Bogotá: case study

Informal settlements in Latin America develop following similar patterns and behaviors. However, they mutate and change in relationship with the culture and territory in which they are located. Therefore, the tools and actions must be tailored and adjusted on site.

Although Bogota is one of the Latin American cities that has grown exponentially in the last 50 years, its housing programs have not met the housing demand. By 2017, according to DANE data, the housing deficit reached 353,580 units. Of which 142,919 correspond to the quantitative deficit and 156,912 to the qualitative housing deficit. However, for the 2018 census, the figures revealed 96,947 households in quantitative deficit and 256,633 in qualitative deficit (DANE, 2020). According to Olga Ceballos, an explanation for the reduction of the quantitative deficit and the increase in the qualitative deficit can be associated with the increase in the supply of informal housing in Bogota, which continues to solve the housing need in the poorest households but maintains the quality deficiencies associated with the production achieved there (Ceballos, 2019).

"As governmental construction of social housing and the provision of subsidies have proven to be incapable in providing sufficient affordable and adequate housing, social movements take matters in their own hand by occupying abandoned and underused buildings and terrains in the city, thereby broaching the severe housing deficit and widespread precarious living circumstances by working towards alternative housing solutions." (OSA,2020)

This chapter takes Bogota as a case study. It exposes the city's urban growth concerning informal settlements, socioeconomic aspects of its inhabitants, housing policies, and the tools the city has used to address them.

Bogotá, Colombia

Population

Urban Area 7,412,566

Metropolitan Area 10,700,000