Business, Economics and Consulting

I recently got a chance to attend an international forum on urban leadership and governance which focused on new developments and best practices of countries, local governments and non-government organizations. The major challenges were basically the same across countries particularly among developing countries. The innovations presented by the more developed areas were taken as guide for the developing ones as they pursue or endeavor to attain their respective desired levels of development.

One thing that astounded me was the fact that even the developed countries and renowned cities in the world continue to move on and improve their crafts. For example, they still talk about necessary improvements in their well-admired and seemingly well-established and operational systems of tax collection, waste collection and disposal, regulatory mechanisms such as the local police and instituted structures and processes of lodging complaints and resolving community conflicts, health and social security claims and benefits, traffic management and control, housing, and settlements for informal and vulnerable groups, among others.

Though the forum was quite technical in nature as it heavily delved on urban problems, the paper presentations, especially their recommendations, boiled down to local governance and leadership. One paper presented two (2) critical points for consideration by the national governments and the communities. One is the fact that the global scenario is evolving and ever-changing; be it in the area politics, economy, society or technology. The presentor (from Chicago) emphasized that this is an old concept for corporate management and organizational development as well as in public administration. It talks about the necessity of being sensitive to changes in the environment and being able to adapt to such changes. The speaker in that forum mentioned that the main challenge for managers and administrators is to institute mechanisms so that changes could work best for the communities and the nation – mechanisms that would mitigate its ill-effects and harness its forces to bring about positive results. Change, he said, is inevitable in any given situation – “either you adapt to change or you institute change so that you could stay relevant to your corporate missions”.

The other critical factor that the presentor emphasized was the unavoidable physical transformation of communities. The reasons he mentioned were: (a) the advancement of technology and other support infrastructures; (b) the less mediocre attitude of modern people as well as national and local leaders; (c) the aggressive stance of corporate leaders as they continuously in search for potential areas for investments and increased opportunities for corporate expansion and domination; and (d) the increasing social and labor mobility. These, the speaker said, could redound to physical transformation of communities which, in turn, could result to either better or worse physical condition of any given locality. In a sense, therefore, physical transformation, which is also inevitable, could be either good or bad. The challenge that the presentor made was for managers and administrators to ensure that the net or the absolute result would be “better”. The initial stage of physical transformation defines the kind of economic progress that the community could handle, and yet again, the level of economic growth in the community vey well affects the quality of the ultimate (or current) physical transformation of the locality. The presentor used the vicious cycle to demonstrate the interrelatedness of the social, physical, economic and technological dimensions of development.

Another surprising revelation during the forum was the statement that “the government, while important, is not critical for as long as the community is normal”. And a normal community was defined by several conditions: (a) social interaction is maintained by local norms; (b) processes are clear and well-defined; (c) laws and regulatory measures are applied to all. The presentor hastened to add that the role of the government becomes critical when urban problems are imminent and persistent, such as sluggish economic progress, traffic congestion (or lack of discipline of motorists), road violations by both pedestrians and motorists, urban sprawl, swelling informal settlers, degenerating status of the physical environment, lack of zoning (or the lack of its enforcement), mendicancy, prostitution, and child labor, among others. He also said that the government is critical because these urban problems are the manifestation of the lack of support, control and regulation of the social and economic forces vis-à-vis their respective claims over the physical and economic resources of the community. He referred to these manifestations as the ultimate barometer of the effectiveness of governance and order mechanisms at the local level.

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