Generando territorios circulares en Bogotá mediante innovación social

Cities seem ill-equipped to deal with the consequences of sudden and lasting crises with traditional planning tools. This is particularly true in the megacities of the global south, such as Bogotá, where the latest pro- tests, starting in the spring of 2021, initially addressing topical issues, quickly turned into a strong mobilisation of all social classes expressing discontent with wider issues, such as Colombia’s gross inequality, the unequal distri- bution of opportunities, the internal conflict and even a muted debate on the prevailing post-colonial structures. In the incompatibility of formal planning tools, as well as social and economic policies, and the realities of today’s city, independent practices have been emerging for decades in all spheres and scales, creating agency, producing intentional communities, generating value in the domains of the foundational economy at many levels. These activities can be read as multiple expressions of social innovation. The need to organise and connect, in particular, urban interactions with these practices, has long been a challenge for planning. The hypothesis is that specific established sites can be rediscovered as nodes of interaction. They represent “in-between places”, borderline infrastructures, between the macro dimension of planning and the micro dimen- sion of practices. These environments accommodate heterogeneous design capacities, formal and informal, enabling generative urban processes through covenants, trust and reciprocity. They go beyond traditional and formally recognised participatory concepts, as they assume a variety of forms in cities, responding to evolving ways of living, working, meeting and caring. They are spatial representations of the collective sphere determined by contextual, niche conditions; multi- functional contexts that connect, contaminate and engender knowledge from the encounter of different positions and interests. They do not represent a third space, but make private and public space complement each other, extending each other. The situated interactions (positive and conflictual) in the places in between are seen as ways in which social innovations can expand the capacity of planning to innovate and respond to new demands in the public sphere. Selected places are analysed for their capacity to be catalysts for further urban development in which commu- nities and formal planning implement strategic interventions.