María Victoria Pinzón Botero
Published: 2016
Total Pages: 362
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Colombia is a rich country in ecologycal and social diversity which requires to sostenibility attend its local needs from real conditions that allow its easy and fast implementation actions in their favor. Theory, legislation, tools and resources are wide and varied but at the same time unconnected to the possibilities of many cities, specially of those smaller and numerous, where their implementation is more difficult. This reality demmands the broad participation of the stakeholders to find a new way to approach urban planning promoting environmental sustainability to its easy and quick insertion. Also to recognize territorial realities, urban environmental management capacity and personal expectations and motivations as part of the process. The Practical Application Model is the key to efectively advance in urban environmental sustainability. It identifies the set of key variables, projects and actions to reorient the effective integration of environmental sustainability in urban planning. He is composed by a conceptual and methodological proposal and the graphical model as an evaluation instrument. The new concepts are the practical application and environmentally sustainable urban planning (OTUAS). Methodology includes a set of stakeholders that highlight their individual interests to contribute to a collective achievement and an evaluation system using the graphical model. The evaluation system proposes four types of conditions integrated by twelve conditions or parameters that focus on (1) interest and knowledge, (2) implementation, (3) results and impacts, and (4) consolidation and continuation. The actions qualification vary according to local reality and become the gauges of the real possibilities of its implementation. The graphic model is a striking and didactic instrument that easily guides its implementation and is understood by most stakeholders. A graphical program in Excel shows which are the variables, projects or actions of greater practical application to insert environmental sustainability into urban planning more quickly and effectively in a simple form through bubbles of different color, size and location. This model feeds back from the experience with GEAUR (Grupo de Estudios Ambientales Urbanos) of Colombia and other published studies, from theory, the successful practices of cities in Europe and Latin America and the realities of cities in Colombia. Also from the contribution of the vision of academic and government experts from different cities that help to proposal. The Model is useful to achieve an increasing rate of commitment that effectively harmonizes the human with the technical-scientific and political objectives. The Thesis contains four parts. A introductory part presents the research problem, objectives and methodology. The first part include the conceptual theoretical reference through the study of environmental sustainability inside urban planning and the most important contributions of successful international experiences in favor of environmental sustainability. The second part recognizes the three medium-sized cities of Palmira, Tuluá and Buga and identifies the achievements and progress of the implementation of their POT (Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial) to conclude with the definition of the key variables for OTUAS considering the teory, the models and the international experiences. And the third part presents the Model as the conceptual and methodological proposal and its use in the three cases of colombian cities to feed back the Model. Knowledge of other cities and interviews with experts confirmed that this Model can be used not only in Colombia middle-sized cities, but also, in many others.