**2 Methods**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

enabling factors and approaches that a city within this complex, social political milieu underwent as an example of where governance of essential services can aid in delivering public purpose. While the paper does not propose a model for utilities, it highlights governing arrangements that place community engagement, stakeholder

There is a subset of cities, also described as entrepreneurial cities, that have been able to convert their wealth into freedom from financial market dependence and/or utilise financialization as leverage for more borrowing [2]. The work on entrepreneurial cities is not exclusively limited to cities that have converted wealth into freedom from financial market independence. Jessop and Sum define an entrepreneurial city in capitalist societies as having three properties related to (1) changing forms of competitiveness, (2) changing strategies to promote interurban competitiveness in both economic and extra-economic fields, and (3) entrepreneurial discourses, narratives and self-images [4]. In public utilities' sectors, the entrepreneurial city has come to be associated with reforms in service delivery with privatisation as the most common reform. There have also been cities that have expanded municipally owned water corporations through corporate models that retain an entrepreneurial and local profile in the domain of the public sector [5]. This perspective, is described as "urban entrepreneurialism," is both a response to gaps in revenues and costs, which then drives commercial development alongside delivering public purpose. One explanation for this is the observation that capital mobility, in some ways, pushes urban governments to compete with other urban areas to attract investment and to minimise risk. In the water sector, this shift in cities coincides with political rhetoric towards public-private partnership and

Given the trends towards corporate neoliberalism, what aspects of governance mitigate the adverse effects of financialization whilst still encouraging investment that is in alignment with public purpose? This paper emerges from a larger body of working examining adaptive governance in the water sector in Medellin, Colombia. This paper showcases governance features that emerge in a city and share characteristics of an entrepreneurial city where financial gains are aligned with public purpose. The background provides information related to pathways for delivering public goods and where a case study on Medellin could contribute a perspective on delivering public purpose through governance. As this case study emerges from a wider piece of work on governance, the methods' section describes the means by which the data was collected, analysed and justifications. The results include literature synthesis on the Medellin and results of interviews on the system for public service delivery. Using this case study to illustrate how a city approaches, the paper discusses the implications of adaptive governance for aligning economic trends with delivery of public purpose. In order to understand the wider context for delivering public goods, the following Section 1.1 discusses different pathways for delivering public goods.

Delivery of public services has taken various forms ranging from state-level provision to various forms of privatisation. From the mid-twentieth century, public-private partnerships (PPP) between a city, regional and/or national government and private entities, facilitated by a multilateral organisation such as the World Bank, marked a shift towards involving the private sector in delivering public goods. The shift often required measures to encourage privatisation, and subsequent financialization of the sector through a form of a public-private partnership between the state and a private provider [7, 8]. The importance of public purpose has arisen alongside this trend particularly, in identifying ways to meet

management and social infrastructure at the heart of delivery.

infrastructure investment to support development [6].

**1.1 Pathways for delivering public goods**

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In reviewing different cases, there is a predominance in the literature on the failure of public-private partnerships (PPP) related to the governance of public utilities.1 The literature review identifies PPPs as the dominant theme likely as it is where financialization through reforms over the last three decades have originated,

<sup>1</sup> The aim of the wider study from which this chapter is drawn, was to identify a case for further depth where the governing arrangements enabled delivery of public purpose despite wider trends towards financialization. Water was selected as a sector to explore given the debates on water as a human right and its characterization as a public good. Cases reviewed having these different models of service delivery in the water sector in cities such as Cochabamba, Bolivia and Porto Alegre, Brazil as well as other larger cities in Latin America [13], Europe, South Asia, Middle East and Africa [14] that have taken steps to reform the delivery of water through public reform, privatization and/or an evolution towards mixed models of delivery. Other cities reviewed include those such as Istanbul [15], Mumbai [16] and Johannesburg [17] which have experimented with mixed models. Review of these cases highlighted a multi-country study investigation comparing cities 'governance' challenges in the provision of public services in cities of different scales such as Jakarta, Dhaka, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Riyadh, Istanbul and Singapore and the ways in which governance enabled or inhibited successful provision [18]. Further in depth case studies included scholarship on Bangalore [19], South Africa [17], the Netherlands WMD [6] and a review of different examples in Sub-Saharan Africa [20].

and thus dominate the governance discussion [7]. There are reviews that show where system change for the performance of water utilities has led to system failure [21, 22] and also where there have been successes. Where management models can go further is in incorporating public purpose within the governing arrangements using the utility as a means, albeit public or private, in the design and delivery. Therefore, in selecting a case study, there is a preference for a case that provides substantial evidence for an approach to governance with strong evidence for putting public purpose at the forefront of service delivery.

The well-documented social urbanism model in governance in Medellin [23, 24] provided evidence suggesting the model for water services that places community engagement, stakeholder engagement and social infrastructure. The opportunity to explore this further through stakeholder engagement positioned the Medellin case study as a strong candidate for exploring how this city could employ financialization in the delivery of public purpose.

The method for analysis built on existing literature and uses data from semistructured interviews to identify themes shared by stakeholders within the water system to compare with existing frameworks on adaptive governance [25, 26] using Ostrom's perspective on social-ecological systems [27] and Pahl-wostl's understanding of resource governance regimes [28]. Semi-structured interviews related to how stakeholders perceive the system, challenges and opportunities in order to develop an understanding of the system. A qualitative approach with a constructivist epistemological paradigm was employed to account for a diversity of perspectives from stakeholders. Thematic content analysis was chosen because of its demonstrated use for investigating questions where existing data is limited, however, providing a systematic approach for comparison of results with existing theory [29]. This approach is associated with content analysis as a suitable approach for model generation and based on experience in the literature that an open approach to coding using thematic content analysis facilitates theory emerging from the data (grounded theory) [30–32]. This is also useful in having a broad view of themes that can be compared with existing frameworks facilitated when a theory-based approach to coding is applied [30, 33–35].

Sample composition and sizing combined (1) saturation, (2) purposeful sampling, and (3) snowball sampling. To recruit interviewees, contacts with the utility provider, Empresas Publicas de Medellin, the universities (UNM and UCL) and Penca de Sabila, a civil society organisation working closely in water and environmental issues more broadly, provided the first channels for recruiting interviewees. The final sample includes 30+ representatives from municipal authorities, metropolitan area authorities, university experts, utility provider (EPM), members of the different civil society organisations and water user associations. Of these participants, approximately 1/3 of the perspectives were from EPM. This was due to the large scale of the organisational diversity in departments working on issues related to water: water and wastewater, sanitation, infrastructure, planning, payments, regulation, energy-water, finance and business development.

The interview guide was developed in partnership with the national university in Colombia based on Pahl-Wostl's definition of resource governance and refined through a series of pilot interviews. Interviews were coordinated between the researcher and the interviewee and conducted in line with UCL Ethics (Project 814/001). The level of engagement before the meeting ranged from very limited to several informal introductions and conversations leading up to an interview.

A two-pronged approach to coding was conducted to ensure that contextual themes were not ruled out by data exclusively [36]. A data-driven approach was used at first to identify themes or ideas that may be overlooked with the purpose of having a breadth of context for the study as a whole. For data-driven codes, this

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*Adaptive Governance as an Avenue for Delivering Public Purpose in the Wake of Financialization*

proved consistent with the theory of letting the data speak for itself particularly as there may be features of the system of adaptive governance in Medellin that depart

This was an iterative process of more than 25+ drafts of the codebook, then shared with supervisors (2), local partners (2), possible coders (5) and several others. The intent of the codebook evolved from merely reproducing the definitions of the codes of interest to a user-friendly and concise code that could be used to read through the interviews and identify relevant themes. The researcher coded the

Secondary coders were identified and given the codebook. They were encour-

To apply an approximate measure for reliability in coding, several examples were consulted [29]. The measure that was best suited to test this was the percentage agreement on presence: percentage of occasions where the researcher and the

After coding the interviews using the codebook and comparing results with the other researchers, analysing the coded material was conducted using the percentage agreement on presence. A threshold of 70% for inter-rater reliability was agreed as

Percentage agreement on presence = 2 (number of occasions Coder A + number of occasions Coder B)/(number of occasions Coder A+ number of occasions Coder B). Three secondary coders were included to code a percentage of the interviews and

**3.1 Contextual findings from the literature for the city of Medellin, Colombia**

governance of utilities in the city despite trends towards financialization.

The following section presents the results of the literature review and the results of the semi-structured interviews related to the governing arrangements. The literature review is meant to highlight contextual factors (geographic, political, social and governance) for understanding how public purpose is delivered through the

Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia and for centuries was an industrial hub for the country. The city is located in the Aburra Valley and is the capital of the Department of Antioquia. It currently has a population of 2.4 million, and 3.7 in the metropolitan area, which includes 10 municipalities. The city itself has 16 sections, known as communes or comunas which is the smallest administrative units shown in **Figure 1**. While Medellin is well-known in recent years for its innovation in social and public architecture [23, 37], Medellin boasts a long history of innova-

Alongside profound events in politics and social transformation in response to demographic changes within the city during the twentieth century, public institutions developed a tradition of including citizens in the process of urban planning,

data-set twice, amending the codebook for improved internal consistency.

aged to send any questions ahead of coding to verify the codes and confirm understanding of the task. This varied from informal conversations to an email exchange, where the secondary coder wrote how they interpreted the codebook in plain English. After a coding a sub-sample of the excerpts given, the coders could ask additional questions before continuing to code the sample. Coded excerpts were

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89270*

from what the theory predicts [29, 30].

then compared with the results of the researcher.

second coder found information in common.

yielded the following percentages on agreement [29].

tive infrastructure, utility development and planning.

the standard.

**3. Results**

Coder A: .82 Coder B: .77 Coder C: .77

#### *Adaptive Governance as an Avenue for Delivering Public Purpose in the Wake of Financialization DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89270*

proved consistent with the theory of letting the data speak for itself particularly as there may be features of the system of adaptive governance in Medellin that depart from what the theory predicts [29, 30].

This was an iterative process of more than 25+ drafts of the codebook, then shared with supervisors (2), local partners (2), possible coders (5) and several others. The intent of the codebook evolved from merely reproducing the definitions of the codes of interest to a user-friendly and concise code that could be used to read through the interviews and identify relevant themes. The researcher coded the data-set twice, amending the codebook for improved internal consistency.

Secondary coders were identified and given the codebook. They were encouraged to send any questions ahead of coding to verify the codes and confirm understanding of the task. This varied from informal conversations to an email exchange, where the secondary coder wrote how they interpreted the codebook in plain English. After a coding a sub-sample of the excerpts given, the coders could ask additional questions before continuing to code the sample. Coded excerpts were then compared with the results of the researcher.

To apply an approximate measure for reliability in coding, several examples were consulted [29]. The measure that was best suited to test this was the percentage agreement on presence: percentage of occasions where the researcher and the second coder found information in common.

After coding the interviews using the codebook and comparing results with the other researchers, analysing the coded material was conducted using the percentage agreement on presence. A threshold of 70% for inter-rater reliability was agreed as the standard.

Percentage agreement on presence = 2 (number of occasions Coder A + number of occasions Coder B)/(number of occasions Coder A+ number of occasions Coder B).

Three secondary coders were included to code a percentage of the interviews and yielded the following percentages on agreement [29].

Coder A: .82 Coder B: .77 Coder C: .77

## **3. Results**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

tion in the delivery of public purpose.

ting public purpose at the forefront of service delivery.

theory-based approach to coding is applied [30, 33–35].

regulation, energy-water, finance and business development.

and thus dominate the governance discussion [7]. There are reviews that show where system change for the performance of water utilities has led to system failure [21, 22] and also where there have been successes. Where management models can go further is in incorporating public purpose within the governing arrangements using the utility as a means, albeit public or private, in the design and delivery. Therefore, in selecting a case study, there is a preference for a case that provides substantial evidence for an approach to governance with strong evidence for put-

The well-documented social urbanism model in governance in Medellin [23, 24] provided evidence suggesting the model for water services that places community engagement, stakeholder engagement and social infrastructure. The opportunity to explore this further through stakeholder engagement positioned the Medellin case study as a strong candidate for exploring how this city could employ financializa-

The method for analysis built on existing literature and uses data from semistructured interviews to identify themes shared by stakeholders within the water system to compare with existing frameworks on adaptive governance [25, 26] using Ostrom's perspective on social-ecological systems [27] and Pahl-wostl's understanding of resource governance regimes [28]. Semi-structured interviews related to how stakeholders perceive the system, challenges and opportunities in order to develop an understanding of the system. A qualitative approach with a constructivist epistemological paradigm was employed to account for a diversity of perspectives from stakeholders. Thematic content analysis was chosen because of its demonstrated use for investigating questions where existing data is limited, however, providing a systematic approach for comparison of results with existing theory [29]. This approach is associated with content analysis as a suitable approach for model generation and based on experience in the literature that an open approach to coding using thematic content analysis facilitates theory emerging from the data (grounded theory) [30–32]. This is also useful in having a broad view of themes that can be compared with existing frameworks facilitated when a

Sample composition and sizing combined (1) saturation, (2) purposeful sampling, and (3) snowball sampling. To recruit interviewees, contacts with the utility provider, Empresas Publicas de Medellin, the universities (UNM and UCL) and Penca de Sabila, a civil society organisation working closely in water and environmental issues more broadly, provided the first channels for recruiting interviewees. The final sample includes 30+ representatives from municipal authorities, metropolitan area authorities, university experts, utility provider (EPM), members of the different civil society organisations and water user associations. Of these participants, approximately 1/3 of the perspectives were from EPM. This was due to the large scale of the organisational diversity in departments working on issues related to water: water and wastewater, sanitation, infrastructure, planning, payments,

The interview guide was developed in partnership with the national university in Colombia based on Pahl-Wostl's definition of resource governance and refined through a series of pilot interviews. Interviews were coordinated between the researcher and the interviewee and conducted in line with UCL Ethics (Project 814/001). The level of engagement before the meeting ranged from very limited to several informal introductions and conversations leading up to an interview. A two-pronged approach to coding was conducted to ensure that contextual themes were not ruled out by data exclusively [36]. A data-driven approach was used at first to identify themes or ideas that may be overlooked with the purpose of having a breadth of context for the study as a whole. For data-driven codes, this

**206**

#### **3.1 Contextual findings from the literature for the city of Medellin, Colombia**

The following section presents the results of the literature review and the results of the semi-structured interviews related to the governing arrangements. The literature review is meant to highlight contextual factors (geographic, political, social and governance) for understanding how public purpose is delivered through the governance of utilities in the city despite trends towards financialization.

Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia and for centuries was an industrial hub for the country. The city is located in the Aburra Valley and is the capital of the Department of Antioquia. It currently has a population of 2.4 million, and 3.7 in the metropolitan area, which includes 10 municipalities. The city itself has 16 sections, known as communes or comunas which is the smallest administrative units shown in **Figure 1**. While Medellin is well-known in recent years for its innovation in social and public architecture [23, 37], Medellin boasts a long history of innovative infrastructure, utility development and planning.

Alongside profound events in politics and social transformation in response to demographic changes within the city during the twentieth century, public institutions developed a tradition of including citizens in the process of urban planning, using the provision of public services, such as water, as a means to engage in wider articulation of public purpose. This was facilitated by a system of urban governance that begins in the modern period in the 1940s by Sociedad de Mejoras Publicas (SMP), a private organisation, which drove urban planning and development in Medellin. This organisation had a strong influence over the public and private sectors: a relationship that was highly integrated according to Botero Herrera (1996). Through reforms, this entity evolved to become EPM, Medellin's first legally independent utility and single city-owned multi-utility corporation [38]. The entity is public however the boards have a commercial licence to explore the ways in which to improve service reliability and extend infrastructure without government driving decision-making. At the same time, there were/are several programs implemented with city government and utility management which fought business and guilds to pursue programs aimed at wider, long-term public goals [38].

The governance of public services as a means to deliver wider public purpose emerged during the 1950s, with the Medellin Master Plan, which was developed to manage urban development and promote legislation that would impact infrastructure for housing, transport and infrastructure for utilities [38]. Planning for the city was done in an integrated manner by the municipality and with EPM. Several programs involved city-dwellers in the planning and provision of public services including Habilitacion Viviendas, literally meaning "Fitting Out Dwellings" spearheaded integration of new settlements in the city through a series of regulatory processes to obtain legality with utility connections as the point of contact between user and duty-bearer (the state) [38]. Connection to public services such as water was one of several ways these plans had an impact on the city's planning activities. Changing migration patterns related to the conflict, internal issues in Medellin and worsening political and economic conditions during the 1970s intensified the need for engagement between users and city-planning activities [39]. In the 1990s, following a rapidly changing regulatory environment, EPM commercialised, while remaining still the property of the municipality which has raised questions about the future of the company and its objectives of delivering public purpose. While this is a vibrant and active debate, the governance and the role it has played historically

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orients the discussion towards understanding how EPM is delivering public purpose in the wake of these changes, rather than if/how public purpose can be delivered.

Descriptions of the transformation that brought the city through decades of conflict include the role of civil society, the multi-utility EPM and public architecture which highlights the role mayors of Medellin who were committed to a vision of public purpose. Success has also been linked to a succession of leaders, namely the city mayors Luis Perez (2001–2003), Sergio Fajardo (2004–2007) and Alonzo Salazar (2008–2011), all highly qualified with a vision of public purpose for the city beyond traditional politics [41–43]. Programs shared similarities with the concept of social urbanism which focused public investment in the city's more deprived areas through high-quality infrastructure and striking architecture [23].

Medellin's transformation garnered international and national recognition. Described as the "Medellin Miracle" particularly in the areas of social urbanism and mobility, there are several features in the Medellin context associated with its "perceived success" which are part of the landscape of an integrated and adaptive society [21]. Success in Medellin from a social perspective is associated with a range of factors: cultural aspects of the entrepreneurial class (Antioquian people with a strong work ethic, Catholic, close-knit community) associated with a strong business elite and a sense of duty, decentralised governance structure of Colombia, public trust, regional pride, high returns on human development, disciplined busi-

ness culture and well-educated elite that serve in the public sector [33, 44].

"improve people" and "excessive policing" to "control undesirables" [45].

public service provider at a city level which is where this paper will focus on.

With this context of governance in mind, implementation of monitoring and evaluation activities in Medellin is overseen at a local and metropolitan level by the municipality and Area Metropolitano de Valle de Aburra, the metropolitan authority for 10 municipalities including Medellin. EPM is the primary service provider that covers a wide metropolitan area for service delivery. EPM provides potable water services in 10 municipalities in the Aburra Valley: Medellin, Bello, Envigado, Itagui, La Estrella, Sabaneta, Copacabana, Girardota, Caldas and Barbosa [48].

Municipal programs have played a significant role in integrating and normalising informal sectors during the transformation of the early 2000s and beyond [23]. These programs emerged in response to barriers such as social inequality, spatial segregation, under/unemployment, social exclusion, weak state control, insufficient provision of essential services and housing density. These programs also existed alongside strong paramilitary and police presence in surrounding areas. This pressure to respond created a dichotomy of investment in social programs to

**3.3 Governance context for Medellin in the wider Colombian political landscape**

There are several features of the governance context in Medellin and Colombia more broadly that should be taken into account. Firstly, Medellin is situated within a national decentralised regime for Colombia, which places responsibility at a national level for policy-setting and decision-making and the duty to implement situated within the remit of the regional and local governing authorities. Secondly, the national Constitution in 1994 and subsequent reforms in public services [46] placed specific regulations about entities that could provide public services (public, private and community-based entities) [47]. This law had several implications, namely that sectors cannot cross-subsidise one another after the 1990s reforms. Thirdly, there is evidence of the role of the multi-utility, EPM, and its implementation of the law as a

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89270*

**3.2 The transformation and "the Medellin" miracle**

**Figure 1.** *Medellin municipality, including socio-economic tiers (Furlong [40]).*

orients the discussion towards understanding how EPM is delivering public purpose in the wake of these changes, rather than if/how public purpose can be delivered.
