Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83
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Journal of Transport Geography
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Citizen participation for sustainable transport: the case of ‘‘Living City’’ in Santiago, Chile (1997–2012)
Lake Sagaris ⇑
Urban Planning and Community Development, Post-Doctoral Fellow Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics, Catholic University of Chile, 4860 Vicuña Mackenna, Santiago, Chile article info abstract
Keywords: Twentieth century citizen ‘‘revolts’’ against urban highway projects have influenced thinking about pub- Participation lic transport (Toronto, Vancouver, New York), governance (Portland), and cycling (The Netherlands) to Complexity this day. Less is known, however, about how these emerge in developing countries, and what they can Cycling tell us about citizens’ role in innovation to achieve more sustainable transport systems. This case study Public transport examines a social movement that emerged in opposition to the country’s first major highway concession, Planning in Santiago, Chile (1997), challenging and changing urban planning paradigms. In 2000, the anti-highway Development campaign founded a citizen institution, Living City (Ciudad Viva). Twelve years later, it has become a prize-winning, citizen-led planning institution. Although the role of citizen participation in improving transport systems has become increasingly rec- ognized in recent years, it still tends to be rather ritualistic. This experience offers insight into how stra- tegic approaches to participation can reinforce the role of self-organizing civil society organizations in introducing innovation into existing systems. Findings suggest that traditional large movements, which are mainly useful for one-way communication of information, require support from small groups able to deliberate in a transformative sense, with more attention paid to how new consensuses can be transmit- ted through the relational networks of those involved. Moreover, this experience suggests that thinking about citizens as planners in their own right, rather than as mere participants at specific points in a plan- ning process, opens the way to more effective strategies for innovating in transport, to address the social, environmental, and other challenges humanity faces today. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction: highway revolts in a developing context Less is known, however, about how these interactions emerge as ‘‘automobility’’ (Beckman, 2001; Urry, 2004) has spread, becom- In the last quarter of the 20th century, citizens in North America ing the ubiquitous face of globalization in developing countries and Europe staged the first major rebellions against the car-cen- today. While private vehicle modal share is high in the North, in tered, city planning paradigm that emerged in the 1960s, consum- the economic ‘‘South’’ it is very low (Table 1). Building infrastruc- ing housing, razing communities with strong ethnic and racial ture for those who already travel most comfortably reinforces identities, and replacing them with the sprawling, suburb-driven inequalities, dedicating expensive facilities to those most privi- cities that characterize many of these places today. These anti- leged, as it segregates, isolates, and excludes those most in need. highway revolts spawned local, regional, and national citizen This is particularly grave, given that this is often an impoverished movements that questioned the foundations of planning processes majority, given the ostensible priority for public finance and state (Cannon, 2012; Johnson, 2009; Ladd, 2008; Mohl, 2002, 2004, resources. 2008; Mohl and Rose, 2012; Schragg, 2004). To this day, their Using a participatory research methodology and some elements far-reaching influence is apparent, for example, in thinking about from complexity theory, this case study examines the Coordinadora public transport (Toronto, Vancouver, New York), governance No a la Costanera Norte, a social movement against the country’s (Portland), and cycling (The Netherlands). first major highway concession. This arose in Santiago, Chile, in 1997, challenging and changing urban planning paradigms. In 2000, campaign leaders founded a permanent organization: Living Tel.: +56 2 2777 3331. City (Ciudad Viva). Twelve years later, it had become a prize- ⇑ E-mail address: [email protected] winning, citizen-led planning institution. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.08.011 0966-6923/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83 75
Table 1 coalition, the Coordinadora No a la Costanera Norte (1997–2000), Modal share local trips in selected cities (%). to a citizen-led urban planning institution, Living City (2000– City Sustainable Pub. Walking Cycling Private Other 2012). Given the author’s position (as leader and founder) within transport transit (W) (C) transport the organization, it uses participatory action research (PAR) meth- (PT + W + C) (PT) (car) ods and some concepts from complexity to look at the organization Tokyo 88 51 23 14 12 from the inside out, and at transport planning from the outside in: Hong Kong 80 80 11 9 that is, from the perspective of citizens looking at government Bogotá 79 62 15 2 15 6 practices. Mumbai 78 45 27 6 15 7 Beijing 76 23 21 32 21 4 The level of organization of the different citizen groups evolved Delhi 75 42 21 12 19 6 became more sophisticated over time. In particular, during the last Santiago 73 33 37 3 22 5 period of this research (2010–2012), founders were surprised to Curitiba 71 45 21 5 28 1 find that they had left behind the marginal, David versus Goliath Madrid 70 34 36 29 1 Berlin 68 26 29 13 32 role that characterized them during the anti-highway conflict, to Paris 67 62 4 1 32 1 become a respected actor within urban planning and a significant Prague 67 43 23 1 33 reference in growing debates about citizen involvement in plan- Barcelona 64 26 38 35 1 ning and other governance areas. This research sought to both doc- Seoul 63 63 26 11 ument the processes involved and to answer questions about how New York 61 22 39 33 6 London 59 27 30 2 40 1 this had happened. Although the population represented by the Vancouver 44 23 17 4 54 2 diverse organizations was substantial (some 50,000 people in three Chicago 36 16 19 1 63 1 municipal jurisdictions of metropolitan Santiago), the number of Toronto 32 24 6 2 67 1 people actually leading was small, no more than five to 25 people, Sydney 29 11 18 69 2 Melbourne 22 7 13 2 77 1 depending on the group. Nonetheless, impacts were extensive and noted by other local policy makers and researchers. Exploring the Own elaboration using data from Reference section, Journeys, November 2011. intertwined question of how small groups significantly influenced Singapore Transport and Land Authority Academy. http://app.lta.gov.sg/ltaacade- my/Journeys.htm. Accessed 24 February 2014. Beijing: Public transport = 21% bus, policy and how a new kind of civil society actor emerged has moti- 2% rail. Seoul: Public transport = 35% rail, 28% bus. Shanghai: e-bikes have 10% other vated this research. modal share. Taipei: PT = 14% rail, 18% bus. Tokyo: PT = 48% rail, 3% bus. Vancouver This account, then, is the result of a shared reflective process by figures from City of Vancouver Administrative Report, 30 May 2013, http:// leaders of diverse urban communities, who pioneered significant former.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20130612/documents/cfsc2.pdf, accessed 24- changes in city planning in Santiago over the past 20 years. Consis- Feb-2014. Information for Santiago from SECTRA EOD, available at www.sectra.gob.cl. tent with Stacey and Griffin’s (2005: 27) perspective on insiders’ research into their own organizations, it does not seek ‘‘objective validity’’ but nor is it an ‘‘arbitrary account.’’ Rather, it seeks to make sense to others and participate in a wider tradition of Living City’s experience suggests that even in an apparently thought (Stacey and Griffin, 2005). hostile, authoritarian environment, independent, self-organizing I have, therefore, triangulated data using information from civil society institutions can work with actors in government, uni- other sources, including academic and periodical publications, versities, and the private sector to co-produce significant shifts in external evaluations, and observations from interviews with urban planning, particularly in transportation. Unlike govern- diverse and representative actors from the planning and transport ment-led participatory processes, citizens’ commitment is pro- spheres in Santiago and elsewhere. In particular, I do not evaluate found and far-reaching. ‘‘Small’’ groups accumulate ‘‘large’’ the quality of results, relying instead on three rigorous external results, particularly in positioning cycling on local, regional, and evaluations (Kroeger Claussen, 2009; Sepúlveda, 2005; Valle, national planning agendas, and in raising participation in planning 2003), conducted as part of Living City’s candidacy for awards for as a major public demand. innovation in citizenship and territorial management, received in To achieve these results, Living City has acted as a catalyst, 2002, 2004, and 2010. My conclusions do not seek to establish uni- mobilizing actors throughout the public policy ecology, in favor versal ‘‘laws’’, but rather rules whose usefulness can and should be of more sustainable, socially just transport. Enthusiasm for cycling tested against specific local conditions, as per Byrne’s (2005) among men and women, neighbors of all ages, different classes, observations. and politicians of all political stripes has grown, as has cycling’s To identify key interactions associated with neighborhood orga- modal share, at the same time as the city’s public transport system nizations and their impacts on spatial governance and democrati- is still staggering from the near-collapse that accompanied its zation, I used three concepts from Thomson’s (2001) empirical launching (2007–2008). study of these issues in five U.S. cities. These were complemented Results suggest that complementing participation-centered by several concepts from complexity theory, which were useful for planning paradigms with new thinking about citizens as planners organizing the rich data available as it emerged across and can open the way to more effective innovation in transport, better between different scales (Table 2). Complexity thinking as devel- able to address the social, environmental, and other challenges oped in relation to biological and social ecologies (Holling, 2001) humanity faces today. This case also offers insight into how gives insight into how systems change, often in unexpected ways. small-scale participatory efforts, which draw in actors with well- The concept of emergence helps to move beyond otherwise inexpli- developed relational networks, can generate the transformative cable ‘‘chicken-and-egg’’ dilemmas, such as, in this case, how new deliberation and strategic conviction necessary for a paradigm shift kinds of active citizenship and civil society emerged in the hostile in transport and city planning. environment of post-Pinochet Chile. Similarly, the ecological view of nested scales, located within 2. Methodology: complexity applied to urban transport each other, provides valuable insight into how, under certain con- planning ditions, deliberations in small groups can have immediate and sig- nificant impacts on the diverse subsystems and across the scales This paper is based on data gathered as part of a study of Living that together form urban planning policy ecologies. Holling City as it moved from an ad hoc anti-highway movement, led by a (2001) compared nested scales for ecological and social systems, 76 L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83
Table 2 Categories for Analysis from Thomson (2001) and Complexity Theory. Source: Own elaboration, using categories from Innes and Booher (2010), Thomson (2001).
Source Category Application in this case study From a national study (Thomson, 2001): categories to identify what exists and how well it works Thomson Participatory core A specific group of agents that led the anti-highway revolt and the founding of Living City Community outreach The communications ‘‘weave’’ that enabled both bodies to reach out to their own constituents and agents in other spheres Relations with Interactions between agents and resulting systemic or other changes government From planning and complexity (Innes and Booher, 2010) Innes and Agents Focus on citizen and public sectors, with some attention to the private sector Booher Interactions (a) internal, within the core and between the core and their communities (b) interactions with others (planning system) and environment (city system) System behavior Citizen system, city system (including transport, which will sometimes be examined specifically), planning system Robustness and Relevance to Living City’s evolution and the nature of changes wrought adaptation
a view that enabled him to trace interactions, bouncing between Instead, he argues that citizens themselves are planners who should micro and macro scales. Thus, in the case of a forest, nested scales be contemplated as an integral part of planning structures. This dis- include needles, crowns, patches, stands, forests, and landscapes, tinction is important, since ‘‘participation,’’ particularly in newly each affected by similar scales of weather: that is, breezes, thun- democratizing contexts such as Chile’s, is often viewed mainly as derstorms, etc., up to climate change. For social systems, nested a one-off event in the long itinerary of policy and project develop- scales include individual and small group decisions, policies and ment. In contrast, the Brazilian scholar Avritzer (2002, 2010) argues contracts, the law, the constitution, and culture. that planning must develop new kinds of ‘‘participatory publics’’ In this case, the equivalent scales include individuals and small and arenas, able to reinforce new democratic practices and thus local neighborhood organizations, municipal, regional, and replace the highly excluding, authoritarian cultures still prevalent national planning offices, and other agencies involved in city deci- in most of Latin America. sion-making, in Santiago’s highly fragmented governance arrange- In terms of planning debates about participation, Arnstein’s ment. They also move out to encompass the global, through (1969) ladder and similar categorizations provide insight into the international cooperation on cycling policy, for example, which quality of interactions offered to citizens by those in power. These came not through a link with the national, as might be expected remain useful for designing, developing, and evaluating processes. in a more linear institutional reading, but rather directly from cit- This study, however, relies more on the later typifications of pater- izen to citizen engagement, through ties between Living City and nalism, conflict, and co-production (Susskind and Elliott, 1983). the Dutch NGO, Interface for Cycling Expertise (ICE). This made a Paternalism refers to top-down, government-controlled participa- formal agreement for technical assistance possible, between ICE tory instances, which seldom build lasting change or deep support and the Metropolitan Santiago Regional Government (GORE). for results. Conflict is reflected mainly in bottom-up, citizen-led Innes and Booher (2010) applied these concepts to collaborative resistance to projects and plans. Coproduction encompasses cases planning experiences, establishing categories based on complexity ‘‘from the middle out’’ involving horizontal collaboration among theory that are used here, particularly as they reflected the catego- actors, particularly citizens and government. These require strong ries of interest in our nested scales. These are agents, interactions, leadership from critical, self-generated citizen groups. These con- system behavior, and robustness (Table 2). This was important cepts shift away from specific participatory procedures to focus since, in most academic research, the behavior of individuals is on interactions across different scales of government and citizen typically studied as psychology, cultural norms and interactions initiatives, and the formal and informal institutional arrangements fall under anthropology, and political, policy, and power issues relevant to their nature, quality, inputs, results and impacts. within political science and sociology. Innes and Booher’s (2010) In this paper, the term ‘‘sustainability’’ refers mainly to issues work, moreover, argues that collaborative planning is essential to involving social sustainability, focusing on their importance to social addressing important issues in the complex, unpredictable envi- justice (Fainstein, 2005, 2010), human flourishing (Friedmann, ronments of cities today. They identify three key elements, or 2000), and liveability: living systems that combine environmental ‘‘DIAD,’’ for collaborative planning to work: groups must be quality with people’s needs for decent work (Evans, 2002). Diverse, Interdependent, and engage in Authentic Dialogue. This study suggests that, in recently democratizing contexts, two additional elements are also important: civil society develop- 3. The anti-highway revolt, 1997–2000 ment and its ability to function across different scales. Some social movement theorists have already noted the importance of comple- In the 1990s, Santiago was a metropolitan region with 5.4 mil- menting macro and micro studies with a closer look at the meso lion inhabitants, a reasonable density of 70 people/hectare, and (Staggenborg, 2002). In this case, the meso or in-between position, 16.5 million trips daily. In 1991, the modal split was just 16% for whether organized citizens positioned between government and private cars, versus 54% for public transport, 22% walking, 2% the public as a whole, or regional scale governance processes con- cycling, and 2% other. Ten years later, this was changing, as cars necting national and local concerns, was crucial to understanding rose to 22.2%, public transport fell to 33.4%, walking and cycling flows of policy proposals and cultural change throughout planning accounted for 40%, and other modes 4% (SECTRA, 2012). and city systems. Based on the assumption that Chile was suffering from an Finally, Portugali (2011), in his reflections on cities, cognition, ‘‘infrastructure deficit’’ and that more cars required more roads, and complexity, concludes that planning needs to move beyond the public works ministry invited private construction and infra- the traditional divide between the planners and the planned, for structure management firms to bid on a highway concession. Its which some kind of participation is often seen as the remedy. emblematic project (1997) was the Costanera Norte, a 29-km L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83 77 highway, three lanes in each direction, with design speeds of 80– homeless, and environmentally concerned citizens to create a 25- 100 km/hr, and an initial price tag of US$120 million. The highway organization coalition, the Coordinadora No a la Costanera Norte. was to cut a wide swath across the city (Fig. 1), running from the All were heritage areas where, regardless of income, neighbors wealthy suburbs in the Andean foothills, westward through the had longstanding ties with an urban environment rich in services city center and on to the airport and the coast, to Chile’s main ports – markets, jobs, the city’s main parks, good schools, museums, and seaside resorts. and libraries, etc. The project was inserted into a city structure already marked by At the time, civil society consisted mainly of human rights the spatial segregation characteristic of a strong-growth economy groups battling to bring the former regime’s secret police to jus- combined with poor income distribution (Nickson, 1995; OECD, tice; territorial organizations that had organized land occupations 2011; Sabatini et al., 2009). High-income communities on the city’s in the 1960s and led resistance to the Pinochet regime; and envi- western edge had high car ownership and usage rates, whereas the ronmental organizations, formed in the late 1980s. In the case of low-income communities, where most of the highway was to be the first two, these were heavily influenced by political parties, located, mainly used public transport, walking, and cycling. Thus, particularly those targeted by the military regime (Oxhorn, the highway stood to benefit car-users, a small proportion of the 1995). Environmental organizations focused mainly on preserva- population living in distant suburbs, while spreading externalities tion of Chile’s native forests and fauna in rural and wilderness such as air pollution, congestion, and isolation across the city, par- areas. In the 1990s, two conflicts brought environmental issues ticularly amongst vulnerable populations with the most need for closer to cities: a conflict over the Gas Andes pipeline, in the Maipo improved public transport and access to the city’s benefits. A large canyon, near Santiago; and an attempt by a pulp plant to run an part of the city was, in effect, being asked to sacrifice wellbeing effluent pipe into the Mehuín fishing cove in southern Chile. (homes, heritage, clean air, green space, etc.) for a major transport The Costanera Norte highway project was the first major con- project that would not meet their needs and, indeed, threatened to flict in which citizens in newly democratizing Chile campaigned isolate them further. against an urban policy. The Coordinadora used a multipronged When the public works ministry announced the Costanera Nor- strategy involving the media, the courts, and other methods to te, Chile’s first major urban highway concession in late 1996, the bring its demands for equal treatment into the environmental authorities anticipated no significant opposition. The ministry impact assessment system. In post-Pinochet Chile, it faced a pow- was headed by Ricardo Lagos, a popular politician on his way to erful, authoritarian, and deeply unsympathetic system. Nonethe- the presidency. Of the ten municipal areas (comunas) affected, less, the environmental law was newly passed, and authorities communities in three led an anti-highway campaign, which trig- accepted some of the Coordinadora’s demands, such as equal time gered substantial debate over city planning. These involved the with the project’s proponent and the right to access key residents of low-income, heritage housing in Independencia; the information. market and street vendors, residents, and artists of the area around The Coordinadora quickly built alliances with environmental, the Vega Central and Bellavista Recoleta; the residents, artists, and academic, and other groups, using its own communications media intellectuals of Bellavista Providencia; and high-income profes- to supplement limited coverage in the Santiago media. As faxes sionals and business people of Pedro de Valdivia Norte, also in developed, then e-mail, the worldwide web and other new media, Providencia. Thus, formally constituted neighborhood and micro- the Coordinadora wove an extensive network reaching diverse business associations joined with ad hoc committees of renters, actors in the country’s elite and among the general public
Fig. 1. The Costanera Norte Highway Project in its geographic context (top), the communities that formed the Coordinadora, and the socio-economic distribution of the city. The pink rectangle is the airport, while the blue is the ENEA real estate development. The red line indicates areas through which the highway was initially supposed to pass, while the green line reflects the route that actually entered the environmental assessment process. Source: Quijada 2009. Below: The territorial jurisdictions of the comunas and socio-economic information. The green patch indicates the four main territories involved in the anti-highway revolt led by the Coordinadora, Pedro de Valdivia Norte, Bellavista, Vega-Recoleta, Independencia. The highest income (ABC1) is the darkest blue, shading lighter as income drops. Source: Juan Pablo Frick, Living City (main map); inset map Ó Open Street Map Contributors. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) 78 L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83
(Sagaris, 2012). Internally, the Coordinadora was governed by a of Chile, 2005), and a law on public participation in public pro- council composed of leadership from all the organizations in the cesses (Government of Chile, 2011). coalition, and advised by geographers, transport, urban, environ- In terms of civil society organization, the anti-highway coalition mental and other experts. Early meetings included training ses- brought together legally constituted neighborhood associations sions, and decisions were hammered out through deliberation with ad hoc campaign groups, acting as an informal school for and made by consensus. Each group retained its own leadership, training effective citizen planners, capable of reading plans, speak- spokespersons, and style. ing out, and linking their issues to wider claims for democratiza- This horizontal structure built trust and a common agenda, as tion of urban planning decisions. In Chile, these take place as the different communities’ claims merged. Each group’s leaders much at the national and regional levels as within local municipal- went to all key meetings with government officials, rather than ities (Huerta, 2000; Nickson, 1995; Posner, 2003). This cross-cut- throwing their support behind a single leader. Protest events typ- ting approach to citizen organization broke with the black and ically began in one neighborhood and rolled through these highly white discursive dichotomies of the military era, when all Chileans public areas of the city. Roles alternated, breaking with clichés, were divided into friends and ‘‘enemies’’ of the regime, or even, as for example, when low-income market people proved better fun- one military junta member put it, ‘‘humans’’ and ‘‘humanoids.’’ draisers than those from middle- and high-income neighborhoods, Ordinary people were able to work across class, political, and other contributing crucial resources to the campaign. profound differences to collaborate on urban transport issues cru- From 1997 to 2000, these seemingly powerless citizens ques- cial to their survival as both individuals and communities. This tioned the country’s most powerful ministry, delaying a project forged a kind of citizenship that broke with the clientelism of pre- worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Attempts to dismiss the vious periods (Oxhorn, 1995; Taylor, 2004). campaign, and to intimidate or overrun the communities1 failed. In 2000, Coordinadora leaders created Living City (Ciudad Viva), While the environmental impact assessment was the main venue a permanent citizen institution, to bring citizens’ perspectives, for increasingly sophisticated debates, where even some public proposals, and skills to urban planning processes. The following agencies questioned the project (CONAMA, 1998–2000), streets sections trace how this legacy shaped Living City, and the impacts and squares saw marches, communal hugs, posters, and banners these dynamics have had on transport planning. demanding respect for neighborhoods vital to ordinary people (the parks, the market, the cultural and recreational activities). Ultimately, the project, which was first tendered in April, 1997, 4. Citizen-led planning: living city, 2000–2012 died in the late 1990s and was later revived by President Eduardo Frei, who found a consortium willing to build it in 2000. Then, after In 2000, the Coordinadora’s leaders from Bellavista, Pedro de more than a year of tense negotiation between the consortium and Valdivia Norte, and Independencia joined with those of market government, the government accepted that, in the Coordinadora’s vendors (Tirso de Molina, Acofer, Pergola Santa María, and the Vega territories, the highway would go under the Mapocho river, ensur- Chica) to found Living City (Ciudad Viva), a citizen institution ing the survival of all but two of the Coordinadora’s communities based on the work of the Coordinadora. Like its predecessor, Living (those in Independencia). City forged dialogue through diversity and interdependence into a Other results were less visible, but equally important, particu- powerful unity among leaders and their organizations in the cen- larly in terms of the skills necessary for effective citizenship, after tral neighborhoods of Santiago (Valle, 2003). Unlike the Coordin- 17 years of bitter repression. Dahl (1992) raises the issue of ‘‘civic adora, its work went beyond defensive campaigns to propose competence’’ and where it comes from. If concerns about ‘‘what groundbreaking change in recycling and transport systems, in standards must citizens meet in order to be considered compe- neighborhood and heritage management, and in neighborhood tent?’’ and whether ‘‘a significant number of citizens’’ fail to meet recovery. Typically, despite some tension between leaders and them are pertinent in the more established democracies of Europe municipal politicians and staff, Living City proved able to both cri- and North America, they were acute in post-dictatorial Chile. tique problems (for example, spiraling crime associated with As the campaign evolved, researchers noted that these urban municipalities’ permissive attitude to drug trafficking and illegal conflicts were producing a new kind of citizenship that was chang- discotheques in Bellavista) and propose solutions through inten- ing previous patterns (Allard, 2003; du Monceau and Sepúlveda, sive problem-solving workshops called ‘‘charrettes,’’ participatory 1998; Ducci, 2000, 2002, 2004). Not only did the Coordinadora mapping, and other methods that brought neighbors and other break with traditional class segregation, reinforced by the actors into direct contact with municipal and other planners military’s physical segregation of the city, it also connected across (Kroeger Claussen, 2009). traditional party boundaries, including people with pro- and anti- Living City’s first two projects, Recycle to Live Better (supported Pinochet convictions in a unity unheard of at the time. This diverse, by Fondo de las Américas, 2001) and Get Moving for Your City: A independent leadership broke with clientelism, judging politicians Citizens’ Proposal for Transport for Equality (financed by the and forming alliances based on specific positions regarding the UNDP-GEF, 2002), both won the prestigious award for Innovation highway and citizen participation, rather than traditional party in Citizenship (2002, 2003), sponsored by the Ford Foundation, loyalties. Leaders based their demands on rights rather than rela- the Foundation for Overcoming Poverty, and the University of tionships, demanding equality in terms of how participation was Chile’s public policy institute. Together, the awards helped to con- organized and how decisions were made (Ducci, 2000). Along the solidate Living City’s reputation and participatory methods, way, citizen participation in planning decisions went from nui- enabling it to expand throughout the decade. One emblematic pro- sance status to a deeply felt public demand, expressed in a presi- cess, led by Living City volunteers and municipal planners, dential decree ordering ministers to include public participation involved the renovation of Pio Nono street in Bellavista, an eight- in their processes (Lagos, 2000), a constitutional amendment year effort that culminated in its launching, with widened side- enshrining the right to information and transparent (Government walks, a cycle way, and other amenities, in 2008. This initiative also won a major award from the national government. In 2001, two Living City leaders visited Bogotá, interviewing 1 These included threats by the Recoleta mayor against market leaders (personal technical staff, planners, business people, and others involved in communication to Coordinadora, 1998); a campaign to convince government staff not to hire independent professionals in the Coordinadora (personal communication from implementing a visionary transport plan, based on a bus rapid people approached); and other tactics. transport system, the Transmilenio, and an extensive network of L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83 79 cycleways, complemented by social and other initiatives. Through hallmark of Living City’s work. After the Bellavista charrettes its own media (website, print magazine with a circulation of 5000; (2003, 2009) and as part of the cycling roundtable (2008–2010), a radio show with an audience of 14,000), Living City endorsed mid-level planners flocked to Living City’s trainings, working group these as models for Santiago. In 2003, Living City convinced the meetings, on-street audits, and other activities. These, in turn, were World Bank to bring Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, able to bring politicians onboard, and public events created win- to Chile, for a seminar at the United Nations Economic Commission win-win situations for the government, technical staff, and citizen for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). More than 200 peo- organizations. Behind the scenes, small groups got real work done. ple from city and regional government, civil society, and other A key ingredient was civil society leadership, on par with the organizations participated, and transport and housing ministry regional government. Caricatured readings of evil government staff speakers found themselves speaking to a committed, demanding versus innocent abused citizens broke down when both shared tri- audience. Other events included a cycle ride to launch a book out- umphs and frustrations, in a common search for better ways to lining proposals for Santiago’s transport system (Lanfranco et al., integrate cycling. This was apparent, for example, in debates that 2003), the making of a half-hour film, and a round of conversations revealed that cycle ways were being built on sidewalks rather than with academics, planners, and government officials. on roads, because municipalities have jurisdiction over sidewalk From 2007 to 2010, Living City worked with a Dutch NGO, Inter- but not road design. face for Cycling Expertise (I-CE), to create more cycling-inclusive Moreover, although it led the roundtable process, Living City conditions in Santiago (modal share had risen from 2% in 2000 to was unable to monopolize leadership of cycling initiatives among 3% in 2006), through partnerships between I-CE/Living City, the civil society groups. Instead (and this, too, reflected lessons from Undersecretariat of Transport and Metropolitan Santiago’s Regio- the Coordinadora period) it alternated leadership with ‘‘follow- nal Government. Thus, a small group of some 25 members met ship,’’ supporting promotion campaigns by the Bicicultura Centre, monthly to develop a Chilean design manual based on the Dutch an open streets initiative organized by CicloRecreovía, and helping manual; mixed groups conducted on-street audits, reporting on to design and implement the women’s cycling school with Maclet- results; Living City and the women’s cycling group, Macletas, as. Today, the Macletas have run more than 13 courses, with more developed a school for women that moved around the city with than 300 graduates, aged from 16 to 70, from diverse backgrounds. the open streets initiative, CicloRecreovía; additional activities The resulting progress was substantial. When the Concertación, took place through the Bicicultura festival; and so on. Similarly, which had ruled Chile since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship small workshops developed innovative public and private sector (1990) lost elections to a right-wing coalition headed by Sebastián initiatives, while civil society groups contributed activities focus- Piñera (2009), cycling policy remained a high priority. Indeed, Piñ- ing on behavioral change (Sagaris and Olivo, 2010). era rode a bike in his victory photo (AP, 2010). The Santiago net- The whole process both drove and was driven by a plenary work has expanded significantly from under 50 km to 197 km group, the Citizen-Government Roundtable for a Cycling Culture. (DICTUC-CV, 2011), fueled by US$45 million in funding, the prod- This met three or four times a year (2007–2009), was co-chaired uct of an inter-ministerial agreement brokered by then-regional by Living City and the regional governor of Santiago, and was governor of Santiago, Adriana del Piano, in 2007. Cycle counts attended by 60–80 representatives from public, private, and citizen (UyT and CiudadViva, 2012) show that the number of cyclists on groups interested in cycling. The Roundtable reversed typical pro- major routes has been rising at 20% or more annually since 2007. cedures, with citizens speaking first, and presentation rights Public attitudes have also shifted. While in the 1980s, the media depending on the realization of work between sessions. Everyone typically covered the bicycle as an antiquated, poor man’s ride that could comment and ask questions, but presenters had to report should be eliminated in modern Chile, today it is covered with on specific tasks. Thus, Santiago’s Metro developed cycle parking, enthusiasm and support, given its health, environmental, and other recyclers working with the El Bosque municipality developed a benefits2,3. cycle and other plans for integration of tricyclers, and so on. In 2009, through a participatory action-mapping process, cyclists’ evaluation of existing infrastructure became a part of the diagnosis 5. Lessons for strategic participation in urban transport that led to a significant update of Santiago’s Cycling Master Plan. planning Overall, this system of small working and large plenary activities generated substantial participation (Table 3), totaling more than A growing body of literature has documented the value of par- 1500 people, and significant consensus (2010). ticipation in transport planning. Far from delaying decisions and The accumulative effect of these activities was to shift commu- making project implementation more expensive, as Chilean policy- nication away from the top-down, informational end of the spec- makers often argued, bringing citizens in from the start and trum (Fig. 2) and move it into deliberation, based on more throughout the planning, implementation, and evaluation phases horizontal relationships (citizen facilitators), opportunities to actually simplifies many public policy processes. In 2010, a Trans- debate in formal and informal spaces, and deeper reflection (often port Research Board report surveying 50 North American transport facilitated by our Dutch advisors) on issues crucial to real change. agencies concluded that ‘‘The benefits of engaging the public are This is consistent with Gastil’s (2008) definitions of the analytic many and include ‘ownership’ of policies; ‘better’ decisions that and social processes that involve emotional histories as well as are sustainable, supportable, and reflect community values; agency rational debates, thereby allowing groups to move toward new, credibility; and faster implementation of plans and projects’’ consensus-based positions, which often require significant change (Giering, 2011). in individual as well as collective stances. At the time, public dis- course in Chile remained shaped by the rigidity imposed by the military regime. Many terms, even the word ‘‘planning’’ itself, were 2 Particularly powerful was an advertising campaign in the 1980s, still available on virtually banned as part of Chile’s neoliberal experiment, and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flVb5LehWHk) today, featuring popular extreme us-and-them readings of reality were still the norm. actor Nissim Sharim trying to take his girl for a ride on a bike, and a driver yelling at In this context, the large-scale meetings organized by national him, ‘‘cómprate un auto perico!’’ – get yourself a car, man!’’, which entered the popular lexicon in the decades that followed. ministries as participation did not build trust, reflection, or willing- 3 See, for example, a recent 10-min news feature on the main news broadcast by ness to change. In contrast, bringing people from diverse back- TeleTrece (18-VII-2012), http://www.13.cl/t13/sociedad/ciclistas-acusan-falta-de- grounds together and building a common language became the cultura-vial. 80
Table 3 Participation in the I-CE/GORE/Living City Collaboration, 2007–2010.
Actors Type Activities Total participation/ Stgo I-CE /CV Design Cycling Implementation, PAR Plan Promotion Technical REDEVU Education, Safe cycling Cycling group Master trainings Manual Law infrastruct Maestro 2009 commission gender manual Economy Plan Living City CSO 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 GORE RM Govt-Regl 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Macletas CSO 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 New cycling CSO 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 groups Oxford Firm 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 .Sgrs/Junlo rnpr egah 1(04 74–83 (2014) 41 Geography Transport of Journal / Sagaris L. Conaset Govt-Natl 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 SECTRA Govt-Regl 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Metro Govt-Regl 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 MTT-Studies Govt-Natl 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Bicicultura CSO 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Pharo 4 Firm 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Ciclorecreovías CSO 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 MOP Govt-Regl 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Consultants Firm 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Munis Govt-Locl 1 1 1 1 1 5 B’Easy (public Firm 1 1 1 1 15 bikes) PUC-Design University 1 1 1 14 Transantiago Govt-Regl 1 1 1 1 1 5 Presidency Govt-Natl 1 1 1 3 Recyclers CSO-firms 1 1 1 3 Central Station CSO 1 1 1 3 Commun. Assn. IC Bikes Firm 11 13 Other CSOs CSO 1 1 1 3 Chilectra Firm 1 12 Parking Firm 1 1 Recicletas CSO 11 Arriba laChancha CSO 1 1 MFC CSO 1 1 Total participation/ 25 21 17 13 12 11 11 9 9 7 7 5 activity
Note: Reflects main but not all participants. Total participation is the simple sum of instances in which actors participated. Municipalities are underre presented, as they are presented as one actor, when in reality five participated actively in most instances and more than 20 participated in the different training sessions with I-CE, for example. Other actors, such as Bicicultura , Ciclorecreovías, Macletas, participated intensely in their own activities, which went beyond this selection. Notwithstanding, this provides insight into the diversity of actors and varieties of instances of their participation. Source: Author’s update, based on Table 3; Sagaris (2010) , updated on 10 August 2012. L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83 81
end, not a means to an end. The strategy is to open up the policy process by a variety of means with a view to developing a new mode of democratic governance.’’ This is not just a goodhearted or ethical choice, but rather reflects the understanding that govern- ment-controlled participation ‘‘may actually suppress the creation of social capital’’ (ibid: 164). Moreover, in a world threatened by global climate change, participation is necessary to produce com- mitment (Boonstra and Boelens, 2011), the strategic conviction that motivates citizens to change habits and procedures, and to improve collective living (Healey, 2006). This case underlines the importance of a specific kind of com- munication, deliberation, to convince individuals located in differ- ent ‘‘niches’’ and at different scales of a complex urban planning ecology. It indicates that small groups are the most favorable to the kind of deliberation or authentic dialogue able to change peo- ple’s minds and build new consensuses favoring shifts toward Fig. 2. The communication /participation spectrum. Source: Own elaboration, cycling-inclusive urban planning. Getting the most out of these based on case study, and thinking about deliberation by Innes and Booher (2010) processes requires going beyond individual participation to include and Gastil (2008). methods and goals regarding citizen organizations, able to accu- mulate knowledge, credibility, network and other resources. Confusion remains, however, about what actually constitutes Where civil society organizations are weak, uninformed or incapa- effective participation, with many definitions failing to go beyond ble of providing a credible, independent voice, as occurs in newly information delivery (public fora where plans are presented for democratizing contexts, the whole process is unnecessarily handi- brief comment by the audience) or exchange (surveys). Rydin capped. This study shows how participatory processes can build and Pennington (2000: 164) see participation in planning ‘‘as an citizen capacity and government commitment.
Fig. 3. The Governance/Power ‘‘BOID’’. Living City and its partners mobilized actors in political, technical, citizen, some private and some academic ‘‘niches’’ of the prevailing planning ecology, bringing in excluded private and citizen groups and mobilizing knowledge, generated by citizens, academics and technical planning staff. This generated a more transparent political environment, based on more egalitarian (democratic) relationships among participants, and favored unity around more sustainable urban policies, particularly in transport. 82 L. Sagaris / Journal of Transport Geography 41 (2014) 74–83
Moreover, by working through and with autonomous, self- for ‘‘middle-out’’ dynamics, such as those produced by the metro- organizing citizen organizations, rather than the typical list of par- politan government-ICE-Living City alliance described here. ticipatory activities, political leaders and technical staff taking When embedded in horizontal and vertical networks of actors, innovative positions found they had significant support – indeed training small groups of citizens, planners, and politicians alike pressure – to move ahead, thus generating diverse shifts through- to pursue innovative policies actively can significantly influence out the systems, wherever these people were present, or moved as large and diverse systems. In Chile, the highly centralized, exclu- part of their regular activities. This case also illustrates the impor- sionary governance system inherited from the regime is a far cry tance of redistributing power, both symbolically and actually. from the bottom-up planning that characterizes the Swiss or other With Santiago’s complex, multi-scalar urban governance, this processes in more established democracies. Bottom-up responses was particularly challenging. The metropolitan region offices of in democratizing contexts typically involve conflict and resistance. national ministries (transport, housing, planning, public works, Top-down processes do not enjoy the kind of legitimacy that they etc.) make many key metropolitan planning decisions, usually often have in contexts such as Canada, for example, where national with little coordination and less transparency. The Metropolitan health or educational funding policies are the result of over a cen- Santiago government (Intendencia), meanwhile, has little political tury of public debates and, ultimately, consensus-building. Rather, clout, no planning institution, and limited legitimacy, since it is citizens typically perceive top-down arguments to be oppressive run by a presidential appointee, who changes constantly (once a and serving a small but powerful minority. This leads to attitudes year, during the period of the cycling-inclusive initiative). Munici- of individual and collective resistance rather than collaboration pal government capacity is limited by strict rules and reduced and co-responsibility for results. funding. Looking at urban issues across nested scales brings out the When the Coordinadora/Living City emerged, this ‘‘variegated importance of meso- or in-between spaces. In a context where collection of organizations that constitute the state’’ (Evans, 2002) the only citizen organizations were small, neighborhood level jun- tended to ignore citizens, and was influenced by a mostly invisible tas de vecinos, Living City emerged primarily as a regional organiza- private sector. Citizen groups worked directly through politicians, tion, connecting local and thematic groups with national and local petitioning mayors for help on the basis of social dependence or policymakers to ensure their views were considered. Similarly, in political cronyism, for example, in what often followed a clientelist an institutional set up concentrating most power over local devel- pattern. Or they would work through technical staff, with limited opment in national ministries, Living City and its partners were power and, in some cases, lacking the competency or the will to able to leverage this in-between position to the point where the respond effectively (Fig. 3-top). Through its initiatives, particularly regional government was coordinating all government (local and the cycling-inclusive urban planning initiative, Living City and part- national), citizen, and other actors in favor of cycling policies. ners in public, citizen and private spheres were able to improve the This study suggests that, particularly in developing countries, transparency of policymaking and thereby contribute to both democratizing planning processes is as important to achieving sus- democratization and sustainability of urban transport decisions tainable transport as measures focusing on emissions or energy. (Fig. 3-bottom). This required investing significant resources in civil Doing so in ways that build leadership and responsibility among society development and ensuring both symbolic and genuine co- citizen, government and private planners alike may offer a power- leadership, by citizens and government, of collaborative planning ful and attractive new element to any effort to build more sustain- processes. able transport, and safer, greener, happier cities. As noted above, with the private car still holding a minority modal share, even in a bustling, car-friendly environment like Acknowledgements Chile’s, developing countries actually enjoy many advantages in shifting toward more sustainable transport, compared to countries This research was supported by Canada’s Social Science and in North America and Europe with extremely high modal shares for Humanities Research Council and the Centro de Estudios de cars. To mobilize these potentialities, however, requires careful Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable (CEDEUS), with funding from attention to citizen involvement and organizations, as they can Conicyt, FONDAP No. 15110020. articulate learning, participation and the new convictions at the micro, individual scale, essential to drive change throughout whole regions and countries. References
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