Urban Indicators as Tools for Urban Management in Arab Cities:

Urban Indicators as Tools for Urban Management in Arab Cities: Prospects and Constraints Ahmed O. El-Kholei, Ph.D. Professor of Urban Planning, Menofia University, Egypt Prepared for the Annual Conference of the Cairo Demographic Center, Cairo, 2004

1. Introduction Urban planning in many Arab cities is still the function of engineers, architects and physical planners, with support of social scientists, such as demographers, economists and sociologists, and technical experts, such as civil engineers and surveyors. Plans of the city are formulated sectorally, and in many cases developed at the center with little citizen participation. Often stakeholders are invited to approve the plans rather than being on board from the outset of the plan formulation. This modality did not take Arab cities forward, rather in many cases caused frustration and resulted projects that proved to be an economic loss, a financial burden, and socially and politically rejected. The planning process in many Arab cities is still rooted in the design profession, where decisions are based on design requirements, such as walking distances, and other norms applied to physical planning. Today, strategic action planning has replaced master plans preparation where operational planning models. They are widely used and applied in cities of industrialized, developed societies. These models require data and information, and often are used to stir public discussions and streamline citizen participation. Replacing the use of design procedures in planning process with operational models will require a mechanism for data collection and information generation and dissemination. This is the function of national and local urban observatories that many Arab countries and cities lack. These institutions help implement both the Habitat Agenda and Agenda 21 at the national and local levels. This study attempts to assess the situation of urban observatories and use of urban indicators in managing six Arab cities. The objective of the study is to examine the opportunities of establishing/enhancing and institutionalizing urban observatories in the Arab nations and cities to mainstream the concerns of UNDP through the use of urban indicators in urban policy formulation and executing the Habitat Agenda as well. This study is among the various efforts to improve the living conditions of the cities of the Arab countries. It addresses several interrelated research questions. First, how do institutions responsible for the urban planning and management processes in the cities of the Arab world work? How they use information? How they collaborate with their partners, whether inside the government at both local and national levels, and civil society organizations, including private sector, NGOs, etc.? The study seeks to identify substantial relations of connections by interviewing causal groups in their working contexts. This report tries to provide causal explanation of the production and use of information in the form of urban indicators. Case study is the research strategy applied to this inquiry. It is one of several ways of conducting social research. It is used in many settings, including public administration, management studies, regional and city planning, etc. This research strategy has been selected due, in part, to the nature of the research questions that

the study addresses. The form of the research questions provides a significant clue regarding the appropriate research strategy to be used. Case study is often preferred in examining contemporary events, particularly when relevant behaviors cannot be manipulated. It depends on history, as well as systematic interviewing and direct observation. The unit of analysis is the city. The method of research applied in the study is interviewing individual agents in their causal contexts, interactive interviews, and review of documents and reports. In each case, a brief on the national socio-economic and political conditions is presented to be followed by discussion of the conditions of information generation and use at the national and local levels. After presenting the six cases, the report presents a discussion and ends with a conclusion. After visiting six Arab countries, there are four issues to be addressed: 1. The need to establish infrastructures for information generation and dissemination 2. The need for institutional transformation for better modalities of decisionmaking. 3. The need to build the capacities on information generation and dissemination 4. The need to build capacities on using new planning technologies Agencies that formulate plans for human settlements are still rooting their practice in the design profession with little attempt to consider market dynamics. These master and structural plans are difficult to implement, i.e., to manage. These plans are often based on sectoral foundations with little consideration to linkages between the various sectors. Putting different sections together in one document does not produce an integrated plan. These plans seldom include a section on strategy and implementation arrangement. This section is of extreme importance to the localities that are mandated with the implementation of the plan at hand. Information used in the processes of urban planning and management is often secondary data. Using secondary data could possibly result ecological fallacies, which is the risk of interpreting aggregate relations as if they were individual level findings. Poverty alleviation, good governance and establishing public-private partnerships are interrelated. Adopting participatory mode for planning and decision-making is good for information sharing, and step toward good governance that is the framework for activities to improve urban productivity to initiate economic growth. Good governance is crucial to establishing public-private partnerships. And, good governance requires paying the marginalized population attention and protects them for the processes of impoverishment. It means enabling them to access wealth, and empowers them to be active participant in city management and development. There is a need for establishing and enhance the performance of national and local urban observatories in six Arab nations and their cities. It should build and develop the capacities of those responsible for the observatories and the representatives of their partners and constituents to be able to produce urban indicators that reflect efforts exerted in alleviating poverty, improving governance, and establishing public-private partnerships. These urban observatories will become a feature of the six Arab countries, and will have a significant impact on the development debate in the region. The urban indicators produced by these observatories will assist in comparative analyses in the region and encourage further dialogue. Meanwhile they will highlight important development issues of the region and various Arab countries.

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2. Case Studies 2.1.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has experienced a remarkable growth in urbanization during the period of 1950-1992. Alkhedheiri (2002) noticed this level of urbanization is higher than that of many industrialized countries and exceeds the average level of urbanization in all Arab countries. The current National Spatial Strategy (NSS) issued in 2001 (NSS), which was approved by the Council of Ministers on 28 August 2000, adopted the notion of development corridors as an essential instrument in managing long-term spatial development to promote integration between different parts of the national space. It also emphasized the importance of providing sustainable support to small and medium cities to become growth centers capable of accommodating their future population growth and to reduce their dependence on large cities. Saudi Arabia understands the importance of establishing urban observatories network. This network of urban observatories will monitor the accelerating rates of urbanization including the relationships between the towns and villages in the thirteen regions and the City of Jeddah. The national urban observatory will be a specialized center for collecting, analyzing and developing urban indicators at all levels. Then, it will be responsible for following-up and evaluating the developed indicators aiming to support decision-making processes in managing Saudi human settlements. The development of the national urban observatory and 14 local observatories that constitute the network is within the National Spatial Strategy mentioned earlier. The objectives of an observatory are to develop an information base conducive to preparing urban development policies; monitoring conditions in human settlements; and functioning as a center for decision-support. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MoMRA) is the seat of the national urban observatory, while the capitals of the 13 regions (districts) and Jeddah will be the location of the local urban observatories. Saudi Arabia has allocated funds for the development of this network of urban observatories.

2.2.

Yemen

The country is divided into 20 Governorates (19 Governorates and the Capital City). Each governorate is divided into districts (Muduriya), then borough (Marakez) then villages. The 20 governorates of Yemen are divided into 332 districts, 2,099 boroughs and 37,598 villages. Each Governorate has its own Executive Council, whose members are the General Directors that head the branch offices of the central agencies, such as education, planning, statistics and health; and an elected Popular Council that has the authorities for monitoring and supervising powers. HE the Governor heads the executive and popular councils. The Popular Council consists of eight members from the General Popular Congress party, one of them is a woman; five members from the Yemeni Coalition for Reform, which is a religious party, and a woman from the Socialist Yemeni Party, a leftist party, in addition to two independent members. Law 4 that governs local administration was issued in 2000. A year later the local administrations had no funds for implementing planned projects. Only projects listed in the national plans that are executed, since finance was secured. Funds were collected to be sent to the capital, Sana’a, where decision is made. In 2002, following the first Conference for Local Councils, HE the President, and based on his visits to the various Governorates, decided on extending the serving period of the current councils to 2006 instead of 2003 to give the democratic experience time to mature; but most importantly, each Governorate, after preparing an inventory list of available resources in 2002/3, will be responsible for financing and executing development plans in 2003/4.

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The sole source of information in Yemen is the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), founded in May 1990 and closely affiliated to the Minister of Planning and Development. Before unifying Yemen, in the South CSO played a crucial role in the planned, State-controlled economy. The agency was independent administratively and financially, and the Head of the Agency attended the meetings of the Cabinet. In the North, the statistical bureau was just a General Directorate within the Central Agency for Planning. Now, CSO is independent, with branch offices at the Governorate levels, and its budget is part of the Government budget. The mandate of CSO is to establish a unified statistical, information system for Yemen that is comprehensive, and monitors the aspects and attributes of the development of Yemen. CSO is working on developing an information system conducive to enhance the processes of planning, management and decision-making. CSO collects and analyzes data, and generates information. Currently, CSO is also documenting information. There are two types of data the CSO produces. The first is current information, where CSO send to each public agency a form to fill out of their records. Each line ministry and central agency has its own statistical office, which collects data based on day-to-day transaction and dealing with the public. These offices fill the forms of CSO to produce current information. The second information that CSO produces is seasonal information. Every two to three years, according to available UN assistance, CSO conducts surveys using samples from three heterogeneous areas of the country. The surveys address issues including family budget and consumption, agricultural census, labour markets, building and construction, etc. The collected data is analyzed, and then CSO produces documents reporting the findings. Every ten years CSO conducts a population survey that is published in 142 tables reflecting all attributes and characteristics of the population of Yemen. According to the interviewees, Yemen does not have an urban observatory and has not developed a system to produce urban indicators. According to the interviewees, there is a problem concerning sharing information. Most of the information is published on paper, where only a handful of individuals get a copy of these publications, while others are starving for information.1 Recently Yemen has started to collect and report environmental data. For example, the estimated generated municipal solid waste is 822 tons in 2001. In the same year 2.8 million persons benefited from the drinking water services of the General Agency for Water, while 1.2 million persons benefit from the sanitary services that the Agency provides. Statistics show that per capita share of drinking water dropped from 26.6 cu. m per annum in the years of 1999 and 2000 to 19.2 cu. m. in 2001. Planning in Yemen is based on Vision 2025, which serves as a framework for development plans. The Ministry of Planning prepares a series of indicative five-year plans and annual investment plans. These plans are based on the proposals that the Governorates send when the five-year plans are prepared. In addition, the Ministry of Planning receives sectoral plans from the various line ministries and central public bodies. These plans are juxtaposed against the requests of the Governorates. The Ministry of Finance then allocates the money to these projects within available financial resources. The role of the private sector and NGOs, particularly in the South where in the past its Government ran the economy, is limited. Today the private sector is part of all committees articulating future plans. Today HE the Minister of Planning originally comes from the private sector. Now, the Government presents a copy of the draft of legislation and decrees to the private sector before passing them. Usually the opinions of the private sector are taken into consideration 1

The Director General of local bureau of CSO in Aden had only one copy left of the Statistical Year Book 2002, and mentioned that the new edition will be out soon during July 2003.

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in the final draft when a law and its executive regulation is passed by the parliament. Another example of attempts to build partnership between public bodies and the private sector is the Council for Technical and Vocational Education, which the leaders of the private sector head. This council is responsible for planning the technical and vocational education according to the needs of the labour markets. Private sector leaders are qualified to indicate the number of graduates of that educational system, and the quality of training the candidates receive, and skill they gain through their schooling years.

2.3.

Syria

The State Planning Agency is the official institute responsible for planning, where national and local agencies present their request for programmes and projects, and the agency decides to allocate funds according to priorities and available resources. The Agency is responsible for preparing the five-year plans and the annual plans. In Syria, the Ministry of Housing and Utilities is responsible for housing and the basic physical infrastructures, such as drinking water, wastewater management (collection and treatment), and sets the requirements for physical planning. The Ministry has an information system that has data on housing and the residents of the country. A special legislation (Law 41) governs the local administration system in Syria. The public elect their representatives to the local councils, where number of representatives is a direct reflection of the size of the population. HE the Governor, who HE the President appoints, heads the local council. The members of the local council elect an executive council to assist the Governor in local administration. The city council is responsible for managing the city and it's rural hinterlands, including the rural areas around it. Each district has its own council. These councils propose programmes and projects that the city council approves then send them to the Governorate Council that reviews the proposed projects then sends them to the Ministry of Housing that reviews these projects to check whether the proposed projects are abiding with the planning requirements. If there is disagreement between the Ministry and the Governorate, then the issue is sent to the Cabinet of Ministers to formulate a committee to decide on it within 45 days. Funds for activities for local administration come from the Ministry of Local Administration, and the Governorate supervises the administrative functions. The funds for local administration are from outside the budget, i.e., from local taxes; and some administrations can engage in investments. Most of the local administrations suffer from budget deficits; in response the central government is taking the responsibility to finance certain projects from the national budget to finalize these projects on time. Syria does not have a national observatory. All Syrian cities do not have urban observatories. The Central Agency for Statistics is the official body for the collection and publishing data and information in Syria. HE President Assad has been interested in information technology and has given attention to the use of information technology in his attempts to modernize the State. Agency for Urban Development is a Non-Government Association established in 1994, and headed by Mr. Hussein El-Haj Hussein, who was First under Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, and served as a Governor, and currently is retired. Originally, he is a native of Aleppo. The agency receives funds from the Government, international assistance, and pledges from the citizens and members of Ba'ath Party. It is a coordinating body. The agency has executed several projects in Damascus including upgrading physical infrastructures, municipal solid waste management; and in collaboration with the Women Federation, the agency provides support for the poor women through training on tailoring, providing machines for swing and knitting. The agency participated in upgrading an informal area. Two seminars were organized and held to document the experience. Also the agency

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participated in examining the conditions of informal settlements in the Governorate of Damascus, particularly improving schemes for municipal solid waste and wastewater management in three small towns within the rural areas of Damascus. The Urban Management Programme (UMP) provided assistance to the agency on these projects. The agency produces statistical analyses on the quantity and quality of produced wastes, plus providing solutions for the problems that face the three communities. Data are sporadic, and often are not in the format that facilitates information sharing among the stakeholders. Correspondences and meetings are the means for information gathering.

2.4.

The Sudan

Some Sudanese urban settlements were the seat of empires, such as the Kingdom of Darfur. Others were the resultant of intercontinental and intra African trade, such as Dongola, and Sennar. The first half of the nineteenth century witnessed the mushrooming of a number of new urban centers, such as Khartoum and El-Obeid. Transportation developments along with commerce were by far the most important factors for the growth in urban centers. Since the colonial policy did not encourage real industrialization except to facilitate efficient transfer of minerals and commodities to metropolitan centers, fixed capital in secondary activities had not been a major factor in urban development.2 The Sudan suffers from urban primacy brought by colonialism. The internal conflicts and favoring Khartoum has established the city's primacy. The following subsection addresses this issue in details. The Sudan did not have a census since 1993. A census should take place in 2003 following reaching a peace agreement with the rebels of the south. All information is recorded in archives; little information is in digital format. The Sudan is currently discussing a national strategy for the coming 25 years to be approved on July 2003. This strategy builds on the Comprehensive National Strategy 1992-2002, which was a sectoral strategy. Among its objectives is to alleviate poverty, but does not set a target, probably due, in part, to lack of proper information. It is difficult to determine levels of poverty given that the latest Household Budget Survey was in 1978. Poverty in rural areas is four times that in urban centers.3 However, the Government of Sudan addresses the poverty through programs that the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Social Affairs administer. Health insurance, National Fund for Social Security and Alum-giving (Zakat)4 are among the major channels to support the livelihoods of the poor in the Sudan. There is a specialized faculty for urban sciences founded at Al-Za’aeem Al-Azhary University in Khartoum. Its curricula include courses in medical, engineering agricultural veterinary and human sciences. There are four specializations: 1. Urban planning that concentrates on the physical planning of the city, land uses etc.; 2

Mehretu, Assefa, Cities of Subsaharan Africa, in Cities of the World, World Regional Urban Development, Stanley D. Brunn and Jack F. Williams (editors), New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1983. 3 There is no precise information. This statement came as a word of mouth from one of the interviewees, and the attendants agreed to it. 4 Zakat is money that Muslims pay for the poor according to schedules and rates described in the Quran. Zakat is the fourth out of the five pillars of Islam. Other pillars are to declare there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger; praying five times a day, fasting Ramadan, and pilgrimage to Mecca for those who can afford it. Zakat is calculated as a percent of the produced output, a percent of money that is not invested, etc.

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2. Environmental planning; 3. Planning for Population; and 4. Women in Development and Poverty Alleviation. The former Dean of this faculty expressed the interest of the faculty in training and building the capacities of the locals in the area of information, and assured their capacities to produce urban indicators. The faculty has established some indicators and used the students to collect data on a area nearby Khartoum. The faculty serves as a consulting firm to Physical Planning authorities, and is active in the programs tailored to reduce poverty. The Sudan has a national observatory at the Ministry of Environment and Physical Development. There are several local urban observatories at Khartoum, Medani, ElObeid, Al-Nasher, Goba, Casala, Sennar and Dongola. Four urban observatories are under construction now. AUDI provided technical assistance on the development and operation of both the national urban observatory and the local urban observatory in Khartoum. These observatories collect information, and produced a national report for the Istanbul+5 meeting that was held in New York two years ago. Those persons responsible for the national observatory would like to develop their own indicators that reflect the Sudanese realities.

2.5.

Morocco

The cities of Morocco, as cities of other countries of North Africa and the Middle East, is noticeably reflecting the impact of Islam, and represent the amalgam of many cultures, that had shown remarkable resiliency to change. Morocco has a set of cities that are well connected to the global economy, such as Casablanca. Old quarters of the cities of Morocco are often compact mass of residences, open courtyard houses that create a cellular urban texture. The old quarters often include a permanent central market (suq), which consists of small, contiguous stalls located in numerous irregular passageways that are covered with domes or vaults, public baths, mosques that might contain shrines, and often a citadel and surrounded with a large wall. Trade is the major reason for location of these cities. Coastal cities, such as Casablanca, and in-land cities, such as Marrakech, are the outcome of complex trade networks, and served as nodes of these networks.5 The impact of the colonial period on the cities of Morocco and its urban system is evident and remarkable. Europeans came in great numbers and soon constituted and controlled these cities. They developed modern districts outside the traditional city, where the linkages with European markets were established, and the primacy of certain cities, often the capital and major ports, were enforced.6 Between 1960 and 1994, the urban population grew from 3.4 to 13.4 million, respectively, where the total population of Morocco has doubled between these two dates. The annual growth of urban population of major cities during the period of 1982 and 1994 ranged between three to five percent per annum. In the mean time, the population of smaller cities (10-20 thousand) grew at 13 percent per annum. This growth is the resultant of both natural population growth and influx of rural migrants to major cities in search of improved living conditions. Figure (9) is a map of Morocco and its major cities. All public agencies in Morocco at both national and local levels have an office for statistics. These offices gather their information from their day-to-day operations and 5

Bonine, Michael E. "Cities of the Middle East and North Africa, in Cities of the World, World Regional Urban Development, Stanley D. Brunn and Jack F. Williams (editors), New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1983. 6 Ibid.

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their local branches. These offices then compile the data and send them to the Office of Statistics, (Mudiriah), Department of Economic Forecasting and Planning, under the auspices of the Prime Minister. The Office conducts surveys using samples of 50 thousand observations at the city level, and administers the census of economic establishments 1994 and 2000/2001, as well as the population census. The Office has information about at the city level in the statistical report, and indicators at the community level. The Office of Statistics is a member in the committee responsible for computing the indicators. Another source of information is local office for investments. In each locality there is an office for investment. This office produces information to attract investments. This information is then complied to compute regional indicators, and the information is forwarded to the Office of Statistics. Morocco has national and local housing observatories that are part of the Ministry of Housing that were developed in 1995 and 1998, respectively. The Ministry of Environment and Land Uses is responsible for human settlements. In the past, these two ministries were one institution with one minister. Today they are two institutions with two ministers. This situation constitutes a risk to establishing the urban observatory at the national and the local urban observatories. However, the current developments towards openness and reform will create an environment conducive to cooperation and will internalize the expected effect of this risk.

2.6.

Egypt

In 1999, HE the Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities agreed to a memo suggesting establishing a national urban observatory. The national urban observatory is currently located at the General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP). The Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities (MHUUC) is the focal point for UN Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT). MHUUC formulated a national committee to prepare the national report to Istanbul+5 meeting that was held in New York in 2001. This committee consists of representatives of all public agencies and authorities, NGOs, popular leaders, private sector representatives. The members of this committee are about 30 individuals. GOPP formulated the produced output of this committee in the form of a national report that was presented to the Istanbul+5 meeting and another report that was presented to the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD). GOPP, in collaboration with relevant central bodies and local administrations, prepared urban indicators at the national level and the urban indicators for Tanta and Ismailia. Korean Organization for International Cooperation and Assistance (KOICA) provided GOPP with technical assistance on a study for housing conditions where about 30 indicators were reviewed, some of which need revision. On the other hand, Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) has reviewed the prepared study and introduced necessary adjustments. Currently, ESCWA is considering providing GOPP with technical assistance on indicators for urban encroachments over cultivated land, and evaluating the performance of the new towns. At the central level there are several agencies that handle data and information related to the generation of urban indicators. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) is the sole agency that collects and publishes data in Egypt. It conducts population census each decade, in addition to conducting census of economic establishments, household expenditure survey, etc. CAPMAS compiles information from office of statistics at line ministries, such as Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry for Agriculture and Land Reclamation, etc. The Cairo Demographic Center (CDC) is a scientific body affiliated to CAPMAS that offers diploma and Master degrees. It was established in the early 1960s with the

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support of the United Nations. CDC provides its services, such as training and technical support, to Egyptian authorities and other Arab countries as well. CDC is a possible partner for the AUDI-UNDP/RBAS project at both the national and Arab region levels. It could provide technical support on processes of data gathering, compiling, and analysis in computing urban indicators. Another source of information is the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) at the Cabinet of Minister. IDSC has links to the Centers for Information and Decision Support located in each governorate. Later in this section of the report a detailed assessment of the Center for Information and Decision-Support at the Governorate of Gharbia is presented. Another source of information at the central level is the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA). It was established in the 1980s, but was re-organized in 1994 after passing Law 4/1994 for protecting the environment. EEAA, through its Regional Branch Office (RBO) in Tanta, collects data on the quality of the environment and manages environmental activities and actions, such reviewing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies, compliance plans of industrial establishments…etc. EEAA is building its environmental information database. EEAA gathers information on municipal solid waste and air quality in Tanta. Other directorates, such as health, irrigation and drainage, collect data on drinking water, wastewater, and fresh water resources.

3. Discussion 3.1.

Problems Addressed

Urban local bodies in Arab countries are taking a number of policy measures to control and divert this development into a suitable and better living environment. However, the information crisis and lack of systematic appraisal of urban problems is limiting their ability to develop and analyze urban governance effectively. The decision makers generally rely on disaggregated raw data that are of little value in devising policy. Even though statistics may be based on data that have been verified, classified and adjusted, decision-makers might find difficulties to understand the relationship of the variables to policy outcomes, thus hampering the ability of city mangers to apply the findings of the analysis to the problem at hand. Existing tools for urban policy in Arab countries are largely inadequate in providing an overall picture of the city and how it works. To devise effective policies, the decision makers need to rely on a set of measures that point to specific urban phenomenon such as access to specific services (coverage of wastewater network), efficiency in service provision, and financial performance, especially revenue sources, efficiency in resource mobilization and utilization, etc. How they, i.e. Arab urban managers, anticipate, recognize, measure and interpret urban problems; and how they respond to these problems in policy will determine the overall sustainability of human development in the Arab world. There is a need for some standard to provide an overall picture of the city and how it works. These measures could be in the form of Urban Indicators, which are variables or functions of several variables, which measure particular real world phenomenon over a period of time. Indicators can assist in analyzing trends and impacts of policies. They are powerful tools for clarifying values and informing decisions with regard to development planning. An urban indicator is a measure that summarizes information about a particular subject. It provides a reasonable response to specific needs and questions asked by decision and policy makers. An urban indicator provides an objective description of the conditions of the urban area as they relate to the goals of the community.

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Indicators reflect the trend of development and also provide quantitative and qualitative information.7 Performance measurement could be defined as evaluation of policy through a well defined set of indicators termed as performance indicators. These indicators would measure the performance of a municipal body, which are benchmarked against set targets. Performance can be measured over a period of time or it can be a comparative performance measurement, which may be either absolute (comparison with standards) or relative (comparing within the local bodies).8 An indicator should be substantial, reflecting an essential aspect of an objective in precise terms, which is not the case in this project. An indicator should be independent at different levels, i.e., an indicator cannot be used for more than one objective. In this project number of organizations involved was used for more than an objective. An indicator should be factual reflecting than subjective impression; plausible, changes recorded can be directly attributed to the project; and last but not least, obtainable data that are readily available or collected with reasonable extra effort as part of the administration of the project. To summarize, indicators should be "objectively verifiable" when different persons using the same measuring process independently of one another obtain the same measurement; they are guiding values to analyze project concept, and then reviewed when the project becomes operational where they could be replaced by specific indicators.9 The functional domain of local authorities determines the type of services they have to provide to the inhabitants of the city/town. Civic services such as water supply, sewerage and sanitation, solid waste management, roads, storm water drains, streetlights and slum development, etc., are still obligatory services of the local bodies in the six cities. With increasing emphasis on local level financial viability and the gradual entry of the private sector in providing local services, which is expected in the near future, the issues of efficiency in service provision becomes crucial - more so with regards to costs of provision of services and efficiency in terms of utilization of labor. It is in this context of increasing independence as well as powers to the urban local bodies, and in a world where "information is power", Arab cities are in need of a programme to establish and run urban observatories that produce both urban indicators and performance measurement. This programme aims at providing policy makers/implementation agencies in the cities of Arab countries with an analytical tool, which would enable more informed planning and decision-making. Performance assessment will be useful for a number of different stakeholders in urban development. This proposed programme would be beneficial to municipalities as well as state level monitoring and regulatory agencies. In addition, other actors such as financial institutions, investors, and credit rating agencies would also benefit from reliable comparative information on the performance of municipalities. In the long run, such a programme would help to develop sector norms or benchmarks, which at present, simply do not exist for many cities in the Arab world and their urban development agencies and services. This programme can help to improve performance and accountability of local administration and municipalities by providing useful benchmarks for services and financial performance. Having discussed the situation in the Arab countries at large, we are ready to discuss specifically the problems of the six cities. It is apparent there are four interrelated problems that are common to the six Arab cities. These four problems are: 7

www.unchs.org/guo Ibid. 9 Samset & Stokkeland Consulting, The Logical framework Approach(LFA), Handbook for Objectives-Oriented Project Planning, NORD, Oslo, Norway 8

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Establishing infrastructures for information generation and dissemination Most Arab nations and cities do not have an urban observatory. If exited, the urban observatory is a housing observatory, i.e., collects only information related to housing and has little to do with information of land uses, the status of the private sector and employment, gender issues, etc. Some urban observatories exist without institutional authority, i.e., without a public decree, rather just an agreement to a memo raised to the decision-maker. Other observatories exist on paper, i.e., there is an official decree, but the observatory lacks funds, authorities, premises, equipment, etc. Without the legal, institutional and physical existence of these observatories at the national and local levels, there is little chance for proper urban management that is a requirement for sustainable urban development at both central and local levels.

3.2. Institutional transformation for better modalities of decision-making. There is a need for institutional transformation to establish and use urban indicators. Data validity and reliability is a major issue in most Arab cities. Data collected for a city are often based on administrative boundaries, yet the economic limits of city might extend beyond these boundaries that are often arbitrary. There are several agencies that gather data about the city and it’s environ, yet the measurements used, time of collecting the information, means of reporting the data, etc. are not the same for these agencies, thus risking the validity and compatibility of the produced information. There is a need, therefore, to reach an agreement on the definition of variables, scale of measurement, glossary of icons used on maps, etc. between the various agencies that gather and publish information in the city. This step is crucial for the successful production of urban indicators that will limit the uncertainties during the process of decision-making, and ease setting benchmarks and targets, as well as facilitate modalities of monitoring, verification and evaluation. Decision-making and development management in the six cities are still the function of central/sectoral agencies. There is a need to switch to a decision making modality that is participatory and cross sectorally to generate information and build partnerships. The decision making should consider the city and its environs as a unit not as sectors. This modality should guarantee ownership of the planned outputs and sustain the expected outcomes.

3.3. Building the capacities on information generation and dissemination. The produced plans lack execution component, and formulating these plans take time to the extent, the status quo changes by the end of plan formulation. The alternative is to develop indicators based on a strategic framework to coordinate interventions. This requires training on strategic and action planning, using planning and management models, such as market simulation models, GIS, etc. Furthermore, the plan and its programmes and projects are not the property of the people since rarely they are invited to express their views and control their destiny and that of their children. Planning has transformed from a problem solving profession into an enlightening activity that enables people to define their future and work on attaining their goals. For this very reason, plan formulation is now a political activity that requires, beside the technical knowledge for analytical actions, both hermeneutic knowledge10 and critico-ethical knowledge for communicative, enlightening, emancipation and empowering actions. Those responsible for plan preparation and execution need their capacities built to be able to administer a participatory process 10

The methodological principles of interpretation

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where communication action should not be distorted by being comprehensive, legitimate, sincere and true.

3.4. Developing capacities on using new planning technologies The need to build the capacities of public servants, including but not limited to, decision-makers, bureaucrats, local administrators, and their development partners, such as private sector leaders, NGOs representatives, etc. on the use of information in urban planning and management. There is a need to adopt and develop models for decision-making that are participatory, sensitive to local contexts and needs; and utilizes planning methods and operational models. Participation and operational models are not ends in themselves; rather they are means toward an informative decision-making based on consensus on issues and directions of actions. These operational planning models will use both quantitative and qualitative data on the computer to generate and use urban indicators. Today, the staff of national and local municipalities in some Arab cities has the computers and some capacities to use them in planning. However, they need to build their capacities on modern planning technologies that are responsive to market forces and sensible to social and environmental aspects of the community. Developing operational planning models that could generate the urban indicators should not be perceived as ends in themselves, but rather they are means for better planning and decision-making processes. Direct training is not the answer, but there is need to provide the cadres of local administrations in Arab cities with on-job-training. To test the effectiveness of this training and capacity building activity is to address the issues existing in real life. The participants will, therefore, need to apply their skills to an urban problem in their city by which they reach an agreement on the issues, objectives, end-product and roles, set the benchmarks, and establish indicators for implementation and others for measuring outcomes.

4. Conclusion and Recommended Actions The section of the document starts first by presenting the conclusion of the study by responding to the research questions raised earlier. Next, the section addresses the three concerns of UNDP, then a brief discussion of the form of the proposed programme that is discussed in detail in a separate document. The recommended actions are mentioned in the section, as in the cases whenever there is an opportunity to make a recommendation. Institutions responsible for urban planning and management of Arab cities make little distinction between planning and management. Planning is a way of making or doing something that has been worked out beforehand, such as a scheme of action; while management is handling, controlling and directing the implementation of this scheme of action. Agencies that formulate plans for human settlements are still rooting their practice in the design profession with little attempt to consider market dynamics. These master and structural plans are difficult to implement, i.e., to manage. These plans are often based on sectoral foundations with little consideration to linkages between the various sectors. Putting different sections together in one document does not produce an integrated plan. These plans seldom include a section on strategy and implementation arrangement. This section is of extreme importance to the localities that are mandated with the implementation of the plan at hand. Furthermore, citizen participation comes at the end for plan approval, instead of inviting them to share the responsibility of the plan starting by the stage of problem definition into the stage of goal articulation and ending by monitoring, verification and evaluation.

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Information used in the processes of urban planning and management is often secondary data. The use of such data is a risky business. Using secondary data could possibly result ecological fallacies, which is the risk of interpreting aggregate relations as if they were individual level findings.11 Using secondary data to explain individuals’ behavior is neglecting the role of the context in explaining the behavior of individuals. The use of secondary data in this case could possibly result in ecological fallacy in the stage of problem definition, and the planner, therefore, will recommend the inappropriate means to mistaken ends. There is little effort made to examine the validity and reliability of the data used in the analysis. For example, the size of informal housing stock in a city has different estimates. Another example is time series data that are not always continuous. Poor quality of data is a real problem that threatens the process of problem definition and evaluating alternatives. The role of central government in managing urban settlements in developing countries will remain important in spite of the arguments for decentralization. The central government controls investments funding. The responsibility of managing urban settlements varies between the central government and local administrations. Central-local relations are critical to urban management and need to be as positive and collaborative as possible. Between these two levels of management vertical accountability and transparency is a must. Collaboration between levels of governance contributes directly to effective urban development, particularly when addressing environmental issues. In the mean time, there is a need to build bridges with the civil society organizations, particularly the private sector and the NGOs. The provision of a service by a central government and/or local administration needs an element of local participation to avoid rigidity and overstrain. The quality of service provision, whether the provider is central government or local administration, depends on the need for the service manifested in its visibility and political weight of its clients, and the extent to which the quality of service provision depends on public behavior and competence of the staff. These two issues make an argument for citizen participation in decision-making process. Interested parties represented by private sector and civil society organizations when invited in the process of decision-making generate information and assume responsibility and ownership. Information exchange is central for a free market economy to operate. Perfect information is a requirement for a free market to operate. It means that individuals in the market possess complete knowledge and foresight about the range of prices at present and in the future as well as the location of goods and services available. Public bodies in cities of Arab states need to generate and disseminate information to build consensus on specific issues. Closing the information gap is crucial for the process of institutional building for organizations to carry their responsibilities. This will materialize only when representatives of the civil society organizations are allowed to play a significant role in the planning and management of human settlements. Today administrations responsible for the development of human settlements in Arab states are in need for new cadres who are able of utilizing modern technologies, such as GIS, in the planning process. They should be trained on strategic thinking; understanding the dynamics of markets; and be able to develop a constructive discourse with the private sector and non-government entities. Skills and capacities must be developed in the use of economic and social modelling, goal articulation and targets setting; and alternative scenarios for development and evaluation. These cadres are responsible for generating information necessary for decision-making. 11

Medler, Jerry and Alvin Mushkatel, “Urban-Rural Class Conflict in Oregon Land-Use Planning, Western Political Quarterly, September 1979: 338-49.

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Their responsibilities extend to transferring their knowledge and information to other development partners. Based on the visits to the six countries, and reviewing the documents made available it is not easy to make a distinction whether public bodies are assuming reform in response to internal pressures or to comply with global trends. Due, in part, to the flow of information and advances in communication, the awareness of the public has increased demanding reform. Meanwhile, the agencies responsible for human settlements themselves being exposed to new concepts, such as sustainable development, which might be foreign to some administrators, nevertheless, they are open and willing to change. In every city and country the mission visited, there has been willingness to cooperate. The key officials have always been receptive to the idea of the proposed programme and shown enthusiasm to establish an observatory. Interviewees outside the public sphere seemed to understand the idea, probably because of attending global conventions and meetings, such as Rio, Istanbul and WSSD. However, some of them showed signs of doubt, which could be removed by adopting processes of planning and management that are participatory, transparent and accountable.

References 1. Abdalla, Yagoub, Towards National Sustainable Development Strategy, January 2003 2. Abdel Ati, Hassan (editor) Sustainable development in Sudan, Ten Years After Rio Submit: A Civil Society Perspective, Proceedings of the National Civil Society Preparatory Conference, October 2001 3. Alkhedheiri, Abdulaziz A. The Role of Secondary Cities in the National Development Process of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, 2002 4. Arab Republic of Egypt, Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, Urban Development in Egypt. 5. Arab Republic of Egypt, Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, National Report, presented to the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements, Istanbul June 1996. (English Summary) 6. Arab Republic of Egypt, Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, General Organization for Physical Planning, National Urban Observatory in association with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Housing in Egypt: Problems, Issues and Suggestions for Solution, December 2001. 7. El-Shaikh, Abdalla, Elements of Sudan's National Comprehensive 25 year Strategy, January 2003 8. Kingdom of Morocco, National Report, Special Session of the UN General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Habitat Agenda, New York 6-8 June, Rabat, June 2001. 9. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Deputy Ministry for Town Planning National Spatial Strategy 2001, 10. Royaume du Maroc, Ministere de l'Amenagement du Territoire, de l' Environnement, de l'Urbanisme et de l'Habitat, Secretariat d' Etat a l'Habitat, Direction Regionale de l'Habitat Doukkala-Abda, L'Observatoire Regional Monographie de la region Doukkala-Abda sur le secteur de l'habitat, 2000 11. The City of Aleppo and Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit(GTZ), The Rehabilitation of the Old City of Aleppo: Development Plan. L I S T O F D O C U M E N T S I N AR A B I C ( I N A L P H A B E T I C O R D E R )

‫ المعهد‬،‫ أحمد طه محمد صغير (دكتور) المؤشرات والمراصد الحضرية فى الدول والمحليات العربية‬.1 ‫العربى النماء المدن بالتنسيق مع المرصد الحضرى العالمى ببرنامج األمم المتحدة للمستوطنات البشرية و‬ .‫الصندوق العربى لالنماء االقتصادى واالجتماعى وجمعية دراسات التنمية‬

14

‫‪ .2‬جمهورية السودان‪ ،‬المجلس القومى للتخطيط االستراتيجى‪ ،‬األستراتيجية القومية الربع القرنية ‪-2002‬‬ ‫‪2022‬‬ ‫‪ .2‬جمهورية السودان‪ ،‬تقرير عن تنفسذ اجندة الموئل‪-‬حالة السودان‬ ‫‪ .4‬جمهورية السودان‪ ،‬والية الخرطوم‪ ،‬وزارة الشئون الهندسية‪ ،‬الخطة األسكانية لألنقاذ‪ :‬المضمون المالمح‬ ‫واالنجاز‪ ،‬يونيو ‪ 1994‬الطبعة الثانية‪.‬‬ ‫‪ .5‬جمهورية مصر العربية‪ ،‬جهاز شئون البيئة‪ ،‬مشروع المعلومات والرصد البيئى‪ ،‬مكون رصد نوعية الهواء‪،‬‬ ‫التقرير الشهرى عن نوعية الهواء فى مصر‪ ،‬أغسطس ‪2001‬‬ ‫‪ .6‬جمهورية مصر العربية‪ ،‬مجلس الوزراء‪ ،‬مركز المعلومات ودعم اتخاذ القرار‪ ،‬وصف مصر بالمعلومات‬ ‫األصدار الخامس مارس ‪2002‬‬ ‫‪ .2‬جمهورية مصر العربية‪ ،‬محافظة الغربية‪ ،‬نشرة المعلومات‪ ،‬أصدار ديسمبر ‪2002‬‬ ‫‪ .8‬جمهورية مصر العربية‪ ،‬محافظة الغربية‪ ،‬نشرة المعلومات‪ ،‬أصدار مايو ‪2002‬‬ ‫‪ .9‬جمهورية مصر العربية‪ ،‬محافظة الغربية‪ ،‬نشرة المعلومات‪ ،‬أصدارأكتوبر ‪2002‬‬ ‫‪ .10‬جمهورية مصر العربية‪ ،‬وزارة االسكان والمنرافق والمجتمعات العمرانية‪ ،‬التقرير الوطنى‪ ،‬مقدم لمؤتمر‬ ‫األمم المتحدة الثانى للمستوطنات البشرية‪ ،‬أسطنبول ‪.1996‬‬

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