Strategic Planning and Management of a Brazilian City: Many Words and Few Accomplishments

Abstract

Planning and strategic management are instruments of unquestionable importance in cities, city hall, municipality, public organizations and government agencies. Legislations and social actors pressure cities to achieve an adequate level of service delivery and utilization of resources. These pressures can be minimized with the development of strategic planning and effective management of the city in a participatory manner, with the collective involvement of citizens, their desires and also decentralizing and sharing the decisions of local public managers. The objective is to present the projects of the strategic plan and management without effective realization, for three different mayors. The city studied is located in the southern region of Brazil. The methodology emphasizes longitudinal case study for 9 years (3 different governmental mandates). Forms of strategic planning with the city and the various difficulties in deployment and strategic management are described. The results and contributions are targeted to the city research planning and management and to other cities that can draw analogies, whether Brazilian or foreign cities. The conclusion documents the relevance of the three projects and the importance of civil society participation in the management and daily management of cities, city halls, municipalities, public organizations and government agencies. However, it highlights the inadequate strategic management of these projects, showing an excess of spoken words and few actual accomplishments in nine years and three different governmental mandates.

Keywords: Bubu City Strategic Planning, City Hall Strategic Management, Citizen Participation, Public Administration, Information Technology Management.