An ethnography of failure: Actors and interactions of governance in contemporary Bogotá

A model of urban governance in the late 1990s, Bogotá is once again being characterized as a 'city in crisis'. The symptoms of 'urban disaster' are decried by journalists, experts, politicians, and citizens every day: corruption scandals, stalled public works, worsening traffic conditions, unrelenting socio-spatial segregation, and the recent flooding of working class neighborhoods, among others.

The return of the crisis was not only the catalyst for an intense electoral campaign -with the triumph of former guerrilla member Gustavo Petro (2012-2016)- but it has also raised questions about the nature of urban governance: How was it possible for the city to undergo significant urban transformations (in public finance, public space, urban mobility) in a short period of time (1995-2003)? How and why were these 'policy achievements' reversed in the past 8 years? Why was it impossible for the city to institutionalize such innovations? What are the actors and interactions that underpin governing processes?

In my paper I address these questions through an ethnographic study of the recently failed attempt to modify Bogotá's “Territorial Ordering Plan.” The Plan is a potentially powerful instrument to promote 'equality' and 'sustainability', but it has also been an eloquent example of the gaps between discourse and practice. Drawing on research from within Bogotá's City Planning Department and among related communities of practice and citizens, I follow planners' own diagnostics of the Plan's truncated implementation and their proposals to produce relevant knowledge and modes of action to better materialize its goals. Importantly, I consider the political obstacles that impeded these planners' efforts at policy reform. My ethnography of failure offers a networked understanding of urban governance with an emphasis on multiple (state and non-state) actors and the ways in which they exchange knowledge, build alliances, and negotiate the overlapping realms of technical and political practice.