The City of Grace
An Urban Manifesto
Cover illustration: © Svetlana Isochenko / Alamy Stock Photo
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore
The preface first points to the lives of quiet desperation of ‘ordinary men’—as if there were no alternatives. Mediated by the interaction of the economic and natural environments, their existence occurs increasingly in urban areas. Cities could arguably aspire to goodness and greatness or perhaps something more—a condition of grace? Could ‘grace’ address the downsides in life and offer psychological satisfaction to urban residents? A chapter plan is set out in order to investigate this question as the focus of the research project.
From Walden Pond MA, philosopher Henry David Thoreau ([1854] 2004, 7) found iconic words to describe the lives of ordinary men:
What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work … When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism, is the chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means of life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left.
Some 130 years later, Margaret Thatcher echoed Thoreau’s thesis in advocating global capitalism via the TINA manifesto:T hereI sN oA lternative. After the socialist collapse, Frances Fukuyama (1993) followed Karl Marx to proclaim ‘the end of history,’ this time embodied in a neoliberal democracy to advance the claims and spatial expansion of capitalism. Yet, sparked by American debt and real estate profligacy, the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) spread serious recession from financial markets to real economies. Worldwide, stocks lost around $US10 trillion (Coyle 2011, 145). The travails of the rich overshadowed the more wretched impacts on the global poor. Vast international disparities remain in income, opportunity and well-being (Harvey 2000, 42–45; Mahbubani 2018, 4–7). In 2017, the highly interlinked world economy generated US$80.93 trillion of GNP, dominated by the United States (US$19.49 trillion), China (US$12.23 trillion), Japan (US$4.82 trillion) and about 30 developed countries. 1 Some 200 others were less well off.
This experience and its capacity for ‘creative destruction’ indicate that unshackled neoliberal capitalism could engender its own desperation (Schumpeter [1942] 1975, 83; Gray 1998; Emmott 2003, 173–313). First, a sameness could spread through ‘global leveling,’ which could produce cookie-cutter cities, possibly of indifferent quality (Fainstein 2005, 6; McGhee 2005, 165). Second, as part of Simons’ (1995, 69) ‘economic imperialism,’ business activities colonize not only geographic space and nonmarket arenas but also time, recruiting a 24/7 platform for production and marketing (Osborne 2018). Third, industry structure concentrates, reducing choice of provider and, potentially, that of goods and services. Fourth, commensurate with the state of technology (which Peter Dicken (2003, 85) has called ‘a great, growling engine of change’), capitalist production and consumption devour renewable and nonrenewable resources with little regard for externalities. 2 Fifth, the process relies on compounding growth, facilitated through demographic expansion (cf. Miller 2005, 15–32; 186–91).
Such tendencies confront the finiteness of planetary resources. Intensifying activity in a universal market would, without restraints, encourage monolithic providers reliant upon continued population and economic growth to ensure their own and the system’s perpetuation. Yet the GFC questions ‘supercapitalism’s’ inherent stability, such that scrutiny is again timely (cf. Reich 2007). 3 Notwithstanding neoliberalism’s claims that enlarged wealth will mitigate environmental impact, concerns are mounting about resource degradation and diminution of standards (Daly 2005). The life of quiet desperation could, without a viable alternative, deflate toward the lowest common denominator, experienced today by many in capitalism’s South, or as a ‘race to the bottom’ in the urban masses’ quality of life. Alexander and Gleeson (2019, 13) provocatively refer to ‘a planet of slums.’ Far-fetched? A decade ago, it was reported that a sixth of the world’s population live in such circumstances, the count of inhabitants having doubled in the preceding 15 years (Dugger 2007).
Seen differently, capitalism affords a minority of the world’s population a comfortable lifestyle in tolerable surroundings (Gay 1991, 73; Gore 2013, 33). This capability combines with the doctrine of ‘no alternatives’ to quell contrarians and utopians, who could conceivably launch critiques of, or improvements to, the existing order (Baeten 2002a, b). Given business as usual, disjointed incrementalism undertaken by small governments would remain the modus operandi. It well suits people possessing money, power, status or all three desiderata—but maybe not the rest of humanity which, despite its relegation, should retain a stake in the future.
Yet, as systematic constraints, vested interests have been comprehensively ‘outed’ by Jim Collins’ (2001) study of leadership and performance among American Fortune 500 corporations. He maintains that ‘good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.’ 4 Collins (2001, 5–16) devises metrics to define a corporation’s ‘greatness’—in short, a Rostow (1960)-like ascent beyond composite securities exchange benchmarks sustained over a 15-year period. In environments as complex as cities, such a straightforward approach is problematic, as reflected in attempts even to define the ‘difference’ which planning makes (Gleeson 2003). Planning, however, has not only imagined ideal urban forms (Lynch 1981, 1984; Short 1989; Sandercock 1998), but has borrowed performance indicators and best practice approaches from industry. Some headway is thus plausible. It is important, too, because world history largely proceeds from cities and they are the focus of innovative activity (Boudon 1978, 415; Dear 2000, 261).
There could be many interpretations of urban ‘greatness,’ some tainted by hegemony and hubris. Global financial status and demographic size are too obvious, easy or familiar. The challenge is to up the ante, to introduce a new mode of thought around something more inspiring than neoliberalism’s Vibrant City. Since Wadley (2008, 650, 655–56) fashioned that particular construct a decade ago, things once taken for granted have ebbed away—like sustainable water supplies, fresh air and freedom to move around metropolises without crippling congestion. Contrariwise, could some focused modeling frame a City of Grace, apprehended along secular lines? Productively managed, such a project would step beyond John Friedmann’s (2000, 2002, 103–18) ‘Good City,’ outstrip aspects of ‘greatness’ and tackle the desperation surrounding humdrum urbanization. Definitional work will reveal that ‘grace,’ long understood as the unexpected gift of apositive good, has uplifting qualities which, often in an understated way, can address downsides in life and offer psychological satisfaction to urban inhabitants. The present research has found no evidence of people who have rejected grace, freely given, or who have disparaged its existence or effect. Rather obviously, though, grace has been neglected outside the humanities. The proposed study investigates the concept’s place in those fields, but goes further to identify relevant intersections in the social sciences with at least economics, management, human geography, architecture, city planning and sociology.
Engagement with globalization is never tidy. The ‘humdrum’ has its virtues, far preferable to the chaos of state-based conflict, civil unrest, social breakdown or terrorist outrages in major world venues. These events are of an acute nature. Regarding reactions to more chronic disruption, both progressives and conservatives might have words to say 5 when even primary students are mobilized to quit school and protest on the streets about climate change. Today, a wide-angle view and informed systems thinking are required. These stances urge observers not to sweat the detail but to stand back and acknowledge emerging trends around the world. To do so requires expansive thinking and resort to the metatheories summarily discarded in postmodern analysis over the last 30 years. The concept of grace, or, indeed, its absence, is compatible with these high levels of systemic resolution. 6
Today, there are likely few examples of metropolitan grace, with even fewer to come, should capital fail in its promises. Unless signals have been missed and The City of Grace already exists, any case must be mounted deductively, not inductively as per those of Collins (2001) or Glaeser (2011). But Rome was not built in a day. Since the proposal involves a high-level construct, it must be equipped with strong, interdisciplinary foundations which take time to articulate. 7 Resort must be to working definitions and propositional logic, emphasizing the necessary and sufficient conditions to conceptualize and operationalize urban grace. There could be theoretical footwork (a ‘slow burn’) to establish the outline of the City. Yet, once an outpost of grace can be conceptualized, it should provide a benchmark in integrated urban development.
History abounds with calls for urban enhancement, accompanied by statements of ideals, some speculative (Pinder 2002; Hardy 2000, 2005), others more chronological or practical (e.g. Chaoy 1965; Fishman 1982; Buder 1990; Hall 1998, 2014). Given long-standing utopianism/dystopianism in social sciences (Levitas 1990; Harvey 2000), further deliberations would be risible to economists, critics and those in city hall were they not intended to advance human development. 8 As will be shown, ‘grace,’ however novel or egregious in an instrumental world, can link directly with the quality of urban existence.
Fully depicting The City of Grace will involve an initial survey of contextual conditions, followed by recourse to relevant, high-level theories. Next will come a review of themed urban literature to seek leads in the process of model construction. The focal element, grace, will need comprehensive definition. Having undertaken these preliminaries, it makes sense to see if a City of Grace already exists in the real world. Then more specific literature is assessed to ensure strong foundations upon which to build the model. Its conceptualization and operationalization are explained, focusing on the conversion of various kinds of capital inputs. There follow accounts of how the City will, as outputs, manifest grace in its function and form. Stress-testing of the model is subsequently undertaken to point issues which could challenge it. Finally, the project offers conclusions which summarize results, indicate limitations and suggest channels of further research.
audit current drivers relating to population, globalization, the market and the environment
ground the modeling in world urbanization, theoretical preliminaries, general systems and chaos theories, and the ontology of previous urban literature
analyze grace in its theological, ascetic, aesthetic and material expressions
model urban ‘grace’ by relating its constituent elements to a quality of life by way of a vision, necessary precepts and sufficient strategies
explain the role of grace (graciousness) in urban function
relay constituents of grace (gracefulness) in urban form
outline the major obstacles in achieving urban grace
summarize the construction of The City of Grace and indicate how its inhabitants could achieve self-actualization.
While centered on a perhaps abstruse and neglected theme, this book is not intended to be prophetic. It is a product of its time, when false news, fake facts, spin and desire mask underlying realities which need careful identification and analysis. It likewise reflects its author’s schooling in the (increasingly disparaged) western humanities and social sciences. The work suggests a stance in urbanism which, if found helpful, could be pursued or, if found lacking, subject to critique and modification from alternative viewpoints, values and traditions of thought.The City of Grace starts here—but will also end as no more than a beginning.
References
Alexander, S. and Gleeson, B. 2019.Degrowth in the suburbs: A radical urban imaginary . Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
Baeten, G. 2002a. The spaces of utopia and dystopia: An introduction.Geografiska Annaler B 84 (3/4), 141–42.
Baeten, G. 2002b. Western utopianism/dystopianism and the political mediocrity of critical urban research.Geografiska Annaler B 84 (3/4), 143–52.
Benstein, J. 2006.The way into Judaism and the environment . Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing.
Boudon, P. 1978. Utopicités. InLe discours utopique . Direction M. de Gandillac and C. Piron. 403–16. Paris: Union Génerale d'Éditions.
Buder, S. 1990.Visionaries and planners: The Garden City movement and the modern community . New York: Oxford University Press.
Chaoy, F. 1965.L’urbanisme: Utopies et réalités . Paris: Editions du Seuil.
Collins, J. 2001.Good to great: Why some companies make the leap…and others don’t . Sydney: Random House.
Coyle, D. 2011.The economics of enough: How to run the economy as if the future matters . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Daly, H.E. 2005. Economics in a full world.Scientific American 293 (3), 100–07.
Dear, M. 2000.The postmodern urban condition . Oxford: Blackwell.
Dicken, P. 2003.Global shift: Reshaping the global economic map in the 21st century (4th ed.). London: Sage.
Dugger, C. 2007. Urban dwellers grow in daunting numbers (Syndicating theNew York Times ).The Australian Financial Review , 29 June, 36.
Emmott, B. 2003.20:21 vision: Twentieth-century lessons for the twenty-first century . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Fainstein, S.S. 2005. Cities and diversity: Should we want it? Can we plan for it?Urban Affairs Review 41 (1), 3–19.
Fishman, R. 1982.Urban utopias in the twentieth century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Courbusier . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Friedmann, J. 2000. The good city: In defense of utopian thinking.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24 (2), 460–72.
Friedmann, J. 2002.The prospect of cities . Minneapolis, MN: University of Minneapolis Press.
Fukuyama, F. 1993.The end of history and the last man . New York: Avon Books.
Gay, C.M. 1991.Cash values: The value of money, the nature of worth . Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Giddens, A. 2003. Neoprogressivism: A new agenda for social democracy. InThe progressive manifesto: New ideas for the centre-left . 1–34. Ed. A. Giddens. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Glaeser, E. 2011.Triumph of the city: How our greatest invention makes us richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier . New York: Penguin Press.
Gleeson, B. 2003. The contribution of planning to environment and society: Towards a framework for analysis.Australian Planner 40 (3), 25–30.
Gore, A. 2013.The future . New York: Random House.
Hall, P. 1998.Cities in civilization: Culture, innovation and the urban order . London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Hall, P. 2014.Cities of tomorrow: An intellectual history of urban planning and design since 1880 (4th ed.). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Hardy, D. 2000.Utopian England: Community experiments 1900–1945 . London: Spon.
Hardy, D. 2005. Utopian ideas and the planning of London.Planning Perspectives 20 (1), 35–49.
Harvey, D. 2000.Spaces of hope . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Haynes, G. 2019. Greta Thunberg: The girl who went on strike for the planet.Time 193 (20), 32–35.
Levitas, R. 1990.The concept of utopia . Hemel Hempstead, Herts: Philip Allan.
Lynch, K. 1981.A theory of good city form . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. 1984.Good city form . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Mahbubani, K. 2018.Has the West lost it? A provocation . London: Allen Lane.
McGhee, D. 2005.Intolerant Britain: Hate, citizenship and difference . Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Meier, B. 2008. AIG parties as Fed tops up its funding. (Syndicating The New York Times ) Australian Financial Review , 10 October, 22.
Miller, G.T. 2005.Living in the environment: Principles, connections, and solutions (14th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole.
Osborne, N. 2018. For still possible cities: A politics of failure for the politically depressed.Australian Geographer 50 (2), 145–54.
Pinder, D. 2002. In defence of utopian urbanism: Imagining cities after the ‘end of utopia’.Geografska Annaler B 84 (3–4), 229–42.
Reich, R.B. 2007.Supercapitalism: The transformation of business, democracy and everyday life . New York: Knopf.
Rostow, W.W. 1960.The stages of economic growth: A non-communist manifesto . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sandercock, L. 1998.Toward cosmopolis: Planning for multicultural cities . Chichester, Sussex: Wiley.
Schumpeter, J.A. [1942] 1975.Capitalism, socialism and democracy . New York: Harper and Row.
Short, J.R. 1989.The humane city: Cities as if people matter . Oxford: Blackwell.
Simons, R.G. 1995.Competing gospels: Public theology and economic theory . Alexandria, NSW: Dwyer.
Sparshott, F.E. 1958.An enquiry into goodness and related concept; with some remarks on the nature and scope of such enquiries . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Thoreau, H.D. [1854] 2004.Walden . Ed. J.S. Cramer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
von Wright, G.H. 1963.The varieties of goodness . London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Wadley, D. 2008. The garden of peace.Annals of the Association of American Geographers 98 (3), 650–85.