Estado actual de la Gestión Medio Ambiental en el desarrollo del turismo en Cuba

Continuing under the slogan ”Medellín the most educated” Medellín Digital, the government’s

technology agency, began to implement a programme to bring free internet access to communities, initially focusing on schools and libraries and later on other public spaces such as parks and squares. To date there are 321 free connectivity spaces ranging from free internet access to free computer access. The tenet of this programme was to facilitate the discovery of opportunities, empowerment through knowledge and connections with others. Initially the programme focused on the areas of education, culture and entrepreneurship and can be considered as a part of a wider package of initiatives to facilitate social and economic prosperity.

However, Medellín Digital has identified other areas of citizens and communities’ lives that could benefit from technology and therefore are delivering “Medellín Ciudad Inteligente” (Medellín Smart City). Medellín Ciudad Inteligente will build upon the strategy of connectivity to expand into other public services, such as health, policing and safety. In this context, the role of technology is to promote transparency in government by sharing and making government information available to people. In the same vein, connectivity functions as a tool for participatory citizenship in which individuals and communities, through the uptake of technology, are empowered to transform their lives.

The development of Medellín Ciudad Inteligente has been presented as collaboration between communities led initiatives and government policy. Thus, it is

not merely a top down initiative imposed by the

government; there is a convergence between the state and the community’s needs. As Ana Isabel Palacios, Director of Medellín Ciudad Inteligente explained, the plan emerged in consultation with citizens, going into communities, analysing their experiences as service users and using this information to improve services. Medellín Ciudad Inteligente works with communities, particularly in more marginalised communities (as they enjoy greater levels of government investment), such as Comuna 13, to identify their needs and give them solutions. Ana also highlighted the high levels of community led social entrepreneurship and social innovation initiatives present in Medellín and therefore explained that the Medellín Ciudad Inteligent’s role was to enhance and sustain these projects through the appropriation of technological tools.

However, as with the local planning and participatory budgeting scheme, questions could be raised regarding power differentials, decision making and agenda setting. Whilst the government may take a degree of direction from interacting with the community, the state ultimately decides which issues will inform policy. Thus, citizens have no power to dispute the agenda imposed upon them or question he extent to which citizens are empowered in this process. Furthermore, the state controls what government information is disseminated to the public which raises doubts about the transparency of this policy.

Therefore, whilst the development and aims of Medellín Ciudad Inteligente are presented as a partnership between the local government and the local community, it is possible to suggest that this digital policy, as with cultural policy, serves to aid the state’s agenda. As with other policies, the language of co-management is employed, whereby citizens, supported by governmental infrastructure, “determine” their personal development and that of their community. Notwithstanding, given the conditions of possibility are set and controlled by the state, the concepts of co-management, transparency and empowerment are questionable.

Given this, digital polices can be regarded as a tool for legitimising the state. Firstly, they promote confidence in the state as they portray the government as transparent, receptive and accountable, therefore facilitating its legitimacy. Secondly, the active (albeit restricted) involvement of citizens in local digital policy aids stability and endorses civic life as people are considered as stakeholders in this process. Thirdly, it serves to diminish some of the causal social issues (low educational attainment, limited prospects, and unemployment) that are factors in partaking in the illicit activities that threaten the state’s authority. Facilitating confidence in the state, the role of citizens as stakeholders in policy making and addressing social issues all serve to strengthen the state’s position in the community.

Humanitarianism 2.0 Care for the future... The case of Medellín, Colombia.

At first glance, participatory budget, consultations and local planning appear to be innovative strategies in which citizens take an active role in shaping civic life. However it is important to remember the context in which these policies are being implemented. Colombia, and Medellín in particular, is recovering from complex, multi-layered internal conflicts that have engulfed the country for more than half a century.

Utilising policies as a means of economic and social prosperity to simultaneously strengthen the state’s authority in the context of post war recovery is a tested strategy. For example, comparable strategies to improve social and economic conditions were employed in building peace in Northern Ireland (Dixon, 2009). Likewise, parallels could also be drawn with “the hearts and minds” rationale adopted by the US and British governments as a mechanism to combat insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan (Berman, 2008; Fukuyama, 2008; El-Aendi, 2005). In the same vein, the local government in Medellín is grappling with current insurgents and concurrently attempting to quell the potential for future insurgency amongst the younger population. Therefore in this context digital and cultural policy is an instrument for countering the threats to political and social stability. Using creative endeavours to facilitate social and economic well-being is not a novel concept. However, the use of culture as a tool for social transformation in Medellín is not merely a “top down” response led by the government.

Indeed, for decades in the neighbourhoods of Medellín, long before the social and urban transformation

plans of Fajardo or his successor Alonso Salazar Jaramillo, creativity has provided a vehicle for social change, a platform against violence and a means of education. Therefore, it is possible to argue that these governmental initiatives, perhaps take some direction from the cultural practices that have operated in the

The role of culture in the