An innovative strategy for the urban renewal of informal settlements

Municipality of Bogota, 2019

urban sustainability exchange (use)

HabitARTE is a social and community initiative where citizens work together to improve the facades and common areas of public spaces in neighborhoods located in informal settlements. Participants are provided with training in different arts and crafts and some have access to employment opportunities.

HabitARTE fosters social inclusion and co-existence within the community and simultaneously builds citizens leadership skills. Participants decide together, which artworks will be displayed, what colors they use for the facades of their building and on the scope of improvements to public spaces in their neighborhood.

An innovative strategy for the urban renewal of informal settlements

HabitARTE is a social and community initiative where citizens work together to improve the facades and common areas of public spaces in neighborhoods located in informal settlements. Participants are provided with training in different arts and crafts and some have access to employment opportunities.

HabitARTE fosters social inclusion and co-existence within the community and simultaneously builds citizens leadership skills. Participants decide together, which artworks will be displayed, what colors they use for the facades of their building and on the scope of improvements to public spaces in their neighborhood.

Backgrounds and objectives

Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions on the planet and the accelerated processes of urbanization have been accompanied by phenomena such as social, economic and spatial segregation. Bogotá’s population has increased twelve times in the last eight decades, and much of this growth has taken place outside the planning process. In this way, informal settlements have appeared in the Colombian capital in tandem with its significant demographic growth. Citizens living in these settlements have historically resided in conditions of vulnerability.

Informal settlements have to deal with issues such as poverty, inequality and environmental deterioration are dramatically concentrated. Therefore, city officials focus much of their effort on responding to this challenge. The district administration has proposed the « Demarginalize » strategy as a mechanism that articulates different initiatives to improve informal neighborhoods in the city. Within them, the Urban Transformations for Inclusion (TUPI) are developed as a series of strategies aimed at the revitalization of informal neighborhoods, the appropriation of public space and the consolidation of local leadership. One of the most successful TUPI is HabitARTE.

The timeline for HabitARTE is:

1997 - Law 338 is enacted which establishes the public function of urban planning in Colombia and promotes democratic participation in territorial planning.

2004 - The Territorial Ordinance Plan creates Article 158 that establishes the « Integral Neighborhood Improvement » program, which articulates interventions from the social and territorial standpoints. Comprehensive habitat interventions were included in the District Development Plan, Bogotá Mejor Para Todos, to promote access to prioritized communities to the right to the city. The District Habitat Secretariat designs and implements Urban Transformations for Inclusion, including HabitARTE. The first HabitARTE takes place in Aguas Claras neighborhood in San Cristóbal district.

2017 - The first macro mural was made in Los Puentes neighborhood, in Rafael Uribe Uribe district.

2019 - With HabitARTE, more than 95,000 facades of 83 neighborhoods in 10 different districts of Bogota have been intervened, including 141 murals and 4 macromurals.

Implementation

The strategy consists of 3 implementation phases:

Phase 1: analysis and community organization; in which the social and technical characterization is made (counting of plots that will be intervened, how many houses have plaster and how many use raw materials, etc.), and the community is informed about the actions to be carried out through social promoters who are members of the same community.

Phase 2: transformation and revitalization; in which the territory is improved, with interventions in facades, sides and roofs, weeding of stairs and parks, cleaning, etc.

Phase 3: education programs for the improvement of the territory; including training and empowerment for ownership and conservation. Professional titles are awarded to the trainees and they are given physical tools so that they can carry on performing practical, as well as theoretical, work.

HabitARTE’s ethos is the use of color for the transformation of neighborhoods in informal settlements. Thus, the revitalization of facades and implementation of art becomes the means to strengthen social and community processes through socio-cultural interventions. Participatory workshops are held to identify the needs of each community in topics such as the use of social networks for grassroots organizations, digital job boards and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people.

City officials and other partner institutions listen and guide the community towards self-management. This includes training in wellness issues, beauty, crafts, clothing, and courses including stucco and painting, which include granting the proper certificates.

The sense of belonging and community is strengthened through social and community initiatives; identification of social activities and groups; entrepreneurship workshops; community activities such as the sancocho (a typical Colombian soup) and gastronomic festival; the participation of community promoters and volunteers; and community and integration festivals. In addition to the recovery of public spaces through adaptation and beautification, HabitARTE also contemplates the creation of macromurales: 3D macro murals, which can be appreciated not only from the perspective of a pedestrian, but also from an aerial view.

The HabitARTE strategy has four components:

SOCIAL

This constitutes a fundamental axis to achieve rapprochement and dialogue with the citizens living in informal settlements. To achieve the transformation of these neighborhoods, a series of activities including tours, meetings with community leaders, volunteering and prioritization workshops are held in order to promote community participation and generate actions of co-responsibility and sustainability of the interventions.

INCLUSION

This component includes different pedagogical strategies to generate stronger ties between the citizens of the beneficiary communities and the rest of Bogotá. In this context, training and knowledge exchange become the ideal means to promote community initiatives. This component works around the interests and capacities of citizens and seeks to upskill citizens of the prioritized neighborhoods and using these skills to improve their immediate environment.

ARTISTIC

The artistic component directs socio-cultural interventions (the creation of murals and macro murals and the revitalization of public facades) in accordance with the social, cultural, environmental and architectural conditions of the neighborhood or community.

TECHNICAL

Develops and implements interventions to improve housing and public spaces, in the neighborhoods prioritized by Bogotá’s Housing Department. This component seeks to generate actions focused on improving the appearance of public spaces and accompanies the processes of formation, design and implementation of the actions for territorial improvement.

Financing and resources

The lead agency for the project is the City of Bogotá and the program is administered through the Mayor’s office and the Housing Department.

Results and impacts

Integration and appropriation

Institutional confidence

Capacity Building

Barriers andchallenges

Lessons learned and transferability

Innovative elements

Effective elements

Sustainable elements

Replicable elements

Sources