Macrosegregation and expansive densification. Residential space in the Metropolitan Border of Bogotá

Abstract

This article analyzes the patterns of residential segregation and land use characteristic of the process of peripheral urbanization in Bogotá's metropolitan fringe between 2005 and 2020. The growth in housing development by large developers, particularly in the social housing segment, reflects a transformation in the conditions of built-up space production compared to traditional forms of housing provision, such as self-construction. This process has contributed to socio-spatial differentiation at the metropolitan scale, creating patterns of residential segregation that combine the expansive occupation of rural land with its densification—a distinctive feature compared to the model of dispersed peripheral occupation—. The study adopted a quantitative approach to analyze the spatial distribution of new housing by price ranges, using variations in density as an indicator of land-use patterns to identify subregional trends. The data show that, in a macroeconomic context that favored the concentration of capital in the Social and Priority Housing segments, the increase in land prices in Bogotá stimulated the expansive occupation of land in low-income municipalities; subsequently, the appreciation of land and new housing in the Metropolitan Periphery drove processes of densification and a realignment of supply toward higher-income segments.