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Salerno 2009 – International Conference on Territorial Intelligence
Improvement and Growth of Local Productive Systems from Identity, Self-
sufficiency and Municipal Development Forums
DEL GIORGIO SOLFA, Federico
1
fdelgiorgio@sg.gba.gov.ar +(54) 0221 4742517
GIROTTO, Luciana Mercedes
2
lucianagirotto@yahoo.com +(54) 0221 4212470
Presentation
Theme: B
This paper intends to begin the discussion of a new territorial development perspective. According to
Boisier, the concept of territorial development is understood as one related to the idea of container,
rather than content. Therefore, it is understood that, even though every portion of the earth surface is
territory, not all territories are important from a developmental perspective. The aforementioned author
differentiates among: “natural territory”, composed
by natural elements free from any human
intervention; "equipped territory" or “intervened territory”, where man has already built transport
systems, infrastructure and even extractive production activities; and "organized territory",
characterized by a community with local identity, politically and administratively ruled. These territories
become subjects of intervention that promote development. Thus, we propose a structured model
centered on the creation of Municipal Development Forums, which will generate –with the participation
of local actors- a Local Development Programme.
The proposal is formulated for territories over 5,000 and below 30,000 inhabitants. This criterion is
based on the applicability of the proposed model to municipalities with territorial development
potential, having a balanced an important internal consumption, but where progress is hindered by the
proximity of one or more political jurisdictions of a larger productive scale that are regional
administrative centers. It is necessary to consider the notion of development on a human scale as
proposed by Max-Neef, who understands that development is focused and based on satisfying main
human needs and intends self-reliance and coordination among people, nature and technology.
1
Industrial Designer, Professor of Industrial Design, Master in International Marketing, PhD in Social Sciences, Full
Professor of Project Management, Co-director of Research Projects and Doctoral Thesis Director of the National
University of La Plata. Master in Diritto, Economia e Politica dell´Unione Europea, Università degli Studi di Padova. Co-
director of Scholarships of the Scientific Research Committee and Modernization Agent of the Province of Buenos Aires.
2
Lawyer and PhD in Social Sciences at the National University of La Plata. Master in Economic Development for Latin
America of the International University of Andalucía. Modernization Agent of the Province of Buenos Aires.
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The development programme will consider a diagnosis of the productive profile of the territory and its
relationship with the characteristics and origin of goods or services consumed within the municipality.
From the diagnosis, the causes of the separation between the local productive system and the
consumption needs of the inhabitants can be detected. A posteriori, the local productive systems will
be readapted in order to satisfy the resident’s demands for goods and services and to generate new
enterprises from available resources, encouraging local consumption.
This territorial development model aims to move towards goods and services self-sufficiency, to
generate new jobs and to promote effective and efficient use of local resources. To reach these goals,
it is vital to prevent inhabitants from satisfying their consumption needs in neighboring
municipalities
when they could be solved locally, strengthening their own productive system. In many cases, the
“flight of consumption” may be due to the following causes: 1. Lack of goods or services within the
territory; 2. Provision of internal goods and services of inadequate quality compared to those offered
outside the municipality; 3. Disadvantages of credit facilities; 4. Less accessibility and variety of goods
and services. Likewise, occasionally, inhabitants’ demands in a certain territory are not produced
internally. The reasons that may originate this situation are: 1. Lack of knowledge of the
characteristics of local demand; 2. Inadequate productive know-how; 3. Deficit
of funding to
strengthen the existing productive systems or to promote the creation of new enterprises. To achieve
this, it will be encouraged the generation of new productive enterprises
that satisfy the needs for local
goods and services which have not found response within the territory for different reasons.
Besides, the institutional aspect will be considered, including a methodology for the design and start-
up of Municipal Development Forums. The notification to the forums shall be as broad as possible.
From Buarque’s point of view, local development results from the capacity of the social actors to
mobilize in order to strengthen their potential, taking their culture into account, to define their priorities
and to improve their competitiveness. Regarding the forums, it will also be necessary to establish:
characteristics, composition, objectives, operation, budget, and internal and external coordination. In
short, we propose to deal with territorial development from an innovative perspective, focusing on the
creation of Municipal Development Forums that foster the improvement and growth of the productive
system, the creation of jobs, local identity and the consumption of goods and services locally
produced.
Keywords: self-sufficiency, local development, identity, municipalities, forums.
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1. Presentation:
A new perspective of the role of the municipalities is proposed. They will be in charge of territorial
development from a model that includes the creation of Municipal Development Forums which, with
the participation of the local agents
, generate a Local Development Programme.
The participation of the productive sectors of each municipality will be fundamental among local
agents. It is expected that, from the coordination of the municipality, these sectors become the driving
force of the local development.
This proposal intends to carry on the conception of “Human Development”, understood as the
possibility to generate opportunities for its inhabitants in the territory, so that they can not only satisfy
their material needs, but also the spiritual ones. That is to say, taking into account the three
components of the human development rate: quality of life, longevity and knowledge level (UNDP,
1996).
This methodology will be applied in territories over 5,000 and below 30,000 inhabitants, considering a
maximum tolerance of 10%.
This proposal is projected to be applied in municipalities with territorial development potential, which
have a balanced and important internal consumption, but where progress is hindered by the proximity
of one or more political jurisdictions of a larger productive scale that are regional administrative. The
described population rank is where we can find the factors that contribute to the described situation.
Generally, the greatest economic flow and the productive investments are in the most important cities
of a region. Therefore, the proposed model encourages a uniform development in every territory of the
region. It is supported that, if municipalities took this perspective into account, a fairer and well-
balanced regional economy would be attained.
It is necessary to bear in mind the notion of development on a human scale, which is "concentrated
and supported in the satisfaction of the basic human needs; in the generation of increasing levels of
self-reliance; and in the organic articulation of human beings with nature and technology, of global
processes with local behavior, of personal issues with social ones, of planning with autonomy and of
Civil Society with the State.” (Max-Neef [et al.]1986: 47).
Finally, it is important to emphasize that, following Boisier (1999), the concept of territorial
development is understood as one related to the idea of container, rather than content.
It is understood that, even though every portion of the earth surface is territory, not all territories are
important from a developmental perspective.
Therefore, the aforementioned author differentiates among “natural territory”, composed
by natural
elements and free from any human intervention; “equipped territory” or “intervened territory", where
man has already built transport systems (though very poor), infrastructure (such as dams) and even
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extractive production activities (such as mining camps) and “organized territory” characterized by a
community with local identity, politically and administratively ruled. These territories take part in
promoting development.
2. Proposal:
2.1. Municipal Development Forums
In order to establish the proposed development territorial model, the creation of a Municipal
Development Forum (MDF) is presented in every territory which has the pre-established
requirements.
These Forums, boosted and administrated by each municipality, are constituted by representatives of
the main local actors such as: associations or chambers of commerce and industry, technical and
commercial education establishments, university centers, NGOs related to the productive and working
sector, etcetera.
The municipality will be in charge of carrying out the notification and coordination of all the necessary
activities for the design, implementation and evaluation of the Local Development Programme.
2.2. Local Development Programme
The main objective is –from the Municipality Development Forum operation- to generate a Local
Development Programme (LDP) in order to achieve, through the implementation of different projects,
an improvement of the living conditions of the inhabitants of the municipality. This improvement will be
achieved by strengthening the productive system through the substitution of goods and services
obtained outside the territory.
The LDP will be conceived understanding Local Development as an endogenous process carried on
in small territorial unities, as the previously defined, to promote economic dynamism and a better
quality of life of the population. (Buarque, 1999).
Local Development –as it is here thought and supported- intends to rebuild the necessary social
relationships structure in order to lay the foundations for the constructions of an identity and common
projects. (Del Giorgio Solfa, 2009). As José Luis Coraggio (2006) says: “The sense of the
development is not given; it is, and has to be, a collective construction.” This is why particular
definitions will only be recognized once the social group had reached such a maturity and solidarity
that it permits the formulation of projects and the establishment of a community priority.
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2.3. Diagnosis of the Territory Productive Profile
To design and implement the LDP, it will be necessary for the MDF to carry on, at an early stage, a
diagnosis of the territory productive profile and its relationship with the characteristics and the origin of
the goods and services that are consumed in the municipality. Besides, it will be necessary to analyze
each existing productive sector.
From the diagnosis, the causes for the separation between the local productive system and the
consumption needs of the inhabitants will be detected..
This diagnosis will consist of three main phases: 1. Analysis of the productive system; 2. Study of the
demand of the local inhabitants; and 3. Analysis of the flight of consumption.
2.3.1. Analysis of the Local Productive System
The analysis of the productive system of the involved territory is essential to know, inside each sector,
which goods and services are produced, their processes and the intervening resources
characteristics. It is also important to determine the pointless productive capacities of the system.
It also results necessary to know the interrelations among the different productive systems and their
link with the rest of the local actors.
2.3.2. Study of the Territory Inhabitants’ Demand
One of the keys to achieve local development, based on endogenous productive strength, is to know,
as detailed as possible, the inhabitants’ goods and services needs in a certain territory.
In this way, the obtained results will permit, when possible and necessary, to readapt the local
productive system to satisfy the detected needs internally.
2.3.3. Analysis of Flight of Consumption
It is important to determine in which cases goods and services demand is satisfied outside the
municipality as well as to unravel
which are the reasons that originate and promote these practices.
This situation that we call “flight of consumption” may be due to the following causes: 1. Lack of goods
or services within the territory; 2. Provision of internal goods and services of inadequate quality
compared to those offered outside the municipality; 3. Disadvantages of credit facilities; 4. Less
accessibility and variety of goods and services.
In general, we can say that when inhabitants’ demands of a certain territory are not produced
internally, it is due to the following reasons: Lack of knowledge of the characteristics of local demand;
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2. Inadequate productive know-how; 3. Deficit of funding to strengthen the existing productive systems
or to promote the creation of new enterprises.
It will be necessary to establish, in every municipality, in which of the aforementioned situations the
flight of consumption originates.
When the diagnosis stage finishes, taking the obtained information into account, MDF will be able to
propose strategic actions which lead to readapt the local productive system to satisfy the analyzed
demands.
2.4. Re-adaptation of Local Productive Systems
2.4.1. Goods and Services Self-sufficiency and Productive System Strengthening
A posteriori, the local productive systems will be readapted in order to satisfy the resident’s demands
for goods and services and to generate new enterprises from available resources, encouraging local
consumption.
This territorial development model aims to move towards goods and services self-sufficiency, to
generate new jobs and to promote effective and efficient use of local resources.
To reach these goals, it is vital to prevent inhabitants from satisfying their consumption needs in
neighboring
municipalities when they could be solved locally, strengthening their own productive
system.
From another perspective, we propose to establish, from each productive sector, which goods and
services could be produced with the already existing technologies and to take advantage of the
operating capacity to substitute products that come from other municipalities.
3. Central Points of the Proposal
This model of territorial development is structured on the creation of Municipal Development Forums
(MDF) and the generation of Local Developmental Programmes (LDP).
Within this LDP, projects aligned with the following strategies will be designed and implemented:
contribution to the adoption of local identity; improvement of the local productive system; generation of
new enterprises and new jobs; and the promotion to consume good and services produced within the
municipality.
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3.1. Adoption of Local Identity
This is a central theme to create a local territorial development. Local identity, as it is understood,
implies sharing the philosophy, the culture and the values which symbolize o represent those
inhabitants who live in that territory.
To reach a local collective identity it will be necessary, at the diagnosis stage, to analyze all those
already recognized cultural elements, either within or outside the municipality, which characterize it.
In relation to these cultural elements, a selective and hierarchical analysis will be done to prioritize
those cultural values which show certain relation among themselves or identify with an idea of unity,
which, at the same time, will serve to adopt a strategically defined local identity.
This identity which provides meaning to the municipality should be taken into account to the creation
and implementation of the LDP, which will also include projects serving the execution and
strengthening of the LDP.
3.2. Improvement and Growth of the Local Productive System
This is a central theme to favor self-sufficiency municipal goods and services.
To achieve this, it will be necessary to develop the local productive system strengthening each
productive area, included those productive units of goods and services installed within the territory.
Taking the diagnosis results as a point of departure, the productive characteristics and needs blocking
the potential of growth will be analyzed.
For example, a productive unit that manufactures certain goods and also has the technologic and
human resources to produce other goods currently made outside the territory.
Analyzed the local productive system, it is possible to design and apply strategies grouped by
productive areas within LDP to improve its operation as well as to detect those areas where new
productive enterprises may develop.
3.3. Generation of New Productive Enterprises and Jobs
This theme is based on the idea that local development helps to solve unemployment problems and
economic disorganization, mainly caused by deterritorialization, by means of local procedures
(Cuervo, 1998).
Therefore, once the limits to improve the already productive municipal system have been found, it will
be necessary to promote the generation of new productive enterprises that satisfy goods demands
and local services which, for different reasons, have not had a solution within the territory yet.
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This strategic line will include projects which serve to the generation of new productive enterprises to
satisfy the internal demand of goods and services. These will also be grouped by their productive
sector and, in some cases, when necessary, will boost new areas which have not been developed yet.
Organizing productive enterprises by areas favors synergic exploitation of knowledge in order to
strengthen the use of technology as well as the available resources to create dynamic productive
areas.
As a hierarchical criterion for potential productive enterprises, it will be prioritized, firstly, those
generating more and better jobs and, secondly, those contributing to create local identity.
Projects to promote these new enterprises may consist of subsidies, financial loans, goods (movable
property or immovable property) or training.
3.4. Promotion of Good Consumption and Services Produced in the Local Area
For the proposed model to work efficiently, it is necessary, when possible, the consumption of goods
and services produced in the local area.
Therefore, as a final stage of this proposal, this strategic line will have those projects that promote
local consumption.
Mainly, campaigns to inform about goods and products produced in the municipal territory will be
done. Besides, it is necessary to raise awareness about the importance of the consumption of local
products and the development and support of the local productive system.
In addition, reduction of taxes and local rates may be provided to those inhabitants who consume
products advertised by the municipality.
Another concrete measure to promote consumption is to grant subsidies and/or financial loans on
condition that they are used for the acquisition of goods and services from local productive units.
Moreover, a system of buying within the municipality can be applied, that is to say, that all those
supplies needed by the municipality, either for internal administration or public policies (health, social
action, education, public works and public services, etc.), be acquired within the territory.
In this way, this strategy will serve to establish a developmental model based on employment
generation and local identity construction.
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4. Contribution to Start-up the Model
To set up this local developmental project, it will be necessary to establish a methodology for the
creation of Municipal Developmental Forums and to design, implement and evaluate the LDP from the
participation of local actors coordinated by the municipality.
4.1. Methodology to Start-up Local Developmental Forums (MDF)
To start-up the MDF, three stages are considered.
At an early stage, the municipality will call the whole community (through sporting and cultural body
leaders, traders, producers, churches, soup kitchens, schools, neighbors, etc) to reach consensus on
the territorial development guidelines and to involve the whole community in the working plan making
process.
The notification shall be as broad as possible since local development results from the capacity of the
social actors to mobilize in order to strengthen their potential, taking their culture into account, to
define their priorities and to improve their competitiveness (Buarque, 1999).
After several meetings, on municipal workshops basis, at a second stage, a directive board, chaired
by the Mayor, will be formed with the most significant actors. The main function of this directive board
is to head the design process, implementation and permanent evaluation of the LDP.
Likewise, discussion workshops coordinated by technical teams proposed by the directive board and
designated by the municipality will be created. These discussion workshops shall analyze the
municipal productive profile and readapt the local productive system.
At a third stage, once the analysis of the municipal productive profile has been made, proposals for
LDP strategic guidelines (already explained in 3) will be developed.
4.2. Methodology for the Design and Start-up of the Local Development Programme
From the strategic guidelines established for the LDP (contribution to adopt a local identity,
improvement of the productive local system, generation of new enterprises and new jobs, and the
promotion to consume goods and services produced within the municipality) and the discussion
workshops operation coordinated by technical teams, different projects on each of the aforementioned
guidelines will be designed and implemented.
Discussion workshops, along with technical teams, shall establish systems for monitoring and
evaluating the operation of each of the projects throughout the development.
The directive board will be in charge of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of the LDP to
make the appropriate changes.
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5. Conclusions
The purpose of this paper is to approach local development from an innovative perspective,
emphasizing the creation of Municipal Development Forums to improve and increase the productive
system, to generate new jobs, local identity and the consumption of goods and services produced
within the municipality.
The aim of this local developmental model is to create goods and services self-sufficiency, to generate
new jobs as well as an effective and efficient use of natural resources.
Therefore, throughout this proposal, local development is considered as the process of economic
growth and as a structural change to improve local living conditions.
Within local development three dimensions are identified: 1. An economic dimension in which local
businessmen help to organize local productive factors to be competitive in the market; 2. A socio-
cultural dimension created by the values and institutions which will create the so-called local identity;
and 3: A political-administrative dimension created by MDF to generate territorial politics to favor local
economy and boost local development (Vázquez-Barquero, 1988).
It is believed that the implementation of this model in territories with the aforementioned
characteristics and the necessary municipal management promotion will serve to improve local living
conditions.
In this way, the debate for further discussion has been introduced. We hope the information above
developed serves to further research or concrete implementations.
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