Integral to New Labors Vision is the Belief - Case Study Example

 URBANIZATION The world is evolving fast, and as it is changing, it is moving towards increased urbanization of the society. The people who are in search for a better lifestyle, better facilities and ease of communication hence aspire to live in cities rather than in rural areas and migrate to urban regions. (Geyer, 2009). Urbanization hence is the growth of cities, or rather urban hubs, as a result of growing population in such areas flowing in from the rural vicinities. It includes development of adequate infrastructure, faster communication systems, better facilities and services, more and better employment opportunities, etc. in order to facilitate the growing population and to meet the demands of the population for a better and enhanced lifestyle. (Imrie, Raco, 2003). Urbanization of a city may be planned or natural. URBAN POLICY Urban policy is basically a set of directions that a city follows in order to make various decisions regarding the city’s progress towards further urbanization. It relates to various rules regulating the flow of the resources in and out of the city, establishment or de-establishment of industries, communication networks, etc. (Imrie, Raco, 2003). It deals with very intricate details regarding every aspect of an urban area including the policies regarding the people migrating into the city and also of the people migrating out of the area. This movement of people is the basic criterion that defines the urbanization or de-urbanization of a city. In accordance to this inflow and outflow of the population all other urban policies of a city government are structured. (Geyer, 2009). These policies include detailed structured policies regarding transportation system, communication networks (phone lines, internet connections, etc.), infrastructure (buildings, commercial and residential areas, industrial areas, export production regions, ports, etc.) and many other arenas of development in a city. (Geyer, 2009). It also deals with the regulations like licensing of various above mentioned areas of urban planning (like licenses for conducting business, licenses for using resources, licenses for building infrastructure, etc.) and decides if there should be the requirement of licensing altogether or not. All in all, an urban policy regulates how a city is laid out, how it functions, who lives there and who does not, what business takes place in the society, how people communicate, etc. (Imrie, Raco, 2003). NEW LABOUR POLICY Throughout times, the various ruling parties in Britain have been continuously implementing various newly defined urban policies. This collectively makes the overall urban policy graph of the Great Britain highly fluctuating. For example, in merely the last decade, Britain has seen contrasting changes in and appearances and disappearances of the urban development corporations, enterprise zones, city action teams, etc. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). The Labour Party introduced a new idea as new realism which focused upon the modernization of the thought processes and the way tings functioned in the Labour Party. This modernization is also known as the concept of “New Labour” and it was first launched in 1994 at the time when Tony Blair, as the new party leader, started working for restructuring the Labour party. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). Simultaneously, Gibbons proposed that this concept of New Labour falls neither under the Right Category, nor the Left one. It was rather a transition between the two and this is often referred to as “the Third Way”. According to Giddens, this Third Way represents modernization of social democracy and its adaptation is a means through which we have achieved a profoundly changed world. (Giddens, 1994). This new theory, neither on the Right side nor on the Left, gives us a much realistic and a more concise view of the current situation that prevails in the society. Gibbon calls it “the Radical Centre”. One can call this policy vision a transition between or a combination of all; i.e. liberalism, socialism, conservatism. It rejected the extremist and negative ideas of all the theories and tends to adopt all the positive aspects of the three theories consolidating them together to form the New Labour’s Vision. (Ho, 2003). It has taken up concern for well-being people, respect and legitimacy of human rights and interests and private choice from liberalism, level-vise grouping of humans into communities, families and societies etc. from socialism, and order of common norms, material well-being, individual duties towards the society and the concept of high productivity from conservatism. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). This New Labour’s urban policy combined its aims and objectives under the umbrella of education and employment, transport and regions, environment, social security and social exclusion, etc. and collaborated with the departments of these fields in order to lay down the objectives of the policy. Major stress was not on the area based urban policies. Rather, community based policies were put into action in order to yield maximum returns out of the policy. (Ho, 2003). Eventually, two programs were launched for the deprived areas. One was the Action Zones, which catered to health, employment and education, etc.), while the other was the New Deal for Communities (NDC), which focused upon bringing the deprived communities at par with the neighbouring communities. The aim was to help eradicate the disadvantageous effects of where one lived. It talked about equality, empowerment, and eradication of division based upon locality and community. (Raco, 2007). EMPOWERED & MOBILIZED COMMUNITIES According to Imrie and Raco, in their book Urban Renaissance?, “Integral to New Labour’s vision is the belief that empowered and mobilized communities can and should play an enhanced role in the development and implementation of the urban policy agenda” (Imrie and Raco, 2003, page 235). Here it is very important to describe a little bit about what empowered and mobilized communities are. An empowered community is a community in which the government and people collaborate and coordinate with each other working towards creating a better society. (Ho, 2003). In such a society, people have enough rights to make themselves seen and heard and get their issues resolved and their message across to the concerned authorities through the easiest of means. In such a society, people are highly motivated, have ample control and power at their disposal and can allocate resources accordingly. (Balcazar, Harper, 2004). The elements that make an empowered community include active citizens (confident, motivated and skilled people ready to serve their society with their valuable skills and capabilities), strengthened communities (community that in collaboration with the government is capable and resourceful enough to work out solutions for problems), and partnerships with public bodies (bodies who volunteer or are established to work with people for the betterment of the society). (Kunjufu, 2002). Mobilized communities, on the other hand, are the communities in which the citizens are concerned over any issue that may arise and are willing to take a stand whenever needed, qualities like leadership are appreciated and people with such qualities are encouraged in the society, people are aware of the changes that need to be made in the community and are inclined towards keeping on with the change and making it happen. (Kunjufu, 2002). In order to mobilize a community, it is important that the citizens are concerned, there is potential of leaderships in the community and there are emerging leaderships to motivate and lead the masses. Involvement of people is another important ingredient for community mobilization and everyone involved should get their respective recognition and appreciation for their efforts. Moreover, community mobilization is not a day’s task. It obviously requires some time to establish its roots deep within the community. (Balcazar, Harper, 2004). ROLE OF EMPOWERED & MOBILIZED COMMUNTIES (In Development and Implementation of Urban Policy Agenda) The role that empowered and mobilized communities can play in developing and implementation of the Urban Policy Agenda is the most important aspect of the government process of urbanization. It is important according to the empowered communities that government and all other local bodies coordinate and collaborate in order to successfully implement and develop the urban policy. (Smith, 2007). If the local communities are not willingly collaborating and coordinating with the government then it is impossible for any government to carry out any policy. (Oatley, 2000). In the same way if a mobilized community which is very aware of what is going around them and what type of changes are required can assist the government in developing effective urban policies and also help them in implementing them as they themselves are inclined towards those changes. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). Local leaders developed in a mobilized community are willing to come up in front and lead the masses in to accepting the correct type of urbanization required by the community and help the government in formulating such a policy. Likewise an empowered community would support the government as both are ready to collaborate with each other. (Oatley, 2000). If seen from a broad perspective it is necessary for any government to have empowered and mobilized communities in their respective region for harmonizing the formulation of any type of policies. When governments work in favour of their region the local communities need to be kept abreast of all the policies that are being formed or amended. This not only brings in harmonization from every corner but also makes the whole process a lot easier. (Ho, 2003). When the local communities know that the government is formulating a policy with coordination and collaboration the communities come forward to support the decision through every possible way. (Imrie, Raco, 2003). The people from these local communities help the government in formulating an ideal urban policy and then also help in implementing that strategy resulting in the reduction of many possible barriers that the government might face where empowered and mobilized communities are not present. (Smith, 2007). EXAMPLES FROM PRACTICE Under the New Labour’s regime, the local empowered and mobilized communities are constantly working with the government in order to formulate and implement various urban policies that are beneficial for the people residing in the society. (Smith, 2007). For example, they help the government decide which area needs more attention in terms of different needs like education, employment, infrastructure development, etc., and how much resources should be allocated to every aspect of development in every designated area. (Oatley, 2000). When the government decides more attention should be placed on one area in terms of urbanization the local communities support or reject this decision and their opinion is given a lot of importance as the New Labour government realizes the importance of the residing communities and their views regarding the formation of policies and the allocation of resources. (Geyer, 2009). The New Labour’s government has its extended focus upon the development of an urban policy that empowers and mobilizes the communities residing in various parts of the country. (Imrie, Raco, 2003). It also emphasizes upon effective and efficient implementation of the policies thus formed for the betterment of the society. The formation of the local governments has thus been of great importance. New Labour has been working upon bringing these local governments closer to people. (Oatley, 2000). It has also stresses the importance of participation of local communities in the decision making process regarding the allocation of resources and the processes and procedures being carried out. (Smith, 2007). According to Tony Blair, in his Foreword for the book “A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal – national strategy action plan”, he states that he envisions a nation in which nobody is disadvantaged because of their origin or locality. (Social Exclusion Unit, 2001). He says he pictures a nation where there are equal opportunities for health, wealth, power and authority for everyone and the people are treated equally. (Social Exclusion Unit, 2001). This is translated in the urban policy of the Labour party in which they have made government bodies or units on various levels including national, regional, district and neighbourhood levels which work together with the local communities for a better society where there are more and more health, education, employment and other facilities and opportunities for people. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). The Neighbourhood Renewal Units (NRU) at the national level, the Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP) at the district level and the Neighbourhood Managers at the neighbourhood level are the links of the same chain. Their role is to bring the public, private, community and voluntary groups together so that they can stay in touch with each other’s concern and come up with solutions together. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). The New Labour’s Urban Policy strives to revitalize the concept of citizenship and participation of communities for the betterment of the society. (Oatley, 2000). As the party states at its website, it has worked a lot for the communities, with the communities, during times of recession like increasing children allowances, creating numerous new jobs, helping people not lose their homes once they have lost the job through their Homeowners Mortgage Support scheme, supporting local businesses, tax deductions, tax relieves and tax holidays, etc. (Labour, 2010). However, the question that arises here is that although the communities have been empowered enough to allocate resources and suggest changes in the policy structuring and decision making, are they even capable of doing so. For example, if a community is given the authority to allocate a certain amount of resources for a specific project, are they even capable enough to carry out that project in the first place. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). To address this issue, the communities should be trained accordingly as well or else the resources would go to a waste. Moreover, it is also noticeable that although the communities are given the authority and the responsibility to make and execute policies, they have not been given the real control over everything. They are restricted from many sides while taking decisions and many a times, their proposals are rejected by the government if they are not in line with the government’s objectives. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). Also, people are made to take responsibility of the circumstances which stops them from participating in the decision making process. (Smith, 2007). CONCLUSION Thus, it is concluded that the New Labour’s Urban Policy Agenda is a very effective method of engaging the communities in the decision making process and can work for the betterment of the society. However, it is important that these communities are empowered and mobilized in the true meaning of the terms for the plan to work out well. (Imrie, Raco, 2003). If the communities would really be empowered, then only they can take decisions regarding policy making and resource allocation so that the society prospers as a whole. (Ball-Petsimeris, 2004). Therefore, in the light of the statement of Imrie and Raco that “Integral to New Labour’s vision is the belief that empowered and mobilized communities can and should play an enhanced role in the development and implementation of the urban policy agenda” (Imrie and Raco, 2003, page 235), it can be said that this vision is becoming a reality to a great extent, however, a lot of work needs to be done in order to bring the communities and the governing bodies together and to empower them to an extent that they are capable in themselves to take decisions and form opinions of their own. BIBLIOGRAPHY Balcazar, Y.; Harper, G. (2004). Empowerment and participatory evaluation of community interventions: multiple benefits. Routledge. Blackman, T. (1995). Urban policy in practice. Routledge. Geyer, H. (2009). International Handbook of Urban Policy: Issues in the developed world. Edward Elgar Publishing. Giddens, A. (1994). Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Ho, S. (2003). Evaluating British urban policy: ideology, conflict and compromise. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Imrie, R.; Raco, M. (2003). Urban renaissance?: New Labour, community and urban policy. The Policy Press. Kunjufu, J. (2002). Black Economics: Solutions for Economic and Community Empowerment. African American Images. Oatley, N. (2000). New Labour's Approach to Age-old Problems: Renewing and revitalising poor neighbourhoods - the national strategy for neighbourhood renewal. Volume 15, Issue 2. Routledge. Raco, M. (2007). Building sustainable communities; spatial policy and labour mobility in post-war Britain. Bristol. The Policy Press. Social Exclusion Unit. (2001). A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal – national strategy action plan. London. The Stationery Office. Smith, I. Lepine, E. Taylor, M. (2007). Disadvantaged by where you live?: neighbourhood governance in contemporary urban policy. The Policy Press. Ball-Petsimeris, S. (2004). Urban policy under new labour: a new dawn?. Available from http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/oddelki/geo/publikacije/dela/files/dela_21/018%20petsimeris.pdf [April 30, 2010]. Labour. (2010). Securing Economic Recovery. Available from http://www.labour.org.uk/policies/securing-the-economic-recovery [May 20, 2010] Read More