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In search of the XXI Century Socialist City – Venezuela and Latin America

In search of the XXI Century Socialist City – Venezuela and Latin America. Tomás de la Barra January 2011. Content. What is the XXI Century Socialism ? Cities of Latin America : the legacy of the Capitalist system The XXI Century Socialist City

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In search of the XXI Century Socialist City – Venezuela and Latin America

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  1. In search of the XXI CenturySocialist City – Venezuela and LatinAmerica Tomás de la BarraJanuary 2011

  2. Content • Whatisthe XXI CenturySocialism? • Cities of LatinAmerica: thelegacy of theCapitalistsystem • The XXI CenturySocialist City • Technologies tosupporttheSocialist City

  3. Whatisthe XXI CenturySocialism? • Manycountries in LatinAmericahaveabandonedthe neo-liberal modeltowards a socalistorientation (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina…) • Theterm ‘XXI CenturySocialism’ isemerging as a new modelthatmustbeconstructed. • In Venezuela everyoneagreesthatthisisthemodeltobepursued, butmostleadersadmitthethe concept has yettobedefined. • The ‘centralised ’ (totalitarian?) modelthatprevailed in theReal Socialism of the XX Centuryisdefinitelynotfavoured.

  4. Whatisthe XXI CenturySocialism? • Thecuban modelwith more emphasisonparticipation (bottom up) pointstotherightdirection, butdoesnotgo as far as currentexpectations. • The new modelmustbefullydemocratic and provideamplespace , channels and networkstoparticipation. Keywords in thecurrent debate are: protagonistic and participatorydemocracy, as againstrepresentativedemocracy.

  5. Communalstate • Thecommunalstateisanotherrelated concept thatisemergingwith considerable force • The 1999 Constitutionof Venezuela createdthe ‘Concejos Comunales’ as a local entityorganizingthepeople and providingdirect control overevents. Tenths of thousandssuch ‘Concejos Comunales’ havebeencreated and are increasinglyprotagonsitic. • Concejos Comunales’ hace theirownindependent and electedauthorities and theirownbudgets and banks • Several ‘Concejos Comunales’ mayjoin in theform of ‘Comunas’, and thiswillhaveanimpactoncities as well as rural areas.

  6. Cities of LatinAmerica:thelegacy of theCapitalistsystem • Over 100 years of capitalism has shaped the cities of Latin America in several ways, apart from the obvious problems in the social structure. • It has become obvious that the private sector cannot resolve the most fundamental problems in our cities: housing, transport and the environment. • ‘Marginal areas’ dominate the urban landscape (47% in Caracas) with the unending chain of problems, severely affecting the quality of life of mid and low income population • The private sector concentrates on favourable market conditions, usually in the periphery, promoting urban sprawl and car-dependency, and a lack of equilibrium between work and residence at all social levels.

  7. Cities of LatinAmerica:thelegacy of theCapitalistsystem • In Venezuela this has resulted in a gigantic housing deficit. The immediate deficit in the country is estimated about a million dwellings, with 300,000 in Caracas only. • Immediate deficit is the number of dwellings that are required to replace those that face high risks in terms of flooding (seismic risk is much larger) • The demand grows at a rate of 2.1% approx. • This means that the country should build at a rate of 200,000 a year at least, while only 35,000 are being built by both public and private sectors.

  8. The XXI CenturySocialist City • The concept of a Socialist City is also not very well defined, but new ideas are emerging to shape sustainable urban development. • Emphasis is shifting from just physical sustainability towards social sustainability in a much broader sense. • The replacement of the price mechanisms that prevail in capitalism must be replaced by planning and the direct action of the government and communities • The current trend towards urban sprawl is accompanied by the decay of central areas that are left behind with low intensity of occupation. The gap between places of work and services and places of residence grows constantly. This increases the need for transport, increasing congestion and pollution, with little hope that new transportation facilities and increased capacity may be built at the same rate.

  9. The XXI CenturySocialist City • To revert this trend, the idea of urban renewal is coming back after decades of negligence. This means that society must recover the control over the urban structure, away from the private sector. • Urban renewal means that large portions of centrally located parts of a city is re-built at a much higher intensity and efficiency. • Urban renewal can be much more efficient than large projects of transport infrastructure • Efficient public transport, such as BRT are also a policy with good possibilities. Just like the market failed to solve the housing problem, it also failed to solve the transportation problems.

  10. Technologies tosupporttheSocialist City • ¿Qué relación tiene esto con la modelación integrada de usos del suelo y transporte? Mucho. Este tipo de herramienta analítica es precisamente la que debe ser utilizada para evaluar las nuevas concepciones de política urbana. Plantea un componente muy importante en el debate acerca del SSXXI: cómo las nuevas tecnologías hacen realista un socialismo que antes fue utópico.

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