ISTP City Development Exhibition in Bogota

Today, 40% of Bogotá households live in more than 3,500 gated communities, which, since 2000, constitute the predominant form of (formal) housing construction in the city. Bogotá is a city that has traditionally grown through open residential neighborhoods. However, urban regulations, the profit motive of real estate developers, the privacy-based lifestyle and the exaltation of security, enthrone the gated community as the new base cell of urban growth.

Thus it can be affirmed that behind this form of urban growth there is an expansion model that is not based on urban or spatial criteria but on economic, financial and real estate efficiency precepts, which can be understood as a hidden manifesto that is defining the shape of the future Greater Bogotá. A real estate market that responds to a demand from a population that is, on the one hand, shaken by the perception of insecurity and, on the other, motivated by the ambition to belong to an “exclusive” and therefore excluding space.

This exhibition presents a journey through the past, present and future of the gated community in Bogotá and fosters a critical debate on enclaves in the contemporary city. It also seeks to reflect on the causes of the proliferation of this urban model, its effects on urban life and the opportunities to transform this gigantic portfolio of enclaves in the city.