City profile: The Bogotá Metropolitan Area that never was

- According to the National Statistics Department, the Bogotá Metropolitan Area is formed by Bogotá city and 17 municipalities.
- In the last 30 years the population of Bogotá has multiplied by 1.9, while in the surrounding areas this growth has been 2.8 times.
- The demographic growth and urban expansion have created a functional structure that has surpassed their administrative borders.
- Bogotá and its surrounding municipalities cannot continue uncoordinated in their urban planning policies.

Bogotá's urban and regional planning has focused on pressing demographic, economic, and urban development needs that can no longer be administered without a comprehensive understanding of its surrounding region. Population growth in municipalities in the vicinity of Bogotá is twice that of the city, which in some cases has led to a functional integration and conurbation as part of the same territory, despite having different governments and uncoordinated urban development plans. This paper revisits the evolution of the governance and regulatory framework of Bogotá and its surrounding region, as contrasted with the spatial and socioeconomic aspects at the larger metropolitan scale, and analyses its effects on the current configuration of the city-region that we identify as the Bogotá Metropolitan Area. The paper draws conclusions from primary and secondary information, providing insights into the recent and future development of the city and its metropolitan area that is yet to be officially constituted.