Utopioita ja pragmatioita

Monikulttuuriset kaupungit ja sosiaalinen insinööritaito

Abstract

In this article, I discuss multiculturalism in cities, using
Karl Popper’s idea of utopian and pragmatic social
engineering as a frame of reference. I also argue for
Susan Fainstein’s model of “just cities”. I first examine
apartheid cities and the failure of apartheid’s social
experiment, which I regard as a prime example
of Popper’s concept of utopian social engineering.
Thereafter, I invoke the Canadian urban model as a
case of working multiculturalism, which is the result
of coincidences rather than a projection of any great
official vision. I point out that Canada could well serve
as an example of what Popper has called piecemeal
social engineering. I then proceed to discuss Finland,
which has until lately been largely excluded from these
issues: while we have been a multiethnic society for
a long time, multiculturalism is a new development
in this country. The present macro-level policies are
concentrated on gaining young, well-educated white
immigrants, and have less interest in solving the
increasing problems arising from segregation in Finnish
cities. Segregation does, however, tend to dissolve social
cohesion, and hamper the emergence of what Fainstein
calls a just city. Therefore, these issues are particularly
significant at the municipal level. The policies chosen
by the city of Helsinki will play a key role in the
unravelling of segregation-related problems, as well as
in establishing local practices in respect of the social
engineering of a multicultural city.