Planificación y gestión estratégica en la comuna de Santiago ¿Son herramientas o los objetivos los inapropiados?

Abstract

Strategic planning and management are considered the latest tools to intervene urban spaces. This tendency is reflected in their use in cities as diverse as Barcelona, Seoul, Cordoba and Bogota, amongst others. The main reason for promoting strategic approaches is mainly associated to increasing the competitiveness and productivity of cities, in view of the globalising phase of the economy. Using these techniques of management and planning, the City of Santiago has successfully applied its strategic approach over the past seven years. This paper revises the work carried out by this Municipality, one of the most important ones in the country. It argues that its strategic vision has not been satisfactory mainly because it has exciuded and ejected the poor residents of the city centre to ailow for exclusive condominium and lucrative real estate agencies to build for middle income groups taking advantage of the existing urban renewal subsidies. In addition, it has intended to use strategic planning as an end neglecting the fact that this is only a tooi for achieving goals. Unless the objectives become clear and weil defined, with the intention of reaching a sustainable futuro, in the short and long run, the City will continuo to exclude the poorest of the area. This paper fist revises the concepts of strategic planning and management. It then describes the main strategies used by the Municipality of Santiago over the past few years. Finally, it examines the elements this local authority could emphasise or revise in order to achieve a truly revitalised city.