POST-SCRIPTUM ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

REAL MODELS AND MENTAL MODELS

Abstract

Fifty years of public policies in favor of territorial development in Latin America have produced a rich experience for academic studies, but few practical results that can be measured in terms of reducing the demographic and economic overconcentration of territories. This work, prepared by an unfailing believer in the democratizing potential of territorial development, does not end with a mere account of failures. Starting from a double category of analysis, the concept of a real model on the one hand, and that of a mental model, on the other, the author reviews the basic components of real models of regional development in Latin America (regionalization, decentralization and development of regions). Failure, ambiguity and scarcity seem to be characteristics that accompanied the processes in question. However, more important than simply verifying the results is the author's attempt to explain the concept of a mental model, described as the rational prefiguration of action. The document argues that there were structural factors that prevented the construction of adequate mental models to support successful territorial interventions. These factors are related to methodological, epistemological, praxeological and ideological issues, fields in which there are considerable deficiencies that must be addressed in order to realize, in practice, the potential for justice of regional policies.