ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND MANAGEMENT Emerging trends in urban territorial processes

Abstract

This work synthesizes the main themes of a Master’s Degree dissertation on environmental management and urban development —GADU— (Ávila, 2006) that deals with the emerging environmental issues in current urban territorial processes. It builds up a set of management guidelines from the perspective of environmental rationality and sustainable development. The proposed methodology builds on the understanding of environmental reality by using descriptions, interpretations and assessments, with different stages for tackling a local environmental problem. The project redefined some of its conceptual and methodological resources and identified the relations between territory and environment, which increased the operational capacity for case study. The proposal is being transferred to some towns in Valle de Punilla —a metropolitan region of the city of Cordoba, Argentina. An environmental transformation is taking place in this region, guided by the prevailing socioeconomic forces that jeopardize pre-existing natural and cultural heritage. The work closes with a preliminary local agenda for the environmental management of urban and territorial development. From an environmental communitybased vision, the proposal includes priority goals and actions for achieving sustainable development.