Depressing scene of poverty at Five Points in New York City. People at a tenement house watch men carry out a coffin; in the street, two boys drag a dead dog by one leg. Wood engravings of 1865.
Streets of 19th century New York were full of rubbish, horse manure, dead animals, food waste and discarded household items, and reeked of human excreta. It was not until 1895 that the municipality started collecting rubbish. The soil cart men collected human soil from outhouses at night, disposing it into the surrounding waterways or in the harbour.
Journalist Jacob Riis took photographs of the slums of New York in the 1890s that shocked many Americans, with the images of extreme poverty at a time of great economic prosperity for the few.
The Five Points was a legendary slum in 19th century New York. It was known for street gangs, gambling dens, violent saloons and houses of prostitution that even shocked Charles Dickens.
The city was in the grip of unscrupulous developers, who held sway over all city matters, and cultivated police corruption.
The city was finally taken over by a new mayor, William Strong, who vowed to improve living conditions in New York. A Civil War veteran, George Waring, was asked to take over street cleaning. He said, “I’ll do it under one condition — you leave me alone. If you want to fire me, of course, that’s your right. But I will appoint and hire the people I feel are best for the job, not because they’re people you want to do favours for.” He created a militaristic management with specific tasks and areas for his crew, who had white uniforms to create the image of hygiene. Initially, there was hostility from the poor localities, and police protection was required, until residents began to appreciate cleaner neighbourhoods.
Women played a pivotal role. Well-to-do women motivated the poorer women who scavenged for food on the streets, as well as lobbying politicians.
Teddy Roosevelt, who later became President of America, took on reform of the police department. One of his first actions was to walk around the streets at night with journalist Riis, hauling up officers asleep on duty, which caused a sensation. In the heat wave, he made officers distribute ice. He constantly came into conflict with powerful, corrupt police officers who had amassed huge fortunes and hostile political groups. Burnt out, he left after two years, unable to make much headway. It was not until Roosevelt’s New Deal funding, in the late 1930s, and the strong mayorship of La Guardia, that infrastructural development and order finally came to New York.
Paris had the most radical makeover, with the whole city — other than the Marais — being entirely rebuilt. London made changes through a continuous process of legislation. New York transformed through engagement with the citizenry.
Each city has some aspect of their problems that will be familiar in the context of Karachi. All three cities transformed themselves into modern cities by the middle of the 20th century, with the state taking responsibility for ensuring their functionality.
As times have changed, it is probably no longer possible to take an authoritarian approach. The economy of cities has also changed considerably. The Belgium-based Cities Alliance — a global partnership formed jointly by the World Bank and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements — addresses the issue of slums with a number of suggestions.
Rural development as an alternative to movement to urban centres is seen as ineffective. It rejects the displacing of the poor to the suburbs or edges of the city and instead recommends improving the infrastructure by engaging with communities and giving them a stake in development so that eviction is not a fear. Their experience shows that upgrading slum areas promotes economic development, inclusivity, improves quality of life, reduces poverty and health issues, and thus raises the value of the city as a whole.
Clearly, there are many alternatives and complexities to be considered by those reshaping Karachi to avoiding replacing one type of chaos with another, and ensuring economic sustainability and quality of life.
Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist and heads the department of visual studies at the University of Karachi
Email: durriyakazi1918@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, EOS, March 3rd, 2019