A brief look at social and physical aspects of urban development in the context of globalization.

1. The Maturation of Cities
2007-07-09
This paper is in four parts;
 The first presents cities in the context of social evolution as a movement toward
the formation of a world civilization, the beginning of the maturation of humanity;
 The second describes the supporting role of cities as nodes in a global
infrastructure;
 The third argues our material development has, for now, outpaced our social,
institutional, and moral development; and
 The fourth explores some possible lines of action to close this gap and foster the
maturation of cities
1. The Maturation of Humanity
People cannot exist alone. Social organizations, including cities, are like bodies,
every cell different but dependent upon the vitality of the whole. The relationship
between the individual and a social unit is a reciprocal one.
"Because the members of the world of humanity are unable to exist without
being banded together, cooperation and mutual helpfulness is the basis of
human society. Without the realization of these two great principles no great
movement is pressed forward.1
"Human society is composed not of a mass of merely differentiated cells but
of associations of individuals, each one of whom is endowed with intelligence
and will; nevertheless, the modes of operation that characterize man's
biological nature illustrate fundamental principles of existence. Chief among
these is that of unity in diversity. Paradoxically, it is precisely the wholeness
and complexity of the order constituting the human body - and the perfect
integration into it of the body's cells - that permit the full realization of the
distinctive capacities inherent in each of these component elements. No cell
lives apart from the body, whether in contributing to its functioning or in
deriving its share from the well-being of the whole.2
If we see each other as cells in an organic social body, as partners in a social
contract, and if we accept that individuals can benefit from the organization of the
social whole; then it is logical that individual behavior that strengthens the whole will
also, indirectly, strengthen the individual.
History records humanity’s climb up a ladder of social evolution from family, to tribe,
to city-state, and to nation, with the size of the social body expanding in size and
complexity. Logically, the next stage should be a global social unit. The current
globalization and convergence signal the arrival of this world community. Just as the
individual grows from infancy to childhood, to adolescence, and adulthood; so too,
has humanity. We could compare the end of the stage of nation-building and the
1
Abdu'l-Baha, Meetings: The Nineteen Day Feast, p.21.
2
Baha'i International Community, Office of Public Information, The Prosperity of Humankind,
p.4.
1

2. 2

3. beginning of a global society as a transition from our collective adolescence to our
collective adulthood.
The British historian Arnold J. Toynbee says civilization is an endeavor
"....to create a state of society in which the whole of mankind will be able to live
together in harmony as members of a single all-inclusive family. This is, I believe,
the goal at which all civilizations so far have been aiming unconsciously, if not
consciously."3
Just as each evolutionary social step did not extinguish the steps it built on - for
example, cities retained families, and nations retained both the cities and the families
in them - so too could a global culture, while emerging in its own right, retain the
nations and cultural essences it encompasses and embraces. Just as each step in
the social ladder led to greater freedom and wider horizons for individuals, so too,
ideally, should a larger cultural interactive space lead to an even greater field of
movement, creation, and service. Now that the boundaries of the social contract
extend to the whole planet, we are challenged to stretch, as well, the boundaries of
cooperation and mutual helpfulness. Furthermore, following the logic of integral
wholes, now that we have the capacity to form a world community, the member
components – nations, cities, families - will not survive unless the larger body is
formed.
In Fig. 1, Map of Human Maturation, the various civilizations of the world appear as
rivers flowing to a common sea. The many currents of civilization are now a common
heritage for all of us to share. The resources we have to build a New World Order, in
addition to the fruits of science and technology, include the wealth of experience
gained by a multitude of civilizations over countless centuries.
“Much like the role played by the gene pool in the biological life of humankind
and its environment, the immense wealth of cultural diversity achieved over
thousands of years is vital to the social and economic development of a
human race experiencing its collective coming-of-age. It represents a heritage
that must be permitted to bear its fruit in a global civilization. On the one
hand, cultural expressions need to be protected from suffocation by the
materialistic influences currently holding sway. On the other, cultures must be
enabled to interact with one another in ever-changing patterns of civilization.4
"Today, humanity has entered on its collective coming-of-age, endowed with
the capacity to see the entire panorama of its development as a single
process. The challenge of maturity is to accept that we are one people, to free
ourselves from the limited identities and creeds of the past, and to build
together the foundations of global civilization.5
3
Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, abridged one-volume edition, p.44.
4
The Prosperity of Humankind, Baha'i International Community, 1995.
5
To the Peoples of the World: A Baha’i Statement on Peace, Introduction, The Universal
House of Justice, October 1985.
3

4. 2. Cities as Nodes in a Global Infrastructure
“What hath God wrought?” was the first message sent by Samuel Morse from the
Supreme Court Room in Washington to a railway depot in Baltimore on May 24,
1844. From this key beginning, in an intense wave, especially in the 12 years from
1877 to 1889, the main technological components for the construction of modern
cities all appeared. In Fig. 1 below we can see an outburst of invention in the latter
half of the 19th century. Through them the city could expand horizontally and
vertically; its time for work, recreation, and family life could extend more easily into
the evening hours; and the speed and ease of mutual access, either within the city or
from city to city was greatly enhanced.
Fig. 2 Inventions and their Date of Creation
Railway 1800
Telegraph 1844
Telephone 1877
Incandescent Lamp 1880
Skyscraper 1880
Electric Trolley Car 1885
Subway 1886
Automobile 1889
Elevator 1889
Wireless Radio 1901
Flight 1908
TV 1920
Computers 1930
Internet 1980
Especially with the spread of international telecommunications, cities have a new
dimension and purpose; they do not only have the capacity to express reciprocity
within their immediate sphere of influence, or nation, but are becoming part of a
network to perform this task on a planetary scale. They are becoming part of the
infrastructure of a global civilization. Cities are bases from which individuals have
access to the resources of the world and can participate in building “a single all-
inclusive family”. Theoretically, the more cities function in this role; the more their
capacity will be nourished and released.
4

5. 3. Balanced Inner and Outer Development
There is, however, a great challenge. Although the scientific and technical inventions
necessary for the creation of an interconnected planet are virtually all in place, the
instability and violence in the world around us indicate our material development has,
for now, outpaced our social, institutional, and moral development.
"However thrilling the prospects (for globalization) may be, present patterns of
behavior do not inspire confidence in the process. It is only natural to wonder
whether globalization will, in fact, unify the human race without imposing
uniformity or simply propel the universalization of the culture of consumerism.
Is it the bearer of prosperity for the masses or the mere expression of the
economic interests of a privileged few? Will it lead to the establishment of a
just order or to the consolidation of existing structures of power?6
Now that relative wealth has started to come to China there is a conflicting mix of
values. It is acceptable for some to get rich first, but the value structure does not
emphasize what to do with this wealth other than just to satisfy one’s own material
pleasure and needs.
"Work without social utility is intrinsically meaningless in any larger social or
moral context and necessarily produces an alienation that is only partly eased
by monetary rewards. Alienation from, and lack of participation in, a larger
'social ecology' characterized by 'civic friendship', results in meaningless
work, restless competition, a self-centered life, a split between the ethos of
family life and the brutally competitive work place, and education focused on
careerism with neither 'personal meaning or civic virtue'."7
The shadows that have appeared in China’s modernization drive, such as corruption
and environmental degradation, are an inverse prescription of the inner qualities we
need, reminders that more mature standards and behavior are required.
“Human happiness, security and well-being, social cohesion, and economic
justice are not mere by-products of material success. Rather, they emerge
from a complex and dynamic interplay between the satisfaction of material
and social needs and the spiritual fulfillment of the individual.
“Such qualities as trustworthiness, compassion, forbearance, fidelity,
generosity, humility, courage, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good
have constituted the invisible yet essential foundations of progressive
community life.8
Confucian and revolutionary virtues such as self-restraint, propriety, service to others,
moderation, obedience, etc. easily suited a time of poverty and shortages. Poverty
and a Spartan living pattern were related to the sacrifice needed fifty years ago to
create New China. The older generation looks back with fondness to the early fifties
when life was more difficult but more meaningful, the cause more clear. Without a
place to serve beyond oneself, many channels for spiritual capacity are blocked,
starving richer, and, finally, more productive sources of motivation.
6
Dr. Farzam Arbab, The Lab, the Temple, and the Market, Edited by Sharon Harper, IDRC,
Canada, 2000, pp.1-2.
7
Bellah, Robert, et al, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life,
New York, Perennial Library, 1985, p. 288.
8
Overcoming Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Public Institutions: A Bahá’í
Perspective "Global Forum on Fighting Corruption II", May 2001, the Hague, Netherlands.
5

6. …….a paradigm of development that seeks to promote global prosperity must
take into account both the spiritual and material natures of the individual and
society, while responding to the increasing interdependence of the peoples
and nations of the planet. …..as the regions of the world "unite to give each
other what is lacking. This union will bring about a true civilization, where the
spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material.9
If the maturation process of our global world has been uneven, namely, we are more
advanced technically and less developed socially-spiritually, then what might be done
in cities to help close the gap?
9
Baha'i International Community, Toward a Development Paradigm for 21st Century,
August, 1994.
6

7. 4. Possible Lines of Action
In an organization as complex as a city there are many social, administrative, and
physical aspects of urban life than can be considered in light of the coming of age of
the human race. The following are some exploratory thoughts about just a few
possible lines of action to enhance the city’s role both as a community unto itself, and
as a component of a larger global society.
 Promote Citizenship Education
 Develop Community Life
 Increase the Influence of Women
 Improve Physical Mutual Access
 Build Civic Centers
Promote Citizenship Education
Citizenship, in a mature social contract means individuals act to satisfy,
simultaneously, twin goals: to share and express our unique, individual capacities
and talents, and to ensure the vitality of the larger society. Helping to create the latter
furthers the development of the former.
“This relationship, so fundamental to the maintenance of civilized life, calls for
the utmost degree of understanding and cooperation between society and the
individual; and because the need to foster a climate in which the untold
potentialities of the individual members of society can develop, this relationship
must allow "free scope" for "individuality to assert itself" through modes of
spontaneity, initiative and diversity that ensure the viability of society.
While it will remain true that the individual will is subordinated to that of society, the
individual should not be lost in the mass but rather become the focus of
development.
“Let him or her “find his own place in the flow of progress, and society as a
whole may benefit from the accumulated talents and abilities of the individuals
composing it. Such an individual finds fulfillment of his potential not merely in
satisfying his own wants but in realizing his completeness in being at one with
humanity and with the….purpose of creation.
It is in the area of the inner development of cities that China has, potentially, a great
contribution to make. Until recently, the West has been setting the agenda for the
global village. In recent years, distracted by Western superiority in science and
technology and its consumer-oriented material development paradigm China's
spiritual, philosophical, and artistic potential and resources are underestimated, even
by China.
Reciprocity is the essence of Confucian philosophy, and a consciousness of our
essential oneness has been imbedded in Chinese philosophy for centuries. The
recognition that, for true modernization to go forward, there must be a stable, yet
dynamic, balance of both inner and outer development, carries on the ancient
Chinese awareness that "From the son of Heaven down to the mass of the people,
all must consider the cultivation of their person as the root of everything besides."
John Fairbank, the noted Sinologist, in the introduction to his recent book, China: A
New History, refers to China as a latecomer to modernity. He asks whether China
has emerged from isolation just in time to participate in the demise of the world or,
with millennia of survival experience, to rescue it.
7

8. The following words of Yan Yang Chu, a pioneer in rural development in China in the
1930s, give us a glimpse of why Mr. Fairbank might expect China to rescue the
world. James Yen says,
".....through the last forty centuries China must have matured her thought and
learned many lessons in the art of living. Maybe China has something to
contribute. Surely there must be a better way, a more humane way of settling
international disputes than just by cutting each other's throats. Surely, with
China's four hundred million people (in 1930), four thousand years of culture
and vast resources, she must have something to contribute to the peace and
progress of mankind."10
From Confucianism it has learned much regarding the application of spirituality to
daily life; from Daoism, China derives capacity to merge opposites and resolve
paradoxes, a capacity to see systems and “wholes” more than dichotomies; and from
Buddhism it has received high-minded spirituality and a keen sense of the coherence
between the material and the spiritual.
When we look to China we see, for example:
• Love of justice expressed in the words of China’s poets and philosophers; 11
• Belief in harmony, unity of opposites, reciprocity;
• Long Confucian tradition that a belief system is the foundation of social order;
• Belief in "Tian Xia Yi Jia" (All under heaven is one family),
• Love of perfection that generated so many centuries of civilized beauty;
• Appetite for consensus-seeking, not litigation, to resolve conflicts;
• Capacity for obedience; open-mindedness and lack of prejudice;
• Desire to "seek truth from facts";
• Love for practical application of knowledge; the admiration for deeds not
words;
• Importance given to family relationships, especially respect for parents.
China was not part of the colonization of the globe, but was colonized by others. It is
a country where poets are greater heroes than military leaders.
“The Chinese are not militaristic by nature or by tradition or by philosophy. The
Chinese people never exalted brute force,………….There is no military caste in
China as there is in other nations. The heroes of the Chinese people are not the
warriors, but sages, philosophers and preachers of peace and righteousness.12
Bertrand Russell, while serving as a teacher in Beijing in the1920s, observed
China's:
10
James Yen, Intellectual Shock of China, Star of the West, 19, Mass Education Movement in
China, SW October 1925, 16:7.
11
The Chinese word for city is 'cheng shi' which literally means 'walled market'. "The pattern
of 'shi' (market) first evolved in the Metal Script arising from the character 'ping' meaning
'equal' or 'fair'. Its early meaning was, of course, a place where people assemble to carry out
fair barter transactions.”
12
James Yen, Intellectual Shock of China, Star of the West, 19, Mass Education Movement in
China, SW October 1925, 16:7.
8

9. "production without possession, action without self-assertion, and development
without domination".13
The beauty of China's art, much of its poetry, and, in particular, its garden design,
prefigure one of the essential concerns of sustainability, harmony between man and
nature.
The above is but a tiny glimpse into the spiritual “inner” resources of China. Her
appreciation of her transcendent understandings is inhibited by the emphasis on
material development and further slowed by her own self-deprecating nature. "Yes,
our country is backward," many Chinese people nod, reinforcing the West's sense of
its own superiority. The more China "buys into" an exclusively material definition of
modernization, the less stable the country will become; and the less it will recognize
the valuable contributions it can make to the establishment of inner and outer
balance.
The spiritual resources of China contribute much to defining the goals and curriculum
of education for citizenship, not only for the city, but for the maturation of the
individual as a citizen of the world.
Develop Community Life
China has a habit of group-consciousness called "Ji Ti" (togetherness). Although its
origin precedes the entry of Buddhism to China, this concept was given a powerful
boost by the Mahayana emphasis on salvation of the individual through salvation of
the group. China’s Ji Ti sense and peaceful orientation are valuable foundations for
community building.
While a thin social network has started to spread around the world, the social grain in
cities remains quite coarse. There is a gap at the neighborhood-community level. The
”Ji Ti” sense, the social ecology, is usually focused on family, friends, and the
Chinese people as a whole. The work unit used to be a kind of community, but the
social role of this institution is disappearing. There is a hierarchy of administrative
units in the city, district government, street committee, etc, but they are more
administrative than social.
Lin Yu Tang (1895-1976) pointed out in 1935 in his book, “My Country and My
People” that the Confucian teaching, the Great Learning, moves through the levels of
social organization and leaves out community. He says that the jump from State to
family is indicative; it shows unity and loyalty are operative at these two levels, but
this sense is weak in between. He even says of public spirit, civic consciousness,
and social service, “There are no such commodities in China”.
"The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the empire,
first ordered well their own States.
Wishing to order well their own States, they first regulated their families.
Wishing to order well their families, they first cultivated their persons.
Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.
Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts.
Wishing to be sincere in there thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their
knowledge.
Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
Things being investigated, knowledge became complete.
13
Russell, Bertrand, The Basic Writings Writings of Bertrand Russell: 1903-1959, Edited by
Robert E. Egner and Lester E. Dennon, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1961.
9

10. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere.
Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified.
Their hearts being rectified their persons were cultivated.
Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated.
Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed.
Their States being rightly governed, the whole empire was made tranquil and
happy."14
One of the most visible characteristics of China since it opened up is the increased
capacity of individuals both men and women. As China starts to mature beyond an
authoritarian social structure, millions of people are deciding, on their own, how to
channel their energy and talents. They are choosing their own education, careers,
starting their own businesses, and traveling to other parts of the country and the
world where there are work opportunities. A professional service attitude has started
to replace paternalistic patterns. A vast pool of energy is emerging, ready to be
tapped.
The city will be more effective and its life improved if there are social and
administrative mechanisms at the community level to channel the increased latent
capacity of individuals. A finer-grained, better managed exchange of resources and
needs, at a local level, will enhance the growth and security of neighborhoods, and
the individuals within them. The current condition of anonymity outside the circle of
family and friends, with more and more sections of the city surrounded by walls and
security guards, reflects a fear of strangers, and is a consequence of a lack of
community.
Fig. 3 Social Layers
14
Excerpt from The Great Learning, part of the Confucian doctrine contained in The Four
Books, Hunan Publishing House, 1995, pp. 3-5.
10

11. There is skepticism and caution about touching this social layer. Even people of good
will hesitate. The desire for isolation and anonymity mainly comes from the fear of
un-ending, unmanageable demand from people we don’t know; once you start
helping someone there may be no end to the demand.
This fear is justified; there is no coordinating administrative layer at the neighborhood
level to manage such an initiative. Such an extension of community cannot arise
without a corresponding institutional development, and maturation in social qualities
and skills. To share information, to channel the traffic between needs and service, to
expand the boundaries of trust requires a new form of organization and leadership at
the community level.
If social participation were a larger part of life, urban children, for example, could
participate in community service as a vital part of the school curriculum. It would
broaden their current activities of study-homework-computer games by exposing
them more intimately and practically with the society around them. This in turn would
give their studies a clearer sense of purpose. The children could more easily imagine
how they might apply what they learn to the needs of the world around them. Placing
value and importance on this kind of social education will also ameliorate the
difficulties of the single-child family by giving children more surrogate brothers and
sisters to interact with. The atmosphere of growth through service will reduce self-
centeredness.
Youth can make valuable contributions to community-building. Currently, in China,
most of their time is spent on academic achievement with an emphasis on numerical
scores. This tends to isolate them from life and limit their social growth. If youth were
involved in the education of the younger ones, for example, they too would have a
11

12. real service to perform and a level of responsibility that they are ready for but is never
used. Involvement in community work would also give them a chance to get to know
members of the opposite sex in ways other than dating. You know a person better
when you see how they work, how they interact with other people, how they handle
responsibility, etc.
“The creation of the institutions of a global society, a web of interconnected
structures that hold society together at all levels, from local to international
institutions that gradually become the patrimony of all the inhabitants of the
planet is for me one of the major challenges of development planning and
strategy. Without it, I fear, globalization will be synonymous with the
marginalisation of the masses.15
Increase the Influence of Women
If the city is half male and half female then women should be holding up half of the
city. If community building is an important aspect of city building and it is based on
reciprocity and the consciousness of unity in diversity, then to whom do we turn for
experience and skill? Women have practice from family life and are psychologically
more suited. They have a greater recognition of the essential cooperative nature of
human existence. One of the reason China has such a high rate of female suicide is
the underutilization of this capacity.
The following brief compilation of quotes attempts to indicate the nature of the
crucial, and mostly unrecognized, contribution of women.
"The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over
woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body
and mind. But the scales are shifting, force is losing its weight, and mental
alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which
women is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age
less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or to speak
more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of
civilization will be more properly balanced.16
"Given the vital role of economic activity in the advancement of civilization,
visible evidence of the pace at which development is progressing will be the
extent to which women gain access to all avenues of economic endeavor.
This challenge goes beyond ensuring an equitable distribution of opportunity,
important as that is. It calls for a fundamental rethinking of economic issues in
a manner that will invite the full participation of a range of human experience
and insight hitherto largely excluded from the discourse. The classical
economic models of impersonal markets in which human beings act as
autonomous makers of self-regarding choices will not serve the needs of a
world motivated by ideals of unity and justice. Society will find itself
increasingly challenged to develop new economic models shaped by insights
that arise form a sympathetic understanding of shared experience, from
viewing human beings in relation to others, and from a recognition of the
centrality to social well-being of the role of the family and the community.
Such an intellectual breakthrough - strongly altruistic rather than self-centered
in focus - must draw heavily on both the spiritual and scientific sensibilities of
15
Dr. Farzam Arbab, The Lab, the Temple, and the Market, IDRC, 2001.
16
Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, 1976 U.S. edition, p.156.
12

13. the race, and millennia of experience have prepared women to make crucial
contributions to the common effort.17
“Despite the competitive aspects of any society, there must be a bedrock
modicum of cooperation for society to exist at all. (I define cooperative as
behavior that aids and enhances the development of other human beings
while advancing one's own.) It is certainly clear we have not reached a very
high level of cooperative living. To the extent that it exists, women have
assumed the greater responsibility for providing it. Although they may not
label it in large letters, women in families are constantly trying to work out
some sort of cooperative system that attends to each person's needs. Their
task is greatly impeded by the unequal premise on which our families are
based, but it has been women who have practiced trying.
"...serving others is a basic principle around which women's lives are
organized; it is far from such for men....Obviously people have to serve each
other's needs, since human beings have needs. Who will serve them if not
other people?
“.......until recently, few opportunities for simultaneous self-development and
service to others have existed; there were virtually no social forms in which
this combination could be put into operation.... For men the prospect of
combining self-development with service to others seems an impossibly
complex proposition. For women this complexity is not so great.
"Women do have a much greater and more refined ability to encompass
others' needs and to do this with ease. By this I mean that women are better
geared than men to first recognize others' needs and then to believe strongly
that others' needs can be served - that they can respond to others' needs
without feeling this is a detraction from their sense of identity.18
"Men are more burdened with the more adolescent attitudes and habits of
competition and control. Maturity for a man is autonomy and separation from
others, independence and individual achievement. A concern with
relationships, and co-operation appear as weaknesses.19
"The assumption of superiority by man will continue to be depressing to the
ambition of woman.20
"The world that is outside one's door happens to be a world that is full of
hardship, cruelty and competition. In order to survive in this world, a woman
needs to incorporate a large dose of roughness into her character. I happen
to think that this world outside of one's home is basically dictated and molded
by men. It is a problem to put women in a position where they have to adapt
to this man's world.21
"The cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its service
an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves the utmost
17
Cao Yun Xiang, Head of Qinghua University 1921-22, excerpt from the introduction to his
Chinese translation of Baha'u'llah and the New Era.
18
Dr. Jean Baker-Miller, Towards a New Psychology of Women, Beacon Press, Boston,
Second Edition, p.62-3.
19
Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Harvard Press, 1982.
20
Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, US edition, 1982, p.76.
21
Wang Anyi, interview in Newsweek Magazine, April 10, 1989.
13

14. support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is
indisputably the principle reason for the decline and fall of peoples and the
perpetration of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is
accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations to
fulfill this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decision-
making agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to the
education of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that the
benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused through out
society. In keeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should
also be given to the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard
education of every child.22
“…strive to show in the human world that women are most capable and
efficient, that their hearts are more tender and susceptible than the hearts of
men, that they are more philanthropic and responsive toward the needy and
suffering, that they are inflexibly opposed to war and are lovers of peace.
Strive that the ideal of international peace may become realized through the
efforts of womankind, for man is more inclined to war than woman, and a real
evidence of woman’s superiority will be her service and efficiency in the
establishment of universal peace.23
22
Message from the Universal House of Justice, October, 1985.
23
Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 283, 1912.
14

15. Optimize Mutual Physical Access
If we need social structures and institutions scaled to the individual and community,
do we not also need physical spaces scaled the same way? If mutual service and
reciprocity could be enhanced by optimum physical access to each other, then what
spatial arrangements and conditions might be helpful? The vast increase in mutual
access due to the proliferation of technologies such as mobile phones, the internet
and jet travel augment the oldest form of mutual access, namely, face-to-face
communication and walking.
The new communication technology has no scale; time and distance are compressed
to zero. The scale of personal communication is measurable. At one meter we can
read the smile in someone’s eyes; after 25 meters we cannot read the expression on
someone’s face. Transportation now allows any two people on earth to meet almost
within hours. Pedestrians take 10 to 15 minutes to walk a kilometer.
It is probably more valuable to have a multiplicity of forms of access and movement
rather than thinking the older ones are obsolete.
We could start by looking at conditions that reduce mutual access. Some examples
include:
 Excessive separation of work and home reduces our access to each other.
 Excessive separation according to income reduces access between social
strata.
 Walled residential compounds, islands of fear, separate group from group;
 Over-crowding is too much access.
 Diffusion and too-low density is not enough access.
 Overly-large city-block size reduces flow through its territory.
 Over-reliance on cars, and extra-wide roads for car traffic, reduces access
between people and between blocks.
What adjustments can be made? What are the optimums? The following is a brief
look at some parameters to work with. These include: the street, the city block, units
of growth, and density.
The Street
Throughout history, a space common to every city has been the street. The street
offers a series of doors to private spaces accessible from a flowing public space. In
the city, streets and plazas are the primary containers and conduits for reciprocity. If
at street widths under 25 meters, we can take the pulse, and know the condition of
our neighbor, then this is an important unit of urban scale. The ideal maximum cross-
section width of a street in “ReciproCity” is 25 meters. The most beautiful condition,
in the summer, for seeing each other in the street, is under a canopy of trees. If the
rows of trees on either side of a street are 15 meters apart, or less, there is a shady
roof canopy. When the distance between the rows exceeds 15 meters the hot sun
gets in.” We can further define this ideal cross section as 5 meters of sidewalk, 15
meters of road, and another 5 meters of sidewalk.
Block Size
Before the explosion of technology, when they were more pedestrian-oriented, cities
had small city blocks, from 0.5 to 1.5 hectares in size. If we looked from the air we
would see a finely-grained urban pattern. The parts of cites around the world that
people like to visit are these very fine-grained older urban districts. A little larger is the
typical Manhattan city-block at about 80 x 270 m, just over two hectares. The blocks
in old Beijing are defined by east-west hutongs spaced about 75 meters apart. Even
a long block length, say 450 meters, still only created a block size of less than 4.0
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16. hectares. On these relatively small city blocks, there are several owners and
residents, and often several builder/developers. The density of diversity is high.
In most cities, as we scan their newer parts, the grain gets coarser and coarser. As
the block gets bigger, the area within has a lower and lower amount of contact with
its perimeter. For example, a one hectare, square block has a 400 meter perimeter,
and a four hectare block has 800 meters of perimeter. The ratio of the former is 400
meters of street perimeter to one hectare of land, or 400:1. The ratio of the latter is
800 meters to four hectares or 200:1. The small block’s relation to the street is twice
that of the larger. If mutual access enhances opportunities for mutual support, there
should be an optimum relationship.
Fig. 4 City Form and Access24
Recently, for security reasons and to obtain more protected green space for
residents, there are many new residential developments in Chinese cities that are
ten-hectares and up in size. They tend to be "gated communities" with no public
through-streets.
These “super blocks” are bound by six-lane roads with fences down the middle to
restrict the movement of pedestrians.
Some developments reduce reciprocal access even more by constructing walls
around their perimeter and setting up guarded gates. In some cases this can be very
beautiful, such as the shadows of long rows of trees swaying and dancing on the
walls of the Forbidden City. But, a whole city built this way implies an inner life of fear
with a response of defense and control. The walls provide security, but inhibit
reciprocity. Walls that keep people out also keep people in. The more you fear the
outside the more you live in a prison. Pedestrians have to walk long distances to get
around these walled compounds. Perhaps Zhu Ge Liang25 had a useful strategy; just
leave the door open and conquer the enemy with confidence.
There are very few secondary roads, so traffic is concentrated on the perimeter of the
blocks, further isolating them from each other. Moving around requires traveling by
24
Martin Pearce, University Builders, Wiley-Academy, 2001, p. 60
25
Zhu Ge Liang was a famous general who once, vastly outnumbered, discouraged an
enemy army from attacking his city by leaving the gates wide open and, in full view of his
adversaries, drank tea while sitting on top of the city wall.
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17. taxi from one large project to another. In suburban gated-communities the occupied
land can be as large as 50 and even 100 hectares in size. These relatively large city
blocks may have one owner, are developed by one company and designed by one
architect. The density of diversity is low.
Cliff Moughtin, Emeritus Professor of Planning at the University of Nottingham,
believes too large a block destroys city life.
"The larger and more homogenous the street block the greater will be its
power to destroy the social, economic, and physical networks of the city. The
large-scale single-use, single-ownership street block is the instrument most
influential in the decline of the city: its effect, together with that of its partner
the motorcar, are among the real causes of the death of the great city."26
Units of Growth
Christopher Alexander, a renowned American researcher into urban form, says
healthy, organic growth should be piecemeal, in sizes small, medium, and large in
equal numbers, with an upper limit of about 10,000 m2 per piece. In urban China, a
ten-hectare site, with a Plot Ratio of 2.0 has 200,000 m2 of buildings, twenty times
Alexander’s upper limit, and is not considered a very large-scale development. There
is a variety in the scale of developments in China but they are all above 10,000m2.
What is optimum in the China context?
Density
There are two important measures; one is the number of people per unit of land; and
the other is the amount of indoor living-space per person. If we take the cities of
Ottawa and Montreal, Canada, as examples of typical North American cities, we find
an average of 40 people/hectare based on the gross built-up area of the city, and
about 30m2 of living space per person. In a typical Chinese city we find an average
of 100 people/hectare and about 20m of living space per person. If all are to be
served with water, sewers, electricity, and transportation, then the more compact city
is more economical, more energy-saving, and more sustainable.
“The team found research on energy consumption in cities around the world,
plotted on a curve according to population density. Up to about 120 residents per
hectare, roughly equivalent to Stockholm or Copenhagen, per capita energy use
falls fast. People walk and bike more, public transit makes economic sense, and
there are ways to make heating and cooling more efficient. But then the curve
flattens out. Pack in 300 people per hectare, like Singapore, or 750 people, like
Hong Kong, and the energy savings are negligible. Dongtan, the team decided,
should try to hit that sweet spot around Stockholm.”27
The current Chinese urban density levels may be nearer to optimum.
26
Cliff Moughtin, Urban Design: Green Dimensions, 1996, Architectural Press, P.138
27
Douglas McGray, Pop-Up Cities: China Builds a Bright Green Metropolis, 04.24.07 | 2:00
AM
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18. Fig. 5 Urban Density
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19. Build Civic Centers
"When words and action are not directed by a moral force, scientific
knowledge and technical know-how conduce as readily to misery as they do
to prosperity and happiness."28 "...the insights and skills that represent
(material) scientific accomplishment must look to the force of spiritual
commitment and moral principle to ensure their appropriate application. 29
“The empowerment of humankind through a vast increase in access to
science and technology requires a strategy for development which is centered
around an ongoing and intensifying dialogue between scientific and spiritual
knowledge.30
“Wo bu pa ben, wo pa hui” (I don’t fear stupidity, I fear bad behaviour.)31
Although a dialogue between scientific and spiritual knowledge can occur anywhere
and anytime, its importance in the functioning of any human settlement requires a
more visible presence.
In older, western cities the most obvious expression of the spiritual center is the
church; and the scientific center is the school or university. Pictures of urban
development around the1880s in North America, for example, often show the church
spire as the dominant feature of the city skyline. Another center is “City Hall”.
Government administration buildings represent civic authority, often located at
prominent public squares. The dialogue between these various centers was not
expressed in a conscious way.
Fig. 6 Zhou Dynasty Ideal City Plan (Zhou Li: Kao Gong Ji)
28
Position Statement on Education, prepared by Baha’i International Task Force on
Education, 1989.
29
Baha'i International Community, Office of Public Information, The Prosperity of Humankind,
Part 4, 1995.
30
Baha'i International Community, Office of Public Information, The Prosperity of Humankind,
Part 4, 1995.
31
My son’s Grade 4 teacher at Hei Zhi Ma Hu Tong School near the Drum Tower in old Beijing
included these words in a brief speech at a parent-teacher meeting, 2000.
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20. The Forbidden City in Beijing combined both spiritual and government centers. The
Emperor was the representative, the Son of Heaven responsible for administration on
earth. Beijing is like a big temple surrounded by altars where the emperor prayed for
good harvests. In Changan, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, or in old Beijing, many
local Buddhist temples were found in every neighborhood functioning as
guesthouses, hospitals and orphanages for travelers and refugees.”32 The Chinese
examples of centers were more integrated. They never went through the rigorous
separation of “Church” and State”, of science and religion. These cleavages,
however justifiable in Western history, at the time they occurred, leave vast
disconnects between action and purpose.
If humanity’s maturity requires a more intense dialogue between our inner and outer
lives, then we could consider the creation of a place where the spiritual, scientific and
administrative knowledge all meet, a new form of Civic Center. In contrast to the
CBD, a place for commercial exchange, the Civic Center is a place for knowledge
exchange, meditation, and decision-making through consultation.
The Civic Center would combine government offices, social, educational, and cultural
institutions (schools, hospitals, theaters, conference centers, etc.) arranged in a circle
around a park-like open space. The center of the space is a Place of Stillness, a
Place of Beauty, a quiet place for inspiration, contemplation, meditation, and abstract
thought. A structure at the center of this space could be round, open on all sides,
receiving and giving in all directions. Here gather the citizens, the learned, and the
leaders surrounded by institutions of social benefit to engage in the conscious design
of the future based on the widest possible breadth of insights. Individuals and
institutions all have easy access to each other, access to knowledge and decision-
making; a decentralized system starting at the grassroots but with links to the whole
globe.
There could be one large central Civic Center for the whole city and other scaled for
city districts and neighborhoods. The creation of Civic Centers can accumulate over
time as part of an existing city design, or be built in its entirety in a new town.
The center would strengthen community development. Currently, most cities
separate spiritual, educational, administrative, and social activity. We go to the
church, temple or mosque for spiritual activity; schools for education, government
buildings for administrative activities; and to each others homes, or parks, clubs,
restaurants and theaters for social-recreational activity. These could be augmented
by a regular integrated activity at the Civic Center. One part of the event would be
spiritual to awaken and stimulate our inner being. This could be followed by a part for
discussion of local affairs with government representatives present. Finally, the event
closes with a socializing-networking activity so we can enjoy old friends, make new
ones, and have a finer-grained knowledge of the needs and resources in the
community around us. This would help:
 Develop the institutional framework for community development.
 Give a venue to exercise the principles of consultation, participation, and the
equality of men and women
 Provide a way to appreciate more deeply the cultural diversity within the
community.
 Illustrate the importance to social well-being of the community and the
family.
 Increase awareness of opportunities for service.
32
China, Lonely Planet, Sixth edition, July 1998, p.73.
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21.  Provide a forum and an institutional framework to achieve the transition to
sustainability.
* * *
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