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Original Articles

Promoting sustainable communities: Theory, research, and action

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Pages 159-181 | Published online: 01 Jul 2010
 

Abstract

Sustainable development (SD) is a concept adopted in recent years in order to orient societies' development so as to ensure the durability of systems and create a promising future for the coming generations. SD criteria are of particular importance for urban life, given the complexity and range of the problems with which the great cities struggle. Slums, known as 'barrios' in Venezuela, have become a prominent feature of all the world's cities, and there is an ongoing debate between those who advocate articulating them with the cities, and those who call for their eradication. From our point of view, the slums' articulation with the cities, on the basis of sustainability criteria, may provide a solution for the cities' worst problems, such as the lack of housing, since it can facilitate a rationalization of public services and largely eliminate the problems stemming from urban social marginality. We illustrate this position with the results of a qualitative research project oriented towards analyzing an experience based on a housing relocation project in an urban squatter settlement: Barrio Catuche, located on the north side of Caracas, Venezuela. This experience constitutes an example of a successful community initiative which integrates sustainability criteria with community participation processes. El desarrollo sustentable (DS) es un concepto adoptado en an os recientes con el propoésito de orientar el desarrollo de las sociedades, de modo de asegurar la permanencia de los sistemas y de crear un futuro promisorio para las generaciones venideras. Los criterios del DS son de particular importancia para la vida urbana, dado el rango y la complejidad de los problemas que enfrentan las grandes ciudades. Los asentamientos humanos no regulados, conocidos como 'barrios' en Venezuela, se han convertido en un rasgo saliente de todas las ciudades del mundo, y existe un debate entre quienes defienden su articulacioén con la ciudad y aquellos que claman por su erradicacioén. Desde nuestro punto de vista, la articulacioén barrio-ciudad, sobre la base de criterios de sustentabilidad, pudiera constituir una solucioén para los problemas maés apremi antes de las ciudades, como la falta de viviendas, ya que puede facilitar la racionalizacioén de servicios puéblicos y eliminar en gran medida los problemas derivados de la marginalidad social urbana. Ilustraremos esta postura a traveés de los resultados de un estudio cualitativo, llevado a cabo con el fin de analizar un proyecto de reubicacioén de viviendas en un barrio urbano llamado Catuche. Este barrio estaé ubicado en el lado norte de Caracas, Venezuela y la experiencia desarrollada por sus habitantes constituye un ejemplo exitoso de una iniciativa comunitaria que integra criterios de sustentatilidad con procesos de participacioén comunitaria.

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