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| Civilizing the City: from my little hometown in Cordoba to skyscrapers in Manhattan |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
In this article I describe my own experience using the specific example of the psychological changes that an individual may go through when moving from a little, traditional town to a bustling metropolis. Afterwards, I demonstrate how certain values and socialization agencies, like the government and the private sector, may contribute to keeping society together, and thus create constructive communities, even in vast cities.
I was born in Cordoba, Argentina, under the rule of a military dictatorship responsible for human rights violations and a war against Great Britain. Subsequently, fragile democratic institutions were reinstated. My parents, my sister and I resided with our extended family. My grandparents had a big house where we lived together.
In our little neighborhood everyone used to know each other. The sense of security was everywhere because all the families were trustworthy. There was a park in the middle of our hometown with a church in the main corner. No one could avoid Sunday prayers because everyone would have noticed it. In Drucker’s words, community was compulsory in many aspects and, undoubtedly, Cordoba was a very traditional place to live in.
Due to an economic crisis that led to social turmoil, my parents moved to Buenos Aires seeking better opportunities. The change was enormous. The dimensions of everything were different: taller buildings, bigger schools, a greater sense of freedom and, naturally, less contact. I lived in Buenos Aires with my nuclear family for many years. During that period, I remember having profound links within a small group, while the number of people around me was higher. In simple words: greater quantity, lower quality. However, since I attended the same school all my life, my close friends turned out to be part of my own family.
Like many Argentineans, I have seen my country take the path of most other developing states, struggling to survive while applying pendulum-like policies that allow for only brief periods of stability. The lack of guiding principles and honest policy-makers has not only affected the domestic situation, but has also produced questionable courses of action vis-à-vis other nations. This situation, particularly after the economic debacle of 2001, caused great emigration to more developed regions like North America and Western Europe. In fact, I traveled abroad to study in New York, where I have been living for the last 3 months.
From my little hometown in Cordoba to skyscrapers in Manhattan, I have traveled miles in both distance and experience. The dimensions of everything have changed again. I am in the “Big Apple” and feel smaller than ever. The first days were amusing, but soon I realized that I was not a tourist, and that I had to live in an unfamiliar place with people I barely knew. A great sense of loneliness invaded me.
In cities like New York time is money, so there is not enough space for collective concerns, chatting or friendship. Crowded streets, fast movement, and lack of order increase robberies and crimes, and create a more insecure environment. The contrasts are also remarkable. On the one hand opulent buildings and stores, and on the other hand homeless and insane people lie in the streets. It is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, and at the same time Manhattan is divided into ethnic ghettos.
In this era, when most people live in urban societies, what are the ways to avoid moral and social anomie? Is there any way to civilize the city? For Peter F. Drucker the solution is to develop a non-profit sector that will enhance communities within the city. However, how we should do it is not thoroughly clear. Furthermore, these communities must be constructive to the society as a whole and act as tools to create unity in diversity. For that reason the role of the private and public sectors is vital in contributing to community building.
It would be a serious mistake for policy-makers from complex societies that are not culturally homogeneous to stimulate the construction of communities that, in the long term, could divide the social blend into irreconcilable pieces. When different sectors of society work to accomplish the same goal, both unity and diversity are preserved.
In order to have a realistic approach to facing these challenges, it is essential to elucidate what it is understood by the term “community” or “Gemeinshaft”. Etymologically, the word comes from the Latin term “communitatus”, where “com” means together; “muni” means links or shared defense; and “tatus” means small. Therefore, it can be said that a community refers to a relatively small group of people that share common values, interests and identities which make them live together in a safe environment.
Communities are necessary in societies because they reduce moral decline and social anarchy. Additionally, they are crucial to fulfilling individual physiological needs like the sense of belonging, care, solidarity or trust. As Aristotle recognized many years ago, men are zoon politikons and cannot survive alone. For that reason it is not surprising that the loss of community connections and cohesion in modern times has ascended to the top of many national-civic agendas. More than ever, the active participation of people in communities and the construction of a culture of citizenship and civic responsibility are needed.
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Maria Belen Avellaneda
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