Usme, territorio de bordes urbano-rurales: Tres estudios de caso

Abstract

The problem focuses on the dynamics of urban expansion in the southwest of the city of Bogota, where there is a threat of the disappearance of strategic conservation areas of extensive rural areas that provide food, water, and oxygen. The objective is to understand the spatial configurations of three urban-rural edges in the locality of Usme from the actors' perspective. For this purpose, three areas of study of territorial transformations are characterized, related to the diversity of land use, spatial patterns of the urban-rural edges, urban area expansion, and social, cultural, patrimonial, and environmental relevance in the three zones. The methodology proposed was the spatial analysis based on the superposition and photointerpretation of aerial images for the three urban-rural edges studied, 1. Ciudad Usme-Veredas Bajas, 2. Bolonia-Parque Entre Nubes, 3. Brazuelos-Parque Cantarrana, throughout Geographical Information Systems. Informal interviews were also conducted with residents of the three urban-rural borders to understand the territorial transformations. This design allowed the identification and changes in land use over more than two decades, recorded in three years, 1998, 2011, and 2020. The information obtained is presented in polygons that allow description, categorization, and comparison. The paper is structured from the physical description of Usme; the spatial analysis for the three areas studied, and finally, the main results and conclusions.