Equipamientos públicos como elementos de cohesión territorialun estudio de caso en las Universidades y redes hospitalarias de Galicia

Abstract

In the present context of economic and urban crisis, this study proposes an analysis and a reflection about the strategic investment in planning public facilities. After years of development of big facilities and infrastructures without the planning of territorial cohesion, we propose to analyze the state of art and see the sustainability of the territory. The case study is located in Galicia, a Spanish region. The public facilities that we analyze are Higher Education (Universities) and Health facilities (Hospitals). Those facilities make up networks, systems, nodes, and the role they play for territorial, economic and social cohesion is essential. The key aspects of the research are the territorial identity, the position in the landscape, the sustainability, the viability and the urban assemblage of those public facilities. The focus is on functions and roles of the institutions from within the institutions and their impacts on their context, the urban structure, the social cohesion, the economic relevance and other aspects. Comparative cartographies are used as the tool that show how are located in relation with the city and the territory. Form, size, urban connectivity, occupation of land, sustainability, ecological footprint are compared parameters. There is chased a model different from territorial planning of big facilities. The accessibility must be equitable, without any distinction between rural and urban population. In order to keep what we got as society, in a sustainable way, it is necessary a reflection justifying the necessity of those facilities as engines of change.