BOOK SUMMARY
Removing Unfreedoms takes Amartya Sen's concept of Development as Freedom and applies it, for the first time, to the challenges of urban development across the globe.

While early ideals of urbanisation focused on economic evaluation, efficiency, provision of services and city design this book re-evaluates existing approaches to urban development by evaluating freedom. Here the central concern is the individual's potential and capability to determine and prioritises their constraints and interventions in order to lead the life they value living. The book argues how a freedom approach to strategic development policy will enable the citizen to remove their obstructions, for example to attaining the provision of services, thereby assessing degrees of freedom rather than relying exclusively on measuring poverty. By identifying and removing unfreedoms, global urban strategies ensure the citizen's role as an active agent of change at the forefront of sustainable decentralised governance. Good governance becomes not an end, but the means of delivering greater freedom to the inhabitants of the city.

Removing Unfreedoms documents sessions with Amartya Sen, working in collaboration with the authors to provide a shared policy framework for urban development and governance programmes.

REVIEWS AND COMMENTS
I am very happy and impressed to see this new book Removing Unfreedoms. It is a significant contribution to urban development policy from a freedom-oriented perspective. I very much hope it will receive the attention it deserves.

Amartya Sen, Noble Laureate          

"This excellent study underlies the importance of linking Urban Recovery with advocacy for change. Freedom is seen as both the means and end in the process of shaping urban development policies."

Luis Monreal, Aga Khan Trust for Culture          

"I am pleased that the book Removing Unfreedoms so clearly translates the profound ideas of a Noble laureate into a practical change agenda for urban development. I was particularly happy with the emphasis on the role of culture, values and context

Robertson Work, Head of Global Urban Development Policy          
UNDP New York          

Removing Unfreedoms provides a useful and practical review of the range of multi-dimensional approaches to urban poverty reduction in international development that have emerged in recent years. In comparing them with Amartya Sen's seminal ideas on Development as Freedom, it returns full circle to its main source of inspiration. The book focuses on the increasingly important topic of how development policy can address cultural needs and values in the context of urban deprivation and social exclusion.'

Tony Lloyd-Jones Maxlock Centre          
University of Westminster, London          

"We find the book a very valuable contribution to urban development thinking and practice, the methodology proposed is innovative and can be very inspiring and powerful; and complimentary to UN-habitat's work,"

Rafael Tuts, Urban Governance Section Human Settlements Programme          
UN-Habitat Nairobi Kenya           

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
Dr. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-Habitat

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PART ONE - DEVELOPMENT AND URBANIZATION

INTRODUCTION: Nesreen Berwari and Michael Mutter
1: CITIES, CONFLICT AND VISIONS
2: NEW PATTERNS OF URBANIZATION
3: AMARTYA SEN - EXPANDING THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT

PART TWO - OBSTRUCTIONS TO DEVELOPMENT

4: FIVE FREEDOMS
5: THE NEED FOR NEW EVALUATIONS
6: UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND POLICY APPROACHES

PART THREE - FORMULATING POLICY FRAMEWORKS

7: THE CHALLENGE
8: UNIVERSAL AND VARYING VALUES
9: THE ROLE OF CULTURE
10: RETHINKING PROJECT DESIGN
11: AMARTYA SEN AND THE ASIAN ALLIANCE
12: URBAN RECOVERY PROGRAMME AFGHANISTAN
13: LOOKING AHEAD

Barcelona World Urban Forum 2004
Network Event: Launch of Urban Millennium Partnership.
Localizing MDGs and Removing Unfreedoms:
Citizens as Agents of Change

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reflect the agreements and resolutions made at the world conferences organized by the United Nations over the past decade. The goals have been commonly accepted as a unique opportunity to improve development outcomes and as a framework for measuring development progress. However, the national focus on achieving the MDG targets and the current framework of monitoring and implementation do not sufficiently take account of the "urban" and the "local" dimension. In response to this need, UN-HABITAT, UNDP, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and bilateral donors have designed a proposal for an Urban Millennium Partnership on "localizing MDGs", to complement ongoing efforts of various UN agencies and its partners.

The Partnership will work with networks of local authorities at the global, national and local levels, to raise awareness about MDGs, mobilize stakeholders, and establish monitoring and implementation frameworks. The MDG Partnership framework provides a broader platform for building partnerships and for mobilizing resources at local and regional level. The event also launched the book Removing Unfreedoms: Citizens as Agents of Change.

NAME OF ORGANISATION
UN-HABITAT/UNDP

DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION:
UN-HABITAT is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. UNDP, within the context of MDGs, chairs UNDG, and is entrusted with the operationalization of MDGs through its global headquarters and country offices.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:
UNICEF, ILO, UK Department for International Development (DFID), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), CLGF, UN-ESCAP, ANUMI, URNAP, Citynet.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
Mr. Lars Reutersward, Director, Global Division, UN-HABITAT
Mr. Dinesh Mehta, Urban Management Programme, UN-HABITAT
Mr. Jonas Rabinovitch, UNDP
Ms. Eliana Chaowdhary, UNICEF
Mr. Kees van der Ree, ILO
Ms. Emilia Saiz, UCLG
Mr. Oumar Cisse, Director of IAGU, Chair of ANUMI
Mr. Kioe Sheng Yap, UN-ESCAP, Chair, Asia consultative group
Mr. Jaime Torres Lara, FLACMA
Mr. Michael Parkes, DFID
Mr. Pelle Persson, SIDA, Sweden
Ms. Francoise Liberherr, SDC
Mr. Carl Wright, CLGF
Ms. Erna Witoler, Adviser, UN Millennium Campaign
Ms. Jane Samuels, Removing Unfreedoms and the MDG