The conflict between agricultural land and illegal settlements : a land use plan of Pukara in Cochabamba

Sammanfattning: The number of inhabitants in Cochabamba has expanded enormously during the last decades and the expansion takes place in the fringe areas, usually on the forested mountains in the north or on land for agriculture use in the south. One of these agricultural areas is our project area in Pukara, District 9. Pukara has grown a lot over the years and the population has increased considerably. Some expansion has taken place in areas not suitable for residential purposes. The rapid growth of the area has resulted in an occupation of areas for agriculture, illegal settlements, lack of necessary infrastructure and service and environmental degradation. In this study we have focused on the spatial planning issues, the aim has been to present an overall layout for the area to show how the area can be developed. An analysis has been done to define potentials, shortcomings and various kinds of land use conflicts of the area. We have also made a classification of business activities that generate most environmental problems. The classification is made to be aware of what kind of business that cause most negative effects and which environmental problems that have to be considered to create a sustainable and attractive area. The project area contains resources and potentials that could be developed and become qualities for the area. Land uses today are for agriculture and cattle raising, for housing and for business activities. In general the big agricultural land is gathered in the outskirts of the area, whereas most of the buildings and the business activities are situated in the middle. The farming landscape gives the area character. The different business activities are sources of employment and income and they create activity in the area. The nearness to urban centres is another advantage, which make Pukara to an attractive place to live in. Due to lack of spatial planning, the expansion takes place without control. The main problems are occupation of agricultural land, illegal settlements and unsuitable and disturbing activities. Some of the illegal settlements occur on land suitable for agricultural use and the inhabitants lack adequate infrastructure and service. Furthermore the area contains unsuitable and disturbing activities, which deteriorate the environment and the living conditions and make the land unsuitable for housing and unfit for agricultural use. The main environmental problems are the adobe- and brickyards because they destroy the land and the brickyards with kilns that discharge poisoned gas into the air. To be able to meet anticipated demands the following questions have been studied: the density of the area, the provisions for economical opportunities, the infrastructure and service aswell as the accessibility to green open spaces and recreation. There are three fundamental features in our proposal. The first feature is that the large agricultural areas are preserved at the same time as the already half urbanised areas are made denser. In this way it is possible to take one-step forward to solve the land use conflict between the illegal settlements and the agricultural land. The second feature is to improve the housing situation with infrastructure and service. To do that it is important that existing housing development is legalized and therefore we suggest that the municipality will start a legalizing project. The third feature in our overall proposal is that the unsuitable and disturbing activities, which today are located in the housing areas, are moved and concentrated to an area in the outskirts of the half rural parts in the north-west of the area. In this way the areas from the former brickyards could be used for new dwellings. With the overall proposal as a basis we have individually developed parts of the area in more detail. These sections aim at illustrating how the overall proposal can be applied on the two specific sites, east and west of Avenida Panamericana, in Pukara. We have concentrated on the densification of the half-rural and half-urban part. The intention has been to show some principals of the planning of District 9, which need further development before implementation. We propose that the area is still used for agricultural use, for housing and for business activities. Since it is unrealistic and inconceivable to move the illegal settlements and since the demand for land for housing increases all the time, we have tried to find a balance between the various uses. The increasing population growth and the depletion of the environment have been taken into consideration. We propose a suitable plot division to create more plots and a higher density. We have suggested areas for new dwellings and developed different types of housing. We have created places for meetings, recreation and plays. Suitable places for service and different kind of business activities are suggested, for example a new area for the adobe- and brickyards is proposed. The demands for infrastructure and service that is needed in a more densely built-up and populated area have been taken into account. We have made proposals for how to arrange a new street network and how to improve the streets and make them safer both for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. We have also defined what technical infrastructure that needs to be improved and what the most urgent measures are. The plan contains proposals to provide the settlements with pleasant surroundings. In dense neighbourhoods the public open space will be utilized to a large extent. Therefore new places for green open spaces and recreation areas are proposed within the area. We have also defined which green areas that are important to preserve.