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This paper focuses on the strategic planning method linked to the territory's sustainable development as it is currently being proposed by various organisms involved in public policies in Peru. It is aimed to discuss the methodology in terms of its validity as a new theoretical paradigm. Its ultimate goal is to bring about a new comprehension of the strategic planning process within the present competitive framework -among districts, provinces, regions, etc.- featured by factors such as human resources assessment, expressive technological investments and emphasis on inter-connectivity, among others. The paper starts by revising the strategic planning model genesis within the public initiative sector and its relationship with the attraction of private investments at local scale. The percourse which links one point to the other goes through both the perspective of economists and administrators and the vision of prominent planners. It ends up by showing the possibilities of a new prospect in the strategic planning of development at local scale, as well as existing doubts regarding the model: firstly, if we lack adequate information in reference to the objective capacities of our closest competitors, we will hardly be able to elaborate competitive strategies favorable to us in a specific environment; secondly, we consider that, in the current context of our country, the goals in the territory development process must be guidelined by employment and income generation for local population and this, without doubt, relies on systematic planning of investment attraction; and finally, we accept that strategic planning may constitute a tool that will enable to consolidate the decentralization and territorial integration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is on territorial management in the frontier zone of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia, and its relation to the construction of the transoceanic highway. Its main objective is to discuss the processes of urban growth in the settlements of Iflapari (Madre de Dios, Peru), Assis Brasil (Acre, Brazil), and Bolpebra (Pando, Bolivia), and their connection to the wider process of international South American integration. Another objective is to bring a new comprehension to the planning and management process of the Amazon territory from a decentralized viewpoint, taking care of the environmental conservation and the protection of the Rio Acre basin. The discussion departs from the view that the construction of the road will stimulate an organized urban growth that may dramatically enforce the problems in relation to the social and environmental degradation, to finally propose a new strategy for territorial and urban management through the building of an international city that includes the three urban settlements already mentioned above. Finally, this paper shows that the best development possibilities for the region are in the integral management of the urban services, infrastructure and equipment. It is hoped that the perspective of an international city will ameliorate and even control the appearance of problems typical of frontier urban settlements, such as delinquency, prostitution, drugs traffic and consumption, smuggling, unemployment, lack of cultural identity, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural and urban worlds are the two columns that support a society within a given territory. Often, we dedicate much attention to the urban sector because it contains near 60% of the world population and generates and dynamics the contemporary economies. We talk much of the rural sector but do little to solve its problems, especially to bettering the quality of life of the poorest, which in global terms are living in the mountain areas of the world. In this paper I analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the mountain environments to sustainable human development that allows bettering the quality of life of their populations. I insist on resources quality and control and urban demand. I also point out to the infrastructure difficulties and its effects in the circulation of goods and services. The case study is settled at the Sierra of the Department of Piura, northwest Perú, where there is a rural population mostly dedicated to subsistence activities while in the coastal lowlands dominates commercial agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide an approximate description of the territorial differences of the Peruvian population from a social-demography perspective. The structure of inequalities is searched through factorial analysis, which would let us know a better description of the spatial distribution of these inequalities among provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volume of human and economic as well as material resources put into action by the mining industry in rural spaces has given this industry the most powerful force to the diffusion of the industrial society in the traditional rural societies. The mobilized human resources include all levels, from high qualified executives to unqualified labor with low schooling level. The economic resources are of different types and are reflected in the circulation of goods, salaries, the changes in consumption patterns, and incomes received by the local governments. The direct/ indirect mobility of the material resources leads to the building of service's infrastructure, the appearance of new urban centers and industrial plants at the most backward places of Peru, where poverty and State absence are dominant characteristics. Taking into account the cultural realms of the rural societies in the high mountains of Peru, where most of the mining operations are located, and given the variety of resources mobilized by the mining operations, we may identify interacting cultural, economic, social and environmental spaces that define a complex relationship between man and his geographical settings. This paper offers a geographical approach, both from physical and cultural points of view, through descriptive models. The objective is to recognize some underlying dynamic components attached to each space directed to the management of the local and industrial development. This study is based on a research carried out during 2005 in a medium size mine in the Central Andes of Peru, above 4.200 meters of altitude, in the Huancavelica region. The social realm is made of traditional peasant communities, Quechua speakers who live in extreme socio-economic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the physical and perceived landscape changes in a mining area located in northern Peru. The divergent points of view about the impacts of the mining activities have been more dynamic in recent years. This condition leads to the need of a better comprehension of the environmental and social consequences of the mining activities. Landscape studies may be relevant to understand such problems. So, in this study, we intend to determine the landscape change in a mining area by mapping the change of the physical landscape and analyzing the local population's perception of this change. The physical dimension is studied by spatial-holistic interpretation of diachronic air photographs to produce maps of the pre-mining period (1993) and after (2000), which allows comparisons between them. The perception is examined from the analysis of semi-structured interviews to the local population. The physical landscape analysis shows a change index of 73% in all the studied area. This change is characterized mainly by the conversion of the semi-natural grass to the mining area where the grass is scarce. These results correlate positive with the local population's appreciation who perceive great environmental changes and stress the dramatic reduction of the natural resources, which are the basis for their living as grasses and water. Most of the informants had concerns of the lost of practices, customs and identity. Methodologically, this study is based on an empirical and theoric research, that combines quantitative and qualitative methods to study the landscape changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]