Abstract

MATTA, Wanda Xiomara. Imaginaries and urban ecosystems transformation: El Burro wetland in Bogotá, Colombia 1950-2019. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2021, vol.44, n.2, pp.217-241.  Epub Apr 06, 2022. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v44n2.87894.

This article is about the relationship between water and city from the perspective of social imaginaries. Particularly, studying the phenomenon of wetlands desiccation in Bogota from 1950 until 2019, period where the city lost 98.67 % of the area of these ecosystems. An attempt is made to inquire in the matrix of sense that made this variation in the city's geography socially plausible. For this purpose, we chose El Burro wetland, located in the south west of Bogota in Kennedy as case study.

To do this, the process of physical environmental transformation of El Burro wetland was rebuilt since 1950. Then the key actors who participated in the transformation were identified and their narratives about the wetland were collected, including narratives of legislation related to wetlands since 1905, that were processed to reveal social imaginaries that actors had about the ecosystem. In this way, four imageries were recognized about El Burro wetland in the observed period: the desiccation as a benefit, the paddock for the undesirable, the resource worthy to be protected, and a being full of life, the first three have been instituted imaginaries and the last one is an instituting imaginary. Finally, we observed the imaginaries found in relation to the transformation process of the ecosystem, aspect where this document focuses.

Findings revealed that there are social imaginaries that can coexist without conflict between them and at the same time, imaginaries that are in a constant struggle to prevail. We conclude that approaching urban phenomenon from a perspective of social imageries allows observing them in greater depth than it is achieved with traditional disciplinary views. Also, that the instituted social imaginary on urban ecosystems is a mediator in the relationship between city and water that profoundly affects the physical and environmental condition of urban ecosystems. This intersubjective dimension of society performs a key role in the recovery and preservation of these ecosystems.

Descriptors: aquatic ecosystem, environmental perception, habitat, urban sociology.

Keywords : desiccation of wetlands; El Burro wetland; habitat; phenomenology; social imaginary; urban ecosystems; water and city; wetland ecosystems.

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