2025 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

The Municipality of Yerba Buena presents the Citizen Participation Process for the Reform of the Urban Zoning Code as a Best Practice. In this process, key city actors were invited, including municipal and provincial government officials, members of legislative bodies, service providers, universities, professional associations, NGOs, construction companies, real estate developers, merchants, and residents. The process involved three workshops, numerous personal interviews, and focus group meetings over the course of eight months, making it an innovative practice for all participants. The commitment of both public and private sector actors, along with the general public's interest, made the sustainability of this process possible and generated a positive impact on both the community and local administration. It helped identify the most critical problems and the most valued strengths, enabling the development of urban policies with an integral and participatory approach, aligned with the needs expressed by the community, thus contributing to the permanence of participatory democracy.

Citizen participation in the COU reform process strengthened community ties, increasing the sense of belonging and commitment to sustainable development that maintains quality of life.

The current Urban Zoning Code, in effect since 1994, is now insufficient to meet new territorial development demands. With the aim of reviewing and updating it, a participatory process was initiated with the community, which defined the city's diagnosis (the city we have) and strategic guidelines for its development with a horizon to 2050 (the city we want). These formed the basis for the reform of the COU.

The final outcomes of the process were:

• The consolidation of a space for collaboration between citizens, government actors, academics, NGOs, and private entities, which will allow, based on the trust created, to continue with good participatory practices for effective city management.
• The definition of the city's diagnosis and strategic guidelines for its development, with prioritized projects for implementation, and the Proposal Document for the new COU, which incorporates the work done throughout the participatory process as regulations.

For more information:

https://yerbabuena.gob.ar/
 (External link)https://www.oidp.net/docs/repo/doc1633.pdf (External link)