Exchange Visitors Embrace Cityscape

The Zimbabwe government official was impressed by Los Angeles’ low-income housing. The Manila school superintendent marveled at the city’s ethnic diversity. And the local government commissioner from Bangladesh had trouble relating to all the advanced technology.

Such were some of the impressions visiting fellows expressed last week after touring Los Angeles as part of an “Urban Enhancement” workshop sponsored by UCLA Extension Public Policy Program.

This year, UCLA was among four universities in the United States selected to sponsor an enhancement workshop by the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, which operates under the U.S. Information Agency’s Fulbright Exchange Activity.

Fifty fellows from 37 developing nations took part in the program, in which UCLA faculty members and community agencies presented workshops on community organization, environmental policies and urban development.

“I like the exposure given to us in the ethnic communities and neighborhoods (of Los Angeles),” said Paraluman Rino Giron, assistant superintendent in the Manila City Schools Division in the Philippines and a Boston University student.

The fellows took field trips to Los Angeles landmarks and neighborhoods. Last Wednesday, for example, a group of 16 fellows interested in urban housing visited the Route 2 Cooperatives residential development in east Hollywood.

Prof. Allan Heskin, head of the UCLA urban planning program and a co-op resident, met with the group and spoke on creating and maintaining affordable housing. Some participants said they hoped such projects could be duplicated in their homelands.

“There are so many things happening in Los Angeles,” said Tinoidziwa Zinyandu, deputy secretary for the ministry of public construction, management and national housing in Zimbabwe. “What impressed me is how low-income people house themselves.” He said he would seek to develop similar projects in his country.

Other fellows said some presentations seemed impractical for their countries.

“I don’t expect to find all the solutions,” said Naila Suraiya, assistant commissioner for the Dhaka Collectorate in Bangladesh. “Sometimes I feel alienated because the issues are too high-tech.”

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was started more than 15 years ago to bring professionals to the United States and enable them to learn the latest skills in their fields, including communications, public policy analysis, urban planning and finance.