The city is man’s creation and we are proud of it. But only if we have a profound respect for nature, will we give a certain future to the next generations.

 

THESE reflections on the development of Bogotá city, capital of Colombia, draw upon case studies of different projects and urban settings. Architecture, landscape planning and urban design are closely linked to a city’s quality of life. In recent decades, however, the ideas/models that a universal urban architect of the stature of Karl Brunner or a visionary like Le Corbusier had advanced or designed for Bogotá have been blurred under the pressure of high and largely uncontrolled growth of the poor population.

Towards the end of the last century, Bogotá’s Mayor, Enrique Peñalosa¹ proposed a new direction the city needed to take in order to improve the living conditions of its people. His proposal was centred around the creation and the regeneration of a democratic public space par excellence, and the building of a new efficient and economic transportation system with articulated buses, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Fortunately, the mayors that succeeded Peñalosa reinforced and broadened the same view of the city such that ‘the public budget was sacredly administrated’, as noted by the mayor, Antanas Mokus.

Mobility, education, public space and green space are the key elements of this new framework. Throughout these tumultuous years, the architects were actively involved in the development of these various projects. Their work proves that the quality of public space, urban and natural landscape is not only the concern of professional urban planners and engineers, as had been the practice in the city until then. Several generations were involved in this achievement, as both well-known and young architects were given the responsibility for improving many areas of the city.

Nevertheless, though Bogotá experienced a positive breakthrough, this was not good enough. In recent years, neither the problems of increased mobility nor the growing inequity between the city’s residents have been correctly studied or addressed. These problems derive from broader trends that influence Colombia’s cities, such as violence and poverty; hence, the improvement in the quality and range of education and public space for the citizens are vital aspects that will help to deal with these huge challenges.

 

This paper does not claim to provide magic solutions. Bogotá is an example showing that cities, despite a low budget, can solve and improve their quality of life. A key lesson is that the process requires the democratic election of honest managers who, armed with the political will to create change, are able to evolve a good long-term development plan for the city. Equally, the process also demands the strong involvement of local politicians who, if limited by a short-term vision and political interests, can block the evolution and implementation of proper management plans. This experience also shows that involvement of architects is critical to the success of these goals, since architecture more than other professions tends to be closer to the utopia and anticipation of the future, something commonly neglected when it comes to building a city.

Bogotá, at 2,600 metres above sea level, is a city with the largest urban population in Colombia and one that centrally influences the country’s politics. The city is located at the foot of the impressive chain of the East Mountains, extending from North to South in the foothills.

During the pre-Columbian era, Bogotá consisted of a cluster of small towns of which few traces remain, since most buildings were made of deciduous materials which have been replaced over time. The Spanish conquest and the colony introduced a new architectural concept to all Latin American territories: the courtyard – an open air space that demarcates and isolates the private world of buildings from the urban collective spaces. But above all, the designs of all urban settlements in Latin America were based on the Laws of the Indies, which favoured a grid pattern of streets and main squares. This Renaissance based layout of an ideal city was replicated in most Latin American settlements. Bogotá is also a clear example of a foothill layout, overlooking the savannah to the West.

 

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the then prevailing universal concepts of architecture and urbanism were introduced to Bogotá: French and English influences entered the customs and architecture of the New Republic. Bogotá, located in the centre of the country and at the top of the mountains, suffered from physical isolation. The news came late; the residents were conservative, self-absorbed and provincial. With the arrival of the train in 1889 and the plane in the early 20th century, the city was no longer physically isolated and Bogotá, although still peripheral to world events, slowly walked into modernity. On one hand, the English garden city, the city inside the country in the midst of nature, was perfectly suited to the generosity and exuberance of tropical vegetation. Insulated buildings replaced the streets and urban corridors. The development of wooded boulevards and green front yards brought in the concept of ‘belle cité’ or ‘city beautiful’, which drew upon the experiences of F.L. Olmstead and others who followed the principle of ‘architecture and landscape in the urban context.’ This was a new concept that, regardless of the variety of building styles, became a model applied in Bogotá and other Colombian cities.

 

At this point it is worth highlighting the contribution of the Austrian Karl Brunner (1887-1960) who for several years taught urban design at the first school of architecture established in the country (National University), and between 1933 and 1938 spearheaded two urban management plans for Bogotá. The capital city at that time had 270,000 residents. Brunner advocated a model that was respectful of the existing part of the city and in which architecture played a central role in the creation of public spaces. His proposals were highly significant for the legacy of Bogotá and there is no doubt that they resulted in a successful integration between the existing city and the different settlements that were subtly attached to the urban fabric.

In parallel, the influence of modernism in Latin America began to take hold. With theoretical foundations drawing on the findings of CIAM (Congrès internationaux d’architecture moderne), the city came to be designed according to the zoning of functions: to live, work, entertain and circulate. This change was in consonance with the new universal understanding, influenced by the European exodus to Latin America following the Second World War. It is at this stage that European architects based in Colombia began to work with Colombian architects educated in Europe and the United States and together they introduced a new architectural style: the Bauhaus. The work of Le Corbusier and his Brazilian associates became the new models of modern architecture.

In the late forties, two unrelated events altered the prevalent view of the city and its architecture: the first was the Bogotázo, a popular uprising triggered by the murder of the Liberal leader Jorge Gaitan, on 9 April 1948, which resulted in the first major social riot after independence devastating much of the city by fire. Paradoxically, this opened up hitherto unimaginable possibilities of urban intervention in the capital. The second trigger was the visit of Le Corbusier to Bogotá, who was invited in 1947 to develop the Plan Piloto of Bogotá. Le Corbusier finished his pilot plan in 1951 and the town planning consulting firm of Wiener and Sert Associates was commissioned to prepare a more detailed design. Although this master plan was never implemented, the work and ideas of Le Corbusier strongly influenced the younger generation of Colombian architects and several principles of the plan were embodied in the city that was to be built over the next decade. Interestingly, Le Corbusier was at the same time designing Chandigarh in Indian Punjab, but unlike the new state capital in India, which was conceived as a ‘green field’ project, in Bogotá ‘a new network of sectors was planned to overlay an existing city fabric.’ This plan never materialized; only 50 years later, through a study of the main lines of the road plan, can one understand the geographic and landscape view of his approach and its influence on the urban design of the city.

 

Bogotá had 600,000 inhabitants in 1950, and the master plan projected 2,500,000 inhabitants by the end of the century. This projection was completely overrun in the next couple of decades as Bogotá experienced an uncontrolled migration from the countryside. By 2011, the city had become home to more than seven million people, outgrowing its geographical boundaries given by the mountains and the river. The informal city, which earlier was looked upon as a ‘clandestine development’, today constitutes more than half of the urban development of the capital as mid-century low income housing design in low-density settlements proved insufficient, the underground or informal development became the rule. This growth has resulted in an inappropriate city that lacks basic water and sanitation systems, as also institutional spaces and green areas in every neighbourhood. The challenge during the last decades has been to legalize neighbourhoods and introduce the required services at an affordable cost. Unfortunately, the city from the beginning was polarized in two contrasting areas: the wealthy suburbs in the north and the poor habitants in the south. Even today, in the 21st century, this segregation remains a reality, with the city surrounded by a belt of poverty.

 

Building on this reality of urban housing shortage for low income population, in the mid-60s the architect Germán Samper Gnecco² initiated a series of projects that proposed new solutions to housing – a low altitude densification based on the understanding that housing should be built on progressive development which grow according to the financial possibilities of the owners. A study of public housing titled ‘Minimum Standards’,³ conducted in 1970 for the District Planning Administrative Department (DPAD) of Bogotá, summarized the fundamental principles of the new approach to urban planning. This study proposed a realistic alternative within the framework of law, enabling spontaneous solutions that make it possible to avoid the mushrooming of urban neighbourhoods marked by unacceptable, slum-like conditions. Nevertheless, it is important to note that in the absence of housing policies and a shortage of urban land, conditions today have worsened.

 

Let us now look at two case studies of low cost housing – Ciudadela Colsubsidio (1985-2000): a 12,000 unit low cost housing apartments project,⁴ was designed as five-storey buildings on a 150 hectares plot of land as a small ‘city within a city’. It was developed within the guidelines of the Caja Colombiana de Subsidio (Colsubsidio) constitution that specifies the percentage of public resources to be spent on housing for union members, one reason why this project is planned and controlled in its architecture and urbanism. This project reflects the theoretical and practical lessons drawn from decades of research by the architect Samper: the creation of vehicular networks separate from the pedestrian networks, a minimum density of 100 houses per hectare for family homes and a higher density for multi-family housing, and the use of the concept of ‘urban enclosure’ in which architectural considerations shape urban space. The public space constitutes a central feature of the design, and a critical look at the precepts of his teacher Le Corbusier explains the return to the street and the main square. This section of the city is a good illustration (of course, not the only one of its kind) of how innovative architectural design can contribute to the growth of the city and help improve the life quality of residents.

The second case study is about El Recreo, Metrovivienda (2000-2010), a 8,000 unit low cost/income housing project.⁵ During his term in office, Mayor Enrique Peñalosa (1999-2001) founded the public company Metrovivienda, with the aim of creating a land bank to facilitate the development of housing projects for low income populations. It works on the understanding that the ‘underground’ informal developments are for more efficient in an economic sense, because ensuring the supply of lots or land to be developed by its owners both generates good commercial value and increases what large landowners earn from its sale. Without having to invest in the construction of roads and related services, and without equipment, the pirate developers help make a ‘fast city’ to be sold at a very low price: the company buys huge land plots at a commercial price and sells plots at a very low price. More specifically, the challenge of Metrovivienda is to ensure a relatively competitive price (funding required to do so) of developed urban land that can then be sold to private developers, who otherwise would only focus on housing for people with higher incomes.

 

The objective of this urban planning exercise was to establish realistic rules that would allow different architectural solutions through a progressive single housing development while building a public space from the very inception. This, it is hoped, would reduce the likelihood of spontaneous solutions which often result in unacceptable conditions within housing settlements. The proposed urban structure has its origins in the alternate networks studies developed by Germán Samper. The road network corresponds to three scales, depending upon their function, class and character: from routes for fast vehicular traffic; to routes leading into sectors and distribution channels within the sectors for pedestrian or mixed use; and, finally, to a system of subdividing the land into superblocks. As a result of this overall plan, even small pieces of land were able to attract private developers to make affordable housing.

Unlike Colsubsidio, El Recreo was developed by private investors and developers and the urban design did not specify the architectural design of its parts. Only planned public spaces were controlled, not the architectural realization of its constituent blocks. In most low income housing projects, an ongoing transformation of the urban landscape is the rule. The houses are designed for multiple use, i.e., the two-storey houses that are delivered to users rapidly grow and are partially transformed into stores and for other commercial uses.

The transformation of Bogotá in the last decade is marked in several areas: mobility, recovery of public spaces, education, recreational and green areas. Ever since 1980, there was concern about the decline of public spaces. Until then, the focus of all the mayors was on expanding roads and building bridges to improve private vehicular traffic. The motorized vehicle thus became the owner and the executioner of the big cities. In Bogotá, not only did space for people disappear, the sidewalks became car parking platforms, and public transportation was steadily privatized. Though a few voices of complaint were heard, only in some cases were small-scale projects initiated to alter this situation.

 

New projects, such as those developed by Rogelio Salmona, where the design of buildings is based on geography and landscape, were open to the public space. Similarly, the ones by Germán Samper resulted in neighbourhoods where pedestrian space was privileged and vehicular traffic controlled. Another innovation was the introduction of smart and practical urban planning which provided for the creation of a bikeway on Sundays. Vehicular traffic was closed on major arteries so as to enable recreational use of the street throughout the city. However, these efforts were isolated and did not reach the entire population, in turn adding to urban chaos.

It was only at the end of the administration of Mayor Paul Bromberg (1997) when the first steps were taken to initiate public space projects with a citywide impact. Three major projects were initiated: (i) Carrera 15, a high-intensity pathway proposed commercial recovery and reducing expansion of the platforms in a vehicular traffic lane,⁶ (ii) Environmental Axis, which proposed turning the Jiménez Avenue into a semi-pedestrian street that follows the route of the old San Francisco river in the historic city centre,⁷ and (iii) Calle 80, a new road artery in the city that drew a major route of entry and exit to the west, perpendicular to the mountains, which served as a continuation of the normal bus route already operating in the Avenida Caracas. The Calle 80 would then become the first line of Transmilenio.⁸ 

 

The designs were accepted by Enrique Peñalosa and with some modifications, immediately initiated for development. The time factor in an administration that lasts only three years is vital, and these three projects together matched the new idea of the city that the mayor wanted to create.

The Peñalosa administration was the first to propose the idea of significantly improving education facilities. The 800 public schools that were located throughout the city not only lacked the capacity to expand coverage but since they were mostly built in parts, suffered from poor physical infrastructure. The new approach was to build schools which could compete in facilities with the best private schools, an initiative that continued in the programme of subsequent mayors, to finally become a priority of the administration of Mayor Lucho Garzón (2004-2007). This programme resulted in the emergence of high quality public facilities in the slums. They have since become a positive point of reference for public property, appreciated by all residents, serving as triggers that can positively influence the recovery of neighbourhoods.

The Simon Bolivar Park was designed in 1968, though built two decades later. This large piece of land in the middle of the city has 300 acres of trees, public buildings, lakes, botanical gardens and spaces for recreation and sports. However, the effort to preserve this great green lung for Bogotá is not enough for a city that is characterized by a lack of trees and sports facilities in poor neighbourhoods, and abundant green areas in the rich ones. With the aim of solving this inequality, Enrique Peñalosa’s administration created the park system we have today. An unprecedented tree planting was done in the existing avenues and parks, and with great difficulty space was created for new parks (many of them on land bought during Peñalosa’s administration and built during the following administrations).

 

Throughout the park systems were added runoff and green corridors that descend from the mountains to the Bogota river, across which in past centuries were meadows full of wetlands. The water drainage problem in the city is so serious that every time it rains, several neighbourhoods and streets are flooded as the water collects in the erstwhile wetland areas. Le Corbusier, during his visit to Bogotá, had proposed the creation of linear parks along the rivers that descend from the mountains; 50 years later, this ecological reality was finally realized. The growth in bicycle mobility is closely related to these green corridors which connect 200 kms of bicycle paths along parks and roads, while simultaneously creating new avenues for pedestrians and bicycles along the Bogotá river. Bogotá and the surrounding savannah have the same future – a metropolis that analysts say can reach 24 million people in 2038, in its fifth century of foundation. Bogotá thus cannot exclude the surrounding region from its future.

Politically, the relationship between the big city and neighbouring municipalities has always been tense, the former fearing a loss of power and invasion in its backyard. Individual municipalities are reluctant to involve themselves with major regional plans, and each of them makes their development plans unrelated to the city of Bogotá. On the other hand, continued out-migration of Bogota’s habitants to the surrounding areas, attracted by the promise of life in residential neighbourhoods full of trees, has created an urban sprawl. It is, therefore, vital that all stakeholders are included in the development of a metropolitan plan.

 

In the city-region framework there are two important considerations: preserving the ecological network of the savannah and increasing mobility among populations. First, the ecological network must define the development parameters. Both important agricultural areas, and the hills that surround and enter the savannah, should be protected from new urban development. If we also take into consideration the urban disaster that occurs every winter season with the rain and flooding of the Bogotá river, it is vital to preserve potential flood areas for drainage, specially in the west part of the river, outside the city.

A second consideration is the mobility and development of connecting roads between towns and the city. These are potential urban corridors. The current municipal plans have blindly followed this tendency by encouraging industry (with tax regulations) to settle across the outskirts of Bogotá towards the region. The population living on the periphery of these corridors, potential labour, has generated rapid development of these corridors.

The result, which is already apparent, is a city surrounded by slums as industrial corridors and the savannah are over-run by low density developments. Only a plan that can articulate metropolitan mass transit routes while simultaneously protecting the ecological values of the region, can control the development that marks the current trend. In any case, the most realistic option, given the limited supply of urban land, is the densification of the existing city. It includes the area North of the city, a site of bitter debate between the Peñalosa administration, which wanted high density for 1,500,000 inhabitants with generous parks and avenues, and a group of environmentalists led by the Ministry of Environment, which froze nearly 4,300 acres to be left as green reserve, despite the fact that the frozen land is almost completely occupied by low density housing, private schools, social clubs and industrial farming of flowers under plastic greenhouses. As a result, the last ten years have experienced an uncontrolled invasion outside the city with very low density developments.

 

With an annual addition of 120,000 residents, Bogotá’s future is uncertain. It is a cosmopolitan city that welcomes people from all regions, offering the best in health services, education and employment opportunities. Given the huge demand for affordable housing; progressive development solutions need much more space than required by high density apartments in large towers. Currently, the high income population is entrenched in apartment buildings and countryside condominiums (5%), the narrow strata of middle class also occupies high density buildings (10%), while most low income population prefers individual housing, both for the financial advantage of progressive development and the opportunity to employment from the house (home production is 85%).

Consequently, as the city inexorably expands towards the savannah lands, a balance is required between urban growth and ecological conservation. It is not a reasonable option to lock-in the city and maintain the countryside; it is equally unrealistic to conserve large plots of land currently used for agriculture. Nor is urban sprawl a desirable situation: be it condominiums for high income residents and sub-normal neighbourhoods for low income residents. What is non-negotiable is the protection of flood plains and mountains with their native forests.

Hence, both the builders of the city and the protectors of nature must work in concert towards creating a dense but friendly city for its inhabitants – with parks, rivers, wetlands, social and sports facilities and good mobility, as well as protection of areas with ecological value and reserve areas for periodic flooding (which is more intense today due to climate change). The current debate marked by intransigence and lack of communication between the actors will not help produce positive results. Nor will it help reach agreement about a balanced plan. Meanwhile, the city grows and grows and grows, without guidance, just following the destructive pattern of the past 50 years.

 

Footnotes:

1. Enrique Peñalosa, politician and economist with a focus on urban studies, was elected mayor of the city for the period 1999-2001.

2. Architect graduated at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 1947, made a professional practice for five years with Le Corbusier, practicing in Colombia since 1953.

3. Study made by Consultécnicos. Germán Samper led the urban theoretical model.

4. Designed by architect Germán Samper.

5. Designed by architects Konrad Brunner, Guillermo Perry and Eduardo Samper, with the consultancy of Germán Samper and Ioannis Alexiou.

6. Designed by architect Fernando Cortes Larreamendy.

7. Designed by architects Rogelio Salmona and Luis Kopec.

8. Designed by architects Germán Samper, Eduardo Samper and Restrepo and Uribe engineers.