城市化是有益于社會(huì)的“印鈔機(jī)”

Joan Clos, one-time doctor and former mayor of Barcelona, is hoping to encourage politicians to see cities not as problems but as opportunities for lifting entire populations from poverty.

醫(yī)生出身、擔(dān)任過(guò)巴塞羅那市長(zhǎng)的霍安•克洛斯(Joan Clos)希望鼓勵(lì)政治家們將城市看成是使廣大民眾擺脫貧困的機(jī)遇之地，而不是問(wèn)題的來(lái)源。

“Urbanisation is not a passive outcome of development but a creator of value . . . [it] is like a money-printing machine,” says Dr Clos, executive director of UN-Habitat, which studies human settlements.

“城市化并不是城市發(fā)展所產(chǎn)生的被動(dòng)結(jié)果，而是創(chuàng)造價(jià)值的過(guò)程……城市化就像一臺(tái)印鈔機(jī)，”克洛斯表示，他目前擔(dān)任聯(lián)合國(guó)人居署(UN-Habitat)執(zhí)行主任，該機(jī)構(gòu)主要研究人類(lèi)居住問(wèn)題。

The organisation has been looking at how to cater for the urban population explosion. “From now until 2050 we’re going to double the current level of urbanisation. Another 3bn people will be living in cities,” says Dr Clos.

聯(lián)合國(guó)人居署近年來(lái)一直在研究如何應(yīng)對(duì)城市人口爆炸。“從現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始到2050年，我們現(xiàn)有的城市化水平將會(huì)翻一番。未來(lái)還將有30億人遷至城市生活，”克洛斯說(shuō)道。

“Most thinking and writing about urbanisation is about the problems, poverty, housing and so on — there’s not enough about the value that the urban tissue generates.”

“絕大多數(shù)關(guān)于城市化的思考和著述都著眼于城市化所帶來(lái)的問(wèn)題、貧困、住房緊張等等——對(duì)于城市所創(chuàng)造出的價(jià)值卻缺乏充分的探討。”

The idea that cities can generate wealth and help tackle rising inequality are messages he intends to convey to delegates at Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador, in October. This, the latest in a series of conferences that are held every 20 years, will examine the link between urban planning and the human condition.

城市能夠創(chuàng)造財(cái)富、幫助化解收入不平等日益加劇的問(wèn)題，是克洛斯希望傳遞給第三次聯(lián)合國(guó)住房和城市可持續(xù)發(fā)展大會(huì)(Habitat III)與會(huì)代表的觀點(diǎn)，此次大會(huì)將于今年10月在厄瓜多爾首都基多(Quito)召開(kāi)。作為每二十年召開(kāi)一次的系列會(huì)議中最新的一屆，本次大會(huì)將探討城市規(guī)劃與人類(lèi)生活狀況之間的關(guān)系。

For example, in London, New York and Paris there has been increasing economic segregation and exclusion of the poor from their centres. In the UK capital there has been much reporting of how the poor and even the middle classes are being priced out.

例如，在倫敦(見(jiàn)上圖)、紐約和巴黎等城市，經(jīng)濟(jì)因素導(dǎo)致的社會(huì)割裂日益加劇，窮人被排擠出了城市中心地區(qū)。在英國(guó)首都倫敦，有大量關(guān)于窮人甚至中產(chǎn)階級(jí)因無(wú)力承擔(dān)昂貴的生活成本被迫遷離市區(qū)的報(bào)道。

Many experts say there is no effective UK social housing policy, which they argue has been handed over to the private and charitable sectors despite the need for government and municipal attention.

很多專(zhuān)家表示，英國(guó)缺乏行之有效的社會(huì)住房政策，相關(guān)領(lǐng)域問(wèn)題被交給了私人部門(mén)和慈善組織解決，雖然這一狀況急需得到國(guó)家和市政當(dāng)局的關(guān)注。

The irony, Dr Clos says, is London was arguably the first world city to seriously address housing in the 19th century. Tackling housing need was at the centre of strategy and much of the housing stock created in the centre of cities has retained its desirability.

克洛斯指出，這其中的諷刺之處在于，倫敦可以稱(chēng)得上是第一個(gè)嚴(yán)肅應(yīng)對(duì)住房問(wèn)題的國(guó)際大都市，早在十九世紀(jì)就出臺(tái)了相關(guān)政策。滿足住房需求曾是相關(guān)對(duì)策的核心內(nèi)容，而在城市中心建造的大多數(shù)房屋直到今天仍然適宜居住。

“If we look at public housing in London, or in Amsterdam or Vienna from the 19th century, we see that it was so successful that it has now become desirable for the bourgeoisie,” says Dr Clos. “Today’s mass housing is not economically active, it is a dormitory, outside the city, on poor land and poorly located. It is stigmatised and the result is, when someone becomes slightly better off, they leave, only to be replaced with more poor people. It stays poor.”

“如果我們考察十九世紀(jì)以來(lái)倫敦、阿姆斯特丹或者維也納的公共住房，我們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它們是如此成功，以至于現(xiàn)已變得對(duì)中產(chǎn)階級(jí)頗有吸引力，”克洛斯稱(chēng)。“如今的公共住宅在經(jīng)濟(jì)上并不吸引人，這種住宅只是宿舍，位于城市郊外，環(huán)境和地理位置都很糟糕。住在這種房中讓人感到屈辱，由此導(dǎo)致的結(jié)果是，一旦個(gè)體的境況略有好轉(zhuǎn)，他們就會(huì)選擇離開(kāi)，取代他們?nèi)胱〉氖歉迂毨У娜?。這一住宅區(qū)也就因此一直陷于貧困。”

Examples of such places can be found across the globe, from Paris to Detroit. However, he praises some US cities such as Los Angeles, which is attempting to revitalise its once-seedy downtown and suburban centres.

從巴黎到底特律，類(lèi)似這種公共住宅區(qū)的例子在世界各地都能找到。但克洛斯稱(chēng)贊了洛杉磯等一些美國(guó)城市，洛杉磯正試圖重振一度破敗不堪的城市中心商業(yè)區(qū)和市郊中心區(qū)。

Dr Clos says successful urban policies need to be set nationally and have three elements: rules and regulations, urban design and financial planning. “We talk of the rule of law,” he says, “but we also need a rule of urban law. There might be inadequate legislation, or too much unclear legislation, or a lack of enforcement. We need regulations to ensure we have decent public space, we have urban building rights and development, and we have building codes and standards to regulate quality.”

克洛斯指出，成功的城市化政策應(yīng)在國(guó)家層面制定，并同時(shí)具備三大要素：規(guī)則和監(jiān)管、城市規(guī)劃以及財(cái)務(wù)安排。“我們討論依法執(zhí)政，但我們同樣需要城市發(fā)展的相關(guān)法規(guī)。在這一領(lǐng)域或許存在立法不足、法規(guī)條文中不夠明確的地方過(guò)多以及執(zhí)法不力等問(wèn)題。我們需要監(jiān)管力量來(lái)確保我們擁有體面的公共空間，保障我們擁有城市建設(shè)和開(kāi)發(fā)權(quán)，同時(shí)保證我們具備建筑準(zhǔn)則和標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)規(guī)范建筑質(zhì)量。”

Public space is especially important to the less well-off who may lack gardens and other private areas for recreation and leisure.

公共空間對(duì)于那些不太富裕的人群而言尤為重要，這一群體可能缺乏花園以及其他可供娛樂(lè)休閑的私人空間。

“The final issue is the financial plan,” he says. “There can be no successful urbanisation without a budget. We need to think about local authority taxation systems as well as some subsidies from central government to sustain the city.”

“最后一個(gè)問(wèn)題是財(cái)務(wù)安排，”他表示。“成功的城市化必須做好預(yù)算。我們必須考慮地方政府的稅收體系以及中央政府為維持城市發(fā)展所提供的某些補(bǔ)助。”

Since joining UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Dr Clos has become embroiled in a controversy. His efforts to transform the organisation, including eliminating senior staff privileges and reducing costs by 40 per cent, were followed by allegations of misconduct and racism, which Dr Clos’ spokesman says are false and unsubstantiated. An official UN investigation was announced earlier this year but it has yet to publish any conclusions.

自從加入總部設(shè)在內(nèi)羅畢的聯(lián)合國(guó)人居署以來(lái)，克洛斯就卷入了一場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)議。他為推動(dòng)聯(lián)合國(guó)人居署改革所做的努力，包括取消高級(jí)職員特權(quán)以及將辦公成本縮減40%，使他遭到了行為不當(dāng)和種族歧視的指控，這些指控被克洛斯的發(fā)言人駁斥為虛假和毫無(wú)根據(jù)的。今年早些時(shí)候聯(lián)合國(guó)宣布對(duì)此事啟動(dòng)一項(xiàng)官方調(diào)查，但到目前為止尚未公布任何結(jié)論。

Dr Clos’ supporters may feel that an ideal city might look like Barcelona, where he was mayor from 1996 to 2006. This now has generous streets and dense, robust “city blocks” that embody the idea of mixed-use development and have been able to absorb changes in the way the city works, as well as parks, squares and a beach that was once a dock.

克洛斯的支持者們可能認(rèn)為，巴塞羅那或許就是理想城市所應(yīng)有的樣子，克洛斯曾在1996至2006年間擔(dān)任巴塞羅那市長(zhǎng)。如今的巴塞羅那擁有寬闊的街道以及密集而富有活力的“城市街區(qū)”——這種布局體現(xiàn)出了混合用途開(kāi)發(fā)的理念，并且能夠吸收城市運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)方式的變化——還有公園、廣場(chǎng)以及由一座碼頭改造而成的海灘。

Although Dr Clos criticises the “technocratic approach of Asian cities” he says their success cannot be ignored. China has, according to the World Bank, taken 600m people out of poverty thanks to urbanisation between 1981 and 2004. Dr Clos says this is a staggering testament to the power of city planning to create wealth and reduce inequality — a population larger than that of Europe has been lifted from subsistence farming to urban existence in barely a generation.

雖然克洛斯批評(píng)“亞洲城市技術(shù)掛帥的發(fā)展方式”，但他指出這些城市所取得的成就不應(yīng)被忽略。來(lái)自世界銀行(World Bank)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中國(guó)依靠1981至2004年間的城市化進(jìn)程，帶領(lǐng)6億民眾擺脫了貧困?？寺逅怪赋觯@是一個(gè)令人震驚的例證，展現(xiàn)出了城市規(guī)劃在創(chuàng)造財(cái)富和降低收入不平等方面的巨大能量——僅僅用了一代人的時(shí)間，人數(shù)超過(guò)歐洲總?cè)丝诘拿癖娋鸵虺鞘谢撾x了勉強(qiáng)糊口的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)，享受到了城市生活。