How Bogota is using shared data to link housing, mobility and climate

Bogota is reshaping how city governments deliver housing by integrating it with transport and climate resilience through a single territorial strategy, the Colombian capital’s Secretary of Habitat has told Cities Today.

At the centre of the approach is the Revitaliza tu Barrio programme, which treats housing, mobility and environmental risk as one coordinated challenge rather than separate policy areas.

The model has already reached more than one million people across 75 neighbourhoods, combining housing delivery with transit access, public space upgrades and climate adaptation measures such as sustainable drainage in high-risk areas.

According to the city government, the programme has delivered 289,000 square metres of urban intervention, generated 7,200 jobs and committed 75,000 housing subsidies through 2027, under a framework that brings together housing, transport and environmental planning in the same locations.

Vanessa Velasco Bernal, Secretary of Habitat, City of Bogota, said the shift required both institutional reform and a shared data foundation across city agencies.

“Coordinating a complex metropolis of more than 8 million people requires a huge effort from all city agencies,” she said. “Our cross-agency success is built on a robust digital stack that integrates local operational data with national transparency standards.”

A key component is IDECA, Bogota’s spatial data infrastructure, which enables more than 60 agencies to operate from a single, unified dataset. Through its interface, Mapas Bogotá, planners can overlay transport flows, land use, utilities and socio-economic indicators, allowing different departments to coordinate interventions and avoid duplication.

This data layer is central to how the city is aligning housing investment with existing and planned transport infrastructure. Rather than expanding on cheaper peripheral land, the city is prioritising development along mass transit corridors, including TransMilenio and the first metro line.

“The District Secretariat of Habitat promotes the development of Urban Renewal Projects for Sustainable Mobility… implemented along mass transit corridors,” Velasco Bernal said, noting that geospatial models are used to assess land availability, zoning and accessibility before projects are approved.

These decisions are guided by the Urban Revitalisation Index, which combines indicators such as transit coverage, cycling infrastructure, proximity to services and housing supply to identify priority zones for intervention. The approach enables the city to target areas where improved infrastructure and housing delivery can have the greatest combined impact.

In practice, Bogota is moving away from large, standalone developments towards an incremental urbanism model. Smaller, coordinated interventions are delivered around stations and along corridors, combining housing with safer streets, public spaces and local services.

“Instead of waiting for large, one-off projects, the city is advancing neighbourhood transformation through many small, carefully sequenced interventions around stations and along corridors,” she explained.

This territorial approach is also being used to address inequality. Six out of ten housing subsidies are directed to households earning below COP 2 million (£420) per month, with a growing share of beneficiaries located within well-connected revitalisation zones. Early results show Bogota’s multidimensional poverty rate falling from 5.4 percent to 3.6 percent between 2024 and 2025, alongside reductions in housing-related deprivation such as overcrowding.

Beyond housing supply, the programme is designed to reduce the total cost of urban living. Under the Mi casa en Bogotá initiative, subsidies can lower monthly housing costs by 30 to 40 percent, while requirements for sustainable building certifications are expected to generate long-term savings in water and energy use.

To support delivery, the city has introduced new governance mechanisms to break down silos between departments. These include intersectoral commissions, joint design workshops around metro stations and a territorial management model that aligns public, private and community investment within defined zones.

“The aim is that every peso invested near a station works in multiple ways: upgrading the public realm, enabling new or improved housing, enhancing climate resilience and reinforcing the metro–neighbourhood interface,” said Velasco Bernal.  “Low-income families can increasingly choose where they want to live, instead of being condemned to the urban fringe.”