Buurtconsolidatie en urbane transformatie in El Alto : Een longitudinaal onderzoek naar veranderingsprocessen in de voormalige periferie van La Paz, Bolivia

Abstract

This study is about the influence of the processes of neighbourhood consolidation and urban transformation in three self-help neighbourhoods in El Alto, a city on Bolivia’s plateau, adjacent the capital city of La Paz. Special attention was paid to the developments in the housing conditions, land use, economic activities, socio-economic characteristics and demographic composition of the inhabitants and mobility in the period 1984-1999. One important view the longitudinal research provided, is that - within the government’s regulating framework - the inhabitants take care of development, regardless the fact if they are autochthonous or not. This research showed that an important part of the inhabitants of the Zona 16 de Julio succeeded in improving their shelter conditions and their socio-economic position. In order to do so, they made use of the presence of the periodic market and the favourable situation of the Zona. Together with the neighbourhood upgrading that has taken place, these have stimulated the population to transform their neighbourhood. This initiative from within the population fits wonderfully well in the current thinking about urban development. It is a clear illustration of the fact that it is not the governments that can alter living conditions in neighbourhoods. In the Zona 16 de Julio, a facilitating government has proved that it can stimulate the local inhabitants to develop their surrounding and the condition in which they are living. However, it is the people who have brought about the urban transformation of the Zona 16 de Julio. In trying to reproduce the processes of change in a schematic way, the model of Baken et al. (1992) is a useful point of departure. In this model the effects of consolidation on the (local) economic development are shown. In a new model, first of all, the distinction between consolidation and transformation has to be pointed out. As we have seen in this study, these are separate processes. We have to record that the effects of these processes are sometimes erroneously mixed up and labelled ‘consolidation’. The three processes of change being the effect of the consolidation process (legal, social and physical-spatial), remain unchanged. New in the model is the urban transformation. This process consists of the relative change in location and the change in function as is described in this study. In the new model, we substitute densification by the effects of mobility. Mobility is not limited to either consolidation or transformation. Both processes can result in (different) effects on migration. This is why mobility receives mentioning with both processes in our model. Our model now schematically describes the influence of two processes (consolidation & transformation) by six types of change (legal, social, physical-spatial, mobility, function, relative location) on the local economic development. But, this development strongly influences the ongoing consolidation and transformation processes. And so, we finally have to conclude that consolidation and transformation also affect each other.