Strategic urban planning

The general objectives of strategic urban planning (SUP) include clarifying which city model is desired and working towards that goal, coordinating public and private efforts, channelling energy, adapting to new circumstances and improving the living conditions of the citizens affected. Strategic planning is a technique that has been applied to many facets of human activity; we have only to mention Sun Tzu, Arthur Thomson or Henry Mintzberg; however, the application of strategic planning to urban contexts, or cities, regions and other metropolitan areas is a relatively recent development whose beginnings were eminently practical and artistical: a mixture of thought, techniques and art or expertise. Fifteen years of practice proved to be enough time for the technique to spread and for the first “Meeting of American and European cities for the Exchange of Experiences in Strategic Planning” to be organized. Institutions sponsoring the meeting, held in Barcelona in 1993, included the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Community Commission and the Iberoamerican Cooperation Institute. The cities of Amsterdam, Lisbon, Lille, Barcelona, Toronto and Santiago de Chile participated, among others. At that meeting it was demonstrated, along with other relevant aspects, that if cooperative processes are used in large cities in order to carry out strategic planning processes, and if a reasonable degree of comprehension is reached between the administration, businesses and an ample representation of social agents, organizational synergies will develop that will eventually improve resource management and citizens’ quality of life. Strategic Urban Planning processes (SUP), also known as Urban Renewal Projects, began to appear at the end of the 20th century. The city of San Francisco (U.S.A.) carried out its process between 1982 and 1984. The main motivation behind starting strategic urban planning processes was the attempt to adequately react to problematic situations (mainly economic crisis or standstill).