Obligations of Urban Citizenship

Urban citizenship carries with it certain obligations for its citizens. These obligations serve the good of all citizens, and provide them with a safe, secure place to live and work. If the city becomes unsafe, its citizens will barricade themselves in their homes and places of work, and citizenship will decay (Isin 749). Safety is a primary obligation for urban citizenship. "Citizens can exercise this responsibility through their physical presence (Isin 750). If people go about their lives freely, and enjoy public places as part of their normal daily living, there will be no room for violence and criminality. This shows responsibility on the part of the citizens for keeping their cities safe and inhabitable.

At the same time, citizens must be tolerance of differences in opinion, and should not try to silence dissenting voices, or stem behaviors they do not agree with (Isin 750). "Tolerance thus enable difference; it is a responsibility (and an expectation) of a multicultural democracy" (750). However, tolerance has its limits, and should not go beyond the point where the behavior being tolerated causes harm to others, or goes beyond the norms of the society, such as lewd behavior in public, or excessive noise, which is disruptive to others. In these cases, punitive actions must be enforced.

Citizens have to accept responsibility for what goes on in their cities and engage in debates about what will and will not be tolerated (Isin 750). The government should

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Category: Government - O