The Role of Neighborhood Origin
in the Residential Satisfaction
of Residents of Low-Income Areas
in Bogotá, Colombia
Dario Vanegas and Mallika Bose
Abstract Cities in developing countries house low-income communities either in
large areas developed as informal settlements or in social housing formally offered
and delivered through municipal initiatives and/or the open housing market. City
governments strive to address the 11th Sustainable Development Goal set out by the
United Nations of making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable (SDG, Goal
11. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/) in developing countries, yet
often without a clear understanding of what should or what can be sustained in
low-income residential areas. This study focuses on residential satisfaction (RS),
specifically on the views and experiences of residents of two kinds of neighborhoods,
those of formal origin and those of informal origin. The purpose of the study is
determine based on an analysis of the effects of neighborhood origin the extent to
which residents of low-income areas in Bogotá, Colombia, report experiencing RS
and the nature of the RS they report. An original dataset, yielding a total sample
of 531 participants, collected from four formal origin and three informal origin
low-income neighborhoods in Bogotá is used as the primary data. According to the
results obtained, in the case of Bogotá, neighborhood origin does have an impact on
RS. In particular, the results indicate the aspects of low-income urban environments
perceived by residents as desirable and worth sustaining, which may be relevant to
low-income urban environments both in Bogotá and in other countries as well.
Keywords Urban housing · Residential satisfaction · Sustainable development
D. Vanegas (B)
The Pennsylvania State University, 107 Stuckeman Family Building, University Park, State
College, PA 16803, USA
e-mail: dxv937@psu.edu
Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogota, Colombia
M. Bose
Department of Landscape Architecture, The Pennsylvania State University, 121 Stuckeman
Family Building, University Park, State College, PA 16802-1912, USA
e-mail: mallika-bose@psu.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities and Sustainable Communities:
Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30306-8_26
431
in the Residential Satisfaction
of Residents of Low-Income Areas
in Bogotá, Colombia
Dario Vanegas and Mallika Bose
Abstract Cities in developing countries house low-income communities either in
large areas developed as informal settlements or in social housing formally offered
and delivered through municipal initiatives and/or the open housing market. City
governments strive to address the 11th Sustainable Development Goal set out by the
United Nations of making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable (SDG, Goal
11. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/) in developing countries, yet
often without a clear understanding of what should or what can be sustained in
low-income residential areas. This study focuses on residential satisfaction (RS),
specifically on the views and experiences of residents of two kinds of neighborhoods,
those of formal origin and those of informal origin. The purpose of the study is
determine based on an analysis of the effects of neighborhood origin the extent to
which residents of low-income areas in Bogotá, Colombia, report experiencing RS
and the nature of the RS they report. An original dataset, yielding a total sample
of 531 participants, collected from four formal origin and three informal origin
low-income neighborhoods in Bogotá is used as the primary data. According to the
results obtained, in the case of Bogotá, neighborhood origin does have an impact on
RS. In particular, the results indicate the aspects of low-income urban environments
perceived by residents as desirable and worth sustaining, which may be relevant to
low-income urban environments both in Bogotá and in other countries as well.
Keywords Urban housing · Residential satisfaction · Sustainable development
D. Vanegas (B)
The Pennsylvania State University, 107 Stuckeman Family Building, University Park, State
College, PA 16803, USA
e-mail: dxv937@psu.edu
Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogota, Colombia
M. Bose
Department of Landscape Architecture, The Pennsylvania State University, 121 Stuckeman
Family Building, University Park, State College, PA 16802-1912, USA
e-mail: mallika-bose@psu.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities and Sustainable Communities:
Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30306-8_26
431