Since the earliest days of civilization, cities have been plagued by outbreaks of cholera and other illnesses that killed or disabled residents and workers. In 1854, a London physician, John Snow, demonstrated that cholera was caused by sewage leaking into drinking water. As a result, London developed new sewer and water infrastructure technologies to protect public health. Word spread. Communities around the world refined, adapted and implemented those ideas to protect their citizens
More recently, communities were bleeding jobs and residents to economic restructuring and globalization. They learned from other communities—Silicon Valley in California being an oft cited example—that by clustering business, technology, industry, and research organizations they could fuel local innovation and workforce development, and attract investment and talent into the region. Michael Porter popularized this in 1990 and now communities around the world are refining, adapting, and implementing these ideas to create jobs for their citizens.
Now consider ideas about smart growth and sustainable development. Recall that the world population in the early 1900s was 2 billion, which doubled to 4 billion in the 1970s, and has about passed 7 billion on its way to doubling again. Recall, also, that during that same time period, most people moved off rural lands and out of agricultural jobs into urban or urbanizing areas. Recall also that many people—still as many as 2 billion—live in deep, horrible poverty without access to clean drinking water, sanitation, jobs, or dignity. Communities around the world were struggling to deal with these trends, so much so that by 1992 they convened a conference through the United Nations to attract attention and resources to the problems they faced. They argued that 20th Century solutions to these problems were not sufficient and that a new way of doing business was needed for the 21st Century, so they proposed an approach to assist communities around the world. They called it Agenda 21.
There is nothing sinister in Agenda 21. It is a call for communities to engage in strategic thinking, intentional planning, and all out action to respond to the trends changing the face of our communities, straining resources and budgets, and causing hardships. Looking carefully at the document, one finds that the United Nations effort advocates local control. It emphasizes local decision-making and local solutions to local problems. Moreover, it advocates making community planning more open than it had been in the past and more inclusive of local stakeholders, especially economic development interests.
Communities around the world are refining, adapting, and implementing these ideas to solve challenges they face. No one is forcing communities to do this. The United Nations does not have authority over decisions made by communities around the world, but it can share ideas, share technology, and help build capacities in local communities to adapt and apply these ideas to local conditions. Most local governments, however, do not have enough staff to address these issues and some of the staff they have are not well versed in the necessary tools, techniques, and processes. That is where organizations such as ICLEI come in (The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives- Local Governments for Sustainability). They help communities avoid the costs of reinventing the wheel. They share lessons learned, offer training sessions, and help communities get started. Concerns by Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich notwithstanding, there is no collusion or conspiracy here, except to share and test ideas.
Good ideas spread. Look at capitalism, calculus or Christianity. Communities, organizations, and people around the world learn from one another. Just because we adopt someone else’s approach, use a similar phrasing, or learn from their success and failures does not mean we are being duped. It is, in fact, just the opposite: it means we are being smart. In our highly complex, interconnected, competitive global economy we have unprecedented opportunity to learn from one another and improve our standards of living.