New City: A Process of Participatory Planning and Management

Abstract

Written by the former mayor of Cuenca (Ecuador) and president of the Inter-American Planning Society, this article presents the Nueva Ciudad process, a model of participatory planning and management developed during his two terms as mayor, as a reference for the debate on urban food security in Medellín. The author describes the model's guiding principles, aimed at public-private co-management and decentralization toward the canton's rural parishes. The text details three flagship programs: Rural Participatory Budgets, the "Improve Your Neighborhood" program, which significantly increased urban green area, and sustainable solid-waste management, illustrated by the case of a rural community that voluntarily agreed to host the city's landfill in exchange for economic compensation and responsible management.