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(2019) - Inclusion Isn't Enough - Daniel Webb
Political scientist, Daniel Webb, argues in his article, Inclusion Isn’t Enough, that the popular ideal of the "open city", where everyone can access and enjoy urban space equally, isn’t what it claims to be. Too often, he notes, planners and developers celebrate accessibility while ignoring the violence that made redevelopment possible in the first place — communities bulldozed, residents displaced, and neighbourhoods erased. Worse, the very financial barriers created by this process (e.g., soaring rents, inflated property values) are treated as natural facts, outside the conversation about access. In this article, Webb questions what it means to talk about an “open city” while leaving these barriers intact.
If the community can make legal claims to common ownership that are likely to be held up by the courts, this consultation process all of a sudden becomes a lot more meaningful. Inclusion is not enough: we need a vision of power and ownership as well.