What I learned from NYC: urban planning is all about love

I spent a very fun and very cold week in New York earlier this year.  What a great city!  A lot has changed since I lived there back in 2006, but the unlimited subway/bus pass remains one of the best value transportation deals in the world.

Here's the thing about New York: the people who live there love it.  They proudly call themselves New Yorkers.  They have an entire magazine dedicated to love of the city.  Frank Sinatra and others wrote great songs about it.  They passionately believe that it's the best place to live on earth, and that there's something kind of wrong with all of us who don't just "get" that.

Another thing is that anyone can become a New Yorker.  It's easy: find an place to stay in "the City," be giddy and excited to be there, and start calling yourself a New Yorker.  In some ways, it's one of the least exclusive clubs in the world.  All you have to do is show up.  And it's contagious.  Even I identify with New York when I pass through; the city is so welcoming in that way.  It's hard not to love it and want to be part of it.

So, city pride and identity, and the ability to belong.  Two key ingredients to healthy cities.  As Jane Jacobs wrote, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” (note: if you haven't read The Death and Life of Great American Cities, please drop everything and go out and get it!) .

Contrast this with Dhaka.  A normal conversation between two people just meeting each other might go something like this:
Bari kotai? (Where is your home?)
Dhaka.
Na, desher bari kotai? (No, where is your country home?)

It doesn't matter if you were born and raised in Dhaka or London.  You should still identify with your mother or father's home village, even if you have only been there a few times in your life.  You obviously help out your desher bhai (brother from the same village/district) when you can. NO ONE is from Dhaka, except a small population from "Old Dhaka" (and even then the question might be whether they are originally from Pakistan).

 Dhaka's Hatirjheel is beautiful at night.  What's not to love?
Photo attribution: Iteach Them, wikimedia commons.

So no one is from Dhaka, no one takes pride in living in Dhaka (no "I <3 Dhaka" shirts on sale here), and consequently there aren't strong feelings of pride, identity, or belonging.  Does anyone care what happens to Dhaka?  Feel that they want to make a better Dhaka?  Worry about the fate of Dhaka?  Who cares if if there's trash everywhere?  Who's job is it to make Dhaka more liveable?

A city can create a sense of "tribe."  With that feeling of tribe comes protectiveness, willingness to invest, compassion for others, and a sense of neighborly trust.

How can cities like Dhaka instill pride in their residents?  When people feel like they are part of the city, they begin to engage with communities and local government in new ways.  And make awesome t-shirts about love.....