La aplicación de instrumentos geográficos en las políticas públicas educativas municipalesel caso de Ames (Galicia)

Abstract

The metropolitanization processes that occurred in Spanish cities have revealed the negative consequences of a rapid and uncontrolled urban growth, lacking planning. Therefore, urban dysfunctions emerged, and despite local authorities are aware of such dysfunctions, they have not been able to properly address them. For this reason, local authorities need tools to help them understand and effectively manage new urban dynamics. This paper analyses the case of Ames, a municipality located on the vicinity of Santiago de Compostela, which has one of the highest demographic growth rates of Spain, caused by the urban expansion of Santiago. Ames has the distinctive feature of having an urban bipolarity: Milladoiro and Bertamiráns. In these two nuclei, different growth rates, functionalities and planning, generated two contrasting urban landscapes and realities. Although in both nuclei population growth was accompanied by the creation of companies and administrative facilities, the forecasts were not correct. This resulted in strong imbalances between the supply and demand of public services, namely educational ones. The creation of the Observatory of Education has allowed to identify issues related with the educational offer, the mobility of students, and their distribution across the municipality. The main results of the Observatory will be presented, as well as its potential use for other (larger) groups and urban geographic spaces.