Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

B. Capital District of Bogotá
Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, is in the country’s geographical
center, on a highlands plateau known as the “savannah”
of Bogotá, at 2,630 meters above sea level. It covers
177,598 hectares, 17 percent of which are urban, 10 percent
are suburban, and 73 percent rural.
Its urban area contains 20 localities divided into 114
Zonal Planning Units (Unidades de Planeación Zonal,
UPZ) 1 , composed of several neighborhoods. The
rural areas have rural planning units (Unidades de
Planeamiento Rural, UPR) 2 , which, in turn, contain
“veredas” (small rural areas), which are the smallest
territorial divisions (Map 5.2).
Map 5.2. Localities of Bogotá
1. Population Growth and
Settlement Patterns
Bogotá’s population grew from 96,605 at the beginning
of the 20th century (Montezuna, 1999) to 7 million
at its end. In 2009, according to National Statistics
Department (DANE) projections based on the 2005
census, it had 7,259,597 inhabitants (or 14 percent of the
country’s total population), 99.7 percent in the urban
area. According to a 2008 DANE study, 16 percent had
unsatisfied basic needs.
The settlement process was unplanned, without adequate
control of land use; this resulted in human settlements
in environmental conservation areas, in floodprone
strips of land alongside rivers, streams, near to
wetlands and on mountain slopes.
Land occupancy and tenure on Bogotá’s outskirts
are characterized by illegal subdivisions of lots, a
lack of public utilities, non-existence of deeds, poor
access roads, and lack of public space and community
facilities—reflected in the figures issued by the Housing
Secretariat (Secretaría del Hábitat) of the Capital District.
According to the technical data sheet of the land use plan
for Bogotá (2000), 44 percent of the neighborhoods were
created as informal settlements and 23 percent of the
land developed needed to be improved. In 2009, 9,700
hectares (3.1 percent) and 1,596 neighborhoods failed to
meet urban development standards and requirements,
showed signs of environmental degradation, exacerbated
social and physical segregation, and had population in
high-risk areas. Also, there were 58,810 lots without
deeds, 375,992 unfinished houses that were not
habitable and needed to be structurally reinforced, and
4,545 households in high-risk areas which were in the
process of being resettled (District Habitat Secretariat –
Secretaría Distrital del Hábitat, 2009).
Source: Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá. Planeación Distrital. 2007
2
Zonal planning units (UPZ) are urban areas that are smaller than localities (localidades) and bigger than a neighborhood (barrio). The
UPZ serve as territorial units or sectors for urban development planning purposes at the zone level. They are a planning tool to facilitate
the development of urban regulations with the degree of specificity required in Bogotá because of the big differences between sectors. In
planning they are the intermediate level between districts (barrios) and localities.
3
These are the grassroots instruments for rural planning, adopted for ecological management, land occupancy and uses, and agricultural and
livestock technical assistance strategies.
Chapter 5 Nueva Esperanza: A Resettlement Case with Risk Management and Land Use Planning Approach | Colombia |
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