On Thursday, Sep 30, 2004, at 10:22 Europe/London, Scott Rodgers wrote:
> Apologies for x-postings
>
> as part of the European Social Forum - 15-17 October in
> London -
> the following seminar is being planned. Please direct any enquiries,
> expressions of interest to [log in to unmask]
>
> ESF seminar on CITIES
>
> What is the place of cities within neo-liberal
> globalisation? Endlessly competing for big projects such as the
> Olympics and/or
> the international sector and finance. As in the 'London Plan',
> neo-liberal
> policies produce inequality both globally and locally in the city
> itself. How
> can we challenge, and dream up alternatives to the present urban
> dilemma. Cities
> themselves, like Porto Alegre can become sites of resistance and new
> possibilities. New forms of participatory democracy offer hope to the
> possibility of citizens reclaiming the city. What kind of city do we
> want?
I would support this. I was originally to be going to ESF myself, but
I'm at a conference in London on the Friday and in Birmingham on the
Saturday, so as long as it's on the Sunday afternoon I am quite willing
to help out...
The issues as I see them should be:
- local democracy in the city - how can we deliver representation for
all, participation and quality services for all residents?
- local service provision - can we do it better ourselves, or do the
large multinationals provide the best quality of public services (might
have to rephrase that as, given the audience, it's a pretty loaded
question, but the issue of how it might be possible for local
organisations to resource service provision to the level of large
companies is still pertinent)
- from grass roots to mainstream? how can we integrate local grass
roots community activity and get more people involved, perhaps leading
to some of those activities becoming mainstreamed in providing Council
services. Or is this a road they want to take at all?
--
Anzir Boodoo MRes MILT Aff. IRO
transcience, Leeds Innovation Centre, 103 Clarendon Road, LEEDS LS2 9DF
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