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Educating cities in Latin America

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Abstract

This article considers the development of educating cities from a political perspective, illustrating in detail the diversity of organisations and individuals involved and the challenges they are facing. Bearing in mind that educating cities were established from the 1990s onwards in Europe and spread to other continents from there, the purpose of this article is to demonstrate how this proposal was adopted in Latin America. After discussing the basic aims of educating cities, the paper focuses on the Latin American experience, giving examples of existing projects within the educating cities initiative. The authors are particularly interested in the contrast between the political intentions of educating cities on the one hand and the social, economic, political and cultural world on the other hand. They observe that in this context there is a danger of the individual being forgotten, which contradicts the actual intention of the educating city concept. They also discuss the problem of who should carry out the realisation of educating cities and how the various stakeholders might coordinate their actions. Contemplating new directions at the end of their paper, the authors sum up a number of guidelines and offer recommendations for action in developing educating cities.

Résumé

Cités éducatives en Amérique latine – Cet article présente l’évolution des cités éducatives dans une perspective politique, illustrant en détail la diversité des organismes et des individus impliqués et les défis qu’ils rencontrent. Sachant que les villes éducatives sont apparues à partir des années 1990 en Europe pour gagner d’autres continents, le présent article vise à illustrer comment ce concept a été adopté en Amérique latine. Après avoir présenté les objectifs de base des cités éducatives, les auteurs se penchent sur l’expérience latino-américaine en citant des exemples de projets menés dans le cadre de l’initiative des cités éducatives. Ils s’intéressent en particulier au contraste entre les intentions politiques des cités éducatives et le monde social, économique, politique et culturel. Ils observent que dans ce contexte, il existe le risque que l’individu soit occulté, ce qui s’oppose à l’intention originelle du concept de cité éducative. Ils abordent par ailleurs la question des personnes chargées de la réalisation de la cité éducative, et des possibilités pour les diverses parties prenantes de coordonner leurs actions. En envisageant de nouvelles orientations, les auteurs récapitulent plusieurs lignes directrices et énoncent des recommandations sur les actions à déployer pour la création de cités éducatives.

Resumen

Este artículo analiza el desarrollo de las ciudades educadoras desde una perspectiva política que ilustra con detalle la diversidad de organizaciones e individuos involucrados, así como los retos que enfrentan. Considerando que las ciudades educadoras se establecieron en la década de 1990 en Europa y de ahí se extendieron a otros continentes, el propósito de este artículo es mostrar cómo esta propuesta fue adoptada en América Latina. Después de presentar los objetivos principales de las ciudades educadoras, el artículo se centra en la experiencia de América Latina, ofreciendo ejemplos de los proyectos existentes bajo esta iniciativa. Los autores están particularmente interesados en el contraste entre las intenciones políticas de las ciudades educadoras y el mundo social, económico político y cultural. Observan que en este contexto, existe el peligro de que las personas queden olvidadas, lo que contradice la intención real del concepto de ciudades educadoras. También dialogan sobre el problema de quién debe implementar el desarrollo de las ciudades educadoras y cómo las diferentes partes interesadas pueden coordinar sus acciones. Al final del artículo, los autores vislumbran nuevas orientaciones, resumen una serie de directrices y ofrecen recomendaciones para la acción en el desarrollo de ciudades educadoras.

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Notes

  1. This article was originally written in Spanish. Translations of quotations such as this one were made by the translator of this article for the purpose of its publication in English. The page references given refer to the Spanish-language source listed in the reference section.

  2. The Charter is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN 1948); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN 1966); the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN 1989); the World Declaration on Education for All (UNESCO 1990); and the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO 2001).

  3. The acronym BIDCE originates from the Spanish name Banco Internacional de Documentos de Ciudades Educadoras.

  4. The structure of this information system is similar to that of other databases on educational programmes and ground-breaking experiences such as the Regional Education Innovations Network (INNOVEMOS) of UNESCO‘s Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC).

  5. It should be noted that some of the BIDCE records are not up to date, since for example, Buenos Aires and some other Argentinian cities such as Córdoba, Mar del Plata and Vicente López in the province of Buenos Aires, have been omitted from the databank.

  6. Mexico City has a population of almost 9 million inhabitants when taking into account the municipal neighbourhoods of the Federal District [Distrito Federal, (often abbreviated D. F.); another term for Mexico City], but between 22 and 23 million if the conurbation areas are included (INEGI 2010).

  7. None of these activities are in fact registered as part of the Educating City programme. Some of these activities come under the Ministry of Culture of the Federal District.

  8. The sports observatory is a centre for diagnosis, consultation, analysis and opinion for the public provision of services in sports, recreation and physical activities.

  9. This term refers to the city of Los Angeles, California, which experienced the loss of its historical centre (Cabezudo 2006).

  10. The term citizenship education refers to teaching people about justice and how to make decisions for the common good and giving them the competence to undertake initiatives to improve the quality of the environment.

  11. This stance on the political status of citizen education is supported by Henry Giroux (1983, in Chapter 5 on Critical theory).

  12. “Anybody” is a classification of French philosopher Jacques Rancière (2011) that has been taken up again.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Adult Education, Mexico City, Mexico

    Graciela Messina

  2. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg, Germany

    Raúl Valdés-Cotera

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  1. Graciela Messina
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  2. Raúl Valdés-Cotera
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Correspondence to Raúl Valdés-Cotera.

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Messina, G., Valdés-Cotera, R. Educating cities in Latin America. Int Rev Educ 59, 425–441 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-013-9369-x

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