Alissa Diesch | Leibniz Universität Hannover (original) (raw)
Papers by Alissa Diesch
Cities
Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence... more Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence on institutional planning as the main expected outcomes. Empirical evidence for this hypothesis is being tested in some European cities, but the hypothesis does not yet seem sufficiently explored in the cities of the Global South. Focusing on Colombia’s capital, Bogot ́a, this article reports on the potential of Bogot ́a’s urban cultural places as spatial platforms for the manifold manifestations of social innovation and urban policies and planning. The analysis builds on mixed qualitative methods, through a series of case studies, whose description makes it possible to recognize in specific urban places a fertile ground for the generation of the premises for and the materialization of the effects of social innovation. The knowledge produced shows that these places can become intermediaries between bottom-up initiatives and institutional planning, but only if they are networked and structured in a reciprocal loop of exchange and dialogue with both parties.
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De Gruyter eBooks, Mar 19, 2018
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Quaderns de recerca en urbanisme, Dec 1, 2021
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Nov 18, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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Hannover University Press, 2019
City Makers explores current challenges in the urban transformation of the city Bologna and its e... more City Makers explores current challenges in the urban transformation of the city Bologna and its expanding metropolitan horizon along Via Emilia. As urban research and design studio, City Makers has been developed with students of the University of Hannover, in cooperation with the University of Bologna. The focus on urban design and innovation is linked to actual urban planning and territorial planning processes: Bologna\u2019s Urban Innovation Plan and the setup of Neighbourhood Labs and the Strategic Plan for the Metropolitan City of Bologna. The topic of social innovation for increased citizens\u2019 participation and co-design\u2014 leading to new concepts and expertise in urban planning and design\u2014in City Makers is set in dialogue with initiatives and concepts of making in the context of a highly productive and inclusive city and region, a strong university pole, and a rich industrial and artisan tradition. City Makers aims at contributing to discussions about new concepts and models for the sustainable development of metropolitan territories. On the one hand, City Makers addresses the activating role of Neighbourhood Labs in urban peripheries for positive urban change in quarters and urban networks. On the other hand, it proposes a strengthening of mixed and dense settlement poles in the linear network along Via Emilia, towards a vibrant polycentric city based on sustainable mobility, intelligent clusters and social innovation
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Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed th... more Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed the social and spatial structure of the village deeply. Agrarian production and distribution has been affected strongly by the global trend of industrialisation of agriculture and changing agents in the field during the second half of the twentieth century, while at the same time a significant share of the area of the former municipality turned urban. Both processes are analysed in a parallel way with a focus on overlooked existing and changing relations and potentials of food cycles between rural and urban inhabitants and challenges regarding production and distribution of agrarian goods. The problems and solutions of food flows could represent alternative benchmarks for the sustainable future of the urban expansion area between the rural and the urban part of Usme. This analysis is developed in the framework of my PhD Thesis.
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Port cities potentially have a particular, cosmopolitan culture which needs to be analyzed in the... more Port cities potentially have a particular, cosmopolitan culture which needs to be analyzed in the context of multiple scales. Harbors receive input from spaces far away and spread their local products, people and ideas on a global level. Hence, harbors are important knots in networks of exchange, connecting to large-scale and close-by environments. These aspects need to be read relationally. Flensburg and Charlotte Amalie are two very different and spatially distant harbor cities. However, they are connected by a shared history that still powerfully shapes their cultural and physical spaces. The agency of their past as two poles in the Danish colonial empire is analyzed under the lens of cultural theories from the Caribbean and post-colonial urban theories. As a case study this research frames a cosmopolitan view on the past and present relation of Europe and the Caribbean with a particular focus on the ports as spaces of interaction and potential hybridization.
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cities, 2024
Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence... more Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence on institutional planning as the main expected outcomes. Empirical evidence for this hypothesis is being tested in some European cities, but the hypothesis does not yet seem sufficiently explored in the cities of the Global South.
Focusing on Colombia’s capital, Bogot ́a, this article reports on the potential of Bogot ́a’s urban cultural places as spatial platforms for the manifold manifestations of social innovation and urban policies and planning.
The analysis builds on mixed qualitative methods, through a series of case studies, whose description makes it possible to recognize in specific urban places a fertile ground for the generation of the premises for and the materialization of the effects of social innovation. The knowledge produced shows that these places can become intermediaries between bottom-up initiatives and institutional planning, but only if they are networked and structured in a reciprocal loop of exchange and dialogue with both parties.
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QRU: Quaderns de Recerca en Urbanisme, 2021
Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad ac... more Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad actual abarca en su morfología urbana seis pueblos antiguos. Estos asentamientos fueron fundados, igual que el centro histórico de Bogotá, en la época colonial; no obstante su historia se remonta hasta épocas prehispánicas. En este artículo se delimita las investigaciones espacialmente a dos de los seis asentamientos prehispánicos que fueron convertidos en pueblos de indios y luego a localidades de la metrópoli.
La reconstrucción cartográfica de estos lugares en una serie de mapas de los años 1940 y 1980 junto a procesos de investigación iterativos, combinando métodos y conocimientos de diferentes disciplinas (trabajo participativo, literatura local entre otros), han revelado en los patrones contemporáneos estructuras históricas como los resguardos indígenas ligados a los pueblos de indios. La reciente formación de Cabildos Indígenas visibiliza una cultura que muchos creyeron desaparecida. El trabajo evidencia una continuidad de la presencia indigena dentro de la metrópolis contemporánea. Las formas urbanas y las dinámicas sociales se han transformado y condicionado mutuamente. De esta lectura surge la necesidad de un replanteamiento del concepto de patrimonio y proponer un urbanismo futuro sostenible y resiliente basado en principios autóctonos.
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La Descommunal, 2021
El reconocimiento oficial de las centralidades históricas de Bogotá refleja una política de patri... more El reconocimiento oficial de las centralidades históricas de Bogotá refleja una política de patrimonio verticalista: la selección de bienes patrimoniales es realizada por llamados expertos que luego dejan sus instrucciones al público. Así, en los núcleos fundacionales, el patrimonio registrado se limita a los monumentos representando estado y religión, originados antes del siglo XX. También, el conjunto urbano protegido, la configuración genérica de la plaza cuadrada con retícula regular, es un legado colonial. Más allá de la declaración y el inventario no se presentan otras políticas sobre los elementos patrimoniales, hay poca inversión en la preservación y menos para proyectos de apropiación o interpretación activa por parte de la comunidad.
En contraste, en los sitios concretos investigados (Usme, Bosa, Suba), agrupaciones locales que trabajan el patrimonio se componen por miembros heterogéneos que, con el fin de representar historias de diferentes grupos sociales, empoderan a personas a menudo excluidas de las tomas de decisiones. En procesos discursivos-participativos, muestran visiones más amplias sobre el patrimonio, incluyendo paisajes específicos, actividades relacionadas con el territorio, diversos períodos históricos desde tiempos precoloniales hasta contemporáneos, y procesos de transformación a diferentes escalas. De esta manera, representan un patrimonio expandido y se relacionan con muchos aspectos del actual debate patrimonial.
Las características históricas de cada lugar se entienden como valores y recursos particulares que son inter- pretados y apropiados por los respectivos grupos para promover su agenda. Así, demuestran una alta participación voluntaria en la que dedican gran parte de su energía y tiempo a la promoción de los objetivos del grupo. Abordan y cierran brechas de los servicios públicos, y el patrimonio se entiende como un catalizador para generar actividad continua, vinculando a proyectos sociales y ambientales concretos con una perspectiva hacia el futuro.
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CPCL, 2021
The comparative reading of postcolonial spaces of port cities on both sides of the trading poles ... more The comparative reading of postcolonial spaces of port cities on both sides of the trading poles offer a new understanding of their cultures and urban structures and reveal overlooked relations on a global level. The harbors have been key sites in the transfer of goods, people and cultures, the connection of distant but related worlds as well as the execution of power. These spaces hence need to be read relationally. They are formed by and represent uneven power relations of the colonial past and the corresponding agency of this construct up to the present day. As such, a correlated study of port cities may reveal a deeper understanding of them. Flensburg and Charlotte Amalie are the two poles of a post-colonial relation that is not yet analyzed systematically. They are connected by a shared history that still powerfully shapes their cultural and physical spaces. The significance of their past as two extremes in the Danish colonial empire is analyzed through the lens of cultural theories from the Caribbean and post-colonial urban theories. As a case study, this research frames a novel view of the past and present relation between Europe and the Caribbean, with a particular focus on the ports as spaces of interaction and potential hybridization.
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Actas ISUF-H Barcelona UPC, 2020
Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad ac... more Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad actual abarca en su morfología urbana seis pueblos antiguos. Estos asentamientos fueron fundados, igual que el centro histórico de Bogotá, en la época colonial; no obstante su historia se remonta hasta épocas pre- hispánicas. En este artiuclo se delimita las investigaciones espacialmente a dos de los seis asentamientos prehispánicos que fueron convertidos en pueblos de indios y luego a localidades de la metrópoli. Hasta los años 1940s los pueblos se destacan por su diseño urbano conciso con las plazas centrales como nodos rurales. Ahora conectados a Bogotá por un tejido urbano continuo compuesto por ensanches de diferentes patrones, se pueden aún identificar fácilmente las plazas centrales y las manzanas circundantes. La reconstrucción cartográfica de estos lugares en una serie de mapas de los años 1940 y 1980 junto a procesos de investigación iterativos, combinando métodos y conocimientos de diferentes disciplinas (tra-bajo participativo, literatura local entre otros), han revelado en los patrones contemporáneos estructuras históricas como los resguardos indígenas ligados a los pueblos de indios. La reciente formación de Ca-bildos Indígenas Muiscas visibiliza una cultura que muchos creyeron desaparecida. La comparación de mapas históricos y la localización de habitantes raizales evidencia una continuidad de la presencia muisca dentro de la metrópolis contemporánea. Las formas urbanas y las dinámicas sociales se han transformado y condicionado mutuamente durante este proceso que puede ser leído hasta el día de hoy. De esta lectura se pueden sacar conclusiones sobre la necesidad de un replanteamiento del concepto de patrimonio y pro-poner un urbanismo futuro sostenible y resiliente basado en principios autoctonos.
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Creative Food Cycles - Book 1, 2020
Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed th... more Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed the social and spatial structure of the village deeply. Agrarian production and distribution has been affected strongly by the global trend of industrialisation of agriculture and changing agents in the field during the second half of the twentieth century, while at the same time a significant share of the area of the former municipality turned urban. Both processes are analysed in a parallel way with a focus on overlooked existing and changing relations and potentials of food cycles between rural and urban inhabitants and challenges regarding production and distribution of agrarian goods. The problems and solutions of food flows could represent alternative benchmarks for the sustainable future of the urban expansion area between the rural and the urban part of Usme. This analysis is developed in the framework of my PhD Thesis.
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THE MATTER OF FUTURE HERITAGE, 2020
The concept of heritage has always been provoked by changes and the wish to preserve endangered h... more The concept of heritage has always been provoked by changes and the wish to preserve endangered historic legacy for future generations, it is closely connected to the historic and social situation and people in different times and depending on their origin interpret the traces of the past according to their beliefs and convictions. Heritage therefore is always an interpretation of the past and hence a political topic. Urbanistic heritage often becomes recognized as such, in the moment of city expansion, when what has been the entire city turns into a “historic centre”. The whole landscape of the Sabana de Bogotá including its villages, rivers, wetlands, and land use patterns has experienced a rapid and extreme urbanisation process since the second half of the 20th
century, changing completely the territory and everyday life of its inhabitants. As part of this urbanisation process six former villages
are now part of the city. However, the recognition of the mega city’s heritage is mostly limited to the historic centre of what has been the Spanish city of Santa Fé de Bogotá. This is reflected in publications on the topic, the public perception, the legal situation and official policies.
In order to explore the wider and multi-layered heritage of the current city of Bogotá, the Sabana de Bogotá will here be regarded as a coherent “territory”, a concept that includes a living combination of urban and rural space as well as the natural and built environment with its socio-cultural relations. So, the six integrated villages – knots within the territory – are key points to understand the past and on-going transformations of Bogotá as well as its neglected and evolving heritage. They represent tangible places of the diverse history of this cultural landscape and are part of the cultural heritage of the city and its inhabitants, contributing to a more complex identity formation.
Participative research with local heritage initiatives in the former villages revealed the potential to broaden and diversify the current official heritage, basically limited to European influence in the colonial period, by including the legacy of these historic sub centralities.
The current situation at each site is particular and so is the interpretation of heritage. One village, still a centre of agrarian activity, is home to a group making use of the archaeological and rural heritage to claim a more carefully planned city extension. In two of the former villages local indigenous groups, after centuries of disavowal, have gained official acknowledgement and now claim respect for sacred places and territory-related traditions. Another group of community workers understands local heritage as an articulator from struggles of the past to social mobilization today. These groups differ in their legal status and central motivation, but their challenges are similar. All of them are excluded from the urban planning process and they use heritage to claim a greater
say in city planning and campaign at the same time for a higher visibility of the rural traces within the present day city. Heritage is used as a trigger for further activity, linked to concrete social and environmental projects with a future perspective.
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Abitare la Terra. Dwelling on Earth., 2019
Remoteness refers to a peripheral situation, something that is not the geographical centre or in ... more Remoteness refers to a peripheral situation, something that is not the geographical centre or in the discursive spotlight. From both perspectives, that according to Roy (2009) are mutually dependent, former indigenous centralities, now incorporated into the urban fabric of Bogotá, a city of 9 million inhabitants, are remote.
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Revista Proyectos, 2018
Este texto expresa unas reflexiones mías que surgieron durante los ya varios años que habito en B... more Este texto expresa unas reflexiones mías que surgieron durante los ya varios años que habito en Bogotá, viviendo sus ritmos cotidianos y particulares. Es una mi-rada personal desde el punto de vista de una arquitecta y a la vez de una bogotana extranjera. Unas de las ideas que expreso acá fueron publicadas anteriormente en el capítulo Salsa urbana, del libro Porous City (Wolfrum et al., 2018). Combino mis observaciones sobre el urbanismo en Bogotá con aquella percepción que tuve desde mi primer día en esta ciudad: si es clave un mínimo conocimiento del español para vivir acá, es indispensable aprender a moverse al ritmo de la salsa, música omnipresente en la capital.
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Cities
Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence... more Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence on institutional planning as the main expected outcomes. Empirical evidence for this hypothesis is being tested in some European cities, but the hypothesis does not yet seem sufficiently explored in the cities of the Global South. Focusing on Colombia’s capital, Bogot ́a, this article reports on the potential of Bogot ́a’s urban cultural places as spatial platforms for the manifold manifestations of social innovation and urban policies and planning. The analysis builds on mixed qualitative methods, through a series of case studies, whose description makes it possible to recognize in specific urban places a fertile ground for the generation of the premises for and the materialization of the effects of social innovation. The knowledge produced shows that these places can become intermediaries between bottom-up initiatives and institutional planning, but only if they are networked and structured in a reciprocal loop of exchange and dialogue with both parties.
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De Gruyter eBooks, Mar 19, 2018
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Quaderns de recerca en urbanisme, Dec 1, 2021
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Nov 18, 2022
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 5, 2022
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Hannover University Press, 2019
City Makers explores current challenges in the urban transformation of the city Bologna and its e... more City Makers explores current challenges in the urban transformation of the city Bologna and its expanding metropolitan horizon along Via Emilia. As urban research and design studio, City Makers has been developed with students of the University of Hannover, in cooperation with the University of Bologna. The focus on urban design and innovation is linked to actual urban planning and territorial planning processes: Bologna\u2019s Urban Innovation Plan and the setup of Neighbourhood Labs and the Strategic Plan for the Metropolitan City of Bologna. The topic of social innovation for increased citizens\u2019 participation and co-design\u2014 leading to new concepts and expertise in urban planning and design\u2014in City Makers is set in dialogue with initiatives and concepts of making in the context of a highly productive and inclusive city and region, a strong university pole, and a rich industrial and artisan tradition. City Makers aims at contributing to discussions about new concepts and models for the sustainable development of metropolitan territories. On the one hand, City Makers addresses the activating role of Neighbourhood Labs in urban peripheries for positive urban change in quarters and urban networks. On the other hand, it proposes a strengthening of mixed and dense settlement poles in the linear network along Via Emilia, towards a vibrant polycentric city based on sustainable mobility, intelligent clusters and social innovation
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Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed th... more Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed the social and spatial structure of the village deeply. Agrarian production and distribution has been affected strongly by the global trend of industrialisation of agriculture and changing agents in the field during the second half of the twentieth century, while at the same time a significant share of the area of the former municipality turned urban. Both processes are analysed in a parallel way with a focus on overlooked existing and changing relations and potentials of food cycles between rural and urban inhabitants and challenges regarding production and distribution of agrarian goods. The problems and solutions of food flows could represent alternative benchmarks for the sustainable future of the urban expansion area between the rural and the urban part of Usme. This analysis is developed in the framework of my PhD Thesis.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Port cities potentially have a particular, cosmopolitan culture which needs to be analyzed in the... more Port cities potentially have a particular, cosmopolitan culture which needs to be analyzed in the context of multiple scales. Harbors receive input from spaces far away and spread their local products, people and ideas on a global level. Hence, harbors are important knots in networks of exchange, connecting to large-scale and close-by environments. These aspects need to be read relationally. Flensburg and Charlotte Amalie are two very different and spatially distant harbor cities. However, they are connected by a shared history that still powerfully shapes their cultural and physical spaces. The agency of their past as two poles in the Danish colonial empire is analyzed under the lens of cultural theories from the Caribbean and post-colonial urban theories. As a case study this research frames a cosmopolitan view on the past and present relation of Europe and the Caribbean with a particular focus on the ports as spaces of interaction and potential hybridization.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
cities, 2024
Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence... more Urban literature and policy research on social innovation, call for agency building and influence on institutional planning as the main expected outcomes. Empirical evidence for this hypothesis is being tested in some European cities, but the hypothesis does not yet seem sufficiently explored in the cities of the Global South.
Focusing on Colombia’s capital, Bogot ́a, this article reports on the potential of Bogot ́a’s urban cultural places as spatial platforms for the manifold manifestations of social innovation and urban policies and planning.
The analysis builds on mixed qualitative methods, through a series of case studies, whose description makes it possible to recognize in specific urban places a fertile ground for the generation of the premises for and the materialization of the effects of social innovation. The knowledge produced shows that these places can become intermediaries between bottom-up initiatives and institutional planning, but only if they are networked and structured in a reciprocal loop of exchange and dialogue with both parties.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
QRU: Quaderns de Recerca en Urbanisme, 2021
Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad ac... more Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad actual abarca en su morfología urbana seis pueblos antiguos. Estos asentamientos fueron fundados, igual que el centro histórico de Bogotá, en la época colonial; no obstante su historia se remonta hasta épocas prehispánicas. En este artículo se delimita las investigaciones espacialmente a dos de los seis asentamientos prehispánicos que fueron convertidos en pueblos de indios y luego a localidades de la metrópoli.
La reconstrucción cartográfica de estos lugares en una serie de mapas de los años 1940 y 1980 junto a procesos de investigación iterativos, combinando métodos y conocimientos de diferentes disciplinas (trabajo participativo, literatura local entre otros), han revelado en los patrones contemporáneos estructuras históricas como los resguardos indígenas ligados a los pueblos de indios. La reciente formación de Cabildos Indígenas visibiliza una cultura que muchos creyeron desaparecida. El trabajo evidencia una continuidad de la presencia indigena dentro de la metrópolis contemporánea. Las formas urbanas y las dinámicas sociales se han transformado y condicionado mutuamente. De esta lectura surge la necesidad de un replanteamiento del concepto de patrimonio y proponer un urbanismo futuro sostenible y resiliente basado en principios autóctonos.
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La Descommunal, 2021
El reconocimiento oficial de las centralidades históricas de Bogotá refleja una política de patri... more El reconocimiento oficial de las centralidades históricas de Bogotá refleja una política de patrimonio verticalista: la selección de bienes patrimoniales es realizada por llamados expertos que luego dejan sus instrucciones al público. Así, en los núcleos fundacionales, el patrimonio registrado se limita a los monumentos representando estado y religión, originados antes del siglo XX. También, el conjunto urbano protegido, la configuración genérica de la plaza cuadrada con retícula regular, es un legado colonial. Más allá de la declaración y el inventario no se presentan otras políticas sobre los elementos patrimoniales, hay poca inversión en la preservación y menos para proyectos de apropiación o interpretación activa por parte de la comunidad.
En contraste, en los sitios concretos investigados (Usme, Bosa, Suba), agrupaciones locales que trabajan el patrimonio se componen por miembros heterogéneos que, con el fin de representar historias de diferentes grupos sociales, empoderan a personas a menudo excluidas de las tomas de decisiones. En procesos discursivos-participativos, muestran visiones más amplias sobre el patrimonio, incluyendo paisajes específicos, actividades relacionadas con el territorio, diversos períodos históricos desde tiempos precoloniales hasta contemporáneos, y procesos de transformación a diferentes escalas. De esta manera, representan un patrimonio expandido y se relacionan con muchos aspectos del actual debate patrimonial.
Las características históricas de cada lugar se entienden como valores y recursos particulares que son inter- pretados y apropiados por los respectivos grupos para promover su agenda. Así, demuestran una alta participación voluntaria en la que dedican gran parte de su energía y tiempo a la promoción de los objetivos del grupo. Abordan y cierran brechas de los servicios públicos, y el patrimonio se entiende como un catalizador para generar actividad continua, vinculando a proyectos sociales y ambientales concretos con una perspectiva hacia el futuro.
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CPCL, 2021
The comparative reading of postcolonial spaces of port cities on both sides of the trading poles ... more The comparative reading of postcolonial spaces of port cities on both sides of the trading poles offer a new understanding of their cultures and urban structures and reveal overlooked relations on a global level. The harbors have been key sites in the transfer of goods, people and cultures, the connection of distant but related worlds as well as the execution of power. These spaces hence need to be read relationally. They are formed by and represent uneven power relations of the colonial past and the corresponding agency of this construct up to the present day. As such, a correlated study of port cities may reveal a deeper understanding of them. Flensburg and Charlotte Amalie are the two poles of a post-colonial relation that is not yet analyzed systematically. They are connected by a shared history that still powerfully shapes their cultural and physical spaces. The significance of their past as two extremes in the Danish colonial empire is analyzed through the lens of cultural theories from the Caribbean and post-colonial urban theories. As a case study, this research frames a novel view of the past and present relation between Europe and the Caribbean, with a particular focus on the ports as spaces of interaction and potential hybridization.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Actas ISUF-H Barcelona UPC, 2020
Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad ac... more Como consecuencia de la urbanización precipitada de Bogotá durante el siglo XX, la mega ciudad actual abarca en su morfología urbana seis pueblos antiguos. Estos asentamientos fueron fundados, igual que el centro histórico de Bogotá, en la época colonial; no obstante su historia se remonta hasta épocas pre- hispánicas. En este artiuclo se delimita las investigaciones espacialmente a dos de los seis asentamientos prehispánicos que fueron convertidos en pueblos de indios y luego a localidades de la metrópoli. Hasta los años 1940s los pueblos se destacan por su diseño urbano conciso con las plazas centrales como nodos rurales. Ahora conectados a Bogotá por un tejido urbano continuo compuesto por ensanches de diferentes patrones, se pueden aún identificar fácilmente las plazas centrales y las manzanas circundantes. La reconstrucción cartográfica de estos lugares en una serie de mapas de los años 1940 y 1980 junto a procesos de investigación iterativos, combinando métodos y conocimientos de diferentes disciplinas (tra-bajo participativo, literatura local entre otros), han revelado en los patrones contemporáneos estructuras históricas como los resguardos indígenas ligados a los pueblos de indios. La reciente formación de Ca-bildos Indígenas Muiscas visibiliza una cultura que muchos creyeron desaparecida. La comparación de mapas históricos y la localización de habitantes raizales evidencia una continuidad de la presencia muisca dentro de la metrópolis contemporánea. Las formas urbanas y las dinámicas sociales se han transformado y condicionado mutuamente durante este proceso que puede ser leído hasta el día de hoy. De esta lectura se pueden sacar conclusiones sobre la necesidad de un replanteamiento del concepto de patrimonio y pro-poner un urbanismo futuro sostenible y resiliente basado en principios autoctonos.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Creative Food Cycles - Book 1, 2020
Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed th... more Usme is a village and former municipality in the south of Bogotá. Urbanisation has transformed the social and spatial structure of the village deeply. Agrarian production and distribution has been affected strongly by the global trend of industrialisation of agriculture and changing agents in the field during the second half of the twentieth century, while at the same time a significant share of the area of the former municipality turned urban. Both processes are analysed in a parallel way with a focus on overlooked existing and changing relations and potentials of food cycles between rural and urban inhabitants and challenges regarding production and distribution of agrarian goods. The problems and solutions of food flows could represent alternative benchmarks for the sustainable future of the urban expansion area between the rural and the urban part of Usme. This analysis is developed in the framework of my PhD Thesis.
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THE MATTER OF FUTURE HERITAGE, 2020
The concept of heritage has always been provoked by changes and the wish to preserve endangered h... more The concept of heritage has always been provoked by changes and the wish to preserve endangered historic legacy for future generations, it is closely connected to the historic and social situation and people in different times and depending on their origin interpret the traces of the past according to their beliefs and convictions. Heritage therefore is always an interpretation of the past and hence a political topic. Urbanistic heritage often becomes recognized as such, in the moment of city expansion, when what has been the entire city turns into a “historic centre”. The whole landscape of the Sabana de Bogotá including its villages, rivers, wetlands, and land use patterns has experienced a rapid and extreme urbanisation process since the second half of the 20th
century, changing completely the territory and everyday life of its inhabitants. As part of this urbanisation process six former villages
are now part of the city. However, the recognition of the mega city’s heritage is mostly limited to the historic centre of what has been the Spanish city of Santa Fé de Bogotá. This is reflected in publications on the topic, the public perception, the legal situation and official policies.
In order to explore the wider and multi-layered heritage of the current city of Bogotá, the Sabana de Bogotá will here be regarded as a coherent “territory”, a concept that includes a living combination of urban and rural space as well as the natural and built environment with its socio-cultural relations. So, the six integrated villages – knots within the territory – are key points to understand the past and on-going transformations of Bogotá as well as its neglected and evolving heritage. They represent tangible places of the diverse history of this cultural landscape and are part of the cultural heritage of the city and its inhabitants, contributing to a more complex identity formation.
Participative research with local heritage initiatives in the former villages revealed the potential to broaden and diversify the current official heritage, basically limited to European influence in the colonial period, by including the legacy of these historic sub centralities.
The current situation at each site is particular and so is the interpretation of heritage. One village, still a centre of agrarian activity, is home to a group making use of the archaeological and rural heritage to claim a more carefully planned city extension. In two of the former villages local indigenous groups, after centuries of disavowal, have gained official acknowledgement and now claim respect for sacred places and territory-related traditions. Another group of community workers understands local heritage as an articulator from struggles of the past to social mobilization today. These groups differ in their legal status and central motivation, but their challenges are similar. All of them are excluded from the urban planning process and they use heritage to claim a greater
say in city planning and campaign at the same time for a higher visibility of the rural traces within the present day city. Heritage is used as a trigger for further activity, linked to concrete social and environmental projects with a future perspective.
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Abitare la Terra. Dwelling on Earth., 2019
Remoteness refers to a peripheral situation, something that is not the geographical centre or in ... more Remoteness refers to a peripheral situation, something that is not the geographical centre or in the discursive spotlight. From both perspectives, that according to Roy (2009) are mutually dependent, former indigenous centralities, now incorporated into the urban fabric of Bogotá, a city of 9 million inhabitants, are remote.
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Revista Proyectos, 2018
Este texto expresa unas reflexiones mías que surgieron durante los ya varios años que habito en B... more Este texto expresa unas reflexiones mías que surgieron durante los ya varios años que habito en Bogotá, viviendo sus ritmos cotidianos y particulares. Es una mi-rada personal desde el punto de vista de una arquitecta y a la vez de una bogotana extranjera. Unas de las ideas que expreso acá fueron publicadas anteriormente en el capítulo Salsa urbana, del libro Porous City (Wolfrum et al., 2018). Combino mis observaciones sobre el urbanismo en Bogotá con aquella percepción que tuve desde mi primer día en esta ciudad: si es clave un mínimo conocimiento del español para vivir acá, es indispensable aprender a moverse al ritmo de la salsa, música omnipresente en la capital.
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