The Role of Neighborhood Origin in the Residential Satisfaction of Residents of Low-Income Areas in Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Cities in developing countries house low-income communities either in large areas developed as informal settlements or in social housing formally offered and delivered through municipal initiatives and/or the open housing market. City governments strive to address the 11th Sustainable Development Goal set out by the United Nations of making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable (SDG, Goal 11. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/ ) in developing countries, yet often without a clear understanding of what should or what can be sustained in low-income residential areas. This study focuses on residential satisfaction (RS), specifically on the views and experiences of residents of two kinds of neighborhoods, those of formal origin and those of informal origin. The purpose of the study is determine based on an analysis of the effects of neighborhood origin the extent to which residents of low-income areas in Bogotá, Colombia, report experiencing RS and the nature of the RS they report. An original dataset, yielding a total sample of 531 participants, collected from four formal origin and three informal origin low-income neighborhoods in Bogotá is used as the primary data. According to the results obtained, in the case of Bogotá, neighborhood origin does have an impact on RS. In particular, the results indicate the aspects of low-income urban environments perceived by residents as desirable and worth sustaining, which may be relevant to low-income urban environments both in Bogotá and in other countries as well.