anarcho syndicalism and principles of urban planning scott rittenhouse

8/12/2019 Anarcho Syndicalism and Principles of Urban Planning Scott Rittenhouse

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Knowledge is the key to be free!


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Anarcho-Syndicalismand Principles

of

Urban Planning

by Scott

Rittenhouse

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From the IDEAS ANDACTION siteh t t p : / / i d e a s a n d a c t i o n . i n f o /


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2 Anarcho-Syndicalism and Principles of Urban Planning Scott Rittenhouse 11

In Memory ofScott Rittenhouse,

1959-2012

Scott passed away in October 2012. More on Scott,

and messages of respect to him can be read at:

http://zabalazabooks.net/2012/10/17/

scott-rittenhouse-presente-1959-2012/

Some quotes from him:

The well-being of people is more important than money.

Social problems can be done away with by eliminating

poverty and cruelty and the reasons people hurt each

other out of desperation to survive.

There can be no political freedom without economicfreedom. There can be no freedom without social

equality.

Capitalismcan only lead to a social class system withextremes of political power, over-consumption and

concentration of wealth supported by extremes of poverty,

war and environmental destruction.

To resist authoritarian institutions we must undermine

their legitimacy.

The emancipation of the working class must be the task

of the workers themselves (First International Preamble).

If I want change I have to be willing to work for it

myself. Politicians, leaders and bosses only act in their

own interest.


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(I have written down my ideas on how this might happen

in other essays on the Free Commune, Housing, Health

Care, A Living Wage, Agriculture, Ecology, Economics, etc.)

Urban Planning is neither boulevards for conquerors, nor a land-

scape for the palaces of the rich, nor an opportunity for land spec-

ulators, nor a design opportunity for artists, nor a conspiracy for

social engineers.

Urban planning is conducted to promote the health, safety, and well-being of people living together in urbanized areas; to enable people in ur-

banized areas to use scarce resources efficiently (all natural resources are

scarce: supply and demand equals scarcity); and to mitigate the impact

of population growth on the health of the planet.

Under capitalism, planning has been used to service the interests of the

rich who own property [real estate] and the means of production. Under

Anarchism, these will be socialized: expropriated, collectively owned

by the Free Commune / Community, used and self-managed by workersand residents, non-transferable, and non-saleable. People will be able to

make the land use decisions which meet their needs and make their lives

better. There will be no property values or land speculation.

Why are there urban centres?

Since the stone age (around 12,000-9,000 B.C.), urban centres are the

manner in which people work together to survive and improve their lives

by storage, manufacturing, transportation, trade, security and knowledge

of people, resources and goods. Centres were permanent population

settlements located where there was water and food (plant and animal

domestication), so they were places to store food and resources.

They were also places where people had the time to manufacture tools,

pottery, baskets, clothing, weapons and other goods. They traded their

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anarcho syndicalism and principles of urban planning scott rittenhouse

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