Briefing paper: Urban Conflict and Peacebuilding
Over the Global South, urban areas are developing at a remarkable pace. Vast parts of these urban centres are situated in fragile states emerging out of conflicts. Thus, it is of critical significance to understand the particulars of violent cities and what strategies is viable in avoiding conflicts and making peace in urban space.
Introduction
Urban centres are presently developing at a remarkable rate across the developing countries. Individuals are relocating into urban centres more than ever. The purposes behind this development are different: range from economic benefits offered by urbans to depletion of natural resources to looking for assurance from conflicts. This quick pace of urbanization has prompted fragile urban situations - urban centres unable for giving required security, basic services, and infrastructures to an increasing number of inhabitants. It results in urban inhabitants being presented to violence and instability, destitution, health problems, natural and man-made calamities (de Boer, 2015). To manage this, consequently, understanding the connection between urbanization and conflicts as well addressing to the role of urban centres for peace and stability appeared central for various reasons. First of all, it is important to note that urban centres are key driver of development. In view of that, urban peacebuilding is appeared crucial as urbans are the epicentres of advancement and crucial for
Rapid urbanisation has caused a variety of problems, including transport congestion, lack of sufficient homes and living conditions, sanitary and health care issues, and crime. For all these problems, city planners have attempted potential solutions, each with varying degrees of success. Cities including London, Manila and Mumbai have several of the aforementioned problems, and have each tried their own potential solutions. This essay will discuss how successful these schemes have been in resolving these issues.
Countries can usually count on there being peace between the neighboring cities, the people of a country think they can be safe no matter what city they are in as long as it 's in their country. However, in many countries, civil wars can occur, having adverse effects on a country and its people. Cities can be major rivals, These rivalries can turn into worse problems, and these problems can turn into a civil war. In the fifth century, This was the issue in Greece, between the cities of Athens and Sparta. Athens was the capital of Ancient Greece, and Sparta was a military-based city. The war between Athens and Sparta was a tale of betrayal,
Urbanization is inevitable, whether we want it or not. Opposers are constantly bickering about the political and moral consequences of gentrification. This topic is indeed mind boggling and complex. However, there is a need to observe this multi-faceted phenomenon in a different angle. Change is the force of diversity, safety and
Throughout history, our world has constantly been bruised and battered by civil turmoil. Today, the civil war in Syria decimates the country; the Israeli and Palestinian conflict rages on; tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan's ongoing civil war. It is not always easy to isolate what exactly ignites the flames of war, but, whenever possible, finding a workable, calm and satisfying solution to a potential uprising is preferable.
The civil war ended and it was soon the beginning of many hardships. “The Problems of Peacemaking” discusses all of the problems with the Northerners and Southerners becoming peaceful after the war. President Abraham Lincoln did many things to try to get peace after the war. When he realized it wasn’t going to be easy, he decided that a “Reconstruction Plan” could maybe help them get peace. After the civil war the South didn’t have many things left because everything they had was destroyed almost completely. People living in the south wanted to regain it back but they soon realized it wasn’t that easy to do. The white southerners lost some land and their slaves but that was nothing compared to the black southerners. Black southerners lost everything when they left to get freedom, besides a little bit of clothing and a few possessions they took with them. Blacks and whites had completely different meanings of freedom. The whites wanted to control what they did without the government’s input, and the blacks wanted to get freedom from the whites. The whites wanted white supremacy which is, they wanted to be more superior. The blacks just wanted to be control and own things such as land. General William Sherman’s “Special Field Order No. 15” helped give 400,000 acres of land to 40,000 freed slaves. Other methods were produced to help slaves get land, one of the most famous was the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau gave slaves food, health care, clothing, and education. The whites of course, disagreed with the Bureau and would have disputes about it. The disputes were all settled by the Freedmen’s Bureau. General Howard created the “Circular 13” which helped lease 40 acre plots to slaves and hoped to later sell it to them. He also made the Southern Homestead Act that made 46 million acres for sell to slaves in many states. It was later repealed because people thought slaves were taking advantage of it. Republicans had say in what happened during the reconstruction. The conservatives and radicals disagreed on their views. The radicals were more harsh. All the conservatives said was that the south should just take what was happening and do nothing about it. The radicals wanted to take away some rights from a
In the first part of the article Major Brown discuss development in the world were people constantly are moving into cities. Major Brown explains that the growth of cities and megacities in general will happen in their slums, and that future conflicts will take place were
Theoretically significant to conflict is social identity theory. It allows “predictions to incorporate who is likely to perceive and act in group terms, to remain committed to the group in times of crisis” Turner (1999), Doosje & Ellemers, (1999). Bar-Tal stresses conflict exists when an incompatible goal exists between two groups. The question of when incompatibility sets become important in understanding the cause of inter-ethnic or communal conflicts for instance, even more importantly; conflict within ingroup. Inter-ethnic or communal conflict because within the scope of peacebuilding, that is the point where building peace thrives the most. There is an assumption that for peacebuilding to be
Released in 2002, the movie “City of God” presents a number of key urban planning issues that a developing country might experience. The film seeks to illuminate several ideas related to the development of slums and the type of life associated with such areas, as well as urban crime and gangs. This film clearly illuminates the issues associated with government or public housing and the social networks that come up when people do not have a private space. The effects of limited living space are increased crime and the development of local governments that run parallel to the legal units set up in the country. A discussion of the urban planning issues arising from this film will follow, in light of the issues raised by Suketu Mehta in the article
Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums, predicts the direction in which the world’s cities are headed, and how the changes in living conditions are only going to deteriorate if certain trends continue. The title of his book explains Davis’s vision for the future of cities as he feels there is enough evidence pointing towards an exponential rise in slum populations across the world’s largest cities. Additionally, he expresses his opinion on many issues regarding the rapid rise in developing cities’ slum populations, although he offers very one-sided arguments geared towards those who feel the current system is causing more problems rather than improving current conditions. This causes Davis to overlook the problems of slums as resolvable through different modes of assistance such as international aid programs. Instead, he views aid programs as the root cause of imbalance created during industrialization. Throughout the book, Davis presents information that confirms his preconceptions towards the slums. Therefore, all the evidence that is presented by him portrays confirmation bias as Davis fails to mention anything about the resolution of the problem of the growing number of slums and instead sees this problem as unavoidable. Particularly, Davis’ writing, although intended for the general population, is more geared towards critics who have similar ideas. Instead of providing the means through which the economy could be improved and the problem of slums could be resolved, it is
If we are to look at the history of mankind, human conflict and wars have existed since prehistoric ages as a way of settling differences. However, in late centuries when battles between oppositions were settled beyond the gates of the city, with the technological advancements that have conquered armed forces and soldiery, they have been aimed against housing which is the primordial element of urbanization. The city itself as a form, as an institution, as a way of life, becomes the target.
Ranging from all out urban warfare to the intermittent and unyielding kidnappings of city officials. Yet as this increase in the occurrence of street violence, at the hands of organised street gangs rises, it is the innocent inhabitants of the city which are positioned to feel it the most. With fighting in their gardens, shooting in front of their very own homes, these displays of sheer callousness on the part of theses marauding street gangs, is one which has rarely been seen before, one which offers a large challenge for the city to overcome in order to restore
Conflict perspectives are often viewed as the opposite of the structure-functional viewpoint; meaning, not all family practices are good or beneficial for each family member. Conflict is often viewed in a negative manner, but there are many benefits of having healthy conflict in the home. In my family experience, conflict has brought compromise, solutions, and opportunities to learn other's perspectives. Conflict has also brought a better understanding of how to improve relationships and solve disagreements.
As cities urbanize there is a flowing system of uncertainty and mobility limiting practices. A system where, where people “belong” at any given time is fluid and ever changing or completely static. For members of lower socioeconomic class this mobility or static state is progressive and out of their control. This lack of control over their home results in displacement and ethnic enclaves. People higher on the socioeconomic ladder choose to leave their old homes and force people lower on the socioeconomic ladder to leave theirs to cluster in one area. A city can be a cluster and seen as undesirable one year then a trend is sparked and that city suddenly becomes to new frontier. Many factors play a role in why this fluidity or static state is
In a world that is always evolving, there seems to be more and more violence and terror in the streets. Peace is rarely found in our world of cruelty and treacherous things. Some people are trying to bring peace into this world. and those people are peacemakers. And into a world that is ugly with hate, he sends us as peacemakers.
With most urban growth in the developing world concentrated in the squatter settlements, it can be contrasted to the masses of growth received and predicted in developed countries. Numerous factors draw people towards cities such as; better employment and educational opportunities, hospital and health care facilities and overall better living standards. With interconnected challenges constantly arising, many ambitious planning and development schemes are projected to the government. Many inhabitants lack belief in these authorities; hence Roosevelt devised a rule for unrestrained reform, which emphasised, “that undivided power helps to prevent the forces that benefit from the status quo from blocking change” (Glaeser E., 2011). Although often-forceful