Government urban management in San Agustín, Caracas: ¿A never ending symbiotic process?

Abstract

The deterioration of public spaces –buildings or open spaces-, affects citizens’ life quality. In consequence, involved actors - planners, institutions and communities - must assume reflexive positions. Local government, acting in a planning capacity or as an active builder, generates an important impact on formal and spontaneous settlements in the city, which must be analyzed critically, due the effect those actions have on community life forms. The issue raises several aspects of deep concern for planning theory and praxis. Urban management is important for planning, because of its dynamic influence on urban quality, in its spatial, temporal economical and cultural dimensions. In this paper, the models of interventions of the public agency Simón Bolívar Centre, in the popular district of San Agustín del Sur in Caracas between 1960 and 1980 are examined. This analysis is relevant not only for academic purposes but also for guiding future interventions. The urban renovation process and its environmental repercussions are studied in order to delineate a more appropriate approach considered within a real context, and as a totality. In this way the goal is to achieve quality action, conceived as an interactive process, where the actors participate with roles clearly defined through time.