Social Innovation and territorial impacts

Dr. Klaus Gierhake, geógrafo, 35 años de experiencia en América Latina, como investigador y consultor de varias instituciones multi- y bilaterales. Ha trabajado en temas como: innovacion social y sus impactos territoriales, territorios creativos, conocimiento local en zonas urbanas, ordenamiento territorial, planificación regional, gobernanza y diferentes enfoques de análisis institucional, gestión ambiental. El libro muestra resultados de un proyecto de investigación post-doc, financiado por el Gobierno del Ecuador, "PROMETEO", enfocando un proceso de innovacion social en Quito y la forma, como los resultados de este proceso fueron aprobados en varias revistas de América Latina y de España.

Applied Geography can be used in all sub-areas of geography, but it appears as a particularly effective approach in studying planning strategies. It aims to apply existing methodological knowledge to new objects. This procedure requires constant reflection on: existing theoretical concepts - practical challenges. Establishing a dialogue between university and civil society in terms of research and communication is therefore important. In this book, social innovation and urban development are taken as the starting point of research. The present work is a re-edition of original papers which have already been published in the Spanish-speaking world. It aims to demonstrate the actual basis of descriptive work on social innovation and territorial development in Latin America. One of the principle findings is that the basic concept of geographic innovation processes could be adapted to social innovations in the local administration of the metropolitan district of Quito, and that an innovation process could start, from a territorial point of view, in the Global South.