Prospective identification of factors in the process of urban environmental management “metro station Petare” Caracas, Venezuela

Abstract

Public spaces belonging to the Petare Parish, of the Sucre Municipality, in the Region Capi­tal Venezuela, have been invaded by informal trade, affecting the quality of the urban envi­ronment. The objective of this research was to prospectively identify factors of the urban environmental management, to rescue Petare metro station from the perspective of sustainable development. To this end, 28 brainstor­ming meetings were held with representatives of different social groups (80 people) that live in the public space studied. First, eight meetings were held to identify the 35 most influential factors from the perspective of the participants. From based on these factors, a survey was conducted on site (Petare metro station) with 575 participants, to identify the direct influence of each of the actors in the problem. During 10 meetings, held according to the survey results, and applying Pareto te­chnique to assess direct classification, the 16 most influential factors were obtained. In the last ten meetings, prospective methods were used to identify the hidden influential varia­bles for the development of a recovery plan for the site. Results indicated that healthy social interaction and informal trade restriction are potential target variables that allowed the ge­neration of a feasible short and medium term management plan, sustainable over time, in sound governance of space. The most striking conclusion was that citizen participation ai­med at recognizing the variable environment, allows the identification of influential factors of urban management in public spaces that for different reasons have been violated with acti­vities that do not correspond to their function as part of the urban context.