Social policy and some major urban policy considerations

Urban life is a complex and ever changing phenomenon. By the time one understands some of the forces that have been shaping the urban present, the even less well-understood forces that will shape the urban future are already underway. Predictions about the urban future by philosophers, scientists, Planners, and ordinary citizens abound, ranging all the way from optimistic projections of a problem- free brave new urban world to the most pessimistic prophesies of doom for urban civilization. Of course, nothing is absolutely certain about the direction of the urban future. But since current human activity is to a large extent based on anticipation of the future, it is important to look at some of the urban social policies.

A fairly common model for the policy-making process includes the following steps: 1) an accurate description of the existing conditions to be changed: 2) a careful and honest description of the end condition to be achieved:3) a division of the project into successful stages and a description of the conditions to be achieved at each stage:4) practical methods for getting from each stage to the next.

The enormity of one’s task in world development is inspiration and conception, not achievement.