Law and the other City: a case study on the Jerusalem neighborhood, Bogota

Abstract

The paper speaks of how the neighborhood of Jerusalem in Bogotá grew out of an informal settlement which
today has become an established district thanks to the determined efforts and tenacity of its inhabitants
and their community organization, having endured a long and tortuous pilgrimage through offi cial legal
channels in an endeavor to gain recognition as part of the Formal City. Jerusalén is thus here held to be a
noteworthy example of how diffi cult it is to make the transition from being an unrecognized to a formally
recognized settlement. It is here considered as a glaring example of the feebleness of a legal system whose
anodyne policies would be much improved if urban planning law were to prioritize compliance with the
various elements implicated in the right to housing, paying particular attention to instruments which would
ensure security of tenure and access to the city as a creditable and adequate place in which to live. Were
this to be undertaken, it is argued, those Other Cities within the larger City would probably cease to multiply
at such a rate and at least the disadvantaged situation of the majority and the risk of social divisions inherent
in the concentration of poverty in spontaneous settlements would be assumed by formal law in a more
effective manner. The author thus holds that the only sensible solution to be a city managed and administered
in a way that will ensure territorial cohesion as an urban manifestation of the principle of solidarity.