Urban Agriculture in Bogotá‘s informal settlements: Open space transformation towards productive urban landscapes

Informal settlements in Latin America are a socio-spatial urban development pattern. Informal settlements accommodate most of the low-income population. In Bogotá for example, more than 50% of the city has been developed with informal practices and currently nearly four million people live in areas with some kind of urban and/or housing informality. In Colombia, urban agriculture is especially practiced in informal settlements as a way to contribute to nourishing residents and also as a cultural response of rural migrating groups. In the last ten years, urban agriculture, which started as a private and in-house activity is gradually becoming a more public activity in open spaces of the barrios. This chapter, using examples of food growing spaces in Bogotá, explores transformation and appropriation of urban spaces in the barrios using urban agriculture initiatives. It discusses agricultural practices in informal settlements in the city, highlighting social characteristics and spatial particulars. It argues for open spaces as potential productive landscapes, in which spatial transformations may contribute to social, cultural, and nutritional practices.