Socioterritorial and productive reconfiguration for the collective planning of the Larati microbasin

Abstract

The Bolivian society has experienced episodes of reconfiguration in recent decades, linked to the expansion of urban areas and the decreasing rural agricultural activity. This research aims to analyze the territorial transformation in the peri-urban and rural context of the Larati microbasin (Sacaba, Cochabamba, Bolivia) based on a New Rurality approach, through qualitative methodologies of Research-Action.

The findings revealed the accelerated urbanization process that the peri-urban zone of the microbasin is undergoing, to the detriment of agricultural lands and sociocultural aspects of agricultural production, which present a closer connection with market dynamics, while at the same time relegating ancestral practices. This context generates power struggles and conflicts between local organizations and external agents, complexifying the dynamics of territorial self-management and the application of collective productive dynamics for the management of common goods.

Given this reality, reflections and prospective guidelines are proposed to strengthen the territorial self-management of social organizations, analyzing central elements such as natural resource governance, territorial planning that considers productive needs and urban development, as well as the proposal of public policies that are in line with the social reality.