Abstract
Dr. Timothy O. Imeokparia is supervising the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute’s work with Ecuador’s Ministry for Urban Development and Housing and the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion to resolve the difficulties inherent in Ecuador’s attempts to institutionalize the ‘economía popular y solidaria’.
In Ecuador, the ‘economía popular y solidaria’ is grounded on an alternative economic imaginary that is driven by a rejection of neo-liberal policies. It represents a process of state transformation by the Ecuadorian government that is premised on a vision of a social knowledge economy and Buen Vivir (a collective approach to wellbeing based on respectful exchanges between humans and the natural environment, and on the promotion of collective rights as a community-based model of production (Gudynas, 2011) that is the foundation of Ecuador’s National Plan for Good Living.
The National Plan for Good Living is a response to a mandate in Ecuador’s constitution to build an ‘economic system’ that is ‘social and solidary’. It necessarily requires a state bureaucratic apparatus that has to be reformed and the building of institutions through which that alternative is to be constructed. Dr. Imeokparia will describe the challenges of this work and raise questions central to the model of governance required to transition to an economy based on social knowledge and the realization of Buen Vivir and the intersection of expert knowledge and bureaucratic practice. In particular he will present issues related to urban studies, planning and design as well as the architectural specifics of creating cities that respond to the requirement of equity, diversity and good living.
Great Cities Institute