Strengthening social fabric to build urban peace."Usmeando" the right to the city

Abstract

This article approaches the situations of exclusion and segregation derived from public housing policy in Bogotá, particularly in the Ciudadela Nuevo Usme (UPZ 61 in the town of Usme), identified in the solidarity extension project "Usmeando" the right to city and land use in the post-conflict period, which led the Research Group "Urban Processes in Habitat, Housing and Information" of the National University of Colombia, in association with the social and community process of the Usme Popular Public Hearing in 2017. This aproximación arises from the approach to the realities and territorial conflicts, as well as from a joint look between the organized community and inhabitant of UPZ 61, and the researchers. For this, research, action and community participation instruments were used, which allowed the development of strategies to tackle problems related to the inhabited territory. In short, this document contains critical reflections on the issues related to the territory and the daily life of inhabiting this place (housing without a city), and the challenges that emerge from it. It also addresses the limitations for the construction of the social fabric; the social management of the urban and its conflicts; the results of said management from the perspective of the conceived to the lived; and the potential of the experience.