Urban land stratification and the built environment: spatial mismatch and residential segregation in Bogotá, Colombia
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Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
According to the United Nations, Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most urbanized but also most unequal regions in the world (UNDP, n.d.). This social inequality is reflected in the spatial structure of its cities, which remain characterized by severe residential segregation (Caldeira, 1996; Portes & Hoffman, 2003; Rodriguez & Arriagada, 2004; Coy, 2006; Sabatini, 2006; Inostroza et al., 2013). While the new middle class enjoys dynamic urban spaces with employment opportunities and urban services, lower-income residents are relegated to peripheries, mostly of informal origin which suffer from disinvestment, crime, stigmatization and isolation. Although policy initiatives have been developed to “upgrade” or otherwise improve these marginalized peripheries in an effort to reduce spatial inequalities, in many cases these efforts have unexpectedly reproduced or exacerbated the patterns of residential segregation.
One such policy that has failed to promote residential integration is Colombia’s Urban-Land Stratification. Even though the policy has facilitated the delivery of low-cost basic utilities to the urban poor, it may have, nevertheless, promoted social segregation. The production of spatial divisions based on income levels has contributed to the perception of wealth differentiation between different urban areas, exacerbating spatial segregation in Bogota with a variety of severe social, political and economic implications that include over-pricing of middle and higher income areas, lack of generational and social mobility, concentration of poverty, and unequal access to employment and urban services. This phenomena has been analyzed by different studies:
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Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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