Inclusion starts by embracing diversity

Several approaches can activate this key to make cities more sustainable and just.  To unlock the true power of diversity, we need to build policies and practices for inclusion of disadvantaged groups, foster democratic innovation through recognition, nurture a culture of empowerment and reconceptualize urban justice and sustainability. Each of these approaches provides pathways for invigorating, expanding and appreciating diversity as a necessary building block in creating resilient, just and sustainable cities.

To justly recognize diversity, a true commitment to meaningful participation is needed. This means that inclusion is not only supported as a ‘head nod’ or in a ‘check-box’ mode, but rather that sufficient efforts go into the meaningful involvement and leadership of diverse people and collectives. It is also crucial that this applies to power structures, and is present in each step of the planning and decision-making process. This can be achieved by tapping into existing community networks and making space for adaptation and experimentation. Another important way to facilitate diversity is by building bridges between different stakeholder groups. This means that not only is diversity acknowledged and encouraged, but that these diverse actors are brought together for meaningful collaboration, which ultimately underpins the design of holistic and intersectional solutions.

Unacknowledged #Diversity drives many forms of urban injustice and leads to unfit institutional structures and weak(ened) civil society. Not recognizing the diversity of citizens and their needs can lead to racialized or ethnically exclusionary urbanization, uneven and exclusionary urban intensification and regeneration, exclusive access to the benefits of sustainability infrastructure and uneven environmental health and pollution patterns. Only a city that acknowledges and addresses the diversity of its citizens and their needs at the level of local politics and praxis, can be truly just and sustainable. 

• “I think this key is useful as long as the protagonists participate in the process of policy-making. Creating policies for marginalised people without marginalised people has been shown to be inefficient.” (Begoña Pérez Pérez)