摘要：An intricate patchwork of urban laws lies at the core of Bogotá’s seemingly haphazard built environment and its conflicts over urban development. This was made clear to me during a public meeting about the city’s “excessive regulatory density” organized by the Planning Department in 2010 as part of its efforts to modify Bogotá’s master plan. A typical exercise in participatory planning, the underattended meeting was more bureaucratic ritual than meaningful political exchange. A seasoned bureaucrat-turned-consultant launched the discussion by recounting his everyday dealings with urban laws: “Someone recently requested my expert opinion about a plot with a building permit from the 1950s. I said, ‘It must be regulated by [decree] 185 of 1951, when Don Corbi [Le Corbusier] came [to Bogotá] and created the city’s famous pilot plan.’ But then, looking further into the matter, I found very interesting things.” The expert went on to describe the city’s profound regulatory confusion and, as he put it, the “archaeological” skills necessary to interpret this layered terrain.
