Indirect mitigations of the Public Space Contributions Law in the collection period 2020 - 2021: progress and challenges under an urban justice logic

Abstract

Law 28,950 on Contributions to Public Space (LAEP) introduces a new funding mechanism that allows the financing of mobility and public space projects at the communal and inter-communal level. The objective of this research is to identify the logics of efficiency and justice in elements of the design of the law; and describe the level of progress of its implementation process, determining the scope in terms of financing public space projects - one year after the entry into force of the payment to municipalities. From a descriptive approach, this article provides the first
empirical data on the implementation of the LAEP, which were obtained through surveys applied to more than 300 municipalities nationwide and comparative exercises carried out based on them. These exercises show that if the revenues trend observed for the 2020-2021 period is maintained, the mere collection from LAEP will have extreme difficulties in financing any public space project, being possible to execute only if they are complemented with additional resources from the municipal budget or other public funds. Faced with a scenario of low collection, doubts arise about the incentives of the municipalities to promote the implementation of the LAEP, warning that urban policies that respond to a logic of efficiency -to the detriment of a logic of justice- will have structural obstacles to be able to generate significant improvements in public space.