Participation, the Way to Urban Sustainability

In 1985 the Gedaref Town council Sudan was confronted which the problem of an overpopulated town, caused by a high influx of refugees and displaced. Most of the services became overloaded, especially water and health. There was also an urgent need for infrastructure and building locations. It was soon discovered that the management capacity of the municipality was very weak and the size of the management staff was far below the required level. In such a weak situation co-ordination of all the possible initiatives must have priority. A plan for the development should be an instrument that co-ordinates the interests of much citizens as possible. An important question was therefore how to find some main issues of such common interest and importance that it could guarantee the participation of many citizens as possible. We learned that active inhabitants are like fuel of the urban factory. Building- up the civil society will transform cities into sustainable urban factories. The urban ecology is rather a productive process in a kind of competition; sometimes it is sweet and friendly looking, but mostly it is a struggle for survival of every creature in the urban environment.