Urban culture and change agents

If Northern Africa is to foster healthy urban democracies, its cities need to maintain space for social activism and political participation. The energy that was drawn politically into the “leaderless protests” that led to the initial uprisings in the sub-region and specifically into critical city locations that could accommodate large protests, must now seek more formal and programmatically structured avenues for expression in daily life to ensure the future stability of cities and regions. This must then set the foundations for political constituencies to form, and participate in, the new future of the sub-region. There must be no lapse into hastily conceived “electoral” democracies where institutions reproduce “more of the same” development; where technocrats dictate the nature of development; and, where no grassroots political constituency can grow. The opportunities for advocates of alternative policies, including those relating to urban development, will have to be seized if a relapse into the default mode of business as usual is to be avoided.

Related Subject(s): Human Settlements and Urban Issues