Bogota at the Edge : Ciudad Bolivar
Ciudad Bolivar is the largest informal settlement of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. What follows is an assessment of the current urban and social condition of Ciudad Bolivar. This is an extract from a longer text to be published in the Trading Places book 2004 on Bogota.
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| Source: Alain Gilbert, Bogota de Sante Fe: A Latin Special Case? |
Demographics
The World Bank estimates that Bogota has "over 1400 informal settlements occupying 24% of its area and housing 22% of its population."(4) The development of informal settlements in the periphery of Bogot‡ directly results from the influx of rural immigrants. Many Colombian come to the city to escape rural violence. Too poor to afford housing rents, they have to find alternative solutions, such as building their own houses.
Representing 10% of the population of Bogot‡, Ciudad Bolivar is the locality, which grew the fastest in the last decades. Between 1993 and 2002, the population of Ciudad Bolivar grew by 50%, more than twice as much as the city as a whole(5). The population grew from 35,000 residents in 1973 to a projected 713,000 in 2005(6). This data is probably a huge underestimation of the population of Ciudad Bolivar. By other accounts the population was somewhere between 1,2 million(7) and 2 million.
Social Conditions
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| Family and friends. Image by Gabriel Castro and published on www.angelita.de. |
Ciudad Bolivar has by most indicators the worst social conditions of Bogot‡. The government has not been able to develop the necessary infrastructure in pace with population growth. In 2002, it had the by far the lowest level of equipment in Bogot‡. It also has the lowest level of green space per habitants (1,94m2), and the lowest number of police stations (1 per 100,000 habitants). The percentage of people with unsatisfied basic needs in Ciudad Bolivar has decreased since 1993, but it still represented more that a quarter of residents in 2001. Violence too is high: Bolivar: assaults were the first cause of death for people aged between 15 and 44 and the second for people aged between 45 and 59(8).
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| Source: Rueda-Garcia, Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report 2003: Bogota, UN Habitat 2003 |
Pirate Urbanization
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| A view of Ciudad Bolivar by Bardnard Lortic from http://www.bondy.ird.fr/cvd/Pages_2001 |
Most of the 400,000 houses of Ciudad Bolivar were built with very basic means, without plan or permits by the residents or by slumlords. A house in Ciudad Bolivar costs between $700,000 and 1 million pesos (USD $270 - $380). However, houses have limited potential as a financial asset since the market is for the most part stagnant. Incomers do not have the means to buy house and the middle-class is not interested in living in the area.
The majority of houses are owner-inhabited; only 37% of housing units are rented. A house often represents more than a shelter for residents. Owners typically rent part of their houses or use the ground floor for business. They can be used as workspaces for manufacturing, food, and other services. Expending families can rarely afford to move into a bigger house; therefore they add floors to their houses, which causes all kinds of safety issues and increases density. The most populated neighborhood of Ciudad Bolivar, Lucero, has a density of 42,400 habitants per squared kilometer. The densest neighborhood of Ciudad Bolivar, San Francisco, has a density of 46,900 habitants per squared kilometer. In comparison, Tokyo has less than 20,000 habitants per squared kilometer and New York less than 10,000(9). To compare with cities with approximately the same population than Ciudad Bolivar, in 2001 the density of Barcelona (Spain) was 14,910km2 (33,275 in the densest neighborhood, the Eixample(10)), and the density of San Diego (California) was 1,456/km2 in 2001.
Public Infrastructure
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| Playgrounds and schools for children were one of the priorities of the Penalosa administration. |
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| * Infrastructure for education, social wellbeing, health, culture, religious activity. source: Alcadia Mayor de Bogota, D.C. Department Administrativo de Planeacion Distrital |
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| Water coverage is almost universal in Bogota, although it is hard to keep in pace with the development of informal settlements. |
The government typically legalizes settlements in Ciudad Bolivar after they have been developed. In 2000 alone, the government legalized 147 settlements representing 1150 hectares and 235,500 people.(11) The state encourages private residential development, but only on designated land where the infrastructure is already in place as it is very costly to provide illegal settlements with water systems, electricity and telephone lines. According to a report of the city, "despite the numerous interventions realized in the locality by international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and public institutions, Ciudad Bolivar keeps presenting a deficit of access to public services characterized by a low number of telephone lines, connection failures with of the aqueduct and sewage system, and the insufficient coverage of the cleaning services, which are due principally to the existence of illegal settlements and slums."(12)
In an effort to cut the cost of retrofitting informal settlements, the City created an agency called Metrovivienda. It acquires land at the edge of the city, put in place the necessary infrastructure and then sells the urbanized land to developers who in turn sell housing units. The principal weakness of this program is that is does not address the need of the families that are too poor to buy a house. Families have to develop their own shelters in the most unwanted parts of the city, and often end up in areas not suited for construction because of environmental hazards.
Particular efforts have been made to connect Ciudad
Bolivar to the rest of the city through public transportation networks. The
innovative Transmileno bus comes all the way to the edge of the locality. Then,
feeding buses bring people deeper inside. The price of a ticket is $900 Colombian
peso (about USD $0.30). People who donÕt live on the Transmilenio line typically
have to use at least two buses each way. This costs an average of $3,200 Colombian
pesos a day (USD $1.10). Transportation costs are an important part of the budget
for many families; the minimum wage in Colombia is $353,580 CPO (USD $120).
Many people earn even less than that, especially women, who are also often head
of the household with children at charge.
Urban Dynamics
Settlements in Ciudad Bolivar never stop developing and improving. In the initial phase of development they are usually illegal and totally lacking basic amenities. Once they are legalized, public authorities put the infrastructure in place. Residents consolidate their houses and gradually they become very livable places. The immigrants came to the capital in search for a better and safer life and building a house is the first step towards that goal. Nobody is more interested in improving their own social conditions and quality of life than the residents themselves. Genuine grassroots interest should be the driving force of urban development in Ciudad Bolivar because people know what they need better than urban planners and politicians. The governmentÕs role should be to implement the residentsÕ own solutions.
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| Work is always in process in Ciudad Bolivar. Image by Gabriel Castro and published on www.angelita.de. |
Ciudad Bolivar is filled with perfectly sane and loving families who are the first victims of the economic, social, and urban problems stigmatizing informal settlements. Most of Ciudad Bolivar is pretty far the stereotypical perception of a "slum". Many people are interacting in the streets, children playing and laughing, mothers walking home with grocery bags, men coming back from work in the city. There are even Internet cafŽs. Of course, some parts that are worst than others, but everywhere residents strive to improve their living conditions and consolidate their shelters. Poor neighborhoods, steaming out of the informal are dynamic places whose inhabitants desire nothing more than lifting themselves up out of poverty and integrating the mainstream. They are very different from the drug and crime ridden squatter settlement of Cartucho in the center of Bogot‡, which was cleared up by the Penalosa administration in the late 1990s.
Economic Dynamics
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| Areas of high poverty are in red on the map. We can see that large parts of Ciudad Bolivar are in red. source: Rueda-Garcia, Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report 2003: Bogota, UN Habitat 2003 |
The informal sector provides means of subsidence for half of the population of Bogot‡(13). It is the second best solution for people who are unable to integrate the formal sector, not a problem in itself. The problem is rather the inability of the formal sector to provide employment to the whole population. Most immigrants from the country have no choice but engaging in undeclared economic activities to survive. If the law was forcefully applied and people barred from economic alternatives, they would probably starve to death(14).
Moreover, the borderline between the formal and the informal sectors is blurry. For instance, many formal sector corporations hire informal labor, especially in construction or factory work. Other typical informal employments are informal commerce and housekeeping. Similarly, public money is often rerouted to the informal sector through intricate systems of organized corruption and political patronage.
Culture & Communal Spaces
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| The Huitoto Maloka of the Colege of Francisco de Bogota |
Communal spaces and collective projects are essential to the wellbeing and development of the community. They are spaces where common objectives can be identified and pursued, and where a common identity and culture can be developed. Ciudad Bolivar is a young community made of immigrants from all parts of the country. Therefore developing and consolidating social ties and a felling of belonging and pride is extremely important. Many studies in developing countries "have quantified variables like density of associations, membership heterogeneity and degree of active participation. These demonstrated that households social capital improves their levels of wellbeing, welfare measured as income and market, health and education services access."(15)
A notable civic initiative is the construction of a Maloka at the District College of Francisco de Bogot‡ in Ciudad Bolivar. A Maloka is a traditional indian of communal shelter. It was built by Huitoto Indians, an indigenous Colombian tribe. Indians tend to have a bad public image in Bogot‡ because they are often poor and transient. Many inhabitants of the Cartucho squatter settlement were Indians. In contrast, the Huitoto tribe preserved some of its ancient traditions, customs, and wisdom. Tribesmen inaugurated the Maloka with a ritual of purification and equilibrium. The Huitotos Indians use the center to share their knowledge and teach the youth the importance of speech, teamwork, and negotiation in the resolution of conflict in an area where conflicts often end up in cursing and fighting. To the professor Quinonez who was one of the main investigators of the Maloka, it is a place for dialogue where people can identify the issues and problem they are facing and propose alternatives. With this project, she says, "We wanted to rescue our own heroes and build a history told by its own protagonists."(16) This is a very good, if rare, example of a local project linking tradition, culture, social engagement, and integration. Ciudad Bolivar needs many more of these types of spaces of communication and exchange where the social fabric consolidates. In 2002, there were only 78 communal spaces in Ciudad Bolivar (less than one per 9,000 residents) and most of them were only available for rent.
A full version of the text will be published soon in the Trading Places book 2004, "Bogota : Urban Extremes". You can also obtain a copy by emailing me at matias@urbanology.org.
Notes
4 Israel Fainboim, World Bank Report, Colombia Urban Services Projects, Washington DC, February 2004, p.3
5 Proyecto Bogot‡ Como Vamos, La Pobreza en Bogota, Bogota D.C. Agosto de 2003, p. 2
6 Monografia De Ciudad, Alcaldia Mayor De Bogota, D.C. Departamento Administrativo De Planeacion Distrital 2003,
7 Ciudad Bolivar, Mas Cerca de las Estrellas, La Expresion, Bogot‡ Colombia, http://www.laexpresion.com
8 Monografia De Ciudad, Alcaldia Mayor De Bogota, D.C. Departamento Administrativo De Planeacion Distrital 2003
10 http://geographyfieldwork.com
11 Monografia De Ciudad
12 El Gobierno Distrital, Las Localidades, Ciudad Bolivar, Localidad 19, Bogota 2004, http://www.idct.gov.co
13 Proyecto Bogot‡ Como Vamos, La Pobreza en Bogota, Bogota D.C. Agosto de 2003
14 Rueda-Garcia, Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report 2003: Bogota, UN Habitat 2003, p.19
15 Sandra Viviana Polania Reyes, Capital Social E Ingreso de los Hogares del Sector Urban en Colombia, Resumen, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, May 2004, p. 7
16 El Tiempo, En Ciudad Bol’var resuelven los problemas al estilo huitoto, Bogot‡, January 18, 2004
References
Mar’a Cristina Caballero, Academic turns city into a social experiment: Mayor Mockus of Bogot‡ and his spectacularly applied theory, Harvard University Gazette, March 11, 2004: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01- mockus.html
Ciudad Bolivar, Mas Cerca de las Estrellas, La Expresion, Bogot‡ Colombia, http://www.laexpresion.com
Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Profile: Colombia, December 2003 & CIA World Fact Book: Colombia, May 2003
Israel Fainboim, World Bank Report, Colombia Urban Services Projects, Washington DC, February 2004
El Gobierno Distrital, Las Localidades, Ciudad Bolivar, Localidad 19, Bogota 2004, http://www.idct.gov.co/
Monografia De Ciudad, Alcaldia Mayor De Bogota, D.C. Departamento Administrativo De Planeacion Distrital 2003
Proyecto Bogot‡ Como Vamos, La Pobreza en Bogota, Bogota D.C. Agosto de 2003
UN Habitat, Best Practices, Bogot‡, How are we doing, The Together Foundation and UNCHS, 2002
El Tiempo, En Ciudad Bol’var resuelven los problemas al estilo huitoto, Bogot‡, January 18, 2004
Fabio E. Velasquez & Esperanza Gonzales, La Planeocion Participativa en Bogota D.C. Analisis y Propuestas, Fundacion Corona, Bogota, January 2004
Sandra Viviana Polania Reyes, Capital Social E Ingreso de los Hogares del Sector Urban en Colombia, Resumen, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, May 2004
Websites
http://www.bondy.ird.fr/cvd/stagiaires/diop/bogota/FICHE_BOGOTA.html
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