Imagining the Region

Abstract

The essay proposes a little trip through some regional planning works made up by the Fundación Metrópoli in the last years. All of them share a common ground of ideas for making the regional ecologies spatially visible. In Euskalhiria, the Basque City-Region; in Bintan island, in the south extreme of the Malacca Strait Diagonal, close to Singapore; and in the Caribe and Santanderes region of Colombia, regional planning arises as the tool to create strategic vision in territories that are demanding a better future. The diamond metaphor offers a positive imagination founded in the features and potentialities of the territory. An innovative regional imagination is invading the field of spatial planning in search of more creative solutions to social, economic, physical, and environmental problems. With a better understanding of regional landscapes and of the functional structure of urban regions, it will be possible to enhance the potential of places, combining collective intelligence and local identity.