Urban Commons: Peace, Reintegration and Community Development in a Neighborhood of Bogota

Abstract

"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."