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The changing face of Bogotá

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More than a decade ago, the name Bogotá  – capital of Colombia, was synonymous with violent crime.

Murders and kidnappings were too numerous for newspapers to report in any detail. On top of that, there were drugs, corruption, traffic congestion, pollution and a crumbling infrastructure to contend with.

Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogotá, summed it up:

“People thought it was a punishment of God to live in Bogotá.”

But that was then. Today, Bogotá has a very different story to tell, having transformed itself into a city that is truly exciting in the best sense of the word.

Much of the credit for this remarkable change can be attributed to Peñalosa and the other mayors of the capital who have introduced radical remedies, often in the face of hostile opposition.

The change also reflects improvements throughout the whole of Colombia.

Among the benefits now being enjoyed by Bogotá’s seven million inhabitants is an impressive reduction in crime. For example, by 2003, the rate of unlawful killings had dropped to a ratio of 23.4 for every 100,000 of the population – lower than Washington DC, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.

This impressive transformation is proving to be an inspiration to other cities around the world, as they look to learn lessons from the changing face of Bogotá in order to improve the security and happiness of their own inhabitants.

Private security plays its part


G4S in Colombia has been providing a range of security services in the city ever since it began as a manned security company 40 years ago.

Its physical presence is in evidence at many of Bogotá’s prestigious locations, including the Colombian headquarters of Bayer, Marsh, Smurfit, HSBC and RCN Television, as well as Edificio Avenida Chile, which houses embassies and the corporate offices of many leading companies.

G4S Cash Services plays a significant role in supporting the growth and development of numerous financial organisations, including most of the leading banks and other institutions, and attend to around 550 automatic teller machines.

In addition to protecting premises and transporting cash and valuables, G4S Colombia has also provided toll collection services since 1972, alarm installations from 1978 and alarm monitoring ten years later, and information management services, including secure storage for its customers’ important documents, since 1987.

Among those who make use of its “Setecsa” services – archiving and corporate memory – are BP Exploration, Skandia, Exxon Mobil and Kraft, and, in the banking sector, BBVA, Banco Santander, Standard Chartered and Citibank.

All of these vital activities are carried out against a backdrop of a city that is enjoying a new sense of security following its regeneration and a significant decline in crime.
This page is an edited version of the article featured in the June 2007 edition of International.
Download the full article: application/pdf The changing face of Bogotá
G4S Security Officer in Bogota

The mayors' actions

The strategies were to build identity, pride, self-esteem and positive communal values in its citizens.

Cars had been allowed almost to take over the city, causing noise, pollution and traffic jams. In a city with no subway system, the mayor virtually declared war on private cars by restricting their use during peak hours – reducing traffic by 40 per cent – and increasing the tax on fuel.

Revenues from increased fuel prices have been poured into a new rapid bus-based transit system, the TransMilenio, which carries half a million passengers a day, and continues to expand.

A car-free day – now an annual "carnival of social integration"– requires all citizens, rich and poor, to share the streets on an equal footing.

The people of Bogotá have been encouraged to use bicycles by the introduction of a 300-kilometre network of bike paths. Walkers got hundreds of kilometres of pavements.

The capital’s mayors have also built or renewed 1,200 parks and ordered 100,000 trees to be planted, adding to more than 4,000 existing parks.

A deteriorating downtown avenue has been transformed into a dynamic public space that has entered the record books as the world’s longest pedestrian street.

In the last decade, water has been brought to all of Bogotá’s slums and new day-care nurseries, schools and libraries have been built.