Canadian neighbourhood

Canadian neighbourhood



Canadian neighbourhood

Is an urban neighbourhood an informative unit for study, and why/why not? (You may refer to scholarly work on urban neighbourhoods as research sites).

The neighbourhood is definitely an informative unit for study as the "Candaina socially integrative City" programme contains many elements of this approach. It combines new perspectives on the role of government in social and local government policy and in urban development and renewal policy with an appeal to all concerned to be open to new ideas and ways of thinking in coping with new patterns of action and behaviour. Implementing the programme therefore makes heavy demands on integrated and efficient administrative action. A great deal has to be dealt with at the same time: citizens have to be involved and empowered in decision-making on planning and implementation, numerous, very different players have to be coordinated, development processes have to be mobilized and controlled, new cooperative structures across policy areas need to be generated, and specifically neighbourhood policy integrated into citywide development policy. Finally, more efficient administrative structures need to be measured against success criteria like the creation of viable districts with good prospects for the future. Central elements of the programme are therefore the concentration of resources and cooperation, participation and decision-making competencies for the citizenry, business and industry, and the creation of appropriate management and organisational structures. (Heng, Chye Kiang, 1999)

Concentration of resources and cooperation: A key purpose of the programme is to concentrate resources from a range of sources to permit holistic district development. Urban development assistance is to be linked with other policy areas relevant to urban development in a new, integrative approach. However, the change in perspective and paradigm implied by the new programme consists primarily in an explicit shift in focus from the built environment to people. The aim is therefore to utilise investment and non-investment dispositions by various policy areas cooperatively. An integrated action concept could be useful in housing, transport, employment and training promotion, security, women, assistance for families and young people, industry, environment, culture, and leisure. The "Socially Integrative City" programme seeks to generate and exploit synergistic benefits for disadvantaged neighbourhoods. (Heng, Chye Kiang, 1999)

To realise this project, institutional boundaries need to be crossed and the various authorities and facilities networked. At the federal level it was agreed that other federal authorities involved would co-ordinate their own programme resources for the urban development project. Concentration and coordination at the Land level often takes the form of institutionalised interministerial working groups. The specific programmes concerned and institutional action at the local authority level need sociospatial orientation and harmonisation without such coordination being shifted to the district or neighbourhood levels, which would soon be overburdened. (Heng, Chye Kiang, 1999)

Embedding in the overall urban context: In the first place the programme is concerned with urban districts. In fact, however, the overall urban context has always to be taken into account, since a neighbourhood cannot remain economically and socially viable in isolation, and the aim of the programme is precisely ...