Since the end of the Pinochet regime, Chilean public policy has sought to rebuild democratic governance in the country. This book examines the links between the state and civil society in Chile and the ways social policies have sought to ensure the inclusion of the poor in society and democracy. Although Chile has gained political stability and grown economically, the ability of social policies to expand democratic governance and participation has proved limited, and in fact such policies have become subordinate to an elitist model of democracy and resulted in a restrictive form of citizen participation.

Despite the recent economic upswing in many Latin American countries, rural poverty rates in the region have actually increased during the past two decades. Experts blame excessively centralized public administrations for the lackluster performance of public policy initiatives. In response, decentralization reformshave become a common government strategy for improving public sector performance in rural areas. The effect of these reforms is a topic of considerable debate among government officials, policy scholars, and citizensÕ groups. This book offers a systematic analysis of how local governments and farmer groups in Latin America are actually faring today. Based on interviews with more than 1,200 mayors, local officials, and farmers in 390 municipal territories in four Latin American nations, the authors analyze the ways in which different forms of decentralization affect the governance arrangements for rural development Òon the ground.Ó Their comparative analysis suggests that rural development outcomes are systemically linked to locally negotiated institutional arrangementsÑformal and informalÑbetween government officials, NGOs, and farmer groups that operate in the local sphere. They find that local-government actors contribute to public services that better assist the rural poor when local actors cooperate to develop their own institutional arrangements for participatory planning, horizontal learning, and the joint production of services. This study brings substantive data and empirical analysis to a discussion that has, until now, more often depended on qualitative research in isolated cases. With more than 60 percent of Latin AmericaÕs rural population living in poverty, the results are both timely and crucial.

Chile has achieved strong economic growth. Yet there are large regional disparities, revealing underutilised growth potential. This report recommends moving towards a territorial approach to better adapt public management to the different opportunities of the diverse territories of the country.

This book introduces a comprehensive and updated analysis of the role of public policies to promote territorial cohesion processes and trends in a given territory. By being the first book taking a reflective and holistic approach on how public policies can lead to more cohesive and balanced territories, it advances theoretical avenues for academics and showcases current academic research to policymakers and practitioners by focusing on how public policies, being implemented in different territorial scales (urban, local, regional, national, and European), can actively contribute to foster territorial cohesion trends in a given territory. This reflective approach provides an opportunity for thinking about what lessons can be learned from past and ongoing experiences and how they can improve future implementation of public policies more effectively and efficiently toward territorial cohesion, since all existing analyses show that at the national level, no European country has achieved territorial cohesion trends over the past decades. As such, this book acts as a valid and useful policy manual that effectively contributes to inverting current territorial exclusion trends at the national level, by highlighting best policy practices and a comprehensive introduction to contemporary thinking about how public policies can play a decisive role in boosting territorial cohesion processes in a given territory.

This book provides an essential overview of sustainable development research in Mexico. It discusses the empirical research methods and findings, as well as practical initiatives and projects being pursued in Mexico and other countries in the region. Although a number of Mexican universities are now conducting high-quality research on matters related to sustainable development, there are few publications that offer a multidisciplinary overview of research efforts for a broader audience. This book addresses that gap in the literature, providing researchers at Mexican universities – including those from other countries working in Mexico – with an opportunity to present their work, i.e. curriculum innovations, empirical work, activities, case studies, and practical projects. As such, it fosters the exchange of information, ideas and experiences, successful initiatives and best practices.

This book evaluates the impact of 20 years of urban policies in six Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. It argues that evaluating the fulfillment of past commitments is essential for framing and meeting the new commitments that were taken in Habitat III over the next 20 years. Taken as a whole, the book provides a critical assessment of the economic, social and environmental consequences of urban interventions during Habitat II. The country-level chapters have been written by recognized experts in urban issues, with first-hand knowledge of the Habitat process, and deep familiarity with the problems, statistics, actors and political contexts of their nations. The latter part of the volume considers wider topics such as the Habitat Commitment Index, the New Urban Agenda and the regional and global-scale lessons that can be extracted from this group of countries. Urban Policy in Latin America will be of interest to advanced students, researchers and policymakers across development economics, urban studies and Latin American studies.

This book examines the scope of urban planning in Mexico through case studies of four municipalities - Campeche, Hermosillo, Leon and Morelia - that have recently updated their plans using new federal guidelines. We seek to advance a research agenda on the impacts of planning and its effectiveness by proposing some foundations for how to assess planning processes, as well as to provide guidance for the federal government of Mexico in its oversight of municipal planning practice and recommendations for the four cities we study. We begin with the concern that the debate over whether urban planning in Mexico “works” suffers from a lack of shared definitions about what is and is not within the scope of urban planning, and a shared conceptual framework for assessing the planning process. The case studies were conducted as part of a graduate studio in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. They rely on multiple interviews with planners and professionals in each city as well as documentary and data analysis, and literature reviews. We use a framework of five processes: creating a plan, implementing the plan, raising revenue to fund urban infrastructure, upgrading existing neighborhoods to ensure equal access across neighborhoods, and investing in new infrastructure to support growth. Each case presents a brief urban history and contextual data; a description of local government planning activities, the current plan, the city’s political history, and transparency in local planning; an assessment of planning processes, the mechanisms for changing land uses, and examples one infrastructure project and enforcement of land use rules; and an evaluation of the plan itself, including some GIS analysis local zoning and federal policy. The book’s recommendations fall into three areas: making plans into part of an ongoing and iterative process, increasing coordination between municipal budgeting and planning, and creating transparency and public input to the planning process. More specifically, we find that new plans often ignore successes and failures of prior plans, they do not periodically assess indicators to gauge impact, and discretionary changes in between plan updates diminishes the importance of the plan itself. In the second area, we argue that the scope of planning must be expanded. The plan should be integrated with the municipal budgeting process and municipalities in Mexico should work to generate more local revenues to adequately fund plans. Finally, in the third area, we recommend making planning documents, zoning maps, and basic data on urban conditions accessible to the public. A lack of transparency and the often opaque decision making processes harm the legitimacy of governance. We also outline how the federal government can play a role in advancing these recommendations for local planning processes.