile, 1966, p. 7.
Unda, Mario, “Las redes, los lazos y los hilos sueltos”, CIUDAD. 1996, p. 45.
4
“In the neighbourhoods of Latin America’s cities, social organisations and
non-governmental organisations do many things: they design and build housing,
roads, streets, pathways; they install potable water, sewage, and electrical
services; they renovate neighbourhoods; they confront emergencies
–earthquakes, floods, economic crisis, civil wars; they attend to food and health
needs; they give courses and technical training in the development and
management of socially oriented projects; they formulate proposals and develop
studies; they revitalize neighbourhood-level economic circuits; they hold
meetings, disseminate the problems of the city, demand solutions, collaborate in
forming groups, in linking institutions, in promoting spaces for multilateral
dialogue and negotiation; they design, articulate and manage socially oriented
projects together with governmental agencies and institutions; they incorporate
public and other available resources; and seek to develop replicable processes.”8
The thousands and thousands of efforts of this sort around the world show us that it is
indeed possible for society to move forth, unleashing authentic processes and influencing
public policy. Many of these actions strike the imagination of others and are replicated,
transferred and disseminated, representing signs of hope.
3.
MAIN CHALLENGES FOR LATIN AMERICAN CITIES WITHIN
SOME CONFLICTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
a.
Challenges
There is consensus in the region that major challenges that cities have to face with are:






b.
Poverty alleviation
Achievement of urban competitivity and efficiency
Improvement of urban environmental quality
Development and consolidation of democratic governance in cities
Increase efficiency of urban management and services delivery
Strengthening cultural and identity values
Conflicts and opportunities
Urban populations and local governments in LAC face new conflicts and opportunities,
which demand creativity and new approaches.
Some conflicts,
 Urban planning, nor improvisation or clientelistic practices have not been
successful;
 Shortage of financial resources in local governments, high rotation of local
government officials, political and economic instability, and corruption;
 False city’s images that we are not able to build and manage; and,
 Urban-based businesses seek easy money through property speculation.
8
Patrimonio Societal... (op cit), p. 36.
5
Some opportunities,
 Democratisation process occurring in the region may lead to strengthening of
local governments and increasing community participation.
 Decentralisation may deepen democracy given the emergence of local
governments as an important actor.
 Existing social capital in LAC urban societies may introduce innovative ways of
dealing with urban problems.
 In some cases, globalisation could position some LAC cities in the world market
with comparative advantages.
4.
GUIDELINES FOR AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE
MANAGEMENT OF LATIN AMERICAN CITIES
The city is an integrated and complex system; within which it's management has to do,
among other things, with issues of construction, development and maintenance. The
modalities and direction of urban growth and development and, within it, the availability of
adequate land for residential areas and the provision of housing and services, are a matter of
social collective concern. It is not just the privilege of political and/or intellectual elites.
People's participation in planning and in decision-making processes is an indispensable
component for a democratic way of dealing with complex urban affairs. Unilateral decisions
are in the basis of an inegalitarian and authoritarian society. Therefore, if one is for changing
the situation, it is necessary to develop strategies to ensure shifts in order to overcome what
presently occurs in most Latin-American cities.
However, one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is the perception and influence of
pragmatic economists that investments in human settlements are a "non-productive" form in
the use of resources, therefore, they have to be treated only as a residual sector. The
simplistic use of econometric and developmental models based only in economic growth
patterns reduces the complexity of intersectoral connections in the development of human
settlements and, therefore, it is lost the possibility of capturing the centrality of human
settlements processes in the social and economic change. Of such a conception derive
institutional and social frameworks that also fail when facing human settlements' issues in a
fragmented and non-participatory form, while it is a strongly interrelated set of issues of
public concern.
One of the current greatest problems in Latin America is that of increasing poverty. Neither
poverty, nor hunger, or the lack of housing and services, constitute a problem in itself. The
problem arises when hunger is not followed by enough accessible food; when shelter is not
satisfied by good quality houses; when vital elements and facilities are not provided in an
adequate and sufficient manner. The contradiction between needs and its satisfaction is
expressed in poverty due to exploitation and expoliaition of which popular groups are
subject to.
In an unchanged situation there is no room for improvements to overcome the problems of
cities. Some key structural reforms should be introduced in order to develop feasible actions.
The introduction of such reforms implies necessarily an adequacy to each concrete reality,
6
where obstacles working in the very nature and in the production, distribution, exchange and
consumption processes of land, housing and of each one of the services are precisely
identified; in the same way, concrete agents capable of removing obstacles are to be
identified. However, there is one complication and it is the fact that it exists a great interdependency of actions to be assumed by institutions and concrete actors.
A change in the situation, as the one described earlier, requires the implementation of a set
of integrated components. We find that key issues to be faced are: a shift towards orienting
national priorities to the solution of problems affecting popular sectors; reforms to develop
an effectively democratic management of cities; to design and implement mechanisms to
increase popular participation in city's issues; to develop institutional, political and social
readjustments for decentralization processes within a popular perspective; and, to search for
an equilibrium between participation of the State, the private sector and the popular field, in
what has to do with urban matters.
a.
An urgent change in priorities: the fight against poverty
The challenge that we face could only be assumed if it is confronted in a radical way. It
means, in the first place, an urgent shift in priorities towards the attention of substantive
problems and needs affecting popular sectors in Latin America, mainly upon poverty. If not,
the possibility of strengthening the belief in democracy will become an empty discourse,
and tendencies of increased social violence will definitively appear.
If this priority is to be implemented should be supported by at least the four following
substantive issues, which constitute the basis for a new democratic approach of urban issues
benefiting popular sectors.
b.
Towards a democratic city management
A central issue upon the possibility of making reality the utopia of a city for all, in which it is
assured an egalitarian access to land, housing and urban services relies, among other things,
in the reinforcement and revalorisation of a real and not merely formal democracy.
Though in our context it has to be seriously taken into account that the shadow of totalitarian
regimes is permanently present. It constitutes the more serious menace for democratic
processes, which sometimes appear difficult to be fully concreted. It is known that
totalitarian regimes are not concerned with solving problems of the poor; they usually
reproduce in a more intense and generalized way the situation of poverty, which in turn reinforce the tendency of constituting segregative urban structures. These are deeply embodied
in a sort of socio-territorial inequity, with differential access opportunities to land, housing,
services. Such arrangement constitutes the pattern of building up a city with two opposite
faces: the legal city, and the illegal one.
The type of democracy claimed by new social forces does not have to be interpreted just as
the need to elect their governmental representatives; its democratic demand goes further; it
has to do with a new way of governing. Present governing forms lack of real participation
mechanisms for popular sectors. Governmental structures and procedures are usually
verticalistic and bureaucratic.
7
The type of democracy that is now in debate in Latin America, acquires special meaning in
terms of the demands for popular participation at the level of the different instances of
national society, but especially in local governments. What is in discussion is the question of
representation. Popular sectors do not feel being really represented neither in their interests
and needs, nor by their national representatives-who look like being very far away-, or by
their local representatives. In fact they are hesitant to belief that "democratic
representatives" actually comply with their expectations.
It means, then, that for the building up of the form of democratic city management claimed
by popular sectors, it is necessary that the majority groups of the population acquire effective power quotas in order to sustain participation and self-management in a more
democratic fashion.
Additionally, the question of democratic city management has to do with the type of
relationship that must be established between local and central government; the
development of a form of democratic management of urban affairs implies necessarily the
creation of mechanisms pointing towards the centrality of these processes. It means
decentralization of decisions, resources, knowledge and information.
The implementation of such a democratisation process of society in general and of city
management in particular relies in popular organization; being respectful of its own
autonomy and dynamics. This form of management implies also a complementarity of
popular participation at the level of national institutions.
Municipal governments, with popular support will attain enough pressure instruments as to
demand central governments the concretion of their needs in terms of resources' allocation,
of facilities for public works and services' supply and the implementation of effective
popular participation also in regional and national instances.
In our countries there are historically accumulated unsolved needs for the great majority of
the population. This "time-bomb" will explode at any time if no appropriate actions are
taken urgently. These actions are not simply economical or technological. It is rather
important to consider the issue of social awareness and full concern of society as a whole. A
form of democratic management will enable a more transparent definition of priorities and
scarce resource allocation.
The development of an effective form of democratic management is not only having free
and direct elections of local and national authorities. It also requires in a complementary
fashion a democratic relationship between majorities and minorities; that relationships to be
established among local governments and popular organizations should be embodied of this
democratic spirit; that the relationship among mayors, officers and councillors should be
fluent and respectful, and not a merely mechanical relationship between the executive body
of the local government and its legislative structure. If at the local government level is not
possible to dialogue, to concert, then democracy hardly will be enhanced.
The form of democratic city management that is argued for, is one in which consultative
processes are the basis for decisions. In that sense it is important to recuperate existing
mechanisms and social institutions. This approach is what could help to build up an
effective democratic local government, in the sense that is representative of people's
interests and allows mechanisms for a collective management of the city.
8
c.
Popular participation
As an indispensable support for making possible this democratic management of cities it is
required a solid organization of social sectors. As a matter of fact, there are many
experiences in Latin America that during past decades have shown multiple forms of
popular organization. This social development around the organization of people around
issues of their direct concern has become an important component of civil society in
confronting challenges for improving material life conditions and driving towards a further
democratisation of society.
The sort of relationship to be established between local governments and popular
organizations must be one of mutual respectfulness of its own fields of action. A democratic
relationship of this sort relies upon the building up of structural conditions for allowing
popular participation in planning, decision-making, allocation of resources and power
sharing in the process of governing the city. One line of action is to promote and guarantee
popular participation specially developed under a territorial basis.
In order to make reality the utopia of a city for all it is necessary that people at the
community level have sufficient power and democratic channels to present demands,
alternative solutions and to "legally" develop their ideals of a decent life, in a more
democratic city which makes accessible to the whole citizenship the benefits of
development, not in a segregative urban environment which is what characterizes
Latin-American cities of today.
This democratisation process means the building up of a sort of social dynamics that starting
from the very base of society -at the community level- will go further up to the national
level. It would not be possible to develop democracy at the local level if it is not acquired at
the national entity as a whole.
From local democratic governments it is possible to develop actions with a greater social
impact. It is the case of various Latin-American experiences in this field, where local
governments and popular organizations jointly have oriented their work towards a more
democratic management of urban issues, especially in the supply and maintenance of
housing and services. Many experiences in Latin America show the richness and the
potentials that popular movements and organized communities face challenges of urban life.
Strongly rooted values present in the people of the region are solidarity, creativity and
energy.
Governing from such a perspective means the creation of conditions for forms of popular
self-management. Which means a form of participation in city's affairs controlling and
following-up municipal actions. Therefore it would be possible to intervene, from a popular
point of view, in the definition of urban priorities.
In order to obtain a real progress of popular organizations as managers of urban services it is
required the existence of political will, the adequate juridical frameworks and the resources
for creating an open and enabling context.
In this perspective, local governments constitute an strategic field of action, within which
popular participation will make possible the deepening of democracy and its rooting in
9
citizens' consciousness, and at the same time it will disseminate the idea of a city for all
through democratic urban management.
d.
Decentralization from a popular perspective
One of the issues going together with democratic urban management and popular
participation is State's decentralization. It is usually argued that State's decentralization in
itself will enhance democratic urban management and people's participation. However, this
is one of the myths.
Though decentralization in itself does not guarantee such processes. Tendencies show that
local power of traditional elites and national power through state apparatus still keep in their
hands the control of local societies and cities. Popular groups are in a way "marginalized" of
decisions and power.
From a popular perspective, it is necessary that different territorial groups are capable of
expressing their demands and alternative solutions to their own problems. For it, it is
necessary a decentralization process in which power, decisions, allocation of resources, are
fully democratised. In this process local governments can play a central role given that they
are the nearest form of power to which are confronted community groups. Local
governments can become the actual channel for real popular participation if they are
sensible and structurally adequate to allow participation of the people in city management,
specially around those issues directly related to land, housing and urban services.
This sort of decentralization has its basis in the potentials that popular sectors have in
solving their problems. However, for a success in their actions it is required a
decentralization process of resources, power, real decision-making and control attributions.
These should be done in a long-term basis. Self-determination of countries and real
prevalence of popular sectors' interests and needs are in some way part of the ideal society of
the future. Democratic decentralization should be one of those necessary steps to be worked
out.
This means, for example, rethinking the issue of external debt, specially that debt contracted
by local and national governments to provide housing and services. If new debt contracts are
made due to a lack of local financial resources, these should be done according to local and
national priorities and under convenient terms. Otherwise, creditors impose conditions upon
areas and conditions of investments, usually affecting the majority of the population with
low incomes and therefore with enormous payment difficulties.
Another aspect to be taken into account around the issue of decentralization is the potential
danger of a greater fragmentation of the popular field. The creation of too many local instances at one point could bring about a sort of social blindness upon broader regional or
national problems, which are also necessary to face. Therefore it is required a twofold
perspective in which local problems and actions are articulated to macro situations. This
articulation of different levels is one of the key elements for a balanced national
development.
Decentralization should be done therefore taking into account that the resolution of some
problems surpass local levels, and involve national and world contexts. As, for instance,
inflation, technological changes, mass media, external debt, international cooperation, etc.
10
Once more, there is a strong need to consider the relationships between the micro and the
macro levels.
Decentralization in itself does not guarantee the development of democracy, given that it is
strongly linked to what occurs both at the national and world scales. This means that local
governments could modestly help to develop more efficient administrations oriented
towards the satisfaction of popular needs and interests. However, it should also be taken into
consideration that local governments operations could result in other negative effects in
terms of popular needs if they represent only minoritarian interests or are submitted to
inconvenient international pressures.
e.
In search for an equilibrium between the state, private sector and the
popular field
The feasibility of concreting access to land, housing and basic urban services and attaining
better life conditions for popular sectors heavily depends in the necessary equilibrium of
three interdependent social fields: the state, the private, and the popular sectors.
The state sector is the regulator body of society. Society's development depends on a strong
state but sensible enough to allow democratic participation of all social groups in its structures and operations. The presence of the state is necessary to strengthen democracy,
manage the economy and international relations, guarantee social peace and provide basic
services.
The private sector is concerned mainly with profit-making operations. Its participation in
national economies is quite relevant in terms of the dynamics within which it operates.
However, these orientations are usually associated with neglecting the importance of the
state and inequity in the distribution of wealth.
The popular sector that up to know has been marginalized from decisions, has demonstrated
an increasing dynamism and capacity to give answers to relevant problems. Given its
economic and social disadvantages, it pressures for real democratic and equitable
developmental processes.
Rentability considerations - both of the state and the private sector- as the main criteria for
investments, neglects the possibility of providing social services to majoritarian groups.
Though housing and urban facilities for the poor are simply not considered as profitable
sectors to invest on.
This contradiction difficult the possibility of real economic and social integration of the
popular field to national economies. Unemployment and underemployment, therefore low
incomes, are in the basis of increasing difficulties for survival and the provision of habitat
conditions in a long term perspective.
These disequilibriums are present in all aspects of social life. It is a situation created
unintentionally, with no ones explicit responsibility. It results from the invisible hands of
market laws. The persistence of such unjust situation -which nobody deserves- is a
collective responsibility. Social sectors as those mentioned above should work concertedly
towards changing the situation.
11
In the case of the state sector, as a reaction to all these conditioning should recuperate its
central role in planning national and local development. State planning is necessary for
attaining equilibrium among social groups and interests. Given the current framework it has
to work within mercantile relations. It is not the case to fully change these relations, but to
overcome market incapacity to distribute wealth under equitable considerations and
therefore allow popular sectors a better payment capacity for their urban needs.
Popular sectors are active participants in productive, social and political spheres. The
problem is that these activities are done under heavy pressures and in bad life conditions.
The wear away that implies such involvement is not provided with adequate means for
recovery. And moreover the social arrangement is not prepared for channelling popular
sectors' priorities and needs.
The search for an equilibrium among these three sectors has to be done under the basis of a
basic criteria: the liberty of action of each one has to be restricted in such a way that it does
not put in danger the real base in which is sustained the liberty of the other sectors. It means,
then, that limits of action of each one constitute the guarantee for its own reproduction.
When these limits are surpassed, immediately are affected the conditions of a democratic
development and social violence mechanisms are stimulated.
Acknowledgment of the importance of the role of these three sectors is present in current
Latin-American societies. It is not only the recognition as sectors themselves but also
recognizing that there are concrete people involved as subject members of society. The
possibility of facing the problem of better urban life conditions for urban popular sectors
heavily depends upon a healthy equilibrium among interests of these three sectors.
5.
CRITERIA FOR POPULAR PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES
When working out popular participation in community development and management
programmes it is needed to follow some basic criteria:

Sense of totality. Consider the city as a whole and the social group as a whole.
Programmes/projects conceived and developed as isolated actions reproduce
individualism at community level and a total divorce with policies and actions
at the more general level.

Political sense. Consider the general political scenario so as to develop feasible
strategies. Programmes/projects conceived and designed without a careful
analysis of the political context might fail because of unconsidered external
constraints.

Sense of autonomy. Support the development of people of the community to
acquire capacities and conditions for autonomous and critical decisions about
their concerns. For it is important to support training processes for knowledge
transfer. Knowledge must be valued as a form of gaining power.

Sense of reality. Programmes/projects should not be conceived and developed
under paternalistic and/or artificial conditions. The possibility of success of a
12
popular housing process lays precisely on the degree of self-sufficiency in the
long term that can be developed by the group.
6.

Sense of continuity. Understand that popular housing processes are "endless"
and changeable. Programmes/projects should take into consideration the notion
of process that is embodied in the development of "popular barrios".

Sense of respect. External agents, and more specifically progressive NGO's,
should be extremely respectful of people's commitments and behaviour.
External agents are temporarily involved; the people living in the community
are permanent. That means that if some actions are to be developed by an
external agent in a community, these should be careful enough so as to respect
the nature and the dynamics of the people, their organizations and leaders.
CONCLUSION
If urban habitat is inadequate, human life quality deteriorates. Therefore, if there is
concern about popular sectors -who are the most affected by bad urban habitat conditionsan integrated approach to upgrade urban habitat is required. The very basic issue to
confront has to do with building up and maintaining an equitable and democratic city for
all; in the sense that habitat conditions are equally accessible to the entire population and
decisions are conveniently shared under participatory mechanisms.
A central issue upon the possibility of making reality the utopia of a city for all, in which
an egalitarian access to land, housing and urban services is effectively reached, heavily
depends in the reinforcement of a real and not merely formal democracy in society as a
whole, and in the management of city issues.
In the third millennium, the majority of people will live in cities and towns; thus we must
learn to live and let live. Twenty-first century human society will require democratic and
governable peoples, peoples who are prosperous and efficient, who express solidarity and
justice; people who are healthy and who support life; who feel safe and who are respectful
of citizen’s rights; who share collective identities and a creative culture.
Society has a historic responsibility to construct cities and towns that meet these
conditions. It is crucial that there be the social and political will so that all can join into
efforts to achieve these ideals.
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