Environmental Assessment and Spatial Planning: Key Tools for Meaningful Development

As the opening lecture and through a thought-provoking and action-oriented Governance Lecture, Sebastián Aylwin Correa—an alumnus of the Master's in Risk and Resource Governance offered by Heidelberg University in cooperation with the Pontificia Universidad Católica, and Head of Environmental Assessment at the Chilean Ministry of the Environment—addressed the current challenges of environmental governance in Chile. His focus was on the crucial role of spatial planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as drivers of real change toward sustainable development.
Under the title “Environmental Assessment and Sustainable Development: Governance Challenges for Driving Change”, Aylwin focused on the structural tensions that define environmental policy in Chile, characterized by high socio-environmental conflict and a project-centered logic—commonly referred to as “permisología”—that often fails to consider territorial dynamics and local needs. This reduces opportunities for real citizen participation and weakens territorial democracy.
Aylwin emphasized that planning—when understood as a democratic, technical, and political exercise—can be a powerful tool for articulating development visions that integrate environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Using concrete examples such as Til-Til, Quintero-Puchuncaví, Valdivia, and Pichirropulli, the presentation contrasted development scenarios with and without SEA, showing how the absence of planned processes negatively affects both the environment and communities.
A central idea was that the current public debate on development is overly focused on isolated initiatives. In this context, Strategic Environmental Assessment is not just a technical procedure but a method that guides public decision-making processes in an anticipatory, participatory, and long-term-oriented manner.
“Territorial planning that incorporates Strategic Environmental Assessment has the potential to strengthen our democracy and sustainable development. To achieve this, adopting complex governance models is a fundamental challenge—and one to which the Risk and Resource Governance Master’s at Heidelberg University is making a significant contribution,” said Aylwin.