Summary of ARIEL GÓMEZ: Desarrollo regional y ordenamiento territorial

00:00:00 - 00:35:00

In this video, Ariel Gómez Mantilla discusses the evolution of development approaches from the 1960s to the present day. He highlights the importance of understanding and implementing alternative approaches such as community development, participatory development, and ethnographic development in order to address development issues in a more holistic and effective way. He emphasizes the need for territorial decentralization and effective territorial management to address development issues and stresses the importance of connecting economic decisions with social and environmental concerns to promote sustainable development. Gómez calls for efforts from government officials, academia, and citizens to address these challenges and promote sustainable regional development.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Ariel Gómez Mantilla, a professor at the Escuela Superior de Administración Pública, discusses the concept of development, noting that there is no single definition for it. He explains that the term is complex, controversial, and still being constructed. He notes that the concept has a history, a tradition, and a link to people's expectations for quality of life improvement. Gómez Mantilla traces the emergence of the concept of development to a speech by U.S. President Truman in 1949, in which he describes the commitment of developed countries to help underdeveloped countries improve their social, economic, and political conditions. He distinguishes two broad approaches to development: the dominant pattern-centered approach and the alternative approach, which has emerged in response to criticisms of the former. Gómez Mantilla argues that development is a political discourse and traces the evolution of the concept in the 1960s and 1970s, with the emergence of the development with equity approach proposed by Raúl Prebisch and his colleagues at CEPAL.
• 00:05:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the evolution of development approaches from the 1960s to the present day. The 1960s-1970s saw the introduction of the CEPAL approach, which focused on the need for import substitution and the guarantee of social security. However, this approach was reevaluated due to commercial limitations and was replaced by the 1987 concept of sustainable development, which aimed to ensure that future generations have access to resources in the same way as current generations. This approach has heavily influenced global development efforts, as seen in the United Nations' current Sustainable Development Goals. The speaker also introduces the concept of human development, which prioritizes the strengthening of individuals' skills and abilities for a better quality of life, demonstrating the interconnection between different approaches to development.
• 00:10:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the emergence of alternative development approaches in reaction to the failures of the neoliberal model and globalization to address issues of inequality, poverty, and quality of life. These alternative approaches include community development, cultural development, participatory development, and ethnographic development, as well as the more recent focus on local development. These approaches seek to complement, improve, or replace dominant models of development and have been successful in communities that have been neglected by the state and traditional policies. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding and implementing alternative approaches in order to address development issues in a more holistic and effective way.
• 00:15:00 In this section, Ariel Gómez discusses the new geographies and the redefinition of the concept of "local" due to globalization. He explains that the concept of development at the local level aims to connect local and global aspects and focuses on resolving specific problems in a particular territory. Gómez also emphasizes that the development should be a mix of sustainable and local development approaches to respond to concrete problems in localities or specific spaces effectively, taking advantage of the resources available in those territories. Furthermore, he explains that the decentralization is a process that aims to delegate autonomy to regions to promote, stimulate and implement their own development processes using their transferred resources from the central government.
• 00:20:00 In this section, Ariel Gomez discusses the relationship between regional development and territorial planning. While decentralization is important for promoting development and giving more control to municipalities and regions over their resources, there are still structural problems with the competencies that each region has. With increased interconnectivity due to globalization, changing use of land due to urban expansion, and concentration of population in cities that affects agricultural zones and urban areas, there is a need for comprehensive understanding of territorial planning and its relation to development in order to address these issues. The challenge for academics like Gomez is to help build competencies and awareness among students, government officials, and other actors in each territory in order for the decentralization process to be effective.
• 00:25:00 In this section, Ariel Gómez discusses the importance of four key actors in regional development: social, economic, environmental, and institutional. He highlights that these actors must be well informed and have strong competencies to create dialogues and partnerships for solving development problems with a decentralized approach. Gómez emphasizes the need for territorial decentralization and effective territorial management to address development issues. However, there has been a lack of alignment between territorial management and decentralization efforts, leading to issues such as deforestation for economic gain. To address this, Gómez calls for a conscious partnership between territorial management and development planning to ensure sustainable use of resources in each region.
• 00:30:00 In this section, Ariel Gómez discusses the challenges of promoting efficient use of resources for basic public services like healthcare, education, and housing, within the context of regional development and territorial planning. He mentions that the four actors involved in this process - social, economic, environmental, and institutional - must have a better understanding of development and its impact on territorial planning. Instituting sustainable industrial growth and preventing environmental damage requires a level of understanding and cooperation from these actors. Gómez also emphasizes the importance of citizen participation and education in creating effective plans for regional development within a country emerging from a conflict that has spanned more than 60 years.
• 00:35:00 In this section, Ariel Gómez highlights the importance of connecting economic decisions with social and environmental concerns to promote sustainable development. He explains that the lack of coordination between economic actors and social actors can lead to negative impacts on the environment and people's lives. Gómez stresses the need for adequate knowledge and expertise in institutional actors to foster collaboration between economic, social, and environmental actors in creating efficient development plans. He also argues that the inadequate formation of actors in regional planning and participation tools hinders the development of better results. Finally, Gómez calls for efforts from the government officials, and academia to address these challenges and promote sustainable regional development.