Edito: Do the Poor and the Middle-Class Still Have Room in the City?

Text: Ştefan Ghenciulescu

[…] I would like to be very clear here: cities have always been territories of inequality. Starting with ones a few thousand years ago and going through absolutely every type of historical society, political regime, etc., in any city there were, at some point, rich inhabitants, as well as ones of average wealth or poor, to varying degrees and proportions; and, of course, “good” and “bad” areas.

But we are now witnessing an emptying of cities of their poorer population, and their progressive transformation, from centre towards the outskirts, into territories where there is less and less dwelling, as fewer and fewer can afford it. We are starting to no longer have neighbourhoods of people with more modest income, but cities without such a permanent population. […]

DOSSIER: INCLUSIVE CITY

Coordinators: Cătălina Frâncu, Ilinca Pop

Intro: City, The Land of Promise
Text: Cătălina Frâncu

The city has existed from the beginning as a progressive economic centre, always in contrast to the frozen, ”regressive” and traditional countryside. After the Industrial Revolution, the city became the nucleus of economic growth, turning into a platform for development for all who left the countryside behind in the hope of a job (in a factory) and modern housing (in a tenement). But the city has always ”welcomed” its immigrants in well-prepared places, far from its “rightful” inhabitants, often transforming itself from the land of promise into the land of need. In the illusion that the possibilities are infinite, the city shapes its continuous need for growth and manufactures new obstacles in the journey of overcoming its own condition. […]

Intervening in a Fragile Place
Benga Riverside Housing and School, Tete, Mozambique