In a city where everyone bears equal say on how they want it to be and the sanitation is safe and clean. This vision of an inclusive urban society seems grand, but it seems possible if cities design with sanitation and governance challenges in mind, make good policies based on that and get all the people involved in creating them. As cities grow at an unprecedented rate and with it an increasing threat of urban exclusion — not least of which in basic needs, like sanitation or in having a say about how urban space is used — producing progressive liveable cities becomes ever more important to the common good. In filling these gaps, we will be creating uplift cities.
Pipes and toilets are just small part of sanitation – it’s dignity and health for everyone. If any, low-income neighbourhoods, informal settlements and marginalised groups are usually left with inadequate facilities. Imagine a toilet in the public, not just a defilement box, but a welcoming space, accessible to people with disabilities, safe for woman and children, built to those who are supposed to use it. Universal access in urban planning allows these spaces to come up. All of these sanitation systems are built through community led projects that are designed and maintained by residents themselves. Combined with sustainable technologies like decentralized wastewater systems or composting toilets, we can populate those places where traditional infrastructure tends to leave people exposed to no sanitation conditions at all. There is more than a practical solution here: it creates trust and connection between people and their city.
Governance, at its best, amplifies every voice, including those that are typically drowned out. With built in the ability to feel heard, people invest in their communities. There are transparent platforms (social media forums or neighborhood meetings), where residents can participate in the projects that are in their territory, from the new sanitation works to the budget decisions of the municipality. We can open the door, but it isn’t enough we must invite everyone in; women, youth, and minority group perspectives make a policy stronger, by ensuring that public facilities are safe and practical for everyone. Empowering local leaders and their residents to speak up on discussions with fair resource allocation is training local leaders and residents to navigate these discussions. That’s not top-down governance, that’s governance with the city’s diversity.
Both dwellings and urban design connect to create a city, and its people experience. The sanitation infrastructure is woven into the well-planned neighbourhoods with homes and businesses and the spaces that are publics. Flood proofing sewage infrastructure, for example, allows the service to run through changing climate patterns, protecting the most vulnerable communities the most. Projecting roads, drainage, and waste management in the informal settlements, helps to change the informal settlements often ignored by city plans into vibrant parts of the urban fabric. These designs don’t just serve cities well but create space for thriving for every resident.
The backbone is policies in the creation of lasting change. Equity requires those budgets that direct funds towards sanitation projects in underserved areas. Such rules to ensure equal access to services with backed up real accountability are protection against exclusion. Through measuring who is gaining access and where gaps remain, cities can adapt and get better. These polices are more than paperwork as these are commitments towards fairness and you are committed to this.
Creating inclusive urban society would mean urban cities where nobody is left out. Sanitation and governance may or may not clearly be technical, but they are all and decidedly human. Managing a city is not just designing accessible facilities, listening to every voice, plan resilient spaces and back with fair policies—that is nurturing a community. This is how we solve urban challenges by making them opportunities, creating cities that are sustainable, equitable, and a true home for all.
