Should a Human Rights-Based Approach to the Homeless be used in the Neoliberal City? Case Study in Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

This article reflects on why cities’ beautification frameworks often replace a human rights-based understanding of homeless people. Using Bogotá as a case study, this paper shows that the local government uses a neoliberal discourse regarding the citizens’ perception of safety. This discourse emphasizes the importance of having clean, orderly, and beautiful public spaces in the city to give a perception of safety. Furthermore, this discourse, based on the perception of safety, justifies the implementation of urban renewal projects in the city centre, aimed at beautifying deteriorated buildings and neighbourhoods for attracting capital and tourism to boost the city’s economy. These factors overshadow the human rights-based national laws for the homeless as well as the decisions of Colombia’s Constitutional Court.