The role of municipalities in the 21st Century

The environment where Portuguese municipalities act upon has gone through a deep transformation ever since the council’s arrival which was subsequent to the 25th April, 1974. Two aspects of this transformation are, in my perspective, particularly relevant:

(I) The change of focus in the autarchic performance. After, in most of cases, a great investment has been made in the basic infrastructure of territory and at the level of equipment, the central paper of the autarchic advisor is, more and more, to lead a territory project, organizing competitive networks and poles and contributing towards the attraction and maintenance of companies, projects and people.

(II) The growing competition, whether at a national level (between cities, city networkss and regions) or at an international level, not only of cities and regions which are close to us (for example Spanish ones) but also of places in the world which are physically distant and that globalization brings closer to us (examples: the rise of the “factory and office of the world” – respectively China and India; the opening and modernization of eastern European economies).

É neste contexto que cidades e regiões europeias embarcam com cada vez mais frequência em projectos de Prospectiva Territorial capazes de criar uma Visão comum e mobilizadora para o futuro, de fortalecer sinergias, redes e interfaces (capital social), de mobilizar os actores do território e melhorar as relações entre os cidadãos e as autoridades regionais/locais, de facilitar a implementação de processos inovadores e eficientes, de definir prioridades estratégicas, de melhorar a imagem do território e de melhorar a capacidade de inteligência económica dos territórios (identificando riscos a minorar e oportunidades a aproveitar com o máximo de antecipação face à concorrência).
It is in this context that European cities and regions embark more and more frequently in projects of Territorial Prospective capable of creating a common and mobilizing vision for the future, of strengthening synergies, networks and interfaces (social capital), pf mobilizing the territory’s actors, improving the relations between citizens and regional/local authorities, of facilitating the implementation of innovative and efficient processes, of defining strategic priorities, improving the territory’s image and the capacity of the territory’s economic intelligence (identifying risks to minimize and opportunities to make the most of with maximum of anticipation in relation to other competitors).

Examples to explore: Project Vision 2025 for the region of Helsinki (http://www.ytv.fi/ENG/future/vision/frontpage.htm), Strategic Partnership of Birmingham (http://www.bhamsp.org.uk/), Gipuzkoa 2020 (http://www.gipuzkoa.net/g2020/es/index.html), Vision Dublin 2020 (http://www.dubchamber.ie/economy_item.asp?article=496), Scenarios for the urban region of Edinburgh (http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/environment/planning_buildings_i_i_/planning/planning_policies/CEC_a_vision_for_capital_growth_-_2020_-2040), Millénnaire3 (Grand Lyon) (http://www.millenaire3.com/), Metropolitan Strategic Plan of Barcelona (http://www.bcn2000.es/ca-es/default_ca_es.aspx), Gothenburg 2050 (http://www.goteborg2050.nu).