STLOCUS METHOD. Defining Places through Territorial Intelligence

HORACIO BOZZANO

Strasbourg

Conferencia; IX ENTI International Conference "Ecological and Social Innovation"; 2010

ENTI European Network Territorial Intelligence y Relais Emploi de Strasbourg

Considering there exist millions of places and thousands of millions of perceptions and thoughts about them, how can we establish a method to define places? We present a proposal oriented towards the definition of places according to five moments or instances. This line of research started in 1984 at the National University of La Plata and the CONICET, it continued in the last two years as part of a Research Project at the John Kennedy Argentine University. It is currently part of the Territoriesnet 2010-2015 PICTe 2 Scientific Research Program for “Territory and Territorial Intelligence: Theoretical Concepts.”Stlocus is the old Latin term for “where somebody or something is placed”, locus in Latin means place:whereas the first one relates to addresses, the second one refers to the home. It is this sense of belonging, of articulation between something and somebody, what made us favor of this name for the method. The place is understood a priori as a pattern of territorial occupation and appropriation in the micro and meso scales: centers, neighborhoods, farming communities, urban interstices, industrial parks, degraded and protected spaces, among others. It seeks to contribute territorial understanding that incorporates territorial intelligence and development: we believe that, once the places for each project have been defined, diverse relationships may be found—direct as well as indirect—applicable to a large scope of objects of intervention; such as projects, programs, and diverse plans and policies: urban and territorial zoning plans[1]; impact assessments[2]; general or sectoral strategic plans; policies for jurisdictional changes, geographic information systems, territorial attractivity and identification of strategic interventions; and public or public-private intervention programs, among others. We start from the following hypothesis: “Conceptually defining the place as accurately as possible in terms of an object of study provides valid contributions, which can be applied while using the notion of place, in a second instance, together with some other concepts such as policy, program, management, strategic intervention, territorial intelligence, territorial development, local development, institutional development, planning and zoning in real objects of intervention.”  The Stlocus Method is structured and applied in five moments, named:1st) territorialities and territories; 2nd) vocations and “pre-places”; 3rd) rationalities, processes, trends and actors; 4th) mapping of places; and 5th) synthesis matrix: "places, concepts and variables." In each moment we specify what is understood by each operational concept and record the techniques used, in relation to sources as well as to procedures. First stage: Territorialities and territories. We start investigating in a preliminary way four territorialities: urban, peri-urban, rural and natural. These territorialities are subject to a preliminary spatialization in a map of the administrative area or territory under study. Second stage: Vocations and “pre-places.” Vocations are studied—central, residential, industrial, agricultural and other—to preliminary spatialize them in the micro scale; that allows us to create a map of "pre-places", this is, the preliminary definition of places in terms of territorial occupation and appropriation patterns, identifying nuances and variations for each vocation.Third stage: Rationalities, processes, trends and actors. We investigate rationalities, processes, trends and actors that exist in each “pre-place” or preliminary place; a provisional record is prepared—like a matrix for impact assessments—with information about the presence and meaning of each concept and variable in three levels: important, secondary and irrelevant or absent. Fourth stage: Mapping of places. Building on the mapping of those “pre-places” and incorporating the analysis of rationalities, processes, trends and actors, we create the final mapping of places, defining each place by its most prominent characteristic in the most simple, fuller and exact possible way. In this stage we take care of the final adjustments, when required, with experts aware of the local reality.  Fifth stage: Synthesis matrix. A matrix is built where we synthesize all places on one axis and all concepts and variables on the other, specifying and adjusting the preliminary record created during the third stage and related to the presence and meaning of each concept and each variable in three levels: important, secondary and irrelevant or absent. This matrix is interpretive of the research process conducted; it contributes elements to define the operational concept of each place, recognizing its most prominent characteristics.  It is worth mentioning the importance of GIS tools and all the information available on the Internet that enable us to process the data to generate new information.  The publication ends recognizing some general perspectives:a- replicability of criteria in other places, while keeping the theoretical-methodological assumptions; b- theoretical reflections related to the concept of place and similar ideas; c- usefulness of the operational concept of “place” in diverse objects of intervention; and d- meaning of the concept of place in matters related to territorial understanding, intelligence and development. NOTA: Se adjunta el trabajo expuesto con Sergio Resa en el Workshop. La publicación, finalizada y aprobada, se encuentra en prensa [1] Vanesa Crissi (2009) “El caso Isla Verde” ENTI Conference Salerno; Gastón Cirio, “El caso Colón”, idem. [2] Gastón Cirio and Noelia Vallejo (2009) “El caso Gaona” ENTI Conference Salerno; Bozzano, H. and Oscar Decastelli “Las EIAs”, idem.