Andrew Ryan, who recently graduated from the Master in Global Thought at Columbia University, spent five weeks in Chile participating in an internship organized through the Committee on Global Thought’s (CGT) Global Opportunities GO! Program. His practicum was based out of the Center for Territorial Intelligence (CIT) at Universidad Adolfo Ibañez in Santiago.
Ryan’s work focused on researching Chile’s urban planning system and instruments and on preparing a draft for a journal article in conjunction with CIT´s Director, Luis Valenzuela Blejer. This research paper will advance the idea that current analysis of planning systems does not adequately address their complexity, focusing instead almost exclusively on how centralized those systems are. It will compare Chile’s planning system with those of Colombia, France, and Japan using this new method of analysis, and will end with policy recommendations to reform the planning process and instruments at the national level in Chile, based on international comparisons.
“This built off of the research I had done for my thesis for CGT, examining the effects of thinking globally on the realm of the local. As globalism continues its progression, the need for effective placemaking will grow, necessitating innovative and responsive governance. Cities and local communities can be one of the most effective sources of this new governance and being able to study that potential in a cosmopolitan, global city like Santiago was a true privilege. This was definitely the experience of a lifetime for me”, said Andrew.
