Advances and limitations in the attention to the problems of housing and urban land in Mexico. An approach from the legal-institutional frame

In this work we analyze the reforms carried out by the Mexican state in the nineties of the 20th century, in the items concerning the policies of housing and urban land, based on an exhaustive review of the main actions, programs and changes in the legal and institutional frame that applies for each of these fields. The nineties represent a "breaking point" in the way the State considers the satisfaction of the right to the housing and attends the offer of urbanized land for a tidy and sustainable urban development. In this period of time, the approach of direct intervention in developing and financing housing and creation of land reserves has changed into another one, ruled by the logic of the market. The balance to the first decade of the 21st century is ambiguous, as neither the housing policy has solved the housing shortage for low-income population, nor the land policy has eliminated the illegal urban growth.

The Bogota – sabana region : the political economy behind the struggle to implement a sustainable urban development model

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“La Felicidad incluye a todos”. La construcción de un barrio mezclado en Bogotá.

El trabajo se enmarca en las discusiones relacionadas con segregación espacial, segregación social y construcción de barrios mezclados. Específicamente, selecciona el caso de La Felicidad: ciudad parque en Bogotá como un ejemplo que sirve para analizar las políticas públicas enfocadas en disminuir la segregación residencial en la ciudad a partir de la construcción de un vecindario que está compuesto por vivienda de interés social y vivienda regular. A partir de métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos se analiza cómo esta funcionando esta propuesta urbana.

Análisis del arrendamiento como alternativa en la política de vivienda de interés social en Colombia. Lecciones y reflexiones aprendidas a partir de la experiencia de Sudáfrica

Los esfuerzos de la presente investigación se concentran en el cumplimiento del objetivo principal, el cual consiste en analizar el arrendamiento como un programa que puede ser incorporado en la política de vivienda en Colombia, para dar respuesta de forma transitoria y/o temporal de alojamiento a los hogares con ingresos iguales o inferiores a dos salarios mínimos, ya que actualmente la política sectorial no incorpora esta forma tenencia de la vivienda para ofertar soluciones habitacionales. El arrendamiento tiene rasgos interesantes e importantes de destacar, tales como que él mismo constituye una forma de tenencia de vivienda eminentemente urbana. Además, es un mercado al que acuden todos los estratos socioeconómicos, por lo cual no es un mercado segregado. Igualmente, al relacionar ésta tenencia con el territorio y por ende con la economía espacial, se puede decir que no existe segregación socio-espacial muy pronunciada frente a la distribución urbana de la tenencia de la vivienda en arrendamiento. En este sentido, la tenencia de la vivienda en forma de arrendamiento se presenta en todo el territorio urbano de Cali, Medellín y Bogotá.

Sustainable Development and the Right to Water in Colombia

Water, considered as an environmental resource and as an economic and social good, should be part of the Colombian public agenda, not only not only in terms of the use and preservation of hydro resources, but also in terms of the social implications of its possession and use. The world wide preoccupation with the diminution of natural resources, species extinction and water shortage has its origins in the seventies. One of the results was the establishment of international conventions and agreements to achieve responsible management of natural resources. Regarding water as a resource, it is intrinsically bound to the Earth’s natural processes and ecosystems. As regards the Colombian case, the “right to water in Colombia” is analyzed taking into account: water as an integral part of sustainable development, the right to water as a global debate and, finally, the right to water in the Colombian context within the explanatory framework of the Water Referendum.

A juridical-practical framework for the investigation of crimes against granting of public housing services

The public service enterprises are victims of crimes and felonies which may reduce their capacity to perform their functions. These enterprises expend much money and effort in order to prevent those criminal behaviors. For this reason they ask from the authorities more efficient measures against crime; however, such enterprises may feel that they are not being given sufficient importance and/or remedies in dealing with such crime. The aim paper of this is not to study the problem from de substantive criminal law point of view. Rather, this paper’s goal is to study the Colombia’s Rules of Criminal Procedure, which regulate the investigation of this kind of crime. The article will look particularly at the competency of the relevant authorities at the investigative stages. Finally, it will make some recommendations regarding a proper route towards the investigation of these criminal behaviors.

The new Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas at the Universidad del Rosario “Knowledge for sustainable development and welfare of society”

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The incidents of housing policies in the process of nesting the urban space (Buenos Aires, 1870-1999)

This article describes the housing policies displayed historically in B.A. that affected the processes of configuration and of giving hierarchy to the urban space. Since the process of modernization of B.A., at the end of the XIXth century, housing measures, urbanistic projects and political decisions have influenced the building of the city and the space distribution of their inhabitants: in this way, they have integrated some people and excluded others. No wonder, that, historically, popular sectors have established themselves in the South of the city (and in outskirt villages). These zones have been disregarded by the state, which has invested less in these areas. We will see how the connection between state housing policies and the population redistribution in the city, confirms the persistence of a strong process of urban and residential segregation that tends to expel the inhabitants of popular sectors and to attract the ones of the middle-class and high class sectors.

Actions of resiliencia opposite to the housing policies in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina: the social organizations, the institutions, and the massive evictions

The current housing problems in the city of Buenos Aires revolves around two phenomena, the precariousness and the evictions, in a context that is conceived like housing emergency. In response to this situation, some institutional organisms and certain social organizations with territorial roots in the south of the city, began to take forward actions of resilience opposing to the massive evictions, which take place as consequence of the real-estate pressure, and were concerning to the hotels, pensions, tenancies, and usurped houses of this zone of the city. It will be analyzed the actions of resilience displayed by them in their individual and collective dimensions and their relation to housing policies.

Informal access to urban land. Housing policies devoted to vulnerable sectors implemented in Cordoba-Argentina

The urban growth in Latino American cities, in a neoliberal context, has led to several population groups to having no possibilities to the access to urban land. Informal and irregular urban settlements increase, requiring attention from local governments, with actions and strategies in order to achieve both the regularization of such situation and further prevention. In the city of Córdoba different informal and irregular operations have taken place promoted by different actors. Furthermore, policies focused on regularization which have been promoted, have few intervention mechanisms, a fact that becomes critical, especially for the urban problems it causes. The main aim of this article is to present a classification over different modes of urban land acquirement taking place out of both urban and civil legislations. Afterwards, different informal settlement typologies are described, as well as the policies focused on them, together with their respective effects and impacts.

Spatial Inequalities and Social Utility: Mobility Efforts and Accessibility in Greater Santiago

Emergent phenomena such as urban sprawl, travel intensification and loss of cohesion in contemporary metropolises, impose stronger constraints on its inhabitants. Among them, travel and location capabilities become a fundamental factor of social integration and a multiplier of income inequalities. The simultaneous analysis of housing-travel efforts and accessibility to urban opportunities in Greater Santiago shows that these dimensions are closely related and exert an important influence on spatial mobility and inequalities among its inhabitants. Furthermore, a theoretical model of displacements, considering income and location, confirms the importance of proximity and non-motorized transport in order to optimize daily mobility strategies of households. Overall, the empirical and theoretical results presented show the need to implement coordinated planning strategies between the housing and transport sectors, addressing not only travel acceleration, but mainly the consistency between accommodation and opportu  ties location. The creation of such planning tools could be a more sustainable alternative than current growth trends in Greater Santiago.

Sustainable urban criteria in the urban periphery of Guadalajara

The study of the growth of large cities, in the urban periphery or the peri-urban areas specifically, it relates to environmental degradation due to urbanization, if it is estimated that since 2008 more than half of the world population living in urban areas, this sector is affected as it presents overcrowding, segregation and deterioration of physical conditions, which will impact on the social aspects within localities. This great urban growth has usually developed with the lack of environmental planning.So it is necessary to include urban development, guidelines towards environmental conservation and rehabilitation of the territory. The future of cities will depend largely on the actions taken now. As urban development inevitably requires planning urban settlements through sustainable development so as to provide alternative technologies, based on the reality of Latin American countries.In the peripheral area of the Metropolitan Zone of Guadalajara, is taken as a case study of the town of La Venta del Astillero, which by its nature allows access and functionality to develop a set of criteria and indicators to urban sustainability, which can take as a model for other communities in the urban periphery.

Freedom for rent. Informal housing market of Caracas

For years it was believed that in Caracas an informal rental housing market did not exist. A survey (n:832) in seven informal areas shows the opposite. The article analyzes the socio-legal aspects and characteristics of the market: the negotiated property, the rent, the actors and the norms that regulate the market. It is concluded that the Venezuelan State, with its controls and social policies, has become the principal promoter of the informal rental market and that because of the freedom to rent, the poor are the real estate agents that contribute most to meeting the increasing demand for housing.

Social housing and land use planning in Medellin during the period 2006-2011. Steps towards socio economic and residential segregation

This paper presents an approach to the relationship between land use planning and socioeconomic residential segregation, from the location of social housing in Medellin, Colombia, during the period 2006-2011. The first part introduces the land use regulations regarding the location of social housing, identifying ambiguities in the current spatial plan. Next, we present the intersection of  regulatory information and the location of the projects that were under construction during the  study period, highlighting the need to consider the location as an important characteristic of social housing and residential segregation as a phenomenon that must be recognized and worked on land  use planning in our cities.

The avatars of housing in Latin American urban and regional research (1990-2012)

The review of the terms used as keywords in three journals (published in Mexico and Chile) and the Brazilian meetings of regional and urban research are used to analyze the trends in housing research. Their dynamics are interpreted in the light of the general changes identified for urban and regional  research, synthesized by other authors as the emergence of new research topics and agents of urban change (civil society, participation, environment, gender) and the process of globalization (in its facets  of productive restructuration, job flexibility, social exclusion) as a general framework of analysis. It is found that the central themes of research in housing relate primarily to government action in  housing. New concerns, such as citizen participation, the environment or gender are linked to these actions as normative elements to the evaluation of programs or policies, but not as autonomous fields of study of the housing.In addition to this central concern, a significant growth of academic  production and  ome indication of the internationalization of research are mentioned