what's wrong with the small latin american city? a case study of ubaté, colombia

University of Calgary PressCanadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

What's Wrong with the Small Latin American City? A Case Study of Ubaté, ColombiaAuthor(s): Harold A. WoodSource: Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue canadienne desétudes latino-américaines et caraïbes, Vol. 9, No. 18 (1984), pp. 133-152Published by: University of Calgary Press on behalf of Canadian Association of Latin American andCaribbean StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41799554 .

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CJLACS/RCELAC, IX (no 18, 1984), pp. 133-152.

What's Wrong

with the Small Latin American City?

A Case Study of Ubaté, Colombia

Harold A. Wood McMaster University

L'urbanisation rapide dans les pays du «Tiers- Monde» a concentré V attention sur les problèmes du déséquilibre ville-campagne et de V accès aux services . Étant donné la surcharge qui affecte les centres métropoli- tains , il serait avantageux que les petites villes soient plus attrayantes afin d'attirer et de retenir les migrants . On a choisi de mener une étude sur Ubaté , une ville colombienne de 10 000 habitants , afin de déterminer quels sont les phénomènes qu'identifient les habitants d'un petit centre régional. L 'enquête révèle des réponses étonnamment uniformes , variant relativement peu selon les catégories de revenus , les lieux de résidence , les dimensions de la famille ou l'ancienneté de l'implantation . Les plaintes les plus courantes concernent la qualité de la vie plutôt que le « développe- ment »: la malpropreté , l'enlèvement des ordures , les rues non pavées , les systèmes d'aqueduc et d'égoût inexistants dans certaines zones , le man- que d'installations récréatives . L ' étude suggère une stragégie de rechange pour l'amélioration des villes latino-américaines qui serait plus rentable que celle présentement axée sur les projets grandioses .

Introduction

The rapid urbanization which is characteristic of most of the so-called Third World is perceived as a major problem principally because it is unbalanced. Massive concentrations of people are found in a few major centres while smaller cities and towns stagnate.

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This kind of urbanization pattern creates problems in that the metropolitan areas find it impossible to provide even the most basic social and physical facilities for large proportions of their populations while at the same time rural areas suffer from a lack of the central services which only cities can provide. It follows that Colombia, in common with other Third World countries, would benefit if the small towns were made sufficiently attractive to obtain a larger share of the rural-urban migrants than they now receive and also to retain a greater proportion of their inhabitants in the face of the magnetic pull of the large centres.

Actually, Colombia is by no means the worst example of unbalanced urbanization. In addition to the national capital of Bogotá, there are seven- teen «metropolitan areas» with populations exceeding 100,000; their aggregate growth between 1964 and 1973 was 55%, while the total national population grew only 29%. In 1973 there were twelve cities with populations of 50,000-100,000; they grew 46% from 1963 to 1974. Another twelve towns had populations of 30,000-50,000; their growth was 30%. Neverthe- less, at the lower end of the urbanization spectrum one finds conditions somewhat more typical of developing countries. Of the 855 municipalities in the country's organized Departments, 86% had chief towns (cabeceras) with populations of less than 10,000 en 1973. Between 1964 and 1973, 47% of the municipalities experienced net losses in population, while 13% of the cabaceras also suffered absolute declines. 1

It may, of course, be argued that a city does not need to be «attractive», particularly in an «underdeveloped» country, except in the provision of paid employment. But to accept this view without reservation is to deny the full humanity of the people involved. And if we accept the need for a balance between economic and social well-being, it follows that the latter must be evaluated as well as the former. That we do not usually do so is due primarily to the subjectivity associated with the concept of «well-being», particularly where different cultures are involved.

In the small Latin American city, a description of the level of attractive- ness introduces subjective elements at two levels. Initially the observer, who will usually come from a more sophisticated environment, has an in- grown set of values to deal with. Then, the townspeople who are the objects of the observation may not necessarily have common views about what is important. Indeed, the notorious inequalities in Latin American society suggest that different groups may use quite dissimilar criteria in their assessments of the degree of satisfaction obtained in an urban environment.

The Setting and the Method

Because of the inherent importance of the small city at the present stage of Latin American development, and to experiment with a simple method of data-gathering, the writer undertook a study of the ways in which their city is perceived by the residents of Ubaté, Colombia. Ubaté is a typical small regional centre, one of 73 so classified by Colombia planners. 2 It has a population of about 10,000 and serves an area of some 1115 km2. Location

134



of the town is about 80 km. by paved road north of Bogotá (Figure 1); the site is a fairly level plain, with a small but steep hill rising to the south and the Ubaté river running northwards, a few hundred metres west of the built-up area. Ubaté was chosen for the study because it was at the time (1980) attempting to organize a planning program with wide public par- ticipation. The atmosphere was thus conducive to the formulation and expression of opinions as to the needs of the town.

In order to tap the pool of ideas which had been generated by promises of undefined future benefits, it was decided to enlist the services of high school students. Boys and girls in the senior grades of the four high schools were given questionnaires to take home and ask their parents to fill in, returning the completed forms to the school on the following day. The

FIGURE 1. GENERAL LOCATION OF UBATE

135



questionnaire listed eleven items, considered a priori to be possible problems and contained spaces for the addition of others, volunteered by the respondents. Each problem was to be given a rating as to its level of seriousness on a scale of 1 - 8. In addition, each resident was asked to indicate by city block the place of residence, the length of time resident there, the level of family income, the family composition, and the form of property tenure. It was hypothesized that any of these five factors might affect the needs of the individual and hence the level of satisfaction provided by Ubaté. General information was also obtained about the distribution of facilities and land uses in the town (Figure 2).

Of 224 questionnaires returned, 53 were rejected, in most cases because respondents lived outside the town or failed to indicate their addresses. The remaining 171 form the basis of the present study, representing what is referred to as the «total sample».3 Problem perceptions of the total sample are compared with those of various subsets, defined in terms of the different family characteristics listed above. Numerical summaries of the results are given in Tables 1-11.

Perceptions of Urban Problems by the Total Sample

For the total sample (Tables 1 and 2) the most serious complaints relate to cleanliness, the closely related question of garbage collection, and the lack of adequate recreational facilities. It may seem strange to many ob- servers of Latin American cities that such aesthetic «non-essentials» are not only considered by almost the entire population to be critical problems but are actually placed ahead of all other urban deficiencies. It is commonly assumed that Latin American cities are dirty because their inhabitants cannot bother to be clean, and that residents of small towns need little in the way of formal recreational facilities because their lives are fully taken up with family and business activities, while, if they do want some open space, it is all around them. That these suppositions are incorrect, at least for Ubaté, is shown conclusively by the responses to the questionnaire.

Well below the top three, but still regarded as serious problems, are aspects of urban life which are usually regarded as more basic: sewers, drinking water, air pollution, and flooding. That they do not occupy the foremost positions in order of priority is probably because Ubaté in these respects is rather well off. Much of the city has sewers; the entire urban area has piped water; flooding is infrequent and localized, and air-pollut- ing industries are absent. The only surprises are that, under the circum- stances, water and air cause as much concern as they do. Fortunately, explanations are found in the geographical distribution of complaints. Water supply is perceived as a serious problem primarily in parts of the town at higher elevations, indicating that low pressure often curtails its availability despite the existence of watermains. Concerns about air quality originate principally in the northwest, closest to the Ubaté River and just below the point where it receives the town's untreated sewage. Recreation- al facilities are seen as most inadequate in the centre of the town and on the

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hillside to the south where steep slopes preclude the creation of conven- tional playgrounds.

The remaining four items on the questionnaire relate to socio-economic activities in the town: shopping, traffic, schools, transportation. For half or more of the total population, these are not considered to be «problems» at all; virtually no respondents advocate urgent action, and for practical purposes, they could therefore be ignored. From an academic point of view, however, it is interesting to note the order of priority and to discover what logic, if any, was used by those who showed some concern about them.

That commercial facilities come first of the four is easy to understand; the only surprise is that this problem is not among the upper seven. The market squares are open to the weather and to improve them seemed so obviously desirable that initially the planning professionals consulted by the town thought nothing else was so important.

At the other end of the scale, it makes sense that transport comes last. Intraurban buses and taxis can hardly be critical necessities in a town which a pedestrian can cross from end to end in fifteen to twenty minutes. But one might question the low position on the sclae of educational facilities since such facilities are generally quite deficient in Colombia. Probably two factors influenced the attitudes of the respondents: first is the linkage between the survey and the high school system, which is relatively good; the second is a general lack of public awareness of the importance of such pedagogic resources as libraries, maps, scientific equipment, or even comfortable well-lit classrooms.

In the list of items volunteered by the respondents, two deserve as much attention as any of the problems cited in the questionnaire; these are street paving and public safety. The former was not only mentioned spontaneous- ly by over 56% of the respondents, but also received from them the highest rating accorded any problem by its proponents. The latter, though not obtaining many particularly high scores, was nevertheless mentioned by one quarter of the total sample, about three times as many nominations as received by any of the remaining volunteered problems.

Among these eight,4 the one which most clearly merits special comment is housing, simply because it is the last on the list. For most Latin Ameri- can urban planners, the provision of housing has constituted one of the principal challenges. In Ubaté only 6 of 171 respondents suggested that housing is a problem, a rather convincing indication that, in fact, a significant housing problem does not exist. The reasons probably are slow growth, availability of vacant land, and lack of stringent building regula- tions.

Effects of Income Levels on Problem Perception 5

As indicated in Tables 3 and 4, the levels of seriousness attributed to problems are, in general, negatively related to income, at least for the items listed in the questionnaire. With rising incomes, the average aggregate problem rating drops steadily, if not spectacularly, the largest decline

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occurring where monthly incomes rise above the 20,000 peso level. Never- theless, this linear relation only applies to problems most directly related to user costs: water supply, education, and local transport. The higher the income enjoyed by the family, the easier it is to afford private tanks to store water for use when pressure is low, the fees charged by the more prestigious schools, and the costs of owning a car.

For some problems, the level of concern first declines and then increases with rising income. Both the poor and the relatively wealthy are more aware than middle income families of recreational deficiencies, inadequa- cies of the sewage system, air pollution, and traffic noise and congestion. These, of course, are aspects of urban life which are largely beyond the control of the individual even if he has money. That the wealthy tend to perceive them as more serious problems than do the people with middle incomes must reflect the higher aspirations of the former group.

In two cases, however, the opposite situation occurs. Both the poor and the well-to-do give lower ratings than do the middle income groups to the problems of commercial facilities, cleanliness, and garbage collection. For commerce, the explanation seems evident: existing outlets provide for the poor all they can afford while the wealthy can patronize larger centres if they wish. With cleanliness and garbage collection, where the principal anomaly is the relatively low rating given by the poorest group, the reason is probably different. It is suggested that these people are fully aware of the importance of those problems, but also have other serious concerns, in comparison with which cleanliness and garbage collection lose some of their urgency.

A final observation with respect to incomes is that the trends noted above are most fully valid for the four lower income groups. The fifth and most affluent group actually differs sharply from the group immediately below in its assessment of more than half of the problems; in several cases reversing the general trend. It would appear that at this income level factors other than money begin to have an effect: factors such as civic leadership and responsibility, much better housing, and more frequent contact with Bogotá.

With volunteered complaints, the relation between problem perception and income is rather different than with items listed on the questionnaire. Perhaps because they may have more initiative, perhaps because their demands are more complex, the wealthiest group included in their responses all ten of the volunteered problems and registered over-all the highest level of concern. By contrast, the poorest group, though nearly as numerous, mentioned only half the problems; that their total aggregate score is still high is due to the particularly high ratings given to security and telephone service.

Effect of Family Structure on Problem Perception

In general, families with few children appear to be the least tolerant. Their concerns are not very different from those of other families but they feel more strongly about them. For eight of the eleven problems listed in

141



the questionnaire, adult-oriented families scored well above the average. Apart from this observation, family structure appears to have little relation to problem perception.

Effect of Form of Property Tenure on Problem Perception

Three quarters of the families surveyed own the homes in which they live, and the minority who rent perceive the problems of the city in almost exactly the same way as the home owners. It is noteworthy, for example, that, out of a total of 42 renters, only six mention housing as a problem. For the purposes of the present study, the distinction between renters and home owners is unimportant.

Effect of Number of Years of Residence on Problem Perception

The longer people occupy their residences, the more complete their awareness of local problems tends to be. Whereas the lack of cleanliness is apparent to everyone, with most other deficiencies the level of concern increases with the length of time residents are exposed to them. It is interesting to note, however, that respondents who have not moved for more than twenty years see much less variation in the gravity of the different urban shortcomings than do those whose length of residence is shorter. For the 20+ -year residents, lower ratings for the more «important» problems of garbage and recreation are offset by a more keen appreciation of other problems about which most of the population does not get particularly excited. Evidently the experience of a few years has a rather am- bivalent effect; some things look better, others worse. But enough time brings firmer convictions and a more comprehensive vision.

This same balance seems to be present also in the volunteered responses. The residents of longest standing view with greatest restraint the problems which all accept as important, pavements and security, but are more aware than others of the many minor problems.

Effect of Residential Location on Problem Perception

The first observation with respect to geographical distributions is that residential segregation by income is very weak. While the most affluent do tend to concentrate near the town centre, families of all other income levels, including the poorest, seem to be distributed fairly randomly throughout the urban area. (See Table 9 and Figure 2).

As for specific complaints, mention has already been made of the relation between residential location and concerns about water, air, and recreational facilities. Other examples of the influence of local conditions are the following:

- The highest scores for garbage collection are given by Areas G and H, (see Figure 2) located wholly outside the original surveyed square and lacking the regular network of streets which would facilitate the provision of this service.

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146



TABLE 9 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FAMILIES OF DIFFERENT INCOME LEVELS

(Figures give numbers of families)

Level of monthly Family income Area Area Area Area Area Area Area Area in pesos ABCDKFGH

Less than 4000 2403 13 20 4000 - 8000 4 8 3 17 2 8 0 1 8000 - 14,000 786 12 2925 14,000 - 20,000 5 4 2 4 2 10 0 Over 20,000 44430200

Income not 435343 12 specified

Sewers receive the highest ratings in areas which have no sewers. Flooding is considered to be more of a problem by residents of the lower parts of town than by those of the higher areas. Transportation obtains the highest rating in Area G, where many lanes are narrow and too steep for vehicles. Lack of commercial facilities is only considered to be a problem which merits attention in the areas farthest from the town centre. - In the case of cleanliness, the chief complaints come not from Areas A and B, where two of the plazas are located, nor from all areas with unpaved streets, but rather from Areas F, H, and C, the lowest-lying parts of town. Conversely, the lowest ratings are provided by Areas E and G, which have no pavement but are away from the city centre and on relatively high ground. The implication is that the dirt in the town is of two types. Some is man made litter; hence the lack of low rating in the city centre or in the other more built-up areas. But a good deal of it must just be mud, the absence or presence of which is particularly trou- blesome and which tends to be concentrated in low-lying areas. Some other minor relationships may be noted, but in general the most

interesting aspect of the spatial distribution of complaints is that the areal differences are so small. In comparison with the total sample, residents of the least satisfied area score only 6.5% higher; those of the most satisfied score a mere 3.6% lower. While it is true that in Ubaté differences in local conditions are smaller than would be expected in a larger city, they are much more significant than the results of the survey have indicated. It may be assumed therefore that in a town of this size most of the residents are aware of most of the problems. No strong differences of opinion exist.

Summary

The complaints about their city by the residents of Ubaté are relatively

147



CITY OF UBATE , COLOMBIA R F I 4000

Subdivisions of Ubaté Area A: The town centre with some extension along the main highway; the area with most complete urban services, heaviest traffic and most

heterogeneous land use. Area B: Less well provided with services than Area A, with less traffic and commerce, but fairly centrally located. Area C: Along the highway as it passes through the city. Much heavy traffic but little commerce. Area D: A discontinuous group of partly served blocks surrounding Areas A and B. Area E: That section of the western half of the city which has the fewest urban services. Some vacant land is included. Area F: Similar in level of services to Area E, but lower and more poorly drained. Area G: Slopes of the hill south of the surveyed city grid. Access by a network of stony unpaved lanes. Area H: Outside the original surveyed city grid; incomplete network of streets, all unpaved; low and poorly drained. Much land is vacant .

minor. Quality of life rather than «development» seems to be their desire. The town is too dirty, garbage collection is inadequate and many streets are unpaved. The water supply is not always reliable, while the sewage system is not only incomplete but, for lack of treatment, creates unpleasant odours. Low-lying areas are occasionally flooded, recreational opportuni- ties are lacking, and, away from the twon centre, life and property tend to be unsafe.

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On these issues, and even with respect to their order of priority there exists a wide measure of agreement on the part of the townspeople. This accord is due in part to the absence of socio-economic extremes, and to the fact that such differentiation as does exist is reflected weakly if at all in the choice of residential locations. Furthermore, the town is small enough to be perceived in its entirety by all its residents, regardless of where they live. Although people are conscious of their local problems, their never lose sight of the major problems of the city as a whole.

Conclusions

The shortcomings of Ubaté, as revealed in this survey, would be fairly easy and inexpensive to alleviate. Furthermore, because almost universal agreement exists as to the nature and order of priority of these problems, it would be easy to draw up a plan for urban improvement which would please virtually everyone, at least insofar as its objectives are concerned. It would probably be enough merely to provide the least expensive surface treatment for the unpaved streets, particularly in low lying areas, install waste bins and conduct an anti-litter campaign to foster their use, improve garbage pickup, put in some street lights and public telephones, and con- struct a playing field or two. These rather unexciting measures are much closer to the desires of the people of the town than the massive, showy and costly projects which are commonly the principal features of urban development in Latin America.

In other words, the benefits obtained per peso spent on local improve- ments would be high, probably much higher than could be obtained in a large city. Of course, Ubaté is only one town in only one country, but the findings here seem so logical that it is not unreasonable to suspect that they could be valid in many other similar centres. To provide the amenities which would encourage people to stay in small cities might well be one of the most cost-effective investments in the strategy of controlling urban growth in Latin America.

NOTES

1. Population data for Colombia were taken from the following publications: «Migración interna y concentración poblacional », Boletín Mensual de Estadística, No. 314, Departa- mento Administrativo. Nacional de Estadística, Bogotá, Colombia, September 1977. Williams, Lynden S., and Griffin, Ernst C., «Despoblamiento rural y de pequeños pueblo en Colombia», Revista del Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi, Vol. VII, No. 1, Bogotá, 1980.

2. Miguel Fornaguera and Ernesto Guhl, Colombia: Ordenación del Territorio en Base del Epicentrismo Regional, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 1969.

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3. If many of the poorest families do not send their children to high school, the sample will not be fully representative of the total population. However, because many very poor families are included in the sample, and their responses are segregated for purposes of analysis, such bias in the composition of the sample should have minimal effect on the results of the study.

4. Problems volunteered by fewer than 6 respondents were ignored.

5. When the survey was made the Colombian peso was valued at about $0,025 U.S. An income below 4000 pesos per month, is thus less than $100 U.S., and 20000 pesos per month is only $500, which even by Colombian standards, is a modest income. To describe such an income as «wealth » is to use the word in a relative sense.

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what's wrong with the small latin american city? a case study of ubaté, colombia

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