"A city with communities that do not share is in risk of suffering great inequalities and conflicts"

23/06/2017

Ash Amin is a cosmopolitan researcher who has focused his research on processes of spatial change in a global context, and the changes these represent at economic, social and political levels. Immigration and multiculturalism have also been the focus of his research.

Dr Amin is professor of geography and he is considered one of today's main experts in economic geography and regional development in Europe. He was awarded the Edward Heath Prize in 1998 by the Royal Geographical Society of London for his contribution in research on Europe and in 2014 was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

1.- Your latest book is entitled Seeing Like a City, as is your conference. What will you be talking about?
My conference, like my book, begins will a very simple idea: our world today is built without taking cities into account; although they play a very important role. The cities will govern in the future. They are the centres of economic, political and cultural power, but they are also places of extreme poverty and inequalities. We are reaching a time in which politicians begin to notice this. It is the beginning of thinking like a city. In addition to a paradigm of human effort, cities are a world of symbols, bodies, buildings, technologies and infrastructures. It is a machine in which these elements interact and there are confrontations, and this has accelerated in the past 20 to 30 years.

2.- What is the cause of this acceleration?
I believe it is due to massive migrations from rural areas to the city, as well as international migrations to the city due to war, poverty, etc. It is also because cities attract people who are "elite", such as researchers, students, tourists, etc. Traditionally, humans and institutions were the ones to create a city, but that is no longer so; now there are many more factors: now a city is not made up only of a large concentration of people, infrastructures, things, technologies, communications... It is a large machine.

3.- Is globalisation having the same effect on cities of the North (developed world) as of the South (developing world)?
Globalisation is making us all similar, but it also making us different. There is a small number of elite cities: Paris, London, Tokyo, Barcelona, etc., and all of them are very similar, they are global cities. This process of homogenisation is breaking the traditional idea of North and South. The large cities around the world are very similar: they are “smart cities”, with high concentrations of poverty, immigration, and at the same time knowledge and technology, etc. And they are centres of power, they govern the world. However, in 2050 some 600 cities will become home to about 60% of the world's population.

At the same time, this globalisation is creating an inequality gap between cities, many of them in the South, which have suffered from great explosions in population, converting them into centres of poverty and social exclusion with great problems of management and governance - cities of 5, 10 and 15 million people - which are very different from the medium-sized cities of the North, in Europe for example.

4.- You speak often about the importance of networks in a city. What types of networks?
What is basic and essential for any city is to have networks of supplies, such as the infrastructures and policies providing citizens water, electricity, education, health, communications and housing. That is basic and necessary, and it is what makes or breaks a city. All cities need integration. Another network is the network of knowledge: smart communities, smart technologies, which allow different communities to talk with each other, share knowledge and understand each other. All of this shows us that we are all different, but at the same time we are the same. Everything is interconnected, like in a machine.

5.- You also speak about "sharing" when you speak of cities. How important is that in large cities?
I believe it is crucial, but not necessary. In terms of a city's economic prosperity there is no real need to share. Businesses and the elite do not need it.

But if we talk in social and community integration terms, then it is very important: the "I am what I am because of you". If you do not share, you run the risk of having a divided, unequal and conflict-ridden city! In the short term you can accumulate business and money - a rich city - but in the long term, this city will become a city with poverty, and permanent conflicts appear.

6.- I am thinking of the now President of the United States Donald Trump and his declarations against immigrants.
He is a businessman who is not interested in foreigners or in redirecting conflicts. It is a perfect example of the elite class protecting only their interests, without the intention of sharing anything with others. He represents a type of nationalism which only shares with their own social class. When I speak of sharing, I mean being cosmopolitan, with an open mind towards people and things you are not familiar with.

7.- What can be done to help immigrants become integrated into the city?
First of all, we must change the imperialist language used in the media and among politicians, because this makes immigrants feel they are not needed and cannot contribute with anything, nor have anything to contribute. In second place, if you want immigrants to contribute there is a series of needs which must be covered. That is when you make them feel that the city is made for them and made for you, without excluding anyone. In third place, it is very important for city councils to use multicultural policies, but without the need to justify them. I am thinking of Ada Colau. We are all, in one way or another, immigrants in our city, we are all different. With adequate language and suitable policies we should all feel integrated.

8.- The economic crisis has created a distrust of immigrants?
Yes. This problem appears due to the economic crisis all over the world, and it is causing nationalisms to grow everywhere. I ask myself who has the right to say "this city is mine". The city belongs to who pays their taxes there, and who demonstrates being a good citizen. In addition, it is important in these times of crisis for politicians to do things for the poor. We cannot be an open city if we do not take care of the poor and of refugees. Either you only care for the high classes and the elite, or you also take care of the poor and those in risk of social exclusion. And that is a political decision.