Atlas Uncovering Territories in Bogotá

Abstract

The maps and essays in this atlas offer a new view on the urban expansion of Bogotá and the process of the metropolitanization of the Sabana de Bogotá. The cartographic results of two doctoral thesis focus on the spatial-morphological transformation of Bogotá and the territory of the Sabana (Arturo Calderón Esteban), and zooms of the six former villages Usme, Bosa, Fontibón, Engativá, Suba, and Usaquén (Alissa Diesch). The understanding and representation of the Sabana de Bogotá as a historically grown, coherent territory enables new and creative visioning for the region. Reading the former villages as historic centralities facilitates a new perspective on the urbanisation process and highlights the dynamics of the poly-centric network the metropolitan region is inscribed in. It sheds light on places that are often considered peripheral and passively devoured by the expanding city, working out their individual character and formative role in the metropolitanization process and the contemporary city. Additionally, the atlas sheds light on the agency and persistence of the historically grown structures, creating a simultaneity of different times in the presence and a resource for the future.