View of the center from on the cable car to Monserrate above the city, Announcements of trips to Colombia, and Bogotá its capital, are generally followed by quizzical glances, questions about safety (and sanity), and repetitions of well-worn cliches about the drug trade. People are skeptical about Colombia. After more than three months of living here, I must say that Bogotá is one of the most misunderstood and underrated capitals in the world. It has a dramatic setting high in the Andes, with a lush range of the mountains running right alongside. It's a city of grand scale moving rapidly away from a past of violence and urban chaos into a period of greater safety and urban renewal. And there's an infectious energy in the air that's hard not to succumb to.
The Plaza de Toros de Santamaria, Bogota's bullfighting ring. I came to Bogotá to consider it as a site for future projects with CitiNature and soon after arrival I was convinced that this was a place with which I wanted to engage and put down some roots. In this blog posting I'll give a general overview of the city's allure to an urban greening activist.
Three things sum up my excitement about Bogotá: 1) its positive trajectory; 2) an ideal climate;
3) its expansive scale.
Three things sum up my excitement about Bogotá: 1) its positive trajectory; 2) an ideal climate;
3) its expansive scale.
A bicycle path in Parque el Virrey very close to my apartment. Bogotá is not an ancient colonial city (although it does have a beautiful historic center), but instead a modern city with an orientation towards the future. In many parts you could easily mistake yourself for being in newer districts of a European city. And the similarities are not skin deep. Bogotá has one of the most extensive systems of bicycle paths in the world (over 300km of paths and growing), a rapidly expanding express bus system (almost like a metro) called the Transmilenio, a government intent on improving the infrastructure for pedestrians (there are carefully laid brick pedestrian pavements in many areas of the city now), and a cafe culture unlike I've seen anywhere else in the western hemisphere. It's not a city looking back.
The Parque Nacional, a popular park of 283 hectares, sits right in the heart of the city. The climate in Bogotá is reminiscent of a Scandinavian summer - and this climate is year-round, shifting only through periods of more or less rain. Nights are quite cool, but the strong sun warms the city quickly in the mornings. With abundant rainfall and mild temperatures, Bogotá should be a mecca for gardeners. This is a city of lush green lawns, blossoming flowers, and hundreds of parks. Gardening in the nicer parts of town tends to be done by professional gardeners and they do beautiful work with an incredible range of plants that this permanently temperate climate allows.
A sidewalk in an elegant neighborhood a few minutes walk from my apartment. For people in search of a project, Bogotá is a city of enticing opportunities. As might be expected in the 4th largest city in Latin America, Bogotá boasts vast areas of impressive wealth shadowed by neighborhoods less opulent, and large areas of real and relative poverty. Some 30% of the population officially live below the poverty line. The city epitomizes the global correlation between wealth and "green." The wealthier neighborhoods of Bogotá are generously supplied with parks and the streets lined with trees and bushes. They are wrapped in green, from gardens spilling over high-rise terraces to meticulously manicured landscapes. The rich in Bogotá know what they've got: the perfect climate for exuberant vegetation. And it is stunningly beautiful.
A typically treeless street in a poorer part of the city. Move a bit to the west from the wealth along the base of the mountains (or south from the newer districts in the north), however, and things start to change, sometimes abruptly. Areas that previously were solidly middle class or wealthy have obviously been in decline for some time, I imagine due to the violence this city experienced in the not too distant past. Single homes are much harder to protect than high-rises with doormen and the population with money may have largely migrated to new areas of high density. Once charming neighborhoods are slowly crumbling through benign neglect, and previously elegant parks and streets are losing their trees and bushes. Few seem to care about maintaining them. Some streets have entirely lost their trees. In the poorer neighborhoods there may never have been trees in the first place.
A couple of typical brick houses in Bogota...with no trees in sight. But as security has increased, the possibilities for urban renewal are endless. There are a surprising number of streets lined with architecture that might be right at home in the hearts of European cities. Older neighborhoods surrounding parks seem only to need the right spark for rejuvenation efforts to begin. I'm of the opinion that this is the time to be in Bogotá and be one of those sparks that brings this city closer to reaching its potential as the most lovely and livable in South America. And as an urban greening advocate, the low-hanging fruit are in abundance. Streets and parks that have lost their trees could rapidly be replanted. As the climate is so benign here, with ample rainfall, the typical losses associated with urban tree planting would be minimized. A green revolution is in the offing, and I want to be a part of it.
Below are a few more pictures of the characteristic brick architecture in neglected areas of Bogotá, something I hadn't expected to find in South America.
This initial snapshot of Bogotá wouldn't be complete without a few pictures of the beautiful historic center, which follow below.
In the following weeks and months I will be reporting more on Bogotá and CitiNature's plans here. I recommend to anyone who hasn't been to Colombia to consider putting it on your agenda. It is a rare jewel of a country generally uncrowded by tourists.
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