Renaturalization of Urban Rivers in Bogotá

New Urban Patterns: Reconciling Cities and Ecosystems

Abstract

This article presents an urban design project for an environmental corridor in a section of the Fucha River (Bogotá, Colombia) that links the logistics-productive node of El Vergel with the Andalucía residential neighborhood. On the basis of urban projects such as the renovation of the Cheonggyecheon River, in South Korea; Parques del Río Medellín project, in Colombia, and Chicago Riverwalk, in the United States, added up to the concepts of ecological resilience, water urbanism, water-sensitive urban design, and eco-neighborhoods, five conceptual principles were formulated: guarantee access to water, preserve residential neighborhoods, create usable public space, attend to logistics activity and integrate environmental services into the urban structure. In the intervention, the principles were transformed into three design operations: connecting the water edge, reconfiguring the urban profile and qualifying the public space. This article is developed with a practical approach to the solution of problems in the water-city relationship. As a result, the project materializes in a corridor that offers environmental and urban attributes that create a transition between the water elements and the built environment.