- BOGOTÁ REGION - Planning theories vs. Urban practices    2184 kb by    Alvarez, Ana Maria | anamariaalvarez@superred.net    Short Outline Colombia is trying to bring up to date urbanistic practices; in the last five years professionals and politics have been starting to change the way we face the development of our cities, trying to find a model and a guide for the process itself. It has been a long way and there is a lot to examine. That is why this is the time for new ideas to find the kind of methods and concepts for the present and the future. Abstract PLANNING THEORIES vs. URBAN PRACTICE IN BOGOTÁ – COLOMBIA Evaluation to a limited fact From important and well-known analysis about the urban phenomenon which is Bogotá, it can be said that is a fragmented city, built “property by property”, and without an integral conception of an urbanistic model; fragmentation meaning heterogeneousness and multiplicity, incompleteness of the urban. In its struggle against this fragmentation, the urban development of the city has depended on the land units and on the individual management of private projects, trying to obtain homogeneousness of spaces and progresses. Moreover, the idea of contemplating an integral urban model is new in the political and planning agendas. Even though Bogotá’s master plan (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial – POT),approved in 2000 and revised in 2003, advances in the production of a planning theory, not much has changed in the daily practice. Possibly because of a deficient urban culture in this sense, little interest from the citizens, or Bogotá people’s idea of the city as spaces to reside in but not to live in. Bogotá is an interesting case in trying to bring up to date on urban practices today; the idea is to begin a change on the pratice of urbanism, undestood as a way to guide a development being it social, spatial or economic. Planning practices in Colombia have to seek for a way of introducing itself in educating professionals and citizens, so all the efforts for the city can be directed on getting involved on the development. This paper explores the challenges facing “the way” of urban planning in a country with little experience but willing to learn. It also examines a more appropiate approach to the development of major cities, such as Bogotá, implying fragmentation as a fundamental characteristhic of the city: a model that takes advantage of spatial, economic and social fractioning and seeks the connection between pieces of the city, involves the urban society and responds to the dynamics of its structure. Keywords fragmentation as an urban model, urban practices, citizen education Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2004: Management of Urban Regions   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper