AGENDA URBsociAL ROSARIO 2011
The organising institutions of the second meeting of URBsociAL, the Euro–Latin American Dialogue on Social Cohesion and Local Public Policy, which was held in Rosario, Santa Fe Province (Argentina), on 21, 22 and 23 September 2011, as part of the URB-AL III Programme, put the Agenda URBsociAL Rosario 2011 to European and Latin American public opinion for consideration. The recommendations and commitments of the Agenda URBsociAL Sitges 2010 serve as a precedent to this document. It also contains contributions from the more than 500 participants from 23 Latin American and EU countries who attended the Rosario meeting.
FINDINGS •
The Sitges Agenda is still valid, and has been enriched by the work developed in Rosario, where URBsociAL has become consolidated as a forum for analysis and debate.
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The economic and financial crisis affecting many countries is opening further the existing social rifts and threatens to become a political and social crisis that could undermine the capability for action of public authorities.
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This crisis may affect key factors in the fostering of social cohesion in our countries. The capacity for economic growth has been greatly reduced globally, with serious consequences for the productive fabric and for job creation. It is also a threat to the sustainability of social improvement and implies a risk of increase in existing inequalities.
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In this context of crisis, cities and regions become determinants, thanks to their ability to innovate and implement instruments that can sustain the pillars of the welfare system, generate opportunities and build capacity.
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Social cohesion must be a political priority; it must be institutionalised in order to guarantee compliance of rights and foster inclusive development that reduces and closes the rift of inequality, which in the context of an economic crisis such as the current one is greater and deeper.
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We must foster national agendas that develop national strategies that enable a comprehensive and inclusive vision, from a multilevel perspective and with the effective participation of all actors in the territory.
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To contribute to job creation and increase the productive fabric, extend social progress and inclusive development dynamics, we need innovation; from the public viewpoint, innovation is a key factor in renewing policies, approaches, ideas, products, management instruments and services that contribute to growth.
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In the context of Latin American subnational governments, there is a solid base of innovative experiences in regard to public administration, participatory budgeting, urban planning, management councils, city conferences and other successful initiatives that should be shared with other local entities.
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Policy and administration are two basic variables of good government. The challenge for local government is in combining both variables strategically, coordinating actors and government levels, generating synergies and complementarities and the need for strategic planning and vision.
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As key actors in development, territorial governments have in decentralised cooperation a useful and necessary instrument for institutional reinforcement and democratic governance. Experience shows that cooperation between subnational governments on both sides of the Atlantic has been productive in terms of experience exchange, capacity building and effective use of resources.
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URBsociAL 2011 highlights three elements of local government that promote social cohesion: local development and competitiveness; territorial planning and sustainability; and institutional innovation and cooperation between actors.
RECOMMENDATIONS Potential areas for local development for cohesion and inclusive growth •
Restore the essentially endogenous nature of development based on the valuation and mobilisation of productive, natural and human resources of the territory.
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Build up a strategic vision that combines economic development with social and territorial cohesion, that increases the sense of identity and belonging and the recognition of all members of the community.
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Include all actors, both public and private, in the complete development cycle in order to ensure, from the beginning, their participation in the process and in the equal distribution of economic and social benefits.
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Commit to innovation in all areas of local government action to improve the efficiency of public administration and the rendering of services to citizens.
Territorial planning and sustainable development •
Integrate social cohesion elements and objectives explicitly in urban and regional design; that is, in the sustainable use of natural resources and space, the location of infrastructure and facilities or in regard to mobility, ensuring sustainable urban development.
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Generate institutional architecture that, on its various levels, enables citizens to participate in the formulation and execution of public territorial planning policies.
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Provide local governments with effective tools for monitoring and assessing the different processes and components of urban development.
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Prioritise the improvement of urban and interurban mobility, as a central issue that contributes to citizens’ quality of life and, in particular, in regard to access to public space, road and public safety, and the environment.
Institutional innovation •
Design and build new coalitions between neighbouring municipalities (associations of municipalities) that include cross-border areas, and create European–Latin American cooperation networks to meet the new demographic, migratory and territorial challenges.
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Reach agreements on the active participation of citizens and the actors in the territory to increase trust and legitimacy, as vectors of social cohesion.
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Build institutional and human capacity to strengthen political leadership committed to building a local public agenda that fosters social cohesion and guarantees the full exercise of citizens’ rights.
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Adopt tools that favour and increase government renown outside the local and regional area, something that has proven to be a key factor in increasing development opportunities and is particularly relevant in the current context.
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To foster and consolidate decentralised cooperation as an instrument which strengthens both institutions and the development policy of local and regional governments.
COMMITMENTS The organising institutions of the Second Euro–Latin American Dialogue on Social Cohesion and Local Public Policies undertake to: -
Publicise this Agenda URBsociAL Rosario 2011.
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Encourage local governments in Europe and Latin America to join the Agenda through the associations and networks that represent them.
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Contribute to maintaining social cohesion as one of the three pillars of European–Latin American cooperation, along with political dialogue and economic partnering.
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Promote forums for dialogue, reflection and experience exchange that enable the establishment of frameworks of reference in the design, execution and assessment of local public policies.
Likewise, they will ensure that national governments and international organisations, especially the institutions of the European Union, receive this Agenda URBsociAL Rosario 2011, with the aim of encouraging the drawing up of further agendas. They also undertake to value and foster cooperation between regional governments as an area for innovation and learning; and to explore new forms and instruments of decentralised cooperation. Furthermore, they will gather information on all the experiences identified by the participants in the various workshops and distribute it to generate shared frameworks of reference. The organising institutions will promote complementarity and will seek synergies amongst the various international cooperation programmes aimed at fostering social cohesion. Whilst monitoring and assessing the recommendations contained in this Agenda, the organising institutions recognise the value and need to generate forums for dialogue on social cohesion and public policy between European and Latin American regional governments and undertake to seek mechanisms to ensure the continuity of URBsociAL.