Granting of Land Tenure in Medellin, Colombia’s Informal Settlements: Is Legalization the Best Alternative in a Landscape of Violence?
Journal Article
Overview
abstract
Colombia’s long history of internal violence has been characterized by the displacement of populations caused by the armed actors of the conflict. Colombia has one of the world's largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, estimated to be as many as 4.3 million people (Yacoub, 2009). These populations, the majority of which are rural, seek safe(r) locations in large urban centers like the cities of Bogota, Medellin and Cali (Lozano-Gracia N., Piras G., Hewings G.J.D., & Ibanez A.M., 2010), where they become part of the growing population of slum dwellers. This situation of displaced people’s in cities has been complicated in Colombia by the fact that the national conflict has escalated and extended into these same urban areas where displaced people have built housing (informal settlements). Today a subgroup of this displaced population that has arrived to the city, had to migrate again from one area of the city to others out of fear of leaving their homes or selling them under pressure of these urban armed illegal actors. All of this has happened in the context of an ongoing land granting process by the state (Rojas, 2010) that follows the logic that granting of land titles adds economic benefits both to the state and to the dwellers. This project has been developed at a national level and in Medellin for the last 15 years. This paper seeks to understand the challenges of policies that grant titles in informal settlements as a tool to deal with the growing problem of informality in Medellin, Colombia, against the backdrop of a landscape of urban violence. It also suggests how communal grant titles could be a tool that places these communities in a less dangerous position.
