Innovations in decision-making processes for sustainable urban projects:

In the frame of the Transversal Package of NCCR N-S, created to link different work packages and regions in a common project, IP LaSUR leads the project “Innovations in decision-making processes for sustainable urban projects”.

The rapid growth of cities throughout the world over the last few decades has had a very negative social and ecological impact. This phenomenon has reached dramatic proportion in the cities of the South, where even the most basic needs of their inhabitants are not met. It is therefore imperative to bring this urban “evolution” under control and to limit its negative effects, so as to take advantage of the potentials of urban development. Traditional approaches to “urban planning” – characterized by “top-down” policies – have proven unable to rise to this challenge. Therefore, new instruments of urban intervention have appeared. They allow for innovative processes, which strive for sustainability within the urban context. According to the principles of sustainable development, these innovative approaches try to combine economic, environmental and social aspects through participatory policies open to the various urban actors with their different interests and needs

Nevertheless, the success of such approaches is far from guaranteed due to the complexity of the urban context. Furthermore, even if some “best practices” do arise, the fundamental question of their replication in other cities remains open.

Therefore, the aims of the present transdisciplinary TPP are:

a) Analyzing the strengths and limits of “innovative” urban intervention approaches. This analysis will focus on participatory decision-making processes, which reveal the contradictory interests and logics that explain the complexity of the urban context.

b) Evaluating these innovative dimensions in urban projects based on case studies in three regions (Central America, South America and South-East Asia). Special attention will be paid to various stakeholders (institutions, NGOs, inhabitants), their actions and discourses, and also to the different material and conventional devices (standards, laws, technical solutions) necessary for urban development.

c) Constituting a database of references for the urban context and key features that make innovative urban intervention processes possible. This can be used and replicated in different urban and peri-urban situations in the South. It should allow for a better understanding of the urban complexity, the effectiveness of mitigation actions and the way these relate to the objectives of sustainable development.

d) Offering guidelines aimed at the replication of innovative urban processes. The focus will be on the way innovative experiences can translate to new patterns of ordinary urban planning, projects and management and could allow to develop pathways for the mitigation of the negative impacts of urban development.

e) Testing and validating innovative planning and decision-making processes in projects by urban environmental services (through associated PAMS), such as infrastructure and habitat improvement in specific cities selected by two of the JACS (CCA and SEA).

The goal of this TPP is therefore to identify the potentials but also the limits of participatory decision-making processes and to analyze the necessary conditions for the generalization of these processes. The project will thus analyze the fundamental tension between “innovation” and the institutionalization needed for its replication.  This tension lies at the heart of an urban management that is capable of integrating different activities, and more generally that provides a variety of common goods for the citizen (security, hygiene, mobility).

The case studies

• The Master Plan for the Rehabilitation of the Historic Centre of Havana, Cuba
  
• The Program of Residential Consolidation of the Management Plan for the Historic Center of Buenos Aires, Argentina
  
• The Revitalization of the Tha Tian Historic Community in the frame of the Conservation Master Plan for Bangkok, Thailand

The case studies were selected according to local specificities and based on a set of conceptual and strategic criteria elaborated by the research team. The aim is to undertake a comparative analysis of the three cases so as to elaborate a research report concerning the replicability of innovative projects for urban planning in developing countries.

1. The Master Plan for the Rehabilitation of the Historic Centre of Havana, Cuba: This plan is a form of management established in 1993 to guarantee the continuity of restoration works in Old Havana, after the crisis generated by the collapse of the socialist block. In this context, the Central State ended public subsidies and endowed the Office of the Historian of the City of Old Havana with legal and financial instruments allowing the establishment of self-financing urban renewal policies. The scheme adopted by the Master Plan allows the re-investment of the resources obtained from tourism and other economic activities. The analysis focuses on the “Plaza Vieja” project, a rehabilitation of 20 buildings around the main town square, including approximately 200 dwellings and 600 inhabitants (Rodriguez et al, 2007).

2. The Program of Residential Consolidation (PRC) of the Management Plan for the Historic Center of Buenos Aires (MPHCBA), Argentina. The PRC is one of the intervention programs of the MPHC, an integral policy for the preservation of the historical-cultural, urban and architectural values of the historical center of Buenos Aires initiated during the 1990s, which establishes priorities for private activities and public policy by promoting diverse modes of participation. The PRC deals in particular with the strengthening of the residential role of the area and with the improvement of the conditions of the resident population. Research focuses on the San Francisco Block Recovery Plan, targeting 114 families squatting in old, dilapidated buildings.

3. The Revitalization of Tha Tian Historic Community (RTTHC) in the frame of the Conservation Master Plan for Bangkok (CMPB), Thailand. The RTTHC is a case of urban intervention based on community organization (bottom-up approach) against the implementation of the CMPB, a top-down master plan, which was formulated by the central government. The elaboration of this master plan is based on the “Beautiful City” concept, without taking contemporary socio-economic and cultural aspects into account. The RTTHC allowed developing alternative responses for the conservation of the area and against the relocation of old communities. Research focuses on solutions implemented for the improvement of a sector of the Tha Tian Historic Community.

The three selected case studies are representative of the contemporary trends in “urbanism” which aim at bringing about change in urban planning by i) an enlargement of the decision-making circle, including public, private and social actors, ii) the widening of information shared during the decision-making processes - particularly scientific and technical knowledge, which is essential to bridging the gap between experts and citizens - and iii) the transformation of institutional frameworks, norms and regulations, in order not only to reflect on alternative solutions (planning) but also to implement them (material dimension). The case studies also allow focusing the research on habitat issues –considered not only as housing per se, but more broadly as all the infrastructures and services - a major problem in southern cities. This constitutes an excellent example for studying how various logics and scales are closely interrelated.