Treating People and Communities as Assets

Inclusive communities are productive communities. Every person and neighborhood deserves the opportunity to participate actively in governmental decision-making, to contribute to economic development through individual and cooperative initiative, and to share in the fruits of prosperity and democracy. Global Urban Development recognizes people as the world's most important resource; therefore we develop and implement urban strategies that are participatory and inclusive. Such strategies empower people to organize effectively to solve their own problems, improve their environment, and contribute to the overall productivity of their community, city, region, and nation. For example, Global Urban Development addresses the dynamics of the "informal" sector and explores ways to fully integrate every individual and family into the international marketplace, with full citizenship, property rights, and responsibilities. The adaptive methods people create and employ to conduct business, produce goods, provide services, grow food, make clothes, build housing, educate children, maintain health, and perform many other daily activities clearly contribute to the well-being of society and should not be excluded from the formal organization of economic and social life. It is far better to welcome and encourage people's creative energy and hard-working spirit by integrating everyone into mainstream institutions and ensuring that they have the basic security of tenure and livelihood. All people will then benefit much more completely from the output that flows from the many difficult and challenging tasks they regularly perform. These same principles apply in the world of the "formal" sector. The power of people to organize cooperatively in their communities is vital for solving urban problems and improving the quality of urban life. Global Urban Development emphasizes partnership approaches as the most effective way to accomplish important urban development goals, highlighting a wide variety of initiatives from around the world where community groups have successfully collaborated with business, government, and civic organizations.

This committee is working on obtaining funding for GUD’s worldwide Community Productivity Project (CPP) in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), and Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI). The CPP, consisting of Community Productivity Indicators and Inclusive Economic Development Strategies, will be conducted in low-income urban communities in Cape Town, South Africa; Mumbai (Bombay), India; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and London, UK. The purpose is to identify and implement new methods and policy tools to address vital issues such as poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, public health, gender equality, and global partnerships under the UN Millennium Development Goals (an overview of the CPP is available on our website).

Treating People and Communities as Assets Committee
Co-Chairs: Lance Buhl, Marlene Fernandes, and Patrick Wakely
Grace Akumu

Jobeda Ali

Besnik Aliaj

Jockin Arputham

Nefise Bazoglu
Lucelena Betancur

Iman Bibars

Edward Blakely

Susan Blaustein

Albina du Boisrouvray
Andrew Boraine
Sandra Braunstein

Sundar Burra

Yves Cabannes

JoAnn Carmin
Gregory Casagrande

Margaret Caust

Chung Ying Cheng

Gail Christopher

William Cobbett

Thais Corral

Claudia Coulton

Forbes Davidson

Hernando De Soto

Mary del Carmen Diaz Amador

Dianne Dillon-Ridgley

Malika Djebli

Leonard Duhl

Alain Durand-Lasserve

Bruce Ferguson

Neil Fraser

Robert Freling

Robert Friedman

Alastair Galpin

Shari Garmise

Santosh Ghosh

Ernesto Gil
John Gilderbloom

Peter Hall
Andre Herzog

Eric Hoddersen

Pamela Hollie

Tim Honey

Daniel Inkoom

Patricia Irvin

Bianca Jagger
Kim Jawanda
Lorna Johnson

Calestous Juma
Jane Katz

Michael Kennedy
Thomas Kingsley

Vincent Kitio
Jeroen Klink

Vinay Lall

Claudia Laub

Jaime Lerner

Vivian Lin
Michael Lindfield
Stella Madrid

Gideon Mandara

Cecilia Martinez Leal

Patricia McCarney

Harold McDougall
John McKoy

Nhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube

Eduardo Moreno

Geoff Mulgan
Geoffrey Nwaka

Marielza Oliveira

David Painter
Terry Patinkin
Anthony Pell

Janice Perlman

Glorianna Pionati

Christine Platt
Roy Priest

Jonas Rabinovitch

Bill Randolph

Jane Samuels

Wendy Sarkissian
Wicaksono Sarosa
David Satterthwaite
Theo Schilderman
Elliott Sclar

Wandia Seaforth

Mona Serageldin

Asad Shah

Molly O’Meara Sheehan

Michael Sherraden

Seymour Spilerman

Richard Stren

Richard Swett

Marta Tellado

Kees Van Der Ree

Irene Vance

Stephen Walsh

Emiel Wegelin

Mark Weinheimer
Marc Weiss

Edmundo Werna

Gina Whitehill-Baziuk
Mark Willis
Erna Witoelar

Muhammad Yunus

Robert Zdenek

Erla Zwingle

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