Globalisation and local development. Opportunities for action in mid-size metropolitan areas in developing milieus

What may make this work interesting for participants is the fact that it attempts to identify some perspectives of action in favour of a local-development strategy in developing countries. It is intended to contribute to the definition and consolidation of local developing initiatives through the “use” of physical planning, taken as an instrument to serve this kind of development. Particularly, the work focuses on the analysis of two aspects of metropolitan Rosario: a) The transformations in the region’s coastal settlements caused by the local productive system’s behaviour, and b) The challenges posed by changes in the micro region’s natural environment. Afterwards, the analysis is put in relation to jurisdictional issues; that is, the attention goes to the identification of the risks and opportunities faced by the spatial management of this complex phenomenon as a consequence of being “restrained” in a plurality of local administrations. The two dimensions of this metropolitan phenomenon, formerly mentioned and selected to be the “axis” of this work, are not capable of revealing thoroughly the phenomenon itself. However, it is understood that those dimensions can be considered “core matters”, being therefore justified to analyse them specifically. The reasons of that selection and of its value in the context of the project’s objectives are presented next, along with the reasons to consider the “jurisdictional complexity” as a central variable of the problem. i. The analysis of the transformation on coastal settlements in the region caused by the local productive system’s behaviour shows the spatial unfolding of the economic activities that sets metropolitan Rosario in the map of the urban centres with some relevance at a global level: the production and commerce of agriculture-based manufactures. ii. The analysis of the challenges caused by changes in the region’s natural environment becomes essential for the definition of possibilities and limitations of local development. iii. The consideration of the spatial and institutional complexity of an urban phenomenon with metropolitan characteristics as this one, allows us to undertake more efficiently the challenges that emerge when planning action is initiated following objectives of local development.