INDUSTRIALIZATION/URBANIZATION

Resolution

Be it resolved that industrialization and urbanization be rejected as models of development in favour of development that is sustainable and reflects the needs of the people.

Development should increase the proportion of people sharing in the wealth beginning with the poorest people in the poorest countries. Rather than using GNP to measure economic well-being, we should use measures that reflect higher employment, better healthcare, greater literacy, and decreased arms spending to assess development. New approaches to development stress creating conditions which bring about greater equality and justice as prerequisites to change. Equality is reflected in policies promoting fairer distribution of land, higher status for women, and free participation in truly democratic political processes.

Development initiatives that focus on rural projects and small scale light industry have shown promising results for improving the lives of people. Development of alternative energy resources wind, solar, and geothermal have effectively reduced pollution and are also less expensive to produce and maintain.

Development projects should be driven by grassroots initiatives at the local level and emphasize rural development over urban shantytowns. In addition small scale sustainable initiatives should be emphasized over high cost mega projects initiated by countries of the North. Development initiatives that are concerned with people reflect a commitment to environmental harmony and employment generating industries rather than expensive machine intensive industries that benefit wealthy elites. International development should support initiatives that attend to quality of life issues such as providing people with basic human rights including food, clean water, basic healthcare, education, and social justice.

Print Resources

World Prospects: pp. 68 - 74

Online Resources

Economic and Social Development

Canadian International Development Association

Oxfam Take Action Projects

The Politics of Hunger

Global Issues

Media Resources

Escaping from History: Mexico (video)