“We will fail in having a metropolitan area in peace if sustainable development is not linked to the democratic reconstruction of town councils which must also be based on citizenship.” With these words, Professor Francisco Jiménez Bautista refers to the complexity of the structural problems of Greater Granada, “in a world and a society –he says—ruled by so many crossed interests and the difficulty of settling policies that, in the long term, allow to overcome certain incompatibilities between human groups.”
The book “People of Greater Granada. Relations, perceptions and conflicts» written by professor Francisco Jiménez Bautista and published by the University of Granada and the Institute of Peace and Conflicts includes, in nine chapters and more than 870 pages, a long reflection on Greater Granada, to answer questions such as: where and with what intensity Greater Granada has developed, which factors determined the process and which have been its main effects; which relations, perceptions and conflicts wil develop in future Greater Granada.
The author of the book says that we must use in life an ethic of responsibility, “practising what we preach —Francisco Jiménez says—through a concrete agenda of commitments between all social forces; dismissing political corruption, solving the conflicts of interests through dialogue and negotiation, giving priority to social problems, dismissing the impunity of public authorities and of factitious powers and creating a favourable atmosphere for the capacity of citizens to exercise the proper control of power.”
The volume of Francisco Jiménez Bautista is part of a work line developed by a research team since the 90´s. This research work aspires to determine what is a metropolitan area, when, why and how do they appear and develop and in which direction; as well as to analyse and diagnose Greater Granada as a whole, by areas, districts and sections of all the municipalities to concrete the spatial differences in the values reached by the main territorial phenomenon proposed in the cultural spectrum of the metropolitan area.
According to professor Jiménez Bautista, also to “establish values for the main territorial and cultural phenomenon suggested in the general spectrum of the metropolitan area and develop through a wide process of surveys and interviews the carrying out of a profound socio-cultural and demographic study of Greater Granada.”
In the same way, this study intends to explain which would be the limits of new Greater Granada from the current one, made up by about 30 municipalities.
Reference:
Prof Francisco Jiménez Bautista.
Institute of Peace and Conflicts. University of Granada.
Phone number: 958 248355 / 244142
E-mail: fjbautis@ugr.es
