Governance and Territorial Cohesion Through Policies and Good Practices: A Focus on Local Development

The concept of governance initially emerged in the field of economics and business management with the objective of achieving greater efficiency. It was subsequently extended to the field of government management. In many countries, governance has become a topic of great importance as a result of the implementation of decentralization policies and the extension of popular participation in land use plans in the search for sustainable development. The study, developed in the Decentralized Autonomous Government of Portoviejo canton in the province of Manabí, had as its primary objective the verification of the knowledge of governance among decision-makers and other socially involved actors in the canton's land use plan in the search for sustainable local development. This was achieved through an analysis of the Plan, conceived and applied with the intention of fostering cohesion among the policies implemented. The study employed a combination of theoretical and empirical methods. The theoretical approach involved a review and analysis of the literature on the subject, while the empirical approach involved data collection through questionnaires administered to socially involved actors. This approach enabled the researchers to gain insights into the perceptions and experiences of these actors, and to assess the effectiveness of various governance practices.