On globalization

The globalization phenomenon has multiple forms of expression which condition the present growth of urban society and influence the shape of a new kind of urban society. In this changing scenario, two great transitions are still under way:

i. Poverty transition, characterized by a transit away from the rural environment and concentration around urban areas.

ii. Wealth transition or the change in the economic growth model, from the industrial to the post-industrial model.

The dramatic loss of links with the land and of opportunities to relate to other people, have jeopardized many social values that were the basis of social control of decisions relating to the public good and the distribution of power in the community. 

On local governance

Local governments, by their closer links with those claiming for solutions to the social crisis, have to meet the challenge of thinking and fostering processes that sanction the accelerated establishment of new value systems and their expression in new decision making patterns of behaviour at the individual or collective level. Solidarity, co-responsibility, an attitude of permanent consideration supporting the organized civil society, as well as the use of socially and technically validated knowledge, appear as clear references for the construction of the necessary social links leading to a form of local governance that is socially inclusive and sustainable.

On sustainable urban development

In Latin America and the Caribbean, urban areas have been transforming into areas where the most important social tensions are converging. Accordingly, the governments and all stakeholders involved have begun to explore the scope of opportunities that favor the implementation of solutions and change through institutional innovation. Thus, sustainable urban development originates in the governments’ vision as principle leading to action in order to protect strategic goods for local, national and global development.  

Moreover, intense social mobilization demands environmental management policies that are durable –in the political-administrative and financial terms as well as efficiency-wise. The technical vision and the citizens’ claim converge in the generation of a demand for more inter-governmental and inter-sectorial coordination in the design and implementation of urban environmental management policies.

At the urban level, governments in charge of managing development have started to implement integration models that include this diversity of perspectives with the ultimate goal of legitimizing their decision-making, planning and resource allocation processes. In this necessary integration of perspectives, they acknowledge the need for new capacity building and instruments that help establish and manage a social dialogue at the local level.

On knowledge networks in the management of urban development

Knowledge networks may become a strong catalyst in social dialogue processes as they articulate actors at the local, regional and global levels. Their main benefit is identified in the generation of a critical mass that contributes to the decision-making process in urban development management. Moreover, instruments have been identified to reduce costs and time in the implementation of institutional changes and in the social learning process to cope with such changes. The greatest expectation is identified with their possibility of becoming instruments to promote a culture respectful of diversity of visions and integration models for social development.

The Knowledge Networks are seen as a new mechanism to explore and enhance synergies among different actors interested in decision making to guide their development model at the local level. Success does not depend solely on the use of appropriate technological instruments nor on the availability of sufficient contents; above all, it depends on the capacity of managers to stimulate and encourage discussions and, consequently, the transformation of contents and means into true channels of interactive communication.

 Accordingly, the institutional responsibility support that guarantees an efficient Knowledge Network becomes a decisive factor in terms of its success. This institutional responsibility must –above all—secure the transparency of processes used to assess the demand for knowledge and to define links and modalities promoting a response to such demand.

The majority of social actors to be involved in the communication processes set up by a KN (knowledge network), will require enhanced capacity to use and interact with the network. Moreover, a true KN must move along the basis of a subject of specialization, a strategy that encourages communication, capacity to streamline communications and a set of instruments that boost the capacities of social actors so they get involved in the discussions.

The creation of a knowledge network to build up the capacity of local governments --so they can implement policies and sustainable urban development management in Latin America and the Caribbean - must originate in existing knowledge, already available instruments and channels of communication and dialogue where these governments are already active participants.