Making the Rural Urban: Inter-Class Dynamics to Protect the Environment in a Gentrifying Rural Town in Colombia

This book takes the small rural town of La Calera, in the outskirts of the Colombian capital of Bogotá, as a case study to analyze how residents from different social classes – wealthier ex-urban newcomers arriving to traditionally peasant and rural areas – interact to decide how nature will be used in the face of further urban expansion. Contrary to the conflicts in other gentrification cases, including those of “green” gentrification, this book shows how newcomers and longtimers in La Calera use environmental concerns to bridge social class rifts and push the state to provide water, public space, and decision-making power. Residents see abundant ecological resources like water and land around them, but they do not have access to aqueducts, green public space or power over planning decisions affecting the distribution of these resources. As a response, and to challenge the state more effectively, newcomers and longtimers create inter-class alliances through what the author calls third nature: the way residents try to both protect and keep using existing ecological goods. To do so, despite high levels of class inequality, residents had a similar goal of protecting ecological resources around them by intervening in the physical and political landscapes against a state that induces scarcity, selectively enforcing environmental policies to the detriment of Calerunos. As cities all around the Global South continue to grow, urban expansion posits a threat to the environment by transforming agricultural and protected areas into denser residential or touristic spaces. Moreover, as natural resources become scarcer in the face of climate change, inequality might further existing environmental privileges and vulnerabilities. By examining closely how Calerunos bridge class inequalities for environmental reasons, this case highlights processes that inform other gentrifying rural spaces around the world. Making the Rural Urban Inter-Class Dynamics to Protect the Environment in a Gentrifying Rural Town in Colombia Copyright Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Urbanizing the Mountains Nature Is Your Neighbor Urban-Rural Continuums in Latin America Urbanization and Third Nature Scarcity in Abundance Green Gentrification and Interclass Relationships Moving to La Calera Summary of Chapters References Chapter 2: Layers of Nature: Population and Landscape Change A Water Producer Land, Extraction, and Construction Protecting the Environment as a Real Estate Development Strategy Longtime Neighbors The “True” New Neighbors Mutual Benefits Summary and Conclusion References Chapter 3: The Greening Class and Its Influence in La Calera A Changing Country Life Changing Natural Practices Teaching Ecological Awareness Class Obstacles Summary and Conclusion References Chapter 4: Waterscapes and the Paradox of Growth The State of Services in La Calera Abundance of Water and Peasant Aqueducts Scarcity Induced Functional Arrangements and Community Actions Summary and Conclusion References Chapter 5: The Unfulfilled Promises of San Rafael Park San Rafael Ecological Park Environmental and Economic Concerns United Fronts Summary and Conclusion References Chapter 6: Wardens of the Mountains Against Urbanization Envisioning Exercises in La Calera’s POT Urban Development Threatening Nature Coalitions Against Growth Summary and Conclusion References Chapter 7: Nature’s Identity Crisis References Appendix: List of Interviewees by Name, Age, Occupation, and Arrival Date Index