THE UNESCO CourierApril-June 2019 Reinventing Cities Alain Mabanckou Jorge Majfud Thomas B. Reverdy Read the Subscribe to UNESCO the digital version Courier It’s 100% and spread FREE! the word! https://en.unesco.org/courier/subscribe Published in Read and 10 languages share Arabic, Chinese, English, Share the Esperanto, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Sicilian UNESCO Courier and Spanish. with your network by Become an active publishing partner promoting it, in line by proposing new language editions of with the Organization’s the UNESCO Courier. Open Access publishing policy. Subscribe to the print version • 1 year (4 issues): €27 • 2 years (8 issues): €54 For more details, contact Subscription fees cover printing and distribution costs. There is no profit motive. DL Services, C/O Michot Warehouses, Chaussée de Mons 77, Discounted rates for group subscriptions: B 1600 Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium 10% discount for five or more subscriptions. Tel: (+ 32) 477 455 329 E-mail: [email protected] 2019 • n° 2 • Published since 1948 Production and promotion: Information and reproduction rights: Ian Denison, Chief, UNESCO Publishing [email protected] The UNESCO Courier is published quarterly by the United 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. and Branding It promotes the ideals of UNESCO by sharing ideas on Eric Frogé, Senior Production Assistant © UNESCO 2019 issues of international concern relevant to its mandate. Digital Production: ISSN 2220-2285 • e-ISSN 2220-2293 The UNESCO Courier is published thanks to the generous Denis Pitzalis, Web Architect/Developer support of the People’s Republic of China. Media Relations: Director: Vincent Defourny Laetitia Kaci, Press Officer Periodical available in Open Access under the Editor-in-chief: Jasmina Šopova Translation: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence Associate Editor: Katerina Markelova Peter Coles, Cathy Nolan (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using Section Editor: Chen Xiaorong the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound Design: Laetitia Sauvaget Editions by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository Arabic: Anissa Barrak Cover illustration: © Adrià Fruitós (https://en.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). The present licence applies exclusively to the texts. For the Chinese: Sun Min and China Translation & Publishing House Printing: UNESCO English: Shiraz Sidhva use of images, prior permission shall be requested. French: Gabriel Casajus, proofreader Co-editions The designations employed in this publication and Russian: Marina Yartseva Portuguese: Ana Lúcia Guimarães the presentation of the data do not imply the expression of Spanish: William Navarrete Esperanto: Trezoro Huang Yinbao any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning Digital edition: Malahat Ibrahimova Sicilian: David Paleino the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its Photographs and illustrations: Danica Bijeljac Korean: Eun Young Choi authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Translation and layout coordination: Veronika Fedorchenko Articles express the opinions of the authors and do not Administrative and editorial assistance: necessarily represent the opinions of UNESCO and do not Carolina Rollán Ortega commit the Organization. Editorial 2014 was a watershed year for humanity: greenhouse gas emissions and produce We have seen this at UNESCO, which is for the first time in history, more than half seventy per cent of global waste. As cities home to no less than five city networks, of the world’s population now lives in expand, they threaten biodiversity, and each of which is working to harness the cities. By current estimates, this will rise place urban infrastructure and resources extraordinary capacity for innovation and to seventy per cent by 2050. These cities – from water to transport to electricity – connection that is a hallmark of cities. of tomorrow will, in many ways, mirror under enormous strain, multiplying the For instance, cities account for seventy their forbearers; from the early city-states impact of natural disasters and climate per cent of the global economy, including of Mesopotamia, to the Italian cities of change. Unchecked development and a large portion of the creative economy, the Renaissance, to the megacities of mass tourism place cultural heritage which generates annual global revenues today – cities have historically advanced sites and living heritage practices at of $2,250 billion and employs more human development, serving as melting risk. Rising inequality and migration – young people than any other sector. pots for people of diverse backgrounds to driven in many cases by conflict and That is why the 180 cities that form the exchange and dialogue. disaster – make cities the focal points for UNESCO Creative Cities Network are new social cleavages, for exclusion and Yet the cities of today and tomorrow working to leverage the ability of cities discrimination. are also facing new, unprecedented to bring creative people together, to challenges. Although occupying only Given the magnitude of these challenges, spark economic growth, to foster a sense two per cent of the world’s landmass, cities across the globe have concluded of community and to preserve urban they consume sixty per cent of global that new ways of thinking, citizen identities. UNESCO’s Global Network energy, release seventy-five per cent of engagement and, crucially, city-to-city of Learning Cities is working to make cooperation, are the only paths forward. cities sustainable by ensuring that all urban residents can benefit from lifelong learning. From learning to ride a bicycle to make the urban environment cleaner, learning to make local products using traditional practices and knowledge or organizing community theatre workshops in marginalized neighbourhoods, each new educational opportunity brings with it the potential for social transformation and development. As one of the world’s foremost laboratories of ideas, UNESCO is working to bring these networks of cities together, encouraging them to exchange and collaborate on the policies and practices that can respond to the growing needs of urban residents. The Pulitzer-winning journalist, Herb Caen, once said, “A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.” UNESCO believes that when cities share these dreams, and take inspiration from the vision of others, they can overcome the challenges of our new urban era. This issue of the UNESCO Courier is full of stories of creativity, innovation and resilience. I hope they inspire you, and perhaps push you to engage with these issues in your own city or community. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO The probability of a city, imaginary urban map by French artist Fabrice Clapiès. © Fabrice Clapiès The UNESCO Courier • April-June 2019 | 3 Contents WIDE ANGLE 6-35 7 Warsaw, the invincible city Joanna Lasserre 10 A warm welcome versus hostility Gabriela Neves de Lima 12 Street smarts in Kinshasa Sylvie Ayimpam 14 Russia: From monotowns to pluritowns Ivan Nesterov 17 Havana: Where everyone pitches in Jasmina Šopova 18 Eusebio Leal : Havana, mon amour Interview by Lucía Iglesias Kuntz 21 When art takes over the street Mehdi Ben Cheikh, interviewed by Anissa Barrak 24 The city, a circus under a starlit tent Thomas B. Reverdy 28 Under the auspices of UNESCO … cities in networks 36-43 ZOOM Lighting up the world! Photos: Rubén Salgado Escudero Text: Katerina Markelova 4 | The UNESCO Courier • April-June 2019 In this issue Cities have always been centres of power, attractiveness and prosperity. But the frenetic urbanization of recent decades is jeopardizing their historical function as melting pots that integrate and absorb newcomers. As they become more populated, they become dehumanized. Violence, inequality, discrimination – the larger the cities, the more these ills overwhelm them. Nevertheless, even as they are dehumanized, cities are reinventing themselves. From street smarts as a survival strategy in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) to major national projects for the rehabilitation of single-industry cities in Russia; from 44-49 the personal initiative of a gallery owner who revitalized the small town of Erriadh (Tunisia) to the mobilization of the masses against the authoritarian IDEAS appropriation of public spaces in Warsaw (Poland); and from solidarity movements Racism does not need racists 45 with migrants in London (United Jorge Majfud Kingdom) to synergies that revive the heart of Havana (Cuba) – creative forces 48 The other side of the coin are emerging and organizing themselves Katherine Levine Einstein to give urban life new meanings and new perspectives. We may believe these are “tiny resistances” – to use the expression of the French writer Thomas B. Reverdy – but they make all the difference. Two other writers share their views with our readers in this issue. Our Guest, 50-53 the French-Congolese author Alain Mabanckou, talks about “mobile Africas” and the courage to write, while highlighting contradictory moments in colonial history. The Uruguayan-American OUR GUEST writer Jorge Majfud condemns the racist attitude towards migrants in the Ideas The mobile Africas of Alain Mabanckou section, which also provides an analysis of Interview by Ariane Poissonnier migration policies in the United States. In the Current