1. The problems that exist today
To build the Bogotá that we want or dream of in the future, it is necessary to be clear and present the problems that afflict it today and that the solutions that are adopted and implemented could, in the best of cases, only partially advance in the obtaining this city goal. The aforementioned means that the plans, strategies, programs and projects that must be implemented not necessarily to achieve the city goal would not necessarily be the most appropriate to solve in an isolated way the serious problems that affect the economic development of the city. More precisely, the plans, programs and projects that should be adopted to turn Bogotá into a modern, competitive and inclusive city, would not necessarily be the same that should also be adopted to solve the particular problems that we clearly identify today; In any case, part of the solution to these problems will most likely be the starting point towards achieving the higher objectives. In this context, let's tackle, in a summarized way, the identification of the main problems that we recognize the city suffers from. The problems that exist today are symptomatic of what "can be done" of the "should be", that is, the problems that exist land the possible scenarios that can be built in the future, and the achievement of a modern Bogotá depends on their solution., competitive and inclusive.
to. Regarding productive development and competitiveness
The possibility of tackling the problems of low growth, high unemployment and low-quality jobs depends, to a large extent, on the ability of the city to boost private investment, productivity and competitiveness, as well as how it is managed. they distribute the benefits of agglomeration and the economic growth it generates.
To advance in this perspective, the limitations that the city has today must be recognized, such as productive heterogeneity and the small size of its companies that, under certain technological and competitive restrictions, affect its ability to finance under optimal conditions, to innovate, compete and export.
It should be remembered that Bogotá has more than half of its population employed in activities with very low productivity and low income, which is why the internal market does not have the adequate dynamism to attract and promote private investment in tradable goods, nor to contribute to the sustained growth of the economy. This is without mentioning the competitiveness problems faced by the city derived from the inadequate structure of basic prices at the national level (particularly the exchange rate and interest rate).
Another important restriction lies in the existing gaps in education and training of the workforce. Therefore, the objective of strengthening the link between investment in human capital and growth is imposed, through the virtuous circle of improving educational levels, creating a more qualified workforce and producing more sophisticated goods in Bogotá, elements that will be more real conditions to be met within the framework of an adequate investment climate, since the demand for qualified labor, and with it the increase in social rewards for education, is determined by the opportunities for companies to access new technologies and new markets, A condition that is not independent of macro policies, but is one of the fields in which the district administration has a significant margin of intervention.
b. Regarding territorial development
One of the problems of the territorial ordering of the city, seen from the economic point of view, has been that planning has always been reduced to the physical and the architectural and consequently it has been characterized by the divorce between urban development and economic development.
On the other hand, one of the causes of segregation, in terms of land use planning, has been the low public investment in the areas and soils where the least favored population lives, as a result of which there are not enough facilities in the UPZ of improvement, access to public services is deficient, and roads are insufficient and road network improvement is scarce.
Additionally, it must be established how the city is understood in relation to the region. In economic terms, it is essential to define between distributing the population and economic activities more equitably in the territory or, rather, equitably distributing the benefits of agglomeration derived from an unequal distribution in the territory of the population and economic activity.
c. Regarding tourism development
Traditionally it was thought that Bogotá was not a suitable space to develop tourism; However, in recent years this activity has been positioning itself and gaining in importance through the development of business tourism, business and health services. However, there is a need for projection, definition of zones according to land uses, economic support and infrastructure development.
In this sense, the obstacles that currently arise for the development of this economic activity are the following:
- Low level of integration between the actors that participate in the tourist activity, between the public and private sectors and, between public institutions, and geographically.
- Lack of a sectorial information system (statistics and research) that provides information required for decision-making, at the public and private levels.
- Bad image of the city due to the perception of insecurity, not coinciding with the indicators reported by different organizations.
- Absence of a “city brand” that facilitates the clear and continuous positioning of the city in national and international markets.
- Lack of a tourism marketing plan for the city, to identify potential markets in which to focus the efforts of the tourist offer.
- Atomized supply of tourist attractions. As a consequence of the lack of knowledge of markets, prioritization strategies are not applied.
- Deficiency in territorial planning that includes tourist activity, which affects (POT).
- Inadequate infrastructure for the provision of tourist transport services (tourist bus access to terminals, special parking areas, easy access for visitors with physical limitations, etc.).
- Deficit in infrastructure for holding large events commensurate with the size of the business market.
- Tourism service providers (people) with a low level of technical training.
- High level of informality of the providers of tourist services.
- High level of ignorance of the city, its tourist potential and its importance, by the general public.
- Low level of sense of belonging, civic culture, citizen commitment.
d. Regarding aspects of gender, inclusion and rights
Three visible, sensitive obstacles stand out, each of them in turn composed of various interrelated factors that keep the inhabitants of Bogotá from enjoying a life with the basic conditions for their well-being. The development policy of the District can be directed to progressively remove structural obstacles and others that, being not so structural, are equally significant and necessary to sow hope for changes.
1. Bogotá is environmentally fenced: Landscapes, forests and natural mountains, deep waters, rivers, moors are finished, as a result of urbanization intervention, industrial or economic activities, or infrastructure, out of control and without environmental sustainability, social and economic. This threat is a belt of force for Bogotá that can only be broken by developing horizontally with the surrounding municipalities the concept of region and complementarity, of comprehensive regional planning and regional territorial ordering over and above municipal fragmentation. One of the reasons for this environmental and territorial disorder that threatens the rights of people and their future, is the fact that the Territorial Ordering Plans - POT, do not recognize Bogotá as a city-region,rather, the legislation gave them life in a fragmented way at the municipal level. Thus it is difficult to solidly build Region.
2. Poverty and indigence are still significant, despite the fact that the city and the agglomeration generate opportunities for their significant reduction, as can be seen when comparing Bogotá's figures with those of other cities in the country and even more so with those of the rural zones. Taking steps towards the universality of human rights and towards equity in resources and material goods, in participation in the public sphere and in political power, is urgent and possible. Policies, affirmative actions are required that touch from the structural, the economic, the cultural to the social and other necessary areas. Universality of rights versus discrimination and exclusion for any cause and reason.
3. In Bogotá, despite important advances in terms of diversity and non-discrimination, there is still resistance to understanding that we are not uniform but rather diverse and plural. The concept of nation established in the Constitution: diverse and multicultural nation has not been incorporated into the collective consciousness. It is about reversing the condition of cornering participation by a broad, free, ethically responsible, qualified, powerful and meaningful social participation.
On the other hand, in the significant levels of poverty and indigence of the city, the relative presence of women is high: women heads of households on average in Bogotá are 33%, and among households in poverty they are 37 % (ECVB 2007). One of the greatest obstacles to the well-being of poor female-headed households is access to decent housing.
Mobility continues to represent one of the biggest problems in the city, which increases in the case of poor women who work outside the home, given the burden of household responsibilities; therefore, the mobility time is increased as well as the transportation costs. Additionally, the service equipments are very limited or do not exist in the best of cases, but they are an absolute necessity to alleviate the responsibilities that have been assigned to them.
Gender violence, both in the home and on the street, which affects women because of their condition as such, has a high degree of tolerance in the city, and is reproduced by the permissiveness of these behaviors.
2. Prospective vision Bogotá
In the near future, the city of Bogotá will be the articulating axis and development pole of the nation's industry and advanced services; supported by research, innovation, high-level human talent, productive and with added value, socially and environmentally sustainable and connected to the country and the world.
This objective is achieved through trust, cooperation and collective respect for the established norms. Bogota society has managed to build consensus around the common purpose of transforming and dimensioning its productive fabric, and increasing the productivity and competitiveness of its economy as means to improve the well-being of its inhabitants.
Bogotanos enjoy a sustainable city, a good home, a prosperous economy, Good Government, an attractive city for bank, stock market, commercial and direct investment risk takers. In short, a city capable of offering opportunities for the citizens of Bogotá to appropriate it, which is one of the most important collective assets in the world for enjoyment, for the acquisition of knowledge and for the generation of income. A city that is the most effective agglomeration dynamo in the Colombian society's fight against poverty and inequality.
The central objective will be the reduction of poverty and inequality. Poverty, in the international income standard, affects 10% of households in Bogotá. This number is around a quarter of what the capital registered in 2010. There are no indigent homes.
Bogotá enjoys a high quality of life in environmental matters, as a result of a great variety of public actions (in the sense of actions of the State and actions of the public).
Three elements have been fundamental in this universe of actions:
• The city has a calm and well defined urban-rural border. In the mid-10s the horizontal expansion of the metropolitan area ceased.
• The city managed to impose a strict universe of land use rules.
• The city fundamentally resolved the innumerable conflicts that affected the world of mobility at the beginning of this century.
Bogotá has an integrated system of collective public transport that combines the metro, articulated buses, traditional buses and the commuter train, to create a well-regulated unit in logistics, technical and financial matters. Bogota citizens have a public transportation system at reasonable costs, financially viable and with a high quality service. On the other hand, pedestrians and cyclists have absolute priority over any other means of transport.
Urban tolls are available for private vehicles (cargo and passengers) using the high-speed roads or entering the historic city center. There is free transportation within the city center, which has allowed a significant part of the central area to be pedestrianized. Subsidies, of different types, that were granted to spaces destined to parking spaces were abolished at the beginning of the second decade.
Bogotá generates in 2038 about a third of Colombia's GDP. It is a city of high productivity services and high technological content industries. Small and medium-sized companies are increasingly articulated around industry and larger services, as suppliers of inputs and services. There are, however, a growing number of small business units that are directly linked to the national market and global markets and that mainly provide high value-added services.
Bogotá is a university city, which attracts students from the rest of the country and the Latin American region. The coverage of education services is universal until the last year of secondary education. The public university has maintained its participation in the enrollment of university students.
There is a Good Government at the district level. The clientelist and rentier methods of district electoral politics have been kept under control, although they have not completely disappeared from the scene. The district bureaucracy is competent and the financial management of the city has continuously guaranteed the sustainability of the public debt. It's easy to do business and undertake income-generating initiatives.
Consequently, Bogotá is a highly satisfactory city for its citizens: for the permanent Bogota citizen, who habitually resides there because he was born or decided to live in it, but also for the transitory Bogota citizen, who visits it systematically or eventually. In that sense, Bogotá is a city:
- Safe: Where the Bogota citizen walks freely and unsuspectingly through its streets, and their home, workplace, and the place they travel through, does not represent a reason for uncertainty, fear or rejection.
- Respectful and friendly: The Bogota citizen, as part of the civic culture, feels respected, protected, cordially and diligently treated by their authorities, by their servants, by public service providers and by their own fellow citizens.
- Entertaining: The people of Bogota have access, according to their preference, to artistic and cultural shows, entertainment and entertainment services, possibilities and facilities for quality social gathering.
- Attractive: The Bogota citizen perceives his city as well organized urbanistically, with abundant and green public areas, wide and safe avenues, architecturally beautiful and well furnished, in addition to having access to adequate health services and a protected and environmentally sustainable environment.
- Easily accessible: The Bogota citizen can move quickly and comfortably, to any part of the city, by public or private transport system, according to condition or preference.
- Affordable: The ordinary Bogota citizen can with his income, even if it is few, eat healthily, dress decently, educate himself, prevent his health and heal satisfactorily and live in a decent home, as well as access its services, entertainment and entertainment shows. quality on a regular basis.
A productive, competitive and inclusive city
Bogotá applied a strategy in which land use planning played a very important role for the productivity of the city, since the physical conditions concerning the road infrastructure, airport, services, etc., determined a high level of capacities and strengths to export., provide large-scale services and the production of goods in general. The city contemplates the uses of the land and a territorial order in general in a strategic way, for the conduct of business and the production of goods and services. These activities depend to a high degree on the soil conditions and the use that the regulations allow.
A balance has been achieved in the distribution of the benefits of agglomeration in the city areas, through the strengthening of the centralities and investments in equipment. It is a city that provides opportunities for everyone, and consequently it is a city that prevents social segregation through strategies of all kinds.
Bogotá prioritized the type of works and infrastructure to be developed. It promoted mass and articulated transport in the city and the region, and made the most of the Airport as a strategy for development and competitiveness.
The city created the physical, social, political and cultural conditions so that the companies it houses and those it attracts are competitive. That is, they can preserve their markets from external competition and place their products in markets, either in other regions of the country or other countries. This process of economic expansion was accompanied by a process of social inclusion and respect for the environment. The inclusive city guarantees its inhabitants the right to the city for all.
A consensus was reached that innovation activities are one of the main sources of growth for economies. An innovation network was structured for Bogotá and the region with the participation of: a) businessmen, b) unions, c) universities, d) the District Government. The District Government acts as coordinator of the network, summons unions and companies, granting tax incentives and subsidies to doctoral students, and helping to identify key issues and problems for the development of the city and its periphery.
The city, through a complex process of negotiations between the administration, the private sector, the academy, the union world and other civil society organizations, built a set of facilities of different types that allowed the development of a group of sectors. industrial and medium and high technology services generators of highly competitive added value that mark the economic growth of the city.
The new productive structure of society was possible, to a large extent, to the results of education in the city. The coverage and quality of public education was expanded, all children and young people, of school age, receive, regardless of their social origin, a quality education. Free education is guaranteed up to grade 11 and grade zero is widely widespread. Secondary education is accompanied by training for work and / or appropriation of the academic culture that allows a more fluid transition to post-secondary studies.
In the same way, the city has developed a high-quality science and technology system. Bogotá, as a university city, generates a supply of highly qualified personnel, in a wide variety of fields of knowledge, and of research and technological innovation that has allowed the consolidation of the highly competitive manufacturing and medium and high technology service sectors.
The efficiency of the tax system to collect taxes and capture the different types of capital gains, plus a rigorous planning of investment programs and a judicious supervision, by the Municipal Council, of administration expenses have allowed the city to carry implementing a set of policies that have resulted in a competitive, inclusive and environmentally friendly city. It has done so without resorting to excessive indebtedness and by keeping its bonds at the highest levels by the rating agencies.
A tourist town
Bogotá has developed various types of tourism, for which it needed both territorial policies and strategies to define urban and rural areas with related land uses and activities aimed at promoting complementary services.
A cosmopolitan city has been formed with:
- Large influx of high-spending national and foreign visitors (significant expansion of market share in the country and in Latin America).
- Varied and positioned offer of types of tourism (that in the collective imagination, the city is not positioned exclusively as a destination for business tourism).
- High positioning on the continent and in the collective imagination of its people (effective citymarketing).
- Offer of varied, qualified and differentiated tourist services with an emphasis on health matters.
- High rates of security, accessibility and comfort for travelers.
- High generation of jobs through the tourism production chain.
- Direct and complementary tourist offer integrated to the region.
- Sustainable tourism model.
- Effective integration, coordination and articulation of the components of the production chain.
- High organization and regulation of tourist activity and complementary activities (Institutionality, competences and standards).
- Adequate provision and maintenance of infrastructure and services consistent with its tourist vocation.
- Citizen knowledgeable and committed to the objectives and strategies of the city.
Finally, economic development policies have been developed from a social inclusion approach, which takes into account the situation and conditions of its inhabitants, and in this way has avoided inequalities in the benefits of development. The development model values the diversities of the different population groups that constitute it.
The city provides citizen security conditions with a gender perspective.
Women have affirmative actions and the strategies stimulate the improvement of productivity and competitiveness in the type of productive activities that they carry out and are accompanied by citizen equipment, such as nurseries, community kitchens, which facilitates them to allocate time to income-generating activities.
On the other hand, there is an observatory and city information system that allows the monitoring and evaluation of public policies, disaggregated, among many other variables, by sex.
There is an example city, respectful of human rights, which protects the life and integrity of its inhabitants and ensures equal opportunities and enables autonomy. A city where equality and free and meaningful social participation are respected, lived and recreated together with multiculturalism, diversity, a dignified life, freedoms and well-being. A city with a broad social participation with forms of direct participation as well as representative, and also intercultural. An ethically responsible participation.
