Boa Tarde
O NeAppla – Núcleo de estudantes da Associação Portuguesa de Planeadores do Território, com sede neste mesmo Departamento de Ambiente e Ordenamento, existe à cerca de um ano e é constituído por alunos do curso de licenciatura em Planeamento Regional e Urbano. Em poucas palavras, visa essencialmente:
: Desempenhar o papel de pólo agregador e dinamizador dos seus membros.
: Complementar o sistema formal de ensino através de actividades diversas, contribuindo para a sua formação científica, tecnológica e cultural.
: Estabelecer e fortalecer a ligação entre os estudantes, os docentes, e os profissionais de planeamento, os demais parceiros, e a comunidade em geral.
A nossa actividade assenta no voluntarismo e dedicação dos nossos membros assumindo a importância das actividades extracurriculares na complementaridade da formação universitária, entendendo que a frequência no ensino superior e a obtenção do diploma não são um fim, mas sim um meio, ou porventura um início. A passagem por este espaço de liberdade que é a Universidade deve-se pautar por uma actuação crítica, onde para além da formação técnico-científica deve ser adquirida uma formação social e cultural que permita marcar a presença dos jovens no futuro, duma forma interveniente e construtiva, para um maior grau de participação pública e de cidadania responsável nos processos de decisão.
Sendo a participação pública e o exercício da cidadania características pouco enraizadas na nossa cultura, estas constituem objecto de preocupação para os profissionais de planeamento, assumindo que estes devem possuir uma maior consciencialização para estes aspectos, que advém do planeamento para as pessoas e com as pessoas, devendo eles mesmos contribuir para o incremento da participação dos cidadãos nos planos de desenvolvimento e nos processos de decisão.
Deste modo, e na qualidade de cidadãos e de futuros profissionais de planeamento, levamos hoje a cabo esta iniciativa de modo a contribuir para a informação dos jovens que lhes permitam uma melhor participação no processo em curso, e assegurar a sua quota parte na decisão do desenrolar desta “Grande Reforma do Século” ou deste “Erro Colossal”, que será a Regionalização.
Obviamente que estas classificações são extremamente redutoras do processo, mas também não é menos verdade que a Regionalização poderá ser a grande reforma que trará um maior nível de desenvolvimento ao país, permitindo aos jovens de hoje tornarem-se nos Homens de Amanhã, num futuro digno, conscientes dos seus direitos e deveres numa sociedade em desenvolvimento sustentável; ou por outro lado não se transformará esta reforma pintada quase de cor-de-rosa num erro colossal, reservando-nos um quadro negro, num futuro incerto?!
Certamente que não será nenhum dos casos, e desta forma o que se pretende com esta sessão/debate é ir mais além do que estes argumentos simplistas, de frases feitas, que já todos conhecem. Para tal, contamos com os nossos convidados para aprofundarem um pouco mais a questão por forma a contribuírem para um maior esclarecimento dos presentes. Porventura depois desta sessão ainda restarão mais dúvidas do que aquelas que sejam esclarecidas. Mas também só não tem dúvidas aquele que nada sabe. É um risco que corremos, e que só poderemos avaliar no final da sessão.
Muito Obrigado!
quarta-feira, 28 de outubro de 1998
quinta-feira, 23 de julho de 1998
Influence of Information Technology
Innovation in information and communications technology is changing the way in which people acquire and react to information. The current buzz is the Internet.
The planning system is constantly evolving in response to political ideas, social preferences, economic prosperity and the technical fabric of society. Changes in citizen representation, as a result of the development and spread of the Internet, presents the opportunity to innovate and explore new methods of planning. The Internet presents planners with the ability to considerably enhance the planning system. The electronic, as opposed to the paper medium opens up exciting opportunities both for the professional planner and the planning system as a whole. However, enhancement should only take place under regulation, both in terms of standards and techniques. The Internet is becoming as widespread as the telephone is in the home today the planning system should be ready to utilise it. Some statistics show that 16,8 per cent of Portuguese people older than 15 have access to Internet, one of the world’s Internet top 15 users. Also the Portuguese domains and servers largely grew up from less than 100 in 1995 to more than 4.000 nowadays.
Most important is the fact that Internet is changing people’s life and relationships, and the way people face the society. Internet allows people to enlarge their work reliability. A new society is emerging, based on the structural transformation that is occurring in the relationships of production, in the relationships of power, and in the relationships of experience.
We are living on an information economy commanded by productivity and competitiveness processes. Firms, regions, countries and economic units of all kinds gear their production relationships to maximise innovation and flexibility, to achieve better levels of productivity and competitiveness. In the present age information technology, and the cultural capacity to use it, are essential in the performance of the new production function. And the education and the capacity of accessing higher levels of education will distinguish those who can reprogram him/herself toward the continuous changing tasks of the production process from those who are not able to reprogram themselves, condemned to assign generic labour. These last workers are of course faced almost every with the danger of being replaced by machines, and their jobs are just depending on the latest technology evolution and on business decisions or waiting for the next round of downsizing. This will lead to unemployment and to society exclusion as never seen, contributing to the growth of social problems and to the criminal activities.
Relations of power are being changed as well: the globalisation of information and capital, the multi-lateralisation of power institutes, and decentralisation of authority to regional and local governments brings up a new form of power, perhaps a network state. The political system is being voided of power, without loosing influence.
The relationships of experience are also being transformed in the Information Age based on the actual relationship experience it is going through a transition process to a pattern of social interaction.
This endlessly changing era that we are going through presents us too many unknown consequences, not only economically and socially, but also at the urban space settlement and at the transportation levels. The growing of home working permits people to work far away from the company to which their are working for, having consequences on housing locations, especially moving to the outskirts of cities, contributing to the decreasing and degradation of the cities historical centres, as they are being left out. With the advent of home working and online shopping there will be also consequences on the transport systems as people will not need to move so frequently as now, presenting effects on public transportation, individual transports and goods transportation. The connection with the net will be imperative for firms who want to succeed, but they will not disregard their location near the main motorways, railway stations, and air/seaports as people will demand fast delivers as the information is transferred.
A real concern in the planning process is the level of public participation, as it must be seen as one of the most important parts of the planning process. The Internet offers the planning profession the skills to achieve a high level of public participation at a low cost, both in terms of time and money. A comparison between the traditional methods and the use of the Internet in consulting the public during the production of a Development Plan is made on the table below.
>> insert table <<
Of course that high levels of public involvement depend on the public access to the Internet, currently, those in higher education and business dominate the access. So measures must be taken to prevent this, measures devoted to people with low incomes and excluded groups also (e.g. Programme Aveiro – Digital City, that will be presented at the Best of Planning Forum). These measures should be complemented with a declared investment on education and access to information. These two factors will be the critical quality in differentiating the included from the excluded of the Information Society.
Information Technology and Internet also provides professional planners with wider learning about the best planning practices all over the world, learning about particular plans, actions, activities, etc. Nowadays Internet also provides an extremely good tool for the urban planning. Virtual Cities help planners to get a more realistic vision of their projects, and to model city step by step analysing the results virtually.
The planning system is constantly evolving in response to political ideas, social preferences, economic prosperity and the technical fabric of society. Changes in citizen representation, as a result of the development and spread of the Internet, presents the opportunity to innovate and explore new methods of planning. The Internet presents planners with the ability to considerably enhance the planning system. The electronic, as opposed to the paper medium opens up exciting opportunities both for the professional planner and the planning system as a whole. However, enhancement should only take place under regulation, both in terms of standards and techniques. The Internet is becoming as widespread as the telephone is in the home today the planning system should be ready to utilise it. Some statistics show that 16,8 per cent of Portuguese people older than 15 have access to Internet, one of the world’s Internet top 15 users. Also the Portuguese domains and servers largely grew up from less than 100 in 1995 to more than 4.000 nowadays.
Most important is the fact that Internet is changing people’s life and relationships, and the way people face the society. Internet allows people to enlarge their work reliability. A new society is emerging, based on the structural transformation that is occurring in the relationships of production, in the relationships of power, and in the relationships of experience.
We are living on an information economy commanded by productivity and competitiveness processes. Firms, regions, countries and economic units of all kinds gear their production relationships to maximise innovation and flexibility, to achieve better levels of productivity and competitiveness. In the present age information technology, and the cultural capacity to use it, are essential in the performance of the new production function. And the education and the capacity of accessing higher levels of education will distinguish those who can reprogram him/herself toward the continuous changing tasks of the production process from those who are not able to reprogram themselves, condemned to assign generic labour. These last workers are of course faced almost every with the danger of being replaced by machines, and their jobs are just depending on the latest technology evolution and on business decisions or waiting for the next round of downsizing. This will lead to unemployment and to society exclusion as never seen, contributing to the growth of social problems and to the criminal activities.
Relations of power are being changed as well: the globalisation of information and capital, the multi-lateralisation of power institutes, and decentralisation of authority to regional and local governments brings up a new form of power, perhaps a network state. The political system is being voided of power, without loosing influence.
The relationships of experience are also being transformed in the Information Age based on the actual relationship experience it is going through a transition process to a pattern of social interaction.
This endlessly changing era that we are going through presents us too many unknown consequences, not only economically and socially, but also at the urban space settlement and at the transportation levels. The growing of home working permits people to work far away from the company to which their are working for, having consequences on housing locations, especially moving to the outskirts of cities, contributing to the decreasing and degradation of the cities historical centres, as they are being left out. With the advent of home working and online shopping there will be also consequences on the transport systems as people will not need to move so frequently as now, presenting effects on public transportation, individual transports and goods transportation. The connection with the net will be imperative for firms who want to succeed, but they will not disregard their location near the main motorways, railway stations, and air/seaports as people will demand fast delivers as the information is transferred.
A real concern in the planning process is the level of public participation, as it must be seen as one of the most important parts of the planning process. The Internet offers the planning profession the skills to achieve a high level of public participation at a low cost, both in terms of time and money. A comparison between the traditional methods and the use of the Internet in consulting the public during the production of a Development Plan is made on the table below.
>> insert table <<
Of course that high levels of public involvement depend on the public access to the Internet, currently, those in higher education and business dominate the access. So measures must be taken to prevent this, measures devoted to people with low incomes and excluded groups also (e.g. Programme Aveiro – Digital City, that will be presented at the Best of Planning Forum). These measures should be complemented with a declared investment on education and access to information. These two factors will be the critical quality in differentiating the included from the excluded of the Information Society.
Information Technology and Internet also provides professional planners with wider learning about the best planning practices all over the world, learning about particular plans, actions, activities, etc. Nowadays Internet also provides an extremely good tool for the urban planning. Virtual Cities help planners to get a more realistic vision of their projects, and to model city step by step analysing the results virtually.
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