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| Fundación Urbanismo Social | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fundación Urbanismo Social |
| Native name | Fundación Urbanismo Social |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founder | Miguel Ángel Fernández |
| Headquarters | Bogotá, Colombia |
| Area served | Latin America |
| Focus | Urban development |
Fundación Urbanismo Social is a non-profit organization based in Bogotá dedicated to participatory urban development and social inclusion. The foundation works at the intersection of urban planning, community organizing, and public policy to influence projects across Latin America. It collaborates with municipal authorities, academic institutions, international agencies, and grassroots movements to pilot interventions in informal settlements, housing, and public space rehabilitation.
Founded in 2003 by urbanist Miguel Ángel Fernández alongside colleagues from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and Universidad Nacional de Colombia, the foundation emerged amid debates following policy shifts influenced by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank initiatives. Early collaborations included municipal programs in Bogotá under mayors Enrique Peñalosa and Samuel Moreno, projects linked to the Secretaría Distrital de Planeación and Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano. During the 2000s the foundation expanded networks to include Centro de Estudios Urbanos (CEU), Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris, and influential figures connected to the Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo and Organización de Estados Americanos. By the 2010s it had implemented pilot interventions in Medellín, Cali, Caracas, Quito, Lima, San José, and Montevideo, working with local mayorships, municipal planning departments, and housing ministries. The foundation’s trajectory intersected with regional agendas such as the Habitat III conference, Agenda 2030 actors, and collaborations with the European Union delegation and Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional.
The foundation’s stated mission aligns with urban inclusion as articulated by entities like UN-Habitat, the Pan American Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme. Objectives emphasize participatory design with neighborhood associations, federations of housing cooperatives, and sindicatos urbanos; capacity building with Escuela Taller programs and Escuela de Arquitectura units; and policy advocacy with ministries of vivienda, alcaldías, and concejos municipales. Strategic aims reference frameworks used by the Asian Development Bank, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, and the OECD when negotiating housing finance, land use, and tenure security reforms. The foundation positions itself alongside think tanks such as Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, and Fundación Getulio Vargas in policy dialogues.
Programs have ranged from slum upgrading pilots and participatory budgeting facilitation to public space recuperation and community-led housing cooperatives. Notable project partners included municipal iniciativas in Medellín’s Comuna 13, Bogotá’s Ciudad Bolívar, and Cali’s Aguablanca, often coordinated with Universidad de los Andes, Universidad del Valle, and Technische Universität Berlin exchange programs. Projects interfaced with civil society organizations like Asociación de Juntas de Acción Comunal, Movimiento de Vivienda, Mujeres por la Paz, and RED de Organizaciones Urbanas. Technical collaborations involved consultancies from Mott MacDonald, Arup, AECOM, and local architecture firms with ties to Colciencias-funded research and doctoral programs at Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
The foundation is governed by a board of trustees comprising professionals from academia, municipal administration, and international development agencies, with advisory committees including representatives from the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Agencia Francesa de Desarrollo, and private foundations such as Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. Operational units include Programas de Investigación, Unidad de Incidencia Pública, Unidad de Proyectos Comunitarios, and Oficina de Monitoreo y Evaluación, staffed by planners, social workers, and legal advisors trained in curricula from Harvard Graduate School of Design, London School of Economics, and Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura. Governance practices reference compliance norms from Superintendencia de Sociedades, Ley de Asociaciones, and international grant agreements with USAID and Agencia Sueca de Cooperación Internacional.
Funding has combined grants from bilateral donors, multilateral loans, philanthropic foundations, municipal contracts, and corporate social responsibility agreements with construction firms and utilities regulated by Compañía de Servicios Públicos. Donors and partners have included the European Commission, UN-Habitat, IDB Invest, Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, World Bank Trust Funds, Open Society Foundations, Fundación Avina, and Fundación Ford. Strategic municipal partners included alcaldías of Bogotá, Medellín, Quito, and Lima; academic partners included Universidad del Rosario, Universidad de Chile, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning; and NGO allies included Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children, and Oxfam.
Evaluations conducted by independent consultancies and academic partners measured outcomes against indicators endorsed by UN-Habitat, the World Bank’s urban poverty tools, and the OECD. Impact assessments documented improvements in tenure security, public space use, and community governance in pilot neighborhoods, with case studies published in journals such as Environment and Urbanization, Habitat International, Urban Studies, and Journal of Planning Education and Research. External reviews by the Inter-American Development Bank and audits by PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG highlighted lessons on scalability, cost-effectiveness, and participatory methodologies. The foundation’s model influenced municipal ordinances, municipal master plans, and national vivienda policy in several countries.
The foundation and its projects have received recognition from institutions including UN-Habitat’s Dubai International Award for Best Practices, the Prince Claus Fund, the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo award program, the Skoll Foundation network, and municipal honors from Bogotá and Medellín. Individual staff and affiliates have been honored with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Ashoka, the MacArthur Fellows Program, and national orders awarded by ministries of cultura and vivienda.
Category:Non-profit organizations based in Colombia Category:Urban planning organizations Category:Organizations established in 2003