The Inequality Challenge: Exploring Deep-Rooted Spatial Inequalities in Cities

This Commonwealth-wide CPD session explores the deep-rooted spatial inequalities that persist in cities and regions globally, examining their historical causes, current manifestations, and potential solutions for achieving inclusive outcomes. The session brings together perspectives from indigenous communities (First Nations Canada and Māori New Zealand), national policy frameworks (UK 2070 Commission), and international development contexts (UN-Habitat’s work with informal settlements). Through personal testimonies and policy analysis, the session demonstrates how systematic discrimination, colonial policies, inadequate housing, lack of access to basic services, and spatial segregation continue to create profound inequalities that affect health, life expectancy, cultural identity, and fundamental human rights. The discussion emphasises that inequality is avoidable, that policy interventions make a difference, and that solutions must be people-centred, place-based, and driven by affected communities themselves.

Outline 

• Personal testimony from First Nations Canada on the impacts of treaties, residential schools, language loss, inadequate housing, lack of clean water, and intergenerational trauma on indigenous communities, demonstrating how systematic inequality persists from colonial policies
• UK 2070 Commission perspective presenting ten challenges to addressing inequality, including the distinction between inequality and differences, the high cost of inequality, the failure of marketplace solutions, and the need for long-term, place-based, locally-fashioned responses
• Māori perspective from Waikato New Zealand on land confiscation, treaty settlements, language revitalization, building tribal assets and capacity, and working in partnership with government to create systemic reform in health, water, housing and education
• UN-Habitat presentation on informal settlements and slums affecting 1 billion people globally, emphasizing people-centered approaches, city-wide planning, incremental transformation, and the need to integrate excluded populations into decision-making processes
• Panel discussion addressing inequality versus inequity, spatial inequalities in the built environment, public space accessibility, financing mechanisms for transformation, and messages for Commonwealth Heads of Government

Learning Outcomes

The sessions learning outcomes were:

• Understand the historical roots of spatial inequality including colonial policies, forced displacement, residential schools, land confiscation, and systematic discrimination that continue to affect indigenous peoples and marginalised communities today
• Recognize that inequality is fundamentally about human rights not just differences in income or wealth, encompassing access to clean water, adequate housing, healthcare, education, cultural practice, and healthy life expectancy
• Comprehend the scale and severity of inequality globally with 1 billion slum dwellers lacking basic services, 19-year differences in healthy life expectancy between rich and poor communities in the UK, and indigenous communities still lacking clean drinking water in wealthy nations
• Learn that inequality is avoidable and policy interventions matter contrary to narratives that leave solutions to the marketplace or claim inequality is inevitable, deliberate policy choices and investments can reduce or exacerbate inequality
• Understand the high cost of inequality to all society including billions in transfer payments, welfare benefits, health costs, and reduced quality of life even for wealthy communities affected by housing affordability, environmental degradation, and social instability
• Recognize the importance of place-based, locally-fashioned solutions supported by national frameworks, as unhappy communities are “unhappy in their own way” requiring responses tailored to local circumstances rather than top-down universal prescriptions
• Appreciate the critical role of participatory democracy and community empowerment where affected populations must have voice, decision-making power, and resources to lead their own transformation rather than having solutions imposed upon them
• Learn key principles for addressing inequality in informal settlements including people-centred approaches with horizontal and vertical integration, city-wide planning with long-term commitment, and incremental transformation that prevents displacement
• Understand the intersection of spatial inequality with culture and identity including how loss of language, inability to practice cultural traditions, lack of recognition in planning processes, and erasure from maps and policies compounds material deprivation
• Recognise that addressing inequality creates win-win outcomes for all as quality of life improvements, environmental protection, economic development, and social cohesion benefit entire societies not just those directly experiencing inequality

Core Curriculum Topics

• Architecture for Social Purpose
  This session fundamentally addresses how built environment professionals must understand and respond to social inequality, cultural diversity, historical injustice, and the needs of marginalized communities. It emphasizes how spatial planning decisions create or perpetuate inequality and the professional responsibility to work toward inclusive, equitable outcomes.
• Inclusive Environments
  The session addresses social sustainability through the lens of equity, access to resources, community resilience, quality of life, and the intersection of environmental justice with social justice, demonstrating that sustainability must encompass social and economic dimensions alongside environmental concerns.
• Places, Planning & Communities 
  The session emphasizes ethical responsibility to marginalized communities, the need to challenge systemic inequality through professional practice, working in genuine partnership with affected communities, advocating for policy change, and recognizing the power dynamics inherent in planning and design decisions.

SDG Learning Outcomes

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
  This is the primary focus of the entire session, directly addressing Goal 10’s mission to reduce inequality within and among countries, with particular emphasis on spatial inequalities, access to basic services, and the empowerment of marginalised communities.
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
  The session extensively addresses making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, with focus on informal settlements, access to adequate housing, public spaces, basic services, and the integration of excluded populations into urban planning and governance.
• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
  Multiple speakers address the fundamental inequality of access to clean drinking water, including indigenous communities in wealthy nations forced to drink contaminated water while neighbouring municipalities have safe supplies, and slum dwellers globally lacking basic water and sanitation.
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  The session addresses the need for accountable institutions, participatory democracy, recognition of indigenous rights and treaties, access to justice, and the role of government in upholding commitments to international agreements including the Sustainable Development Goals themselves.

The following CPD questions forms part of the learning guide for this session. As different Institutions of Architecture across the Commonwealth have different CPD reporting requirements, it is suggested that you retain a copy of your responses to these questions for your records.

1. Historical Awareness: What do you know about the history of the place where you practice, including indigenous peoples, colonial policies, and past planning decisions that created current inequalities? How might this knowledge inform your work?
2. Inequality in Your Context: Where are the spatial inequalities most evident in your city or region? How do they manifest in terms of housing quality, public space, access to services, environmental quality, or life expectancy?
3. Professional Complicity: In what ways might your professional practice inadvertently perpetuate or exacerbate inequality? What changes could you make to ensure your work contributes to more equitable outcomes?
4. Community Engagement: How do you currently involve marginalized communities in your projects? What would genuine participatory democracy look like in your practice, moving beyond consultation to shared decision-making and community empowerment?
5. Policy Advocacy: What policies or regulations in your jurisdiction create barriers to addressing inequality? How might you use your professional voice to advocate for change at local, regional, or national levels?
6. Long-term Commitment: Given that addressing inequality requires long-term, sustained commitment rather than short-term projects, how can you structure your practice and advocate within your organization to support transformative change over time?

To discover more about this project, please feel free to visit:

• https://commonwealthsustainablecities.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/European-Charter-on-Participatory-Democracy-English-final-1.pdf
• https://www.arup.com/insights/city-resilience-index/