BRICS Business Magazine English Edition No.5(9)
When abroad, we are used to answering the question, “Where are you from?” More often than not, we mention only the country, because any additional details are superfluous. Yet with many cities, it is not necessary to mention the country. Their name alone will elicit a clear and complete picture. Compare France and Paris, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro, or China and Shanghai. We live not in countries, but in cities; this informs our perception of reality. At the end of the day, it determines how we see countries.
The words ‘politics’ and ‘polis’ share a common root. Thus, it follows that ignoring the city is dangerous. It is from here that all interactions are born, interests are formed, and added value is created. Cities define how cohesive our space is, how comfortable it is, and, ultimately, how much of it is even ours. Therefore, city policy is one of the most important components of broader policy; it has a significant influence on both domestic and international affairs. In fact, cities became an important topic in international relations long ago.
People should acknowledge this fact and begin behaving accordingly, especially in those places where realpolitik lags behind reality. Le Corbusier called the house ‘a machine for living.’ I would say the same about cities. In an era of total mobility, the convenience and productivity of these machines defines the destiny of states. And although errors are always possible everywhere, developing countries do not have the moral right to work with their cities in a way that is worse than that of the developed world.