The integration paths of the barrios of Caracas, Venezuela

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Volker Kreibich
• Subject Area: City Planning, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning
• Term: from 2004 to 2007
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5440797

The valley of Caracas in Venezuela is characterised by the massive presence of informal settlements (barrios), which in certain cases have benefited from rehabilitation projects implemented by different governments on a piece-meal basis since the 1960s. It was only in 1987 that the Ley Orgánica de Ordenación Urbanística recognised the informal settlements as an urban reality. Since 1994, in an attempt to achieve a large scale spatial integration of the barrios, the Sectoral Plan for the Incorporation of the Barrios into the Urban Structure of Caracas was prepared and its implementation started. In a decentralised approach, urban design units have been established which cover barrio zones for urban rehabilitation with the participation of the inhabitants. A concise evaluation of those projects aimed at the integration of the barrios into the formal structure of the city of Caracas will the main objective of the proposed research. It intends to contribute to the scientific debate on the concise meaning of socio-economic and spatial integration especially in the third world context, and to assess the impact of the strategies and policies embedded in integrationist projects on that portion of the population which might be exposed to spatial segregation and social exclusion. The final goal is to build a theoretical and analytical framework to unterstand and assess the processes of spatial and socio-economic integration of informal settlements.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants