The Intercultural City

The authors acknowledge that their "view [for the open, multicultural city] is prescriptive, culturally bound, and Western". Their view is that the "secular humanism position" which has led to general peace and prosperity throughout Western society has become "drained of confidence, feels exhausted, and consequently is mistakenly accused of being 'wishy-washy' or as having an 'anything goes' ethos with no apparent point of view'. They do not take pains to defend this secular humanism which has been used to characterize and often malign Western culture or persuade readers that it is inherently desirable in any philosophical or sociological sense. Wood and Landry, both connected with the urban policy think-tank Commedia, however, see secular humanism's main tenets as necessary for peaceful and fruitful cities in this era of globalization. Such cities are inevitably multicultural. The authors present perspectives, ideas, policies, and means to ensure that multicultural cities are open; and are equitable regarding ethnic differences and desires. The authors' take a comprehensive approach ranging from a master plan to behavior between individuals of different ethnicities.

For most of its inhabitants, harmony in a multicultural, economically successful, satisfying city requires a way of life which maintains the essentials of one's ethnic or historical identity while at the same time enables and in some cases permits one to hold a job and thus earn a living and also take part in a city's political activities. This of course is an ideal of democratic, American, life often held out. But it has become clouded and problematic of late as well as widely disparaged with the resurgence of fundamentalist religions and growth of terrorism.

Besides going into the many and various aspects of a model multicultural city, Wood and Landry identify signposts readers can use to estimate how their own city measures up. And they outline steps for moving toward the ideal modern-day city. Their concept is summed up in their term "new civics', with "civics" a concept or principle which cannot be dismissed or marginalized by any body of persons of varied backgrounds who desire to and intend to live in harmony for the good of all.