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Abstract:
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"The Colombian government has received international attention for its peace agreement
with the FARC guerrilla. Local peace issues, such as reducing crime and reintegrating of
former gang members have received less attention. For many urban areas, these
processes are very relevant: they determine safety of the neighborhood, reappropriation of
public spaces and natural environment, decisions about their improvement and use, as
well as relations between the neighbors and those of the community with the authorities.
This paper describes one of those current developments in a neighborhood adjacent to
Universidad Externado de Colombia, in the eastern part of Bogota, bordering the mountain.
The first section summarizes how the pacification of one of the gangs ocurred and how tle
University involvement began. The second section provides a brief summary of the history
of the neighborhood with emphasis on the close relationship between the community and
the criminal activity that began several decades ago. A third section presents some ideas
that have been proposed by the leaders of the gang. The main project, already begun, is
to serve as guides for hiking and sightseeing in the same road and trail where they
formerly attacked. They want to make a living from the forest and the mountain, but legally.
The paper concludes by linking the project with the theory of commons and summarizing
the support that the university could provide in terms of design, partner search and
evaluation of projects best suited to strengthening and managing the Commons, natural,
cultural and urban of that neighborhood."
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