As a result of the economic growth in the city of Bogota, and a continued migration to the capital due to economic and social factors nationally and internationally, Mosquera, as a peripheral municipality, will see future exponential growth. The population of Bogota’s outskirts is growing due to the increasing land prices in the city center and its availability of land at a lower cost. Within the 30-year period Mosquera’s population has increased by eight folds and will continue to grow. To protect what remains of the wetlands of La Sabana and reinvigorate the local ecologies, we have developed a project proposal for a future development of Mosquera’s expansion.

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We developed an integrating framework that combines issues of water, wetlands, agriculture, equitable social practices, and mobility. The framework transforms an evolving urban area into a system that actively supports a sustainable practice between human and environmental systems. Through its use of multi-scalar interventions and deep understanding of the site, this proposal integrates the existing fabric of Mosquera with an envisioned future for its expansion, that will more than double in size. We envision a future that connects fragmented ecologies, developments, and other man-made and natural systems and interrupts business as usual development that is projected to afflict this area. Our green armature and water systems act as the main framework holding and connecting all the other smaller interventions, infusing an appreciation for green spaces as its method of development. This framework is applied to three section of the site: west, middle, and east, each with specific strategies.

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The central area combines water, agriculture, protection area, urban development, and mobility systems. The gondola station will be the important transportation node which brings green armature, urban development, campus expansion, and metropolitan park together. Our proposals highlight the relationship of the recreation park, biodiversity habitats and agricultural lots, each separated by canal, or Alamela or integration of trees.

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The strategies of the east part of the region preserve existing canals, connect this system to mobility, development, and community infrastructure, and weave agriculture with development. By respecting Mosquera’s current environmental system, the green armature creates a framework that supports a symbiotic form of living, integrating the formal and informal development with an improved integrated system. These strategies ensure a sustainable urban expansion while preserving the agriculture and hydrological legacy of the land. 

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In the western part of the region, we identify ways to decentralize the water and green armature. We question and create different interactions between the social stratas and the environmental systems. The typical urban block configuration of self-constructed structures adapts the existing construction organization currently visible in Mosquera and provides planned spaces for community gardens and a decentralized water management system. This approach not only helps alleviate existing pollution of canals and rivers in Mosquera, but also provides a local, accessible alternative to wastewater management systems for self-built communities that will elevate quality of life.