How does risk become a technique for governing the future of cities and urban|My course tutor

Posted: February 28th, 2023

For this assignment, you will write an op-ed that makes recommendations for how the city ought to manage environmental risk and disasters in Bogota (landslides). Length of approximately 800 to 1000 words. APA style, single spaced. See word document for all instructions.

Urban Op-ed

For this assignment, you will write an op-ed that makes recommendations for how the city ought to manage environmental risk and disasters in Bogota (landslides). Length of approximately 800 to 1000 words. APA style, single spaced.

Your op-ed might address the following questions: How should the city approach disaster management? What or who should be the priorities of the city? How can the city ensure safety for everyone from urban disasters? What factors should be taken into consideration in the city’s disaster management planning? You do not have to directly answer these questions. They are just prompts.

 

The term “op-ed” refers to a thoroughly researched commentary, opinion piece, or reflection published in a newspaper, journal, or other periodical. Very often writers use op-eds to urge action on the part of political leaders or fellow citizens and, thus, must be very well informed about the matter in question. Publications often solicit op-eds from those whose expertise or experience give them authority to comment on a particular issue, but many advocacy organizations also submit uninvited op-eds in hopes of influencing policymakers or the public.

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Review relevant course materials and find 3-5 relevant additional sources (e.g. news articles, policy reports, or academic papers, but with emphasis on peer-reviewed sources.)

 

Review these op-ed-writing guidelines as well as the sample op-eds below to get a feel for the genre. Not all op-eds are the same, but most of them share in that they are brief, direct, and evocative if not also persuasive in tone. https://www.theopedproject.org/oped-basics

 

With those guidelines in mind, write a well-informed, persuasive op-ed that calls for policy changes and/or other actions by political leaders and/or fellow citizens. Keep in mind that you are aiming to convince the reader with a well-reasoned argument, not appeal exclusively to emotions. Keep in mind, too, that the most effective op-eds are typically those offering direct, specific comments or proposals rather than those envisioning broad, “pie-in-the-sky” societal transformations. That said, don’t hesitate to be bold and visionary if you can support your position.

 

REQUIREMENTS

1. Because published op-eds do not usually contain bibliographies, you should use journalistic attributions (e.g., “According to a study by scientists at Harvard University, …”) and hyperlinks within the text of your op-ed

 

2. Be sure to include a separate References List with complete information on your sources. This would not be published with an op-ed, and is just for me to use when grading.

 

3. Your op-ed should illustrate engagement with at least one of the assigned readings for this lesson.

 

Sample Op-Ed 1 LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-04-11/reefs-wetlands-mangrove-coastline-defense-restoration

Sample Op-Ed 2 East Asia Forum https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/11/04/financing-asean-disaster-management-and-resilience/%C2%A0

Sample Op-Ed 3 UNDRR https://www.undrr.org/news/raising-climate-finance-alone-not-enough-it-must-also-target-disaster-prevention

 

RELEVANT COURSE MATERIALS

https://rioonwatch.org/?p=51579

Zeiderman, A. (2012). On shaky ground: the making of risk in Bogotá. Environment and Planning A, 44(7), 1570-1588

Alvarez, M. K., & Cardenas, K. (2019). Evicting slums,‘building back better’: Resiliency revanchism and disaster risk management in Manila. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43(2), 227-249

Environment and Planning A 2012, volume 44, pages 1570 – 1588

doi:10.1068/a44283

On shaky ground: the making of risk in Bogotá

Austin Zeiderman § Anthropology, Stanford University, Main Quad, Building 50, Stanford, CA 94035, USA; e-mail: austin.zeiderman@gmail.com Received 28 May 2011; in revised form 18 October 2011

Abstract. How does risk become a technique for governing the future of cities and urban

life? Using genealogical and ethnographic methods, this paper tracks the emergence of

risk management in Bogotá, Colombia, from its initial institutionalization to its ongoing

implementation in governmental practice. Its specii c focus is the invention of the ‘zone

of high risk’ in Bogotá and the everyday work performed by the oi cials responsible for

determining the likelihood of landslide in these areas. It addresses the ongoing formation

of techniques of urban planning and governance and the active relationship between urban

populations and environments and emerging forms of political authority and technical

expertise. Ultimately, it reveals that techniques of risk management are made and remade

as experts and nonexperts grapple with the imperative to bring heterogeneous assemblages

of people and things into an unfolding technopolitical domain.

Keywords: risk, security, cities, urban governance, environment, hazards, Bogotá, Colombia

Introduction

In this paper I examine the emergence of risk as a technique of urban planning and governance in Bogotá, Colombia. This local story offers insight into a general pattern in which the informal settlements that predominate in cities of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, along with the populations inhabiting them, are brought into novel governmental frameworks. It also refl ects a broader phenomenon, whereby techniques of risk management and other mechanisms of ‘securitization’ are emerging across a range of apparently disparate domains in both the global North and South as essential elements of ‘good governance’. According to Hodson and Marvin (2010, page 31), the rise of “urban ecological security” represents “a paradigm challenge to our conventional understanding of contemporary urbanism”. To understand these widespread transformations, this paper bridges the gap between the fi eld of urban studies and the literature on the political technologies of risk and security. The city of Bogotá provides an especially good vantage point from which to examine how risk becomes a technique for governing the future of cities and urban life.

Between 1950 and 2000 the population of Bogotá exploded from just over 700 000 to about 7 million (DANE, 1957; 2005). Much of this population growth took place in the southern half of the city and led to the growth of informal settlements on the mountainous urban periphery. By some estimates, this region of Bogotá is one of the largest agglomerations of urban poverty in the world. When the municipal government began conducting technical studies of environmental hazards in the late 1990s, the highest concentration of families in ‘zones of high risk’ was in this area (Morales, 2005). In fact, over 50% of the 10 715 properties located in risk zones in 2008 were in Ciudad Bolívar—the largest and poorest of Bogotá’s twenty localities (Camara de Comercio de Bogotá, 2007; Poveda Gómez, 2008).

§ Address from 1 July 2012: LSE Cities, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England.

1571 A Zeiderman

The imperative to relocate families from ‘zones of high risk’ has focused on this area: from 2004 to 2006, 90% (1239) of the households resettled by the government were from this locality alone (Caja de la Vivienda Popular, 2006).

How did the poor in Bogotá come to inhabit landscapes of risk? This situation can be understood in at least two ways. The fi rst is what I would call the ‘received narrative’.(1) Since the mid-20th century, hundreds of thousands of peasants from the Colombian countryside have migrated to the capital city, either seeking economic opportunity or having been displaced from their land by paramilitaries, guerrillas, or the army. Whereas peasants had once been embedded in the social institutions of rural areas, such as the Catholic Church and the hacienda, they have become increasingly uprooted in the past half century as economic restructuring and political violence radically transformed the country. Upon arriving in large numbers in Bogotá, they fi rst settled in rented rooms in centrally located tenement housing (inquilinatos). But as the existing housing supply quickly ran out, they began to gravitate to the hillsides of the city’s southern periphery.

From as early as the 19th century, these lands have been exploited for construction materials. Tunnels and quarries were dug into the deforested slopes in order to extract the gravel, rock, and sand that would be used for building the physical infrastructure of central Bogotá. Once these resources diminished, however, urbanizadores piratas (pirate urbanizers) began to appropriate territories, subdividing them into small plots and selling them without legal title. Heavily mined, and therefore unsuitable for most other uses, these lands were of low economic value. Meanwhile, the demand for affordable property in the city was growing rapidly, and the state had neither the interest nor the ability to regulate it; in fact, politicians often permitted ad hoc urbanization in exchange for popular support. Settlers then built their own dwellings using rudimentary construction materials and techniques on what was already precarious terrain. As the story goes, these se

 

SOLUTION

As the capital city of Colombia, Bogota faces many environmental risks and disasters, including landslides that have caused significant loss of life and property damage. The city’s approach to disaster management must prioritize the safety of all residents and take into consideration various factors that contribute to the risk of landslides. First and foremost, the city must have a comprehensive disaster management plan that outlines procedures for responding to natural disasters, including landslides. This plan should include provisions for early warning systems, evacuation routes, and emergency shelters. Additionally, the city should regularly conduct drills and simulations to test the effectiveness of its disaster management plan and to identify areas for improvement.