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Poor people, poor services: the future of urban services as seen through 50 years of debate in Public Administration and Development and its predecessors
Author(s) -
Blore Ian
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-162x(199912)19:5<453::aid-pad94>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - sanitation , government (linguistics) , participatory development , context (archaeology) , business , economic growth , equity (law) , sustainability , citizen journalism , private sector , public sector , public administration , public relations , political science , economics , medicine , economy , geography , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , law , biology , archaeology
The future for people lies increasingly in and around cities. Government actions within cities, including those assisted by aid efforts, have tended to concentrate on a few key services. Those services have been remarkably similar over time, consisting of public health services, public transport, sanitation, solid waste management and water supply. The provision of those services, and the needs for government intervention, has been historically justified on grounds of economic development, environmental sustainability or social equity. This article addresses the hypothesis that the core concerns of providing a better environment have changed little over 50 years (nor indeed since the great influenza epidemic that struck India and Britain in the late 1840s). The question it poses is whether those concerns will change much over the next 50 years. The magnitude will be greater; by 2050 it is likely that three out of four people will live in or near cities. Priorities, technologies and management methods appear to have undergone great changes. The language of urban or environmental management has also changed. How important have been those changes? How new are the current concerns with the new public management, private financing of public services, public–private partnerships, service inclusion and targeting the poor, or participatory development? The article highlights the need to view current means to manage the environments of essentially poor people in the context of the ends and purpose of such management. It reviews articles in PAD and other writings to examine the interplay between ends and means in the past. This may help predict likely future directions, not perhaps over the next 50, but possibly over the next 10 years. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.