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Meaning of urban management

Article  in  Cities · June 1994

DOI: 10.1016/0264-2751(94)90060-4

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Ciries 199411 (3) 201-20s

ty of urban life everywhere, which, if

Reply it is not poor, is declining. The value

of an idea called urban management
lies in its ability to arrest this decline.
Meaning of urban management A clear concept has practical value
for current actions. For example, the
Urban Management Program of the
In order for the idea of urban management to become a reality, those who World Bank and United Nations does
would perform it must be given a clearer view of its meaning and substance. If not have good boundaries and sign-
use of the term is meant to signal a fresh approach to urban affairs, something posts with which to mark out what is
more than the repackaging of old concepts is wanted. A new approach takes most valuable among the experiences
shape when emphasis is given to the exercise of responsibility inherent in the it has gathered, because the Program
management concept, and when urban activities are identified as the objects is not certain about the nature of
managed. Instilling a sense of responsibility for managing, and achieving an urban management itself (World Bank
adequate understanding of the duties which this entails, then become prere- et al, 1991). Moreover, it lacks a suit-
quisites to making urban management effective. able basis on which continually to
revise its activities. Although concern
for the environment and poverty were
What is urban management? In his account of the history of the concept added to the three original agenda
recent Cities article (Stren, 1993) brings to mind the fable of the blind items (land, infrastructure, and muni-
Richard Stren observes that the con- men, each trying to describe an cipal finance and administration) as
cept is strangely lacking in content and elephant by what little he could separ- the Program learned by doing, it is still
definition and that the central core of ately touch, hear and smell. without an overall concept which will
meaning attached to it has been sur- The phrase is applied to other ideas identify other gaps and which will
prisingly elusive. His history of its use in the literature and in professional strengthen the logic underpinning the
in the field of urban affairs illustrates discussions. There is urban manage- priorities advocated by the Program.
how the phrase has served to mean ment as project management: a con- A clear concept might point the Prog-
many things to many people. To the cern to carry out urban projects effec- ram more squarely at the local eco-
World Bank. urban management was tively. There is urban management as nomy, for instance.
a busmess-like approach to govern- development or growth management: A clearer notion of urban manage-
ment, one which might make more tackling the demands of cities and ment could move it high on political
efficient and effective use of its loans, towns which are expanding and re- agendas. There is not a strongly fo-
Decades earlier, it had been equated building with policies for land use, cused public outcry for better urban
by an 4frican scholar with more effec- structures, and service networks. It is management, even though it is a pub-
tive urban government. The concern used as a term for public finance man- lic service. Better performance of it
of both of these ideas was the way in agement or for environmental man- can be expected if the public so de-
which public sector organizations are agement. It is there as public service mands. For this to happen, citizens
operated. management: to operate the public must be able to conceive of this urban
Sometimes urban management was services which are the chief concern of management service and what it in-
seen as the implementation of policy, local governments satisfactorily. volves. They must know who is, or
that is, as public administration. At This confusion is not helpful. Is should be, performing this service.
other times, it was defined as imple- urban management just about local Yet something more than clarity is
mentation with a specific character government? Does it deal only with wanted. Although agreement on one
which took it beyond mere administra- those functions usually given to urban of the several meanings at hand can
tion, such as greater involvement of authorities’? Must it be separated from achieve clarity, the result is only to
the private sector, or taking an active planning? Or from policy making? If dress an old idea - such as public
role rather than just a passive part in Stren is right that the confusion has administration or urban policy imple-
achievmg the development of a town. served to maintain an ‘unanalysed ab- mentation - in new clothes. Surely the
It has been said necessarily to involve straction’ which has provided the be- application of the term management
progressive action and holistic, sys- nefits of political and administrative to urban affairs signals a search for
tematic thinking. Recently, urban flexibility in the short term. he is also something new, something additional?
management became a tool with right in suggesting the time has come If not, then an important opportunity
which to orient governments to the to pin down the substance of urban may be missed, as Stren suggests.
urban agendas of the World Bank and management. The consequences of
United Nations, and so the concept ambiguity are overshadowing whatever
was defined in terms of its objectives. A meaning for urban
advantages remain. But it is not the
Stren himself implies that relevance to challenge for research which is so im-
management
urban planning is part of the essence portant, as Stren concludes. A direct The uses of the term in the past imply,
of management. Altogether, his impact is badly needed upon the quali- at first, that more can be brought to

0264-2751/94/03/0201-OS0 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 201

Repb
bear upon urban affairs by combining sibility aims at the basis of many per- management to urban areas, it is not
qualities which have been separated in sistent weaknesses in efforts to im- space alone that is of interest - as
previous approaches, such as physical prove urban conditions: actors who though urban management were some
(town) planning, project manage- are not concerned beyond their sort of urban housekeeping-but what
ment, public administration, and busi- assigned duties, who are not in- goes on in the space of cities and
ness organization management. Chief terested to coordinate with one towns. In that case, the object man-
among these qualities are the follow- another, who are content to perform aged is the collection of activities
ing: old routines according to old agendas, which take place in an urban area.
who avoid taking initiatives, who To the extent that government is
Being concerned about urban ignore the difficult problems which one of those activities, and that it is
affairs. Though each may have its should claim priority, and who are also an organization which can carry
unique preoccupation, such as the afraid to try. out management, government can be
wish of the World Bank to obtain If management is about responsibil- part of this object. However, when
more from the projects it funds, the ity, the need for its clear definition is government is seen as the totality of
various parties with an interest in even greater. To be taken on, a re- what is managed, urban management
urban management are all driven sponsibility must be recognized. Then, is limited. Then it is only organization-
by a desire to improve human life for there to be a continuing commit- al management. Similarly, most cur-
in settlements. It is changes in ment to exercise it, the nature of the rent applications of the term suggest
urban living which are wanted, not responsibility must be understood. management of only part of what
just changes in the behaviour of Finally, understanding its specific re- urban management could deal with.
urban governments or the perform- quirements is essential if the responsi- Managing urban growth implies leav-
ance of projects. bility is to be carried out. The confu- ing out the needs of the city which
Taking a comprehensive perspec- sion surrounding urban management already exist; managing public sector
tive. It is common knowledge that hinders recognition by potentially key projects neglects policies, program-
urban matters demand this. The actors that the responsibilities are mes, services, and probably all activi-
spread is across investment sectors, there to be taken on board and per- ties outside of conventional govern-
running through the several levels formed. It may well be that local ment duties. To aim urban manage-
of public administrations and governments, mired in their old atti- ment at development alone would
covering their various depart- tudes and routines, are unable to re- seem to ignore the everyday needs of
ments, involving actors and actions spond to the call for better urban the present. And so on.
from the private and community management simply because they do
sectors as well as government. It not know what it means to perform it.
Objectives of urban
embraces policies and programmes How then might a concept of urban
management
as well as projects, maintenance as management with all of these qualities
well as construction, policy for- be defined? They can be found in the Objectives give meaning to manage-
mulation as well as the administra- idea - simply stated - that manage- ment. Without them it is not possible
tion of policies, programmes, and ment is taking sustained responsibility to define problems or opportunities,
projects, and the delivery of goods for actions to achieve particular objec- for they establish what is wanted and
and services as well as planning and tives with regard to a particular ob- why it is wanted. They determine what
building. ject. This responsibility is to deter- is of concern about the activities tak-
Pursuing objectives. Management mine what needs to be done, to ing place in a city or town. They
needs reasons for its actions. arrange that it be done, and then provide the measures to judge the
Objectives define those problems make certain that it is done. products and progress of managing
and opportunities to which man- and therefore performance.
agement gives its attention. Objec- There is nothing intrinsic to the
The object which is managed concept of urban management which
tives are also essential if there is to
be a basis for assessing efficiency In business, which has provided the predetermines its objectives. Logical-
and effectiveness. model for some views of urban man- ly, good management is measured by
agement, the object of concern is not assessing results against objectives,
A second, more optimistic, view is just the corporation’s organization, and it is not judged by the nature of
that a new combination of old ideas is but the larger entity embracing the those objectives. Consequently, the
not all that has been sought under the company’s activities which create poor conditions in so many human
flag of urban management. The word wealth. Thus markets and sources of settlements may not, in fact, be signs
management sometimes carries with it financing and materials are managed, of bad management, because they
the sense of looking after, or having along with the company’s corporate may not actually figure in the manage-
concern for, or caring for. Here is the organization. Most uses of the term ment objectives which exist in the
implication of a sense of responsibil- urban management appear, in a para- minds of those who govern. For exam-
ity, the idea that someone voluntarily llel way, to be concerned with urban ple, in terms of the objectives of apar-
takes charge. This meaning of respon- life. Although it is common to relate theid, the cities of South Africa were

202 Cities 1994 Volume II Number 3

possibly well-managed, despite the de- tainability, but the ability to support processing), possibly some public
plorable circumstances of the majority actions continuously with adequate re- transport, street lighting, building and
of their people. sources (UNCHS, 1991). Through planning regulation, and even some
In response to the obvious de- their endorsement of such statements, housing, why should a concern to
terioration of services, there has been most national governments - both manage the city not encompass those
much concern to improve the efficien- those offering and receiving assistance actions of other levels and agencies of
cy and effectiveness of the urban gov- - have taken public positions in sup- government which typically include
ernments who provide them. But effi- port of one or another of these aims, provision of education and telecom-
ciency and effectiveness do not them- even if such aims have not always been munications? Often the need to create
selves provide objectives for managing honoured in the actions of these gov- employment is considered. Provision
urban areas. Both beg for a purpose. ernments. of electricity is a common concern so
Efficiency in using resources for what why not the general provision of ener-
output? Effectiveness in achieving gy to the city?
Actions of urban management
what with those resources? To look no Energy is fundamental to urban life
further than the two is to act unques- If urban management means taking and production. So is food. Yet ensur-
tioningly and probably means accept- sustained responsibility for actions to ing their availability is rarely recog-
ing the status quo. Good governance, achieve particular objectives with re- nized to be a challenge requiring the
in terms of transparency and accoun- gard to human settlements, the attention of urban management. Vir-
tability in government operations and appropriate actions will differ from tually no effort is made to ensure
decision making, has also been offered time to time and from place to place. adequate present and future supplies
as an objective for better urban man- A particular social, economic, politic- of energy for manufacturing and ser-
agement. This too is not sufficient, for al, and physical context will contain its vices, nor for the unmet needs of
it fails to consider what good urban own needs for action when viewed in residents, especially the large majority
governance would work to achieve. terms of the objectives of managing of poor. The provision of food is simi-
More participation in management by the circumstances found in a city or larly neglected. This is so, even
the parties who make a city is advo- town. Thoughtful application of these though malnutrition within Third
cated ;IS a means to good governance objectives can determine those actions World cities and towns is common and
and to improve management. While which it is most important to perform. even when shortages of basic food-
the increase in transparency and These are the priority actions for stuffs occur with regularity. These
accountability can work to improve which good management must take possibilities illustrate how clarity in
efficiency and effectiveness, the con- responsibility. the concept can not only define tasks
cept of participation in decision mak- It is useful to place actions into two but also define boundaries for respon-
ing raises the question of whose in- groups. The first - which may be sibility which are possibly new.
terests - among those participating called tasks - affect the activities going Processes can be present in all the
and not participating .- establish the on in cities and towns and therefore tasks which circumstances may make
purposes of efficiency, effectiveness, affect the conditions, goods, and ser- important. They are necessary to carry
transparency, accountability, and vices which these activities produce. out the tasks. They may be catego-
good governance? Moreover, the abil- The second - which may be called rized as developing, operating, main-
ity of greater participation to reduce processes of management - cut across taining, providing resources, and plan-
efficiency by delaying decisions illus- and through these tasks. ning. Like tasks, these processes of
trates how some of these objectives There is a wide range of possibilities management can be given different
can be at odds with one another. for tasks. Take social and economic degrees of emphasis in different cir-
There are a variety of objectives development objectives as a refer- cumstances. Unfortunately, it is com-
which could drive the managment of a ence, for example. Then the key ac- mon for both planning and mainte-
city or town. Those of improving tions which must be done to sustain nance to be neglected.
urban productivity, alleviating pover- improvement in living conditions and Planning orients policies to manage-
ty, and protecting the urban environ- in productivity are likely to include the ment objectives and to the future; it
ment feature in the World Bank’s provision of health and education ser- interrelates policies so that the highest
Policy Paper (World Bank, 1991). vices as well as water, power, and priority actions can be identified. It
UNDP advocates improvement of liv- drainage. coordinates by scheduling tasks and
ing conditions in the urban areas of A comprehensive view of managing arranging for the various organiza-
the developing countries, especially by urban areas will usefully spread re- tions involved to act in concert. Pro-
improving the provision of public sponsibility to tasks beyond the ordin- viding resources secures commitments
goods and services to the growing ary. If a local government typically of money, materials, facilities, person-
number of poor (UNDP, 1991). These feels an obligation to provide water, nel and institutions to intended tasks.
same organizations and others have drainage, waste disposal, fire-fighting Developing employs some of the re-
called for sustainability in improve- (and perhaps police and ambulance sources to build the physical facilities,
ments, which in urban areas is not so services), health care in various forms pools of equipment and social and
much a concern for ecological sus- (including inspection of some food administrative organizations which the

Cities 1994 Volume II Number 3 203

tasks require. It sometimes, as when Responsibility for an urban area the result may not be as focused,
constructing housing, provides capital logically exists as long as the city or coordinated, or comprehensive as if
goods to urban residents. Operating town itself. Actions initiated by such a there was a single managing entity.
uses other resources to perform ser- management approach are wanted as But this may not be an urgent issue.
vices through the physical facilities long as they are needed. Responsibil- Even though duplication and overlap
and organizations created. Maintain- ity thus extends to sustaining these occur, their objectives may be diffe-
ing directs resources to nurturing per- actions. Consequently, sustainable rent, and who is to say which objec-
sonnel, physical facilities and orga- urban management is not only con- tives are the best? Rather, it is of
nizations, so that they can perform tinually concerned to bring about the greater concern that there be attempts
continuously. Although developing achievement of its objectives, it is to manage in the first place, and
can create systems and facilities cap- concerned that the actions necessary secondly, that there be objectives
able of sustained action, proper re- will be continuously carried out as which are widely acknowledged as im-
sourcing and maintaining are critical if long as their effects are desirable. portant and towards which even in-
the tasks which bring improvements to It is taken for granted that govern- complete or inefficient management is
urban conditions are to be sustained. ment carries out the management of directed.
urban areas, to the extent that it is This surely is the basic concern of
actually performed. Organizations in efforts such as those of the Urban
Responsibility the private sector will not be moti- Management Program of the United
The scope and depth of the kind of vated beyond profit, while those in the Nations and World Bank. If so, a
responsibility which takes charge will community sector will not pursue strategy to improve the way in which
be defined by the object and objec- much more than the special purposes urban areas are managed should
tives of that responsibility. A realm of for which they are created. Govern- launch itself first at the failure of
responsibility will be encompassed ment’s concern for the public interest appropriate agencies to accept respon-
which is greater than one defined by is most often associated with the need sibility for what is taking place - and
delegated powers, assigned duties, or for management. Yet the public sector not taking place - in cities and towns.
tradition. The difference is not only in is not a single managing entity. Partial It is wrong to assume that this require-
what is managed but through whom it responsibilities to manage urban func- ment can be skipped over.
is managed. Managing in this way is tions can be found in a number of
seeing that actions - the tasks and central government ministries, public
service authorities and corporations,
Conclusion
processes - appropriate to the objec-
tives and circumstances are carried and local governments, plus, in some After many years of uncertainty, a
out. Those who manage need not per- countries, an intermediate level of clear meaning for the term urban man-
form these tasks and processes them- provincial governments. They will not agement is wanted. Definition of the
selves. Although managers will have share a unified view of management concept can point out the qualities
resources with which to act, their re- objectives for a particular urban area, which a manager must develop if the
sponsibilities can extend beyond to the and they will see different tasks as degree of management is to increase.
resources and actions of others. Man- important and as having different It identifies what cities can expect and
agement can mean bringing about the priorities. demand of their institutions. It points
performance of certain actions by At the same time, there are others out where assistance can best be
others. Forcing them or controlling in the private and community sectors directed in order to foster these qual-
them are not the only ways. They can who are actively concerned to make ities.
be led or guided to act; they can be cities work in particular ways. They Chief among these qualities may be
persuaded, or motivated; they can be may pursue these ends independently a sense of responsibility, a self-
given incentives, or involved in initia- or in partnership with one another. motivating, broadly reaching concern
tives as partners. They use their own resources and at to make the city work better by
Earlier it was suggested that a local the same time they seek to enlist help orchestrating as much as possible the
government might, through better from one another. With whom, then, various key expenditures and human
management, expand its concerns to does the responsibility of managing efforts. To be responsible means to
the provision of telecommunications the city truly lie? care that urban areas function well, as
or electrical power. These days, eco- The answer, of course, is: with judged by chosen objectives. This is a
nomies of scale make a nonsense of those who take it. As defined here, concern which is sustained, which
creating a telephone system or gener- urban management cannot actually be strives even when powers are limited
ating electricity by a municipality. assigned. The qualities of responsibil- and results meagre, which oversees
Nevertheless, a managing agency ity involved must be accepted volun- even those relevant responsibilities
which has taken charge with the local tarily. They go beyond legislated which are competently assumed by
public interest in mind can usefully set duties and powers. They are self- others. It is a resonsibility whose first
about influencing how national or re- motivating. aim is to bring about beneficial ac-
gional authorities or companies pro- If several agencies are motivated to tions, rather than to be the one per-
vide these services in its city. attempt partial management of a city, forming these actions.

204 Cities I994 Volume I1 Number 3

 Reply
The zall for urban management can has been overlooked - is not so much Stren, Richard (1993), ‘Urban manage-
be heard as a call for someone to take to give institutions better skills and ment in development assistance’, Cities,
10 (2) 125-138
responsibility for affecting activities greater knowledge, but to get them to UNCHS (1991), People, Senlemenfs, En-
and colrditions in cities and towns. understand and accept responsibility. vironmenf and Development, Nairobi:
This is remarkably different from up- UNCHS
grading the quality of public adminis- UNDP (1991), Cities, People and Poverfy.
New York: UN
tration or achieving a better record of
World Bank, UNCHS and UNDP (1991),
policy rmplementation, or any of the Revised Prospectus, Washington. DC:
other limited concepts of urban man- Michael Matting/y World Bank
agement which now prevail. Conse- Development Planning Unit World Bank (1991), Urban Policy and Eco-
quently. it may be that the critical University College nomic Development, Washington, DC:
World Bank
challenge in urban affairs - one which London

Cities 1994 Volume II Number 3 20.5

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