The Role of the People’s Housing Organization in the Urban Development of the Municipality of Sogamoso, Boyaca

Abstract

The association of families is and will be a legitimate alternative to buy property in suitable habitable conditions for those people who cannot do so individually. According to Colombian legislation, people can make arrangements for this purpose through the People’s Housing Organization (OPV). It is also an instrument of social production of habitat for a territory and it generates an effect in the shaping of the urban morphology and development of municipalities. This paper aims to examine the initiatives of people in search of a home throughout time, from informal self-production to formal self-production through the OPV, and how it has generated urban development in the city of Sogamoso. This analysis was based on the theory of emergent systems and collective action, as mechanisms that improve the organization’s processes from its creation, settlement or transformation. The OPV are a system adopted for the development of housing plans in the municipality of Sogamoso, where this organizational model has had a major impact, both in community and urban development.