Rebuilding Community and Post-Conflict Urbanization: A Study of Social Housing Neighborhoods in Colombia
The Many Urbanisms of the Global South: Policy Nuances and Particularities
March 14, 2024
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Celebrating 50 years of excellence, the Department of Urban Planning and Policy (UPP) at the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA) is excited to organize a seminar series featuring cutting-edge, campus wide urban scholarship and research on the Global South. A program for the series is available here.
By the end of the civil war between the Colombian government and the guerrilla group FARC, seven million people were displaced from rural areas to urban slums. In 2014, 100,000 displaced households received apartments for free through a government housing restitution program. This research analyzes the processes of rebuilding the community and integrating into the city in three neighborhoods of that program. It describes the practices of community formation, the gendered factors shaping different civic participation styles, and the factors of the physical environment that influence those processes. This research aims to explain community formation and civic leadership based on underlying factors such as poverty levels, perceptions of safety, rates of single-mother heads of households, and access to public and communal spaces. These factors were also the lenses to examine the leadership's struggles and incentives. Another key factor in understanding the phenomena is the involvement of municipal authorities with the communities. Thus, the research compared municipal investments, including quality urban design, social services, and infrastructure. It analyzes leaders' strategies to guide civic action in environments perceived as highly unsafe where negotiation with gangs became part of their roles.
Date posted
Sep 1, 2023
Date updated
Sep 7, 2023
Speakers
