STREET ENVIRONMENTALISM Civic Associations and Environmental Practices in the Urban Governance of Third World Megacities Acta Electronica Universitatis Tamperensis 91 SUSANNA MYLLYLÄ STREET ENVIRONMENTALISM Civic Associations and Environmental Practices in the Urban Governance of Third World Megacities AKATEEMINEN VÄITÖSKIRJA Esitetään Tampereen yliopiston taloudellis-hallinnollisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi Tampereen yliopiston Pinnin kiinteistön Paavo Koli –salissa, Kehruukoulunkatu1, Tampere perjantaina 2.päivänä maaliskuuta 2001 kello 12.00. SUSANNA MYLLYLÄ STREET ENVIRONMENTALISM Civic Associations and Environmental Practices in the Urban Governance of Third World Megacities Academic Dissertation Acta Electronica Universitatis Tamperensis 91 University of Tampere 2001 SUSANNA MYLLYLÄ STREET ENVIRONMENTALISM Civic Associations and Environmental Practices in the Urban Governance of Third World Megacities Diss. © SUSANNA MYLLYLÄ & Tampere University Press 2001 Pictures & Figures © SUSANNA MYLLYLÄ Keywords Regional studies/Urban studies/Development Environment/Geography/Sociology Cover & Layout by Katri Wallenius Distributor TAJU, University of Tampere, Sales Office P.O.BOX 617 FIN-33101 TAMPERE FINLAND Tel.+358 (0)3-215 6055 Fax.+358 (0)3-215 7685 [email protected] http://granum.uta.fi ISBN 951-44-5040-X Printed by Tampereen Yliopistopaino Oy Juvenes Print Tampere 2001 Electronic Dissertation Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 91 ISBN 951-44-5048-5 http://acta.uta.fi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At this point one has to look back and consider the circumstances as to how the whole study was accomplished. I also realize that all moments and encounters, fleeting or long-term, have their precious meaning in this learning process, which has gone far beyond the research work itself. In spite of endless human resource, that is, creating all kinds of research plans, there would be no research project without interested, supporting institutions offering a logistical framework. I am most grateful to the Academy of Finland for long-term supporting, since the beginning of my licentiate thesis. The Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala provided a travel grant for fieldwork in Egypt and also a two-week visit to their excellent library. The Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) also made it possible to carry out fieldwork in the two cities of Cairo and Delhi, along with the governments of Egypt and India. The University of Tampere provided a scholarship for a short period of the study. The Emil Aaltonen Foundation supported this work from its very beginning to the very end, thus also financially alleviating those crucial moments. Finally, the Science Foundation of the City of Tampere aided in publishing this book. I also want to thank Tampere University Press for this publication forum. The Department of Regional Studies and Environmental Policy has been the logistical mainstay of this study, for which I want to thank our former Head of Department, Professor Emeritus Seppo Siirilä. I’m also pleased to have been able to commence this research even as a real borderzone subject. I want to thank my supervisor, Professor Emeritus Lauri Hautamäki, for his concern and support for my work throughout these years. In Cairo, I would like to acknowledge especially Professor Khamis Abdel Raheem and Professor Hassan Hanafi of Cairo University. In Raleigh, I am indebted to Professor Marvin S. Soroos, of North Carolina State University (NCSU), who arranged the visit to the resourceful study place of the Research Triangle of NCSU, Duke University and the North Carolina University at Chapell Hill. During this colorful Appalachian Fall semester, my further interest in the environmental sciences broadened notably. In Delhi, Dr. Vinay Lall and Dr. Stuti Lall of the Society for Development Studies (SDS) kindly offered me desk space and an opportunity to learn from the seminar of the Asian development practitioners. Desk space and facilities were also provided by the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), for which I want to thank Director, Dr. R.K. Pachauri. In-depth views on Indian society as well as practical arrangements to visit the country were also offered by Ms. Helena Perheentupa of the Finnish-Indian Society and Mr. Sanjeev Sharma of New Delhi. I also want to acknowledge here the staff of SDS and TERI, as well as the Egyptian and Indian NGOs, who let me learn from their work. I’m greatly indebted to the official evaluators of the work, Docent Ann Schlyter of the Nordic Africa Institute, and Professor Marja Järvelä of the University of Jyväskylä. Their comments enabled me to focus on the essence of the subject. Their further encouragement in the urban studies superhighway was also rewarding. The Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala and its program Cities, governance and civil society in Africa run by Dr. Mariken Vaa has been my main reference group where I could test my ideas and findings among scholars from South and North. I would also like to acknowledge the following persons from various disciplines, for offering material and commenting on certain sections in the initial stage of my work. Special thanks to Professor Asef Bayat of the American University of Cairo; Professor, Director Richard Stren of the Centre for Urban & Community Studies in Toronto; and Dr. Anja Nygren of IDS at the University of Helsinki. In my department I also want to thank Dr. Jyrki Luukkanen for helping to omit some parts from the last version. When finalizing this project, it has not only been productive but a delight to work with the following two persons. The whole layout of this book was vigorously done by Katri ‘wizardess’ Wallenius, to whom I’m indebted for her creative ideas and technical skills. In addition, she also offered some useful remarks on the text, as well as Joan Löfgren, who was kindly able to make the language correction within a very narrow timetable. Responsibility for any shortcomings in the text is ultimately my own. But a researcher without social interaction and a supportive ‘audience’ on daily basis would be like a voice calling in the wilderness. In avoiding this, Kristiina’s support in the form of discussions in various city spaces of Tampere has been indispensable. I could enjoy the good spirit among my old and new colleagues at the Department. Furthermore, I want to remember here a few people from other departments; Aini, Kirsi, and Riina, for all the fertile years when sharing Mediterranean/Middle Eastern studies; Farhad for a common interest in NGOs in development, and Kristiina Kuvaja in connecting Cairo to Lagos. I am fortunate in having around me some other friends, always offering new streams of energy. With Eeva-Liisa, Marja, Pirjo, Päivi, Taina and Ulla we could have liberated ourselves from civilization in the forests of Iittala. I also want to thank Marja and Taina for their long-lasting friendship and support. Finally, I want to express my warmest thoughts to my parents and Hesham. Tampere, February 15th, 2001 SUSANNA MYLLYLÄ CONTENTS I THIRD WORLD URBAN ENVIRONMENT AS A RESEARCH INTEREST v 9 1. AN ORIENTATION v 9 2. CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL POSITIONS v 10 3. EMERGING GLOBAL CONTEXT FOR URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH v 38 4. STRUCTURE OF WORK v 41 II ARE MEGACITIES AN ECOLOGICAL PROBLEM FOR HUMANKIND? v 43 5. POPULATION GROWTH AND CITIES v 44 5.1. URBANIZATION AND THE LARGEST HUMAN AGGLOMERATIONS v 44 5.2. A NEW GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRALITY: GLOBAL AND NON-GLOBAL CITIES v 60 5.3. HYBRIDITY CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL SOCIO-SPATIAL DIVISIONS IN THE CITY v 66 6. PEOPLE AND CITY AUTHORITIES FACING ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS v 82 6.1. STATE AND NATURE OF ENVIRONMENT IN MEGACITIES v 82 6.2. CITY AUTHORITIES AND THE LIMITS OF GOVERNANCE v 105 III A CALL FOR CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS INTO CITY GOVERNANCE v 117 7. URBAN SILENCE OR COLLECTIVE ACTION? v 118 7.1. TOLERANCE, QUIET ENCROACHMENT AND IMPROVISATION: INTERPRETING URBAN NON-ACTION v 118 7.2. HOW DO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS START UP? v 128 7.3. THIRD WORLD ENVIRONMENTALISM: FROM SAVANNAS TO STREETS v 137 8. NGOS’ ROLES AND RELATIONS IN URBAN GOVERNANCE v 150 8.1. ON HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NGO SECTOR v 150 8.2. CHARACTERISTICS OF NGOS v 154 8.3. NEW URBAN GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE v159 8.4. UNEASY PARTNERSHIPS v 175 IV ASSOCIATIONAL ENDEAVORS IN MAKING LIVABLE URBAN QUARTERS v 197 9. STREET LEVEL PRACTICES FROM DELHI AND CAIRO v 198 9.1. ASHA FACILITATING SLUM UPGRADING v 198 9.2. SULABH LEADING A SANITATION MOVEMENT AMONG THE ‘UNTOUCHABLES’ v 207 9.3. AOYE EDUCATING AND LOBBYING WATER CONSERVATION v 220 9.4. AHED MITIGATING SMALL-SCALE INDUSTRIAL AIR POLLUTION v 225 9.5. APE PROMOTING GARBAGE RECYCLERS’ WORK v 231 10. SCALING UP PRACTICES AND CONCEPTS v 244 10.1. WHAT ARE THE COLLECTIVE CIVIC ENDEAVORS MADE OF? v 244 10.2. CONCEPTUAL TYPOLOGY FOR URBAN ENGOS v 253 10.3. BACK TO THE CITY LEVEL: TRANSFERRING URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE v 260 V LARGE CITIES – SMALL SOLUTIONS v 269 REFERENCES v 283 I THIRD WORLD URBAN ENVIRONMENT AS A RESEARCH INTEREST 1. AN ORIENTATION The contemporary movement of humankind from rural to urban habitats represents a major demographic transition of the 21st century. In particular, Third World human agglomerations have endured economic, political, social and cultural transformations, which are deeply entangled in the rise of multifaceted environmental questions and spatial transformations in these regions. The limits of governments in responding to these changes, i.e., the question of urban governability, is a particularly urgent issue in the largest human settlements, so called megacities, on which the present study focuses. As a response to such urban governance problems, there is emerging a socio- ecological phenomenon that makes large cities an intriguing object of study for social scientific research. In these regions, urban-based environmental knowledge – as to how humans could inhabit very large settlements and yet try to sustain their ecological systems – developed by various citizen groups is sprouting, thus representing a novel issue to be explored.