II Decapharmakos for the City
1 Social Policy
Diagnosis 1: The nightmare of participation, activists, socialists. The true price of propaganda
Markus Miessen, in his book „The Nightmare of Participation,” brilliantly captured how the formula of participation has been exhausted. The main distortions are the instrumental use of participation as an excuse for certain decisions by the authorities (time pressure or lack of money), information manipulation and the unrepresentativeness of the group with which an issue is discussed, and the overly complicated substantive preparation of the issues to be faced by the respondents. The enduring, as it would seem, prey of urban movements very often turns out to be a caricature of honest deliberation. This breeds frustration and aggression in residents, especially those who are socially organized, due to powerlessness. The idea of a civic budget, instead of defining on an experimental basis the most pressing problems of a community, turned into an inter-school plebiscite with prizes like a multimedia whiteboard or a set of fireproof pants for the local fire department. Municipal associations in this situation become radicalized and resemble small political parties, which are not interested in dialogue, but only in intransigent one-sided criticism of the centers of power. They operate with harsh language, personal attacks on officials or designers of city investments, often going so far as to use libels, epithets and hate speech. As a result, they refuse to participate in public consultations and boycott them, not believing in their fairness and efficiency. Paradoxically, the city authorities eagerly take advantage of such a situation to make investment decisions as quickly as possible with the guise of direct democracy instruments, without using the energy, involvement and knowledge of residents. Mid- and low-level officials succumb to frustration and a sense of lack of agency, lose their sense of mission, and in the heat of virulent criticism often leave their posts in search of better pay or a quieter working atmosphere. The capital of experience and knowledge they have gained is irretrievably lost, to make way for other, often less competent, because inexperienced, uninformed successors. What is left on the battleground are the victims of this senseless struggle: burned-out civil servants and frustrated social workers, who often meekly land in subordinate clerical positions when they have to take stock of the gains and losses of their non-profit activities. The insidious trap of the clerical machine says: „you have shouted so much, we invite you to join us, show us how it's done!”. After a year, the most active feel ground down by the bureaucratic routine, and the local government allocates significant amounts of money from the municipal budget to propagandize success. Free city newspapers, community fanpages subsidized from the city's coffers or hiring local journalists. Instead of promoting real achievements with information about difficult challenges, we have a digital bombardment of our minds with „success” keeping us in an artificial euphoria. No one likes a whiner, blue pill please! A palliative society... a burnout society... I've already read about this somewhere, in some philosophical book....
Pharmakos 1: Toward a real dialogue with the citizens of the city
The prescription is simple and at the same time very difficult: honest debate with residents, stakeholders, interest groups or city associations. Patience and perseverance in working out city strategies, searching for innovations and modern solutions, constantly improving them. Allocating serious sums of money in the municipal budget for the continuous collection of data on urban processes. Instead of betting only on the propaganda of success, it is worth creating optimal social policies, including for particularly vulnerable groups—seniors, adolescents or people with disabilities. It is necessary to invest more boldly in civil servants by taking care of their careers and development, especially investing in young people. Investing in their competencies, with non-salary instruments, by funding training, post-graduate studies, study trips, and ensuring that they are adequately protected when they perform tasks that are particularly vulnerable to criticism or aggression on the front lines of the city (such as MOPS streetworkers). There is also a need for a thoughtful offer for young people, both university graduates and vocational schools, to stay in the city after their education.
Łódź may be the ideal city for a contemporary vision of planning—Barbara Wachowicz-Napiórkowska walkway, design: 3darchitekci
photo: Rafal Tomczak
2 City planning
Diagnosis 2. The real price of omission—plan and perish (politically).
The ongoing dispute: nineteenth-century (historical) city or modernist city, is a false alternative and anachronistic problem. It is utopian to think that historical cities were harmonious and beautiful. Likewise, utopian visions of the modernist city are incompatible with modern challenges. The lengthy procedure of adopting local plans cannot be a panacea. It is only a foundation for further evaluations of planning studies, taking into account ever more rapidly changing conditions. What is worrying is the instrumental use by local governments of substitute mechanisms, such as the „housing speculative law,” popularly known as Lex developer. The government law, so criticized by local governments, is becoming a great tool for circumventing the findings of local plans. Democratic, transparent and open procedures with a participatory part turn into their caricature: unclear decisions are made in a hurry by a city council under pressure. A society of transparency... I've already read this somewhere, in some philosophical book....
Pharmakos 2: What does it mean to design a city? Only blood, sweat and tears
In terms of healing city planning, there is no other prescription than the consistent enactment of local plans, but this is not a recipe for complete success. There is a need for detailed additional studies and analysis, cooperation with business in the implementation of modern technologies, monitoring of urban processes. Investing in personnel and the appropriate equipment and software that city studios should have. Program congresses, debates, consultations or workshops are just some of the tools that should provide answers to the city's most pressing problems. It is necessary to announce urban planning and architectural competitions, with elements of public consultation, in places that are particularly sensitive or in need of quick intervention. In this way, the city's planning services can have a continuously replenished database for analysis and decision-making. It is not worth saving money on planning. These savings on equipment, FTEs, study trips, exchanges of international experience or debates result in catastrophic errors in strategic investment decisions and can result in huge losses in future city budgets or generate errors in new implementations. The effects of proper planned management of investment processes will not come immediately, not in one or two terms of local government, but it is worthwhile to consistently implement a multi-year plan across divisions. One can argue about the details of this vision, but is there an alternative for our cities? All the tools to implement this concept are in the hands of city leaders and residents.
3. inhabitation
Diagnosis 3. The dictates of developers, housing hunger and other fairy tales—what is it really like?
I must admit that I admire the determination and persistence of the current government in ideas to solve the pressing problem of housing for most Poles. How many more times can housing policy stumble? Housing+, a house up to 70 sqm, a house without a permit, the housing specs law, Social Housing Initiatives, the 2% loan.... Did I forget something? Yes, but about that at the very end of this section. It's hard to say how much housing is missing in Poland. I estimate that about half a million are needed. I don't do my own research or calculations, but the lower limit from several reports seems to me the closest to the truth. According to real estate analyst Tomasz Narkun, what is different is the speculative absorption of the market. If we add to this basic need „second and third” apartments bought for the needs of a single household, „whim” apartments, somewhere beautiful, and apartments treated as a capital investment, we can estimate that the absorptive capacity of the housing market in Poland can reach up to two million residential units. On top of that, there are other processes: the influx of immigrants from across the eastern border, the statistical shrinking of households. It is difficult to be surprised by the prosperity of the real estate development sector, although it is also an industry particularly exposed to risks in doing business: legislative changes, credit risk, inflation. However, no one today broods over the fate of housing manufacturers, who have become the whipping boy for young people complaining about housing prices and for politicians seeking to blame the situation in this industry. So why is it that the state or local governments are doing so poorly in this market as investors in public housing? The achievement society... I've read this somewhere, in some philosophical book....
Pharmakos 3. Let's give the initiative back to the people—housing cooperatives
The role of local governments and the state in the creation of urban housing policies is enormous and essential. Łódź has a huge housing stock in the center, which, instead of being an asset and a card in the game of market competition, is ballast to be developed and maintained. I am aware of the state of the city's housing stock, consisting mostly of decapitated buildings, but I don't understand why the authorities are not reaching for central financing, so badly needed at the beginning of the process. The most crucial neglect should be fixed first, especially in the historic fabric. Later, create a package of easier-to-adapt townhouses for local construction companies, which could, after renovating two or three townhouses, receive another one as compensation. Then the private business would take out a loan or invest the capital it has, without increasing the city's debt. Part of the housing stock obtained in this way can be carried out for proper social policy: support for the needy, but also as an offer for young graduates or industries desirable for the city's development (doctors, prosecutors, police officers). Some of the plots of land, small developed properties can be used for housing cooperatives. Co-ops are a very interesting legislative project. It is an excellent idea for groups of three-four families wishing to jointly build or renovate an apartment for themselves in small, four- to six-family buildings. Such an initiative with a little support from the local government: a multi-year low-cost land lease, a preferential loan, support with construction documentation, could unleash grassroots energy and initiative. In addition, it would be an offer for people who do not want to take out lifelong loans from banks. A return to the interwar idea of cooperatives really is possible today. Of all the DecaPharmakos, housing policy seems to be the most pressing issue that can bring about a solution to the city's other challenges.
housing should be a priority for the city authorities—a contemporary TBS communal tenement in Łódź, proj.: 3darchitekci
photo: Rafal Tomczak
Climate and ecology 4.
Diagnosis 4. ecological clinch
There is an ongoing discussion both domestically and internationally on how to combat climate change. Groups of experts are outdoing each other in proposals, which are united by one feature: the high social costs of the changes introduced. Societies are alternately intimidated by visions of the planet's annihilation and the costs of adapting to climate change that the average citizen must bear. Sir Roger Scruton warns against such policies, proposing, in my view, an overly idealistic prescription. I agree with him on one point: that an intimidated public can either be forced through manipulation to accept change against its will or, if democratic mechanisms prevail, a „palliative society” accustomed to comfort and unwilling to make painful sacrifices may reject the green agenda, burying the climate project....I've read this somewhere before, in some philosophical book....
Pharmakos 4: Homeostasis of the City. A vision of green urban policy
In the area of green city policy, the tools available to residents and their authorities seem limited. It is worth considering what solutions cities can invest in on their own, without waiting for top-down changes in laws and regulations. Here there is a huge role for urban planning, which can regulate the balance of nature, for example, plantings, greenery, biologically active area, retention, green roofs. It is necessary to take advantage of the fact that residents are willing to tax themselves for more greenery in the city, and developers, looking for a competitive advantage, will be ready to bet on pro-environmental solutions. The vision of a city with developed green infrastructure is also a cure for the stress and malaise that most residents face.
