Agora Journal (https://revistaagora.fevp.gob.ve/) is a biannual publication dedicated to disseminating research, including scientific articles, case studies, academic essays, technical notes, reflections, and proposals related to planning as an academic discipline and a transformative practice for society. Its name refers to a common and open space for encounter, deliberation, and collective construction, which here materializes as a platform for critical debate and the production of specialized knowledge in planning, constantly promoting life, dignity, equity, and sustainability. The thematic orientations are based on the research lines of the Venezuelan School of Planning Foundation, which establish a framework for academic and practical contributions. These lines are structured around the following axes: • International geopolitics, governance, anti-imperialism, and Bolivarian thought for planning. • Ecosocialist planning of territory, energy, and urban systems. • Planning, Marxist economics, drivers of development, and production chains. • Knowledge production, and the critical epistemology for planning. • Society, diversity, cultural identity, and planning in connection with territories from the perspectives of gender, ethnicity, and social classes.
Fundación Escuela Venezolana de Planificación
Congreso Nacional CAUSAS COMUNES por la Madre Tierra
La Escuela Venezolana de Planificación sirvió de escenario para que durante los días 21 y 22 de abril de este año unos 1.200 delegados de todo el país entre ambientalistas, voceros y voceras ecosocialistas, profesionales, técnicos e investigadores del área ambiental se encontraran en el Congreso de las Causas Comunes por la Madre Tierra, cuyo objetivo principal fue debatir y unificar propuestas ciudadanas para definir una agenda nacional ecosocialista y servir de base para el fortalecimiento del Plan Chuquisaca para la reforestación de diez millones de árboles, y con ello, restaurar ecosistemas degradados y proteger cuencas hidrográficas del país, iniciativa ecológica nacional orientada a mitigar la crisis climática.
Copyright (c) 2026 ÁGORA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
La revista Ágora es un medio para dar a conocer los hallazgos y aportes vinculados a la investigación sobre la planificación en tiempos de revolución. Para este segundo número, se seleccionó el tema de la “Transversalidad del ecosocialismo en el sistema de planificación-acción del Plan de la Patria” por ser un área que toca la planificación de todos los componentes de la naturaleza y el entorno del hombre y la mujer, tanto en el medio rural como en el urbano, por tener alta relevancia para la garantía de la vida en forma sustentable y para el funcionamiento de los sistemas naturales e intervenidos dentro de una cultura conservacionista con acciones sustentables y de alta resiliencia, que se oponga al antropoceno como concepción del uso de la naturaleza como un bien trazable en mercado.
Methodological proposal for territorial planning based on quantitative and ecological criteria
This research presents a methodology that employs quantitative criteria, such as artificial intelligence and geomatics techniques, to identify and delineate territorial ecological units. In our country, there are few approaches to methodologies that allow for the direct, effective, and practical definition of territorial ecological units using quantitative criteria. For this reason, it is necessary to develop and publish methodological frameworks for land use planning derived from ecological theory and the existing socio-environmental realities in the area, with a systemic view of the territory’s components and their underlying relationships (energy and material flows, interrelationships between environmental elements), which are essential for land use planning processes and decision-making. The methodology proposed and applied in this study facilitates territorial analysis and has proven to be a new alternative for ecology-based land-use planning studies.
Ecosocialism, theory and praxis: a core axis of bolivarian socialism
Ecosocialism emerges as a critical synthesis of ecological thought and Marxism, framing the environmental crisis as consequence of the unlimited accumulation of capital. As a philosophical doctrine, it advocates a radical transformation that prioritizes the preservation of life over exchange value. The historical trajectory toward the ecosocialist paradigm can be traced back to the Decree of Chuquisaca, promulgated by Simón Bolívar in 1825. In the second quarter of the twentieth century, institutions responsible for environmental conservation were established and strengthened, followed by a surge in the production of environmental knowledge during the 1960s and 1970s. The neoliberal influence of the 1980s undermined institutional sustainability and the production of data. A decisive paradigmatic shift occurred with the proposal of El Libro Azul. In the 21st-century the ecosocialism constitutes a central pillar of Bolivarian Socialism. It is grounded in the doctrines of Bolívar, Zamora, and Chávez, and is established as a historical objective within the Plan de la Patria and the 7T framework. Its praxis presents significant challenges within the Venezuelan context, particularly regarding oil extraction, water resource management, the Arco Minero del Orinoco, the Llanos and Andean regions, and incursions into marine and coastal ecosystems. Through the implementation of the Gran Misión Madre Tierra Venezuela, efforts are directed toward addressing these challenges by advancing climate change adaptation and mitigation, promoting agroecological production, conserving soils and water resources, and ensuring the country’s ecological sustainability.
Historical contextualization of environmental and territorial governance as a public policy instrument
This article aims to frame the historical events in the Mucujún River sub-basin protected zone in order to recognize and compare the ways in which governance is exercised, that is, the proper implementation of public policies as instruments of environmental planning and urban processes. The research identifies and presents chronologically three important moments or events in the historical context of environmental and territorial governance. The first precedes the creation of the Mucujún River sub-basin protected zone. The second historical moment encompasses the reasons that led to the creation of the Area Under Special Administration Regime (ABRAE) in 1985, a type of protected zone, for the purpose of water production. The third moment corresponds to how the ABRAE's public policies have been applied. All of these factors gave rise to the legal framework for protecting the natural resources of the Mucujún sub-basin with sustainability criteria, given its importance as a water source. It is inferred that there are institutional, technical, and legal weaknesses in environmental and territorial governance regarding the application of public policies in the Mucujún protected area. In other words, this case highlights the need to strengthen the integrated management mechanisms of the ABRAE (Area of ​​Special Administration) to ensure compliance with the regulatory guidelines applicable to local plans for sustainable urban development over time, thereby reinforcing water security. This article contains an abstract, introduction, theoretical framework, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions, and bibliographic references.
Anthropocene, climate change and planning: Venezuela within the framework of this global problem
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), our time is marked by a progressive change in climate and its pattern. This global warming is due to anthropogenic causes, specifically emissions associated with the burning of fossil fuels and drastic changes in land use. In the Anthropocene, the current geological epoch, four positions stand out regarding climate change: a political denialist or skeptical position, a techno-optimistic or "market" position, a position defined as one of climate justice and radical transformation, and a position centered on the definition of global and cooperative governance. Venezuela, a country in the Latin American and Caribbean region, bases its strategies on the concept of ecosocialism. The Bolivarian government emphasizes its commitment to environmental protection through policies such as the implementation of the National Observatory of the Climate Crisis (ONCC) and the Great Mission Mother Earth to promote practices that allow for the recovery of ecosystems and biodiversity, and to adopt adaptation and mitigation measures with policies and actions that reduce the impacts of climate change. This paper analyzes these initiatives in light of the Third National Communication, Latin American and Caribbean initiatives, and global initiatives, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems, the impacts generated, and the harm to the people. It proposes the systematic collection of information and its compilation into an information system, as well as integrated actions with other countries in the region.
Dialogical management of urban solid waste in Venezuela: a vision from the social eco-organization
Venezuela, like other countries in the region, is facing significant challenges regarding Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management. This situation is primarily characterized by a linear model that favors "collection and open dumping" in landfills or uncontrolled final disposal sites over MSW recovery actions. Given this entropic scenario, a transition toward a dialogic management approach is proposed, grounded in Social Eco-Organization from the perspective of philosopher Edgar Morin's complexity paradigm. A proposal is presented based on three fundamental principles of Complexity: the dialogic (order/disorder), the recursive (sustainability loops), and the hologrammatic (the communal cell as a national reflection). The territorial implementation methodology is articulated through the Patria system as the technological attractor for data traceability, with the Ministry of People's Power for Ecosocialism (MINEC) serving as the governing body. The projected results indicate an optimization of reverse logistics by reinforcing the importance of source separation, the creation of communal collection centers, and industrial and energy recovery (biogas). This enables the fulfillment of the Fifth Historical Objective of the "Plan de la Patria" and the pillars of the "Gran Misión Madre Tierra Venezuela". It is concluded that overcoming this issue requires technology to integrate the institutionalization of "social wisdom" to transform waste into a strategic resource within the framework of the national circular economy.
Block planning: Prout in dialogue with venezuelan Popular Power
This research establishes a dialogue between the Progressive Utilization Theory (PRUT) (formulated by the Indian philosopher Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar) and the praxis of People's Power in Venezuela, focusing on territorial and economic planning for a powerful Venezuela. It is an approach from PRUT—a still relatively unknown theory from the Global South—to the construction of the Venezuelan Communal State. Given the context of multifaceted warfare and economic blockade, the need arises to redefine planning towards the formation of self-sufficient regions. Through a qualitative methodology of documentary review of the Venezuelan legal framework and methodological materials such as the Concrete Action Agenda (CAA), complemented by interviews with specialists in Communal State and communal activists, the concept of the block as a scientific unit of decentralized planning proposed by PRUT is analyzed. Profound convergences are identified between Prout and Venezuelan People's Power: the three levels of economic enterprises, the ascending order of planning, territorial demarcation, and the prioritization of minimum living requirements. Prout is identified as contributing substantive elements: the scientific calculation of costs that treats agriculture as an organized industry, the purchasing power indicator as a measure of economic success, and block-scale industrialization to promote local employment and production. It is concluded that the integration of the block planning model allows for overcoming the fragmented localism present in Venezuelan communes, with great potential to transform them into centers of organized agro-industry, within the framework of the 7T (Seven Transformations) Homeland Plan.
Territorial development and ecological justice from an ecosocialist-communal planning perspective. Transforming popular knowledge
This study aims to generate critical and contextualized transformative processes regarding communal ecosocialist planning, which constitutes a transformative paradigm for territorial development and ecological justice in the Pie de Sabana Bolivariana circuit, Trujillo State. Grounded in the socio-critical paradigm, the study uses Participatory Action Research (PAR) to promote a horizontal and emancipatory dialogue of knowledge. Methodologically, a participatory and reflective qualitative approach was applied, involving social actors in the collective construction of knowledge through a research process that includes participatory diagnosis, the design and implementation of action plans, and the reflective systematization of emerging learning and knowledge, employing interviews, participant observation, and qualitative systematization. The results indicate that the co-production of knowledge facilitates territorialization and decolonization in the face of extractivist logics. It is concluded that this practice, aligned with the 7T Homeland Plan, strengthens sovereignty and the emancipation of popular power, consolidating an environmentally sustainable, just, and socially contextualized model of territorial management.
Curriculum articulation and ecosocialist praxis: a perspective from technical secondary education
The purpose of this research is to explore the implementation of a learning proposal that demonstrates the integration of training in programming, software design, and networks, socio-productive economic plans, and the "All Hands to the Fields" program through the socio-productive project: "Creation of a Production and Marketing Center for Certified Seeds and Plants." This project involves the planting and marketing of seedlings and seeds in the Carlos Lanz school garden at the Pedro Garcia Leal Technical School, located in the Juan Ignacio Montilla parish, Valera Municipality, Trujillo State. The Invedecor method, developed by Professor Carlos Lanz, was applied through four phases: research, education, communication, and organization. The study specifies how fourth-year Telematics students actively participated in the germination, planting, care, and marketing of cacao seedlings, revealing the cross-curricular nature of digital competencies in socio-productive projects, with curricular integration as an eco-socialist practice. This falls within the line of research on planning, drivers, sectors and the linkage of the productive economy, highlighting the educational and economic potential of the symbiosis between technical areas and agroecological production.
Female Managerial Leadership in University Knowledge Management:
This essay analyzes the importance of female managerial leadership in knowledge management within the university context, supported by emergent planning, highlighting how this style positively influences the organization. It considers the most important aspects of this leadership style, exercised by female managers in universities. It explores the role of female leaders in senior management at universities, in addition to the characteristics of female leadership that align with emergent planning, such as adaptability, collaboration, open communication, and a holistic vision. These qualities are fundamental to the success of knowledge management. In conclusion, the implementation of knowledge management through female leadership and emergent planning generates successful results. It also demonstrates a positive change in university management and demonstrates that the inclusion of women in leadership roles contributes to the success of universities.
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Subregional and Local Scales in Planning:
This academic essay aims to provide insights into the need for functional, operational, and cognitive integration of the key territorial scales for planning the development of the Venezuelan nation. These scales are: national, subregional and local/communal. The legal structure and governance purposes of the constitutionally established territorial political division are broken down into the following levels: National, State a Municipal, each with specific powers and functions. However, for the purposes of national development planning, the National Executive with dominion over the entire territory of the Nation, under a Bolivarian vision, has developed a proposal for public policy for national planning based on the exercise of direct participatory and leading democracy supported at the national, subregional and local communal levels, unlike how it was territorially framed prior to the arrival of the Bolivarian revolution, at the scales: national and regional scales. These scales completely removed from the lives and needs of the national majority population groups, which social weaknesses, which led to favoring small groups with national and regional economic interests, how in turn-imposed project proposals that suite their interests. All of this changed with the new national territorial planning system, whose anchors are at the subregional level for national productive diversity and the local communal level to promote social needs and improve the quality of life of organized communities.
Organizational Intelligence, Internal Control, And Leading Role In The Construction Of Contemporary Public Ecosystems
This article aims to interpret the perceptions that subjects attribute to organizational intelligence, internal control, and leading participation in the construction of the contemporary public ecosystem. This article is framed within public management, which is oriented toward the refoundation of the Venezuelan State enshrined in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CRBV) and the establishment of a democratic and leading society, based on principles of co-responsibility and transparency. In this context, organizational intelligence is integrated into the formulation of development policies and programs, promoting transformation and active interaction with the population to build public management based on new forms of self-governance. To this end, a qualitative methodology with a hermeneutic-interpretative approach was used, which facilitated a deep understanding of the meanings constructed by officials and community members around these concepts. Fieldwork was conducted through documentary analysis, in-depth interviews, and focus groups held in the Mayor's Office of the Municipality of San Rafael de Carvajal and the Hugo Chávez Self-Government Council in Trujillo State. The results reveal that the effective integration of institutional internal control, social oversight exercised by organized communities, and organizational intelligence strengthen the comprehensive improvement of the public ecosystem, promoting innovation, transparency, and institutional effectiveness. It is concluded that the dialectical articulation of these elements is essential to consolidate innovative, adaptive, and participatory public management oriented toward collective well-being.
The Campaign against the Liberator in academic papers and on social media:
The United States government and its allies have carried out a systematic siege and persistent campaign against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In addition to the media, political, diplomatic, financial, and commercial crusade, there is a symbolic one focused on destroying the memory of the Liberator, both in academic papers and on social media. This is part of an imperial geopolitical strategy that seeks to overthrow the symbolic foundations of Bolivarianism as a unifying political figure for the peoples of the South who are fighting to safeguard their independence and right to self-determination.
Cinema, beyond being a simple form of entertainment, is presented as a cultural phenomenon that influences the viewer's subjectivity. This article explores how cinema can be a powerful tool for self-reflection and self-knowledge, especially in the context of Latin America. An interdisciplinary approach is proposed that unites cinema with communication, psychology, education, and philosophy, highlighting its role in the construction of identities and in the understanding of complex social problems. Through the Social Communication training program at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, pedagogical strategies are implemented that utilize documentary and experimental film to help students explore their own autobiographical narratives. This process not only allows them to reflect on their lives but also helps them connect with their social and cultural environment. The text also mentions the importance of technique and narrative in cinema, as well as the way personal stories can resonate with collective realities. It emphasizes that cinema can foster empathy and understanding among viewers, becoming a medium for questioning and transforming subjectivity. Finally, it is suggested that cinema, as a space for exploring identity and human experience, can contribute to the construction of new ways of being and thinking in today's society, offering students a platform to express their experiences and connect with their community in a meaningful way.
The Teaching State and its Legal-Philosophical Implications
The term "El Estado Docente" (The Teaching State) first emerged during the presidency of Rómulo Gallegos and was later clearly defined by Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa. It establishes an educational and pedagogical vision of the state that innovates its orientation and, in turn, shapes a model for strategic planning of citizen education. This concept and its relevance for transforming the nation through education is the motivation for the following research. The research's objective is to analyze the legal-philosophical implications derived from the concept of the teaching state in the territorialized strategic planning of the State in education. This will be framed within a legal perspective and educational philosophy, allowing the analysis to shift from the legal to the philosophical and vice versa to find the conceptual truth of the study. To achieve this purpose, a documentary methodology was used, employing the critical discourse analysis of Wodak and Meyer (2003) as the technique that considers a textual corpus for its study. This is assumed to be a social act that describes the person who issues it and their perception of power and its repercussions. The study will present the doctrine of the Teaching State, its implications, and its current evolution in the application of a permanent integrated system of systemic planning, which is an example of planning in and from the territory.
Planned system of permanent systemic formation
Social typologies. Synthesis and drive of social dynamics
The ways in which geographical spacetime is organized are closely correlated with the development of the societies of which they form part. Thus, social and economic inequalities are reflected in the parameters of spatial justice, or in other words, in the ways in which each society organizes space, in a dialectical relationship of creation and struggle. Social classes are an indisputable part of patterns of space occupation and urban and rural forms, and of each social group. In this way, an indivisible dialectical unity between form and content is proposed. This has physical expression, spatial configuration, urban layout, movement patterns, types of materials, volume of buildings, among other variables, and spatialtemporal correlation with settlement patterns, geohistory, and the very basis of community aggregation. This material generates a review of different concepts and methodological contributions from a critical perspective and the use of social typologies in urban and social planning processes.
A Methodological Framework for the Classification of Ecological Landscapes in Venezuela
This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding ecosystems, ecological landscapes, and landscape ecology. It details a step-by-step methodology and introduces a classification model for ecological landscapes in Venezuela. The proposed approach involves defining objectives, determining the working scale and boundaries, reviewing relevant literature, developing a base map, processing remote sensing data, formulating hypotheses and theoretical foundations, conducting field surveys, delineating ecological landscape mapping units, and assessing both potentials and constraints. The classification model is structured as a hierarchical, multi-category, and subdivisive system comprising six levels: ecoregion, sub-ecoregion, mega-ecosystem, macro-ecosystem, meso-ecosystem, and ecosystem unit. This framework has proven useful in advancing knowledge of ecological landscapes and serves as a foundation for territorial planning and the sustainable management of human activities in priority areas.
Comprehensive Defense of the Nation and Innovation in the Bolivarian National Armed Forces
The research is approached in terms of a documentary study for the historical reconstruction of the concept of nation security in Venezuela, which has undergone a remarkable evolution throughout its history, reflecting the political, social and economic contexts that have marked the country. From its beginnings as an independent nation to the present day, the perception of the threats and challenges facing Venezuela has been changing, which has directly impacted the strategies and policies implemented to guarantee national security, the notion of nation security has been a constant concern for Venezuelan authorities and citizens. As references for the approach to the subject matter, texts and scientific articles were reviewed, using the transcendental phenomenological complexity expressed by Husserl, from the qualitative approach, while the course of the research followed the historiographic perspectives of the Annales school with the contributions of Bloch and Chartier, as well as the analysis of Foucault's discourse.
La historiografía crítica de Chela Vargas
Gobierno del futuro: uso intensivo de datos e inteligencia artificial para las políticas públicas
El artículo explora los pilares fundamentales del llamado Gobierno del Futuro, con especial énfasis en la mirada estratégica, del uso intensivo de datos y la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) como herramientas para mejorar el diseño y la implementación de políticas públicas. El objetivo es: analizar el uso de datos masivos y la IA para el fortalecimiento de las políticas públicas Mediante un enfoque interdisciplinario, se argumenta que estas tecnologías no son simplemente recursos técnicos, sino instrumentos para reconfigurar la relación entre el Estado y la ciudadanía en dirección a modelos más anticipativos, inclusivos y colaborativos. El desarrollo y la integración de la IA a nivel transversal en las organizaciones, trascienden de iniciativas puntuales de carácter sectorial, para contar con nuevas capacidades. La revisión de diferentes aproximaciones que abordan el tema, permitió destacar la importancia de los datos y, más concretamente, de su gobernanza en la administración pública. Para profundizar en ello se identifican cinco componentes para su desarrollo: la estrategia, la arquitectura e infraestructura de datos, la organización (incluyendo estructura y procesos), la gestión del talento, las competencias de los profesionales y el modelo de relaciones de la organización con su entorno. Cada componente destaca un aprendizaje y conlleva una propuesta. Las conclusiones permiten destacar la necesidad de contar con una estrategia integrada de refuerzo institucional que relacione los diferentes componentes de una gobernanza de datos vinculada al desarrollo de la IA en el sector público.
La planificación como eje estratégico para la transformación emancipadora
La revista que hoy presentamos inaugura un espacio académico de alto nivel, orientado a reflexionar sobre la planificación como herramienta para la emancipación de los pueblos y la construcción de alternativas al modelo hegemónico global. Su relevancia se sustenta en principios de soberanía, integración y justicia social, y en la necesidad de repensar los modelos de desarrollo desde una perspectiva multipolar.