Urban planning, citizen participation and urban governance: the city plan of Santa Cruz of Tenerife (Tenerife, Canarias)

Abstract

Urban governance and citizen participation, related to such a key element as city planning, higlight the quality of democracy, as an indicator of collective decision-making quality. The authors explore urban governance in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and reflect on problems of urban planning participatory process. A case study, the city plan of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, shows up the lacks of planning public information and participation process, suggesting an urban participatory-restricted governance mode based upon clientelistic relationships with neigborhood associations.