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Urban
Land Use Development in Bolivia
| Self-help
Housing in La Paz. |
Land Index
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Introduction:
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In Bolivia almost 60% of the
population live in urban areas with more than 50% concentrated
in three major cities: La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
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La Paz is the capital of Bolivia
and is its largest city with a population of 724,000.
La Paz is located at 24,000m (14,000 ft)
up the Andes. Most of the population of La Paz live on
the sides of the mountains that surround
the city.
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It is a fast growing city
as most of the rural people migrate to urban areas
and settle on the peripheries
where the land is cheaper but without water
and electricity. The upper class neighbourhoods are located
at the lowest points where the air quality is better
than higher up the mountainsides.
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Housing:
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The climate of La Paz is often
inclement, with heavy rains from November to March, temperatures
below freezing and cold winds on the hillsides and Altiplano
where most of the poor people live.
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The land is subject to flooding
and landslides because of the steep inclines. Many of the
houses are therefore, not connected to a piped water or
sewage system because the hazards can damage the delivery
system of pipes.
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Families are large and tend
to live in small, overcrowded houses. The high population
density and lack of sanitation and water services, together
with the high altitude and harsh
climate, have adverse effects on the health of the residents
and cause high infant mortality .
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| The residents usually get their water from
public taps if there are any. These taps however, are located
at the bottom of the hills, too far for many residents to
transport buckets of water by foot
up hill. Unfortunately, sometimes the only available sources
of water are in unsanitary conditions such as rivers, drainage
ditches and stagnant pools, where children play and household
waste is dumped. |
Self-help
Housing:
| Today, most of the population live in “self-built”
housing or communities. They are mostly
located on steep slopes of the mountains, where land, prone
to erosion especially during heavy rainfall, is cheaper. Self-built
houses start as a simple form of shelter, lacking essential
services where the occupier has built
some or most of the accommodation. |
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Self-built housing is common
among the poor as they have no other alternative. This is
further compounded by the rapid growth in urban populations
and existing housing can not keep
up with the demand. Government succeed only
in accommodating a minority of the
people who need proper housing.
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Widespread poverty, wealth
concentrated to a very small proportion of the population,
private ownership of land, and a building
industry that is non-responsive to the needs of the majority,
all ensure that proper housing is beyond the reach of the
poor.
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Other factors also contribute
to the popularity of self-built housing in Latin America.
The development
of mass transportation and decrease in fare prices allow
rural workers move
to the suburbs and city in search
of housing and jobs. This enables the workers to live further
away from their job, where the price of building a home
may be less.
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Self-Help
Housing: Advantages and Disadvantages:
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Obtaining services is still
a challenge for many residents. In many cities, it requires
constant petitioning
to public officials about the seriousness of the needs of
the community. Self-built settlements with
water, electricity and sewers are
needed in many areas. All to often however, housing is
developed without such basic amenities and
can hardly be recommended for any
population.
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No one likes to see their towns or neigbourhoods
develop into so-called 'squatter' areas. Unfortunately,
this is exactly what many of the self-help settlements turned
out to be, with increasing intensity. People were moving
from the rural areas into the city faster than the city
can provide adequate housing and sufficient jobs with satisfactory
incomes. Many planners and developers work to slow the growth
of these slums or reduce their prevalence by suggesting
that they be replaced by proper housing units with proper
services and infrastructure. However, for the majority of
people, such dwellings would be too expensive to afford
and there are too many needy families to provide for, far
beyond the capabilities of the city.
By the 1960's, most of the inhabitants
who had been living in the city for some time, were well
adjusted to urban life and had regular jobs. Governments
started upgrading self-help settlements rather than destroying
them. The problem of providing cheap sites for self-help
projects still remained and the cost of the land and the
core housings were more than many people could afford. By
the 1970's however, this new idea of allowing self-help
housing was well supported by funding from international
development and aid agencies.
It seems clear that self-help housing will
remain the main housing option for most of the urban poor
in Latin American countries such as Bolivia. Much depends
on the continued economic growth and on more equitable distribution
of resources, to reduce the pressures of the poor in urban
areas.
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