The Illusion of Community Participation: Experience in the Irregular Settlements of Bogotá
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The illusion of community participation: experience in the irregular settlements of Bogotá A thesis submitted to University College London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Noriko Hataya Department of Geography University College London 2007 The illusion of community participation: experience in the irregular settlements of Bogotá Abstract The study focuses on community participation among the poor of Bogotá, Colombia. It explores the changing relationships between poor communities, local politicians and the city government before and after the institutional reforms and changing approach to development that occurred during the 1990s. The case studies were conducted in six irregular settlements, all developed in contravention of the city’s planning regulations. Data were collected using a sample household survey and in-depth interviews with community leaders, local inhabitants and the representatives of outside organisations. In the 1990s, clientelistic practices became less effective to push the regularisation process. City programmes toward irregular settlements became more holistic and benefited from better coordination between the different public entities. As a result, the inhabitants became more discriminating in identifying the most effective strategies for obtaining the services and infrastructure that they required. Competent government intervention was ultimately the most important factor in furthering the regularisation process. However, regularisation could not be achieved without community participation. Community involvement was important both before and after a settlement was recognised. The community had to find the money to put down a deposit before the service agencies would install services. This required not only a minimum level of economic resources but also firm community leadership. The study also shows that apparently contradictory decisions made by the different communities were highly rational. Whether the inhabitants were willing to pay for services depended on the benefit they expected in return. Their criteria changed through the consolidation process because their most urgent needs changed. Today, after the pricing system of public services changed, access to services depends mostly on users’ purchasing power and not on the collective negotiation led by the JAC leaders. In the 1990s, under the new constitution with its laws protecting citizen’s rights, ‘participation’ of citizens in the political arena as well as their right to obtain basic services was clearly recognised. Under this legal framework, community participation gives the poor a voice with which they can present claims as well as criticise the negligence of public administration. However, the protests of the inhabitants against increased public service charges show that the community-based organisations sometimes still have reason, and the ability, to mobilise the local people as a final resort. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is the product of more than ten years’ commitment to urban development issues in Bogotá, Colombia. I am indebted to all those who have helped, supported and encouraged me in different stages of my research and writing up periods, either in Colombia, the United Kingdom or Japan. This study would not have been possible without the support of the Institute of Developing Economies which financed my field work in Colombia. First of all, my special thanks go to Dr. Alan Gilbert, my principal supervisor. His consistent orientation and precise and critical comments on my drafts was the most valuable education that I have ever had. I am deeply grateful for the care and considerable amount of time he has devoted to me. Dr. Julio Dávila, my subsidiary supervisor, was always there for me whenever I needed his help. Without his encouragement and support, I would never have finished this thesis. My sincere gratitude should go to Dr. Luis Mauricio Cuervo, who received me as visiting researcher at CIDER- Universidad de Los Andes during my field work in Colombia. Samuel Jaramillo, Oscar Alfonso, Carmenza Saldías, Adriana Posada, Eduardo Restrepo, Luis Carlos Jiménez, María Margarita de Ruiz, Leonardo García and Argemiro Morales, gave me technical suggestions on data analysis and helped me with document research in Colombia. Those who assisted me, in many different ways, during my field work are too numerous to mention, but special thanks should go to Melba Rubiano and Margoth Figueredo. Carolina Ordóñez, Pio García and Alfonso Ariza always encouraged me whenever I faced difficulties in Colombia. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the friends and residents in the barrios in Bogotá who have generously received me and allowed me to take up their precious time with my persistent interviews. Without their kind acceptance and company the research would not have been possible. The fruits of this thesis belong to them. Harry Smith, Reeitsu Kojima, Kiwa Ojiri and Ayako Kagawa generously read my previous drafts and gave me critical observations. Linda Grove, Koichi Nakano and my current colleagues at Sophia University in Tokyo, gave me moral support and intellectual insights during the final stage of writing up the thesis. Finally, there, always thinking of me at a distance, were my parents, Takeshi and Fumiko Hataya, to whom this work is dedicated. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ………………….………………………………………………… ii Table of contents …………………………………...……………..……………………iii List of figures ……………………………………………………………………….… ix List of tables ……………..……………………………………………………………. x List of glossaries ……………………………………………….……………………... xii List of appendices ………………………………………………………………...…...xiv Chapter 1: Introduction Images ………………………………………………………………….……………… 1 Community and community participation: definitions and debates …….…………...... 3 How should we define a ‘community’? ............................................................ 3 The creation of communities by outside agencies …………………………… 4 Community participation …………………………………………………….. 7 Community participation and empowerment ……………………………….. 10 Critical debates on community participation ………………………………... 12 Irregular settlements ……………………………………………………………….…. 29 Definition of irregular settlements …………………………………………... 29 Changing academic approaches and policy implications for urban poverty and housing ..………………………..………………………………………………………31 Urban ecology school ……………………………………………………….. 31 The culture of poverty ………………………………………………………. 32 Marginality ………………………………………………………………….. 33 Self-help housing and the changing form of state intervention ………………37 Community struggle and the slum as a political issue ………………………. 39 Holistic studies on irregular settlements …………………………………….. 42 Changing approaches to irregular settlement research ………………………………...44 Shift to neoliberal policies ……………………………………………………44 The democratisation process ………………………………………………... 52 Research questions ………………………………………………………………….... 60 Chapter 2: Methodology Selection of the research area: Colombia and Bogotá ………………………………... 66 iii The Colombian political and administrative process ………………………. 66 Colombia’s economy ……………………………………………………….. 69 Bogotá as research locale……………………………………………………..72 Period of study ……………………………………………………………………….. 77 Research methods used for the study ………………………………………………….77 Structure of the fieldwork ……………………………………………………………...78 Research on urban policy, planning and public service provision ……………………..81 Chronology of settlement research …………………………………………………….82 Selection of study settlements ………………………………………………………... 87 Design and problems of sampling method …………………………………………… 97 Size of sample ……………………………………………………………….. 97 Gauging homogeneity and diversity ………………………………………….98 Method of selecting households ……………………………………………...99 Problems with application of the questionnaire ……………………………………...102 Qualitative methods (semi-structured and non-structured in-depth interviews) ……..106 Ethical issues relating to the fieldwork ……………………………………………… 111 Positionality in development research ………………………………………111 My position as an ‘outsider’ and its limitation …………………………….. 113 Confidentiality of the data collected ……………………………………….. 115 My contribution to the communities and feedback from them …………….. 116 Chapter 3: The expansion of irregular settlement and the urban management in Bogotá to the 1980s Bogotá’s role as the capital city ………………………………………………………118 Urban structure ……………………………………………………………………….122 Inequality and residential segregation ………………………………………………..124 The origin of the irregular settlements ……………………………………………… 127 City government intervention up to the 1980s ……………………………………….130 City and public service boundaries and zoning ……………………………..131 Minimum standards: regulation of urbanisation …………………………….133 Improvement of existing irregular settlements: regularisation ……………...136 Public service authorities: EAAB, EEB and IDU ……………………………………139 EAAB ……………………………………………………………………….139 Bogotá Electricity Company (EEB) ………………………………………..141 Urban Development Institute (IDU) ………………………………………...142 Integral programme for upgrading ………………………………………………….. 143 iv PIDUZOB(1972-1974) ……………………………………………………...143 National agency sanctions on the illegal sub-division of land ……………………… 146 Reactions of irregular settlement communities … …………………………………...147 Resistance to eviction ……………………………………………………….147 Conventional activism through officially approved community organisations ………………………………………………………………...148 The role of the JACs ………………………………………………………...149 Politicians and the JACs …………………………………………………….151