In this paper we study the connection between the equilibrium relaxation pr
operties of glass-forming systems and the spatial organization of cooperati
ve processes which govern their dynamics. This study has been performed by
Monte Carlo simulations of f-spin frustrated kinetic Ising models for diffe
rent local kinetic constraints f. Both the equilibrium dynamics of these sy
stems and the topological properties of their cooperative processes were in
vestigated through the calculation of autocorrelation functions and the dis
tribution of cooperativity lengths. The results show that the different loc
al kinetic constraints induce very different spatial organizations of the c
ooperative processes and thus heterogeneous dynamics of different natures.
On the other hand, whatever their spatial organization, the average spatial
extent of the cooperative processes acts as a dynamical length scale which
governs the dynamics of the system.