Territorial Governance

This paper presents and discusses the water provision crisis and the resulting risk of
rationing in regional scale in the Brazilian Southeast. Considering the extension, magnitude
and intensity of this crisis, particularly in Sao Paulo metrotpolitan areas and along Paraiba
do Sul river, it is argued that new spatialities are emerging and imposing adjustments to
water management. The latter is a question of geo-institucional nature. It is not possible
to understand the water provision crisis and emergency actions as exclusively tied to flow
control and reduction. From this understanding comes the urgency of a territorial agenda,
that is, one which considers the relations between diferente spaces, diverse agents, and
the environmental history in Paraíba do Sul river basin

The concepts of ‘territorial vocation’ and ‘territorial governance’ are focal in the literature of tourism management. These same concepts are also the link with many other research fields such as territorial marketing and local economic development. The paper aims to contribute to the debate on territorial
vocation and territorial governance processes by giving an alternative vision, called ‘situationist’, compared to the prevailing one, defined as ‘systemic’. In the traditional paradigm territory is represented as a pre-determined system with respect to the local actors and coalitions. In this
epistemological framework the ‘territorial vocation’ appears as an objective character, self-evident, expression and synthesis of the potential of resources, skills and capacities of a territory. Sharing this approach, the strategic goal in tourism management is to design, implement and control a mechanism
of local planning that integrates the local community in the common goal of sustainable development
of the territory. In a ‘situationist’ point of view territory is a concrete system constructed by the actors.
This different paradigm qualifies the territory as a space of games, a place of different interests and strategies, a place of interaction, negotiation and conflict among actors and their coalitions. The territorial vocation becomes a rationalized myth, an intersubjective construct, not assisted by an aura of
objectivity and functionality to the interests of territory. It is the result, influenced by unintended effects, of the strategic action of a pro-tempore dominant coalition. The situationist perspective into the territorial governance processes is far from simplistic predictive models. It also debunks models of
strategic management and place marketing and proposes the winding road of exploration of the strategies - cooperative and conflictual - enacted by actors and / or local coalitions to pursue their interests. The paper presents the case of the concrete dynamics of territorial governance of Manfredonia (Foggia, Italy) and its oscillation between touristic and industrial vocation in the light of the processes of action and institutionalization.

The role of community engagement in the development of sustainable territorial capital and territory-based governance is explored. The aim is firstly, to describe the development of a community that started in 2006 in a Nottinghamshire village and secondly, to identify what might be learned. The latter is argued to take the form of research principles. The challenges to the development of the community included the coordination of the variety of purposes of the participants. The central tenet of the research principles is the initiation of sustainable interactions that support the improvement of individual life. The principles differ from those of traditional research, but they are shown to belong to the same class as the latter. In the example a sustainable support system was described that enhanced individual activities without the need for a collective preference or some individual’s dominance.

Public policies directed to territorial management governance strategies could have a significant influence on activities, like tourism. In fact, such policies could profoundly shape the regions. Besides, in territories with a socioeconomic basis depending on tourism, such policies could present even more meaningful consequences in the region. Thus, throughout the evaluation of the public perceptions (surveys), the present research intends to produce further insights into how those regional policies could affect tourism activities in the Azores Islands.The study shows that more than 90% of the participants believe that Spatial Planning and Planning strategies directly impact tourism in the Azores Archipelago. Also, the research shows that the growth and development of Azores are sustainable and focusing on foreign high market segments. However, Azores do not have adequate territorial planning strategies and projects to increase residents' quality of life.