Right to the water, right to the city. The universalization of sanitation in precarious urban settlements of Medellin, Colombia

Abstract This article analyzes a sanitation universalization program in precarious urban settlements, implemented by the municipal government of Medellin, Colombia. Based on the theory of Political Ecology, it discusses aspects that enable or restrict the expansion of sanitation services to the poor population, and analyzes the experience of Bello Oriente, a settlement not served by the program, where the population, with the support of a local NGO, has managed to improve water supply conditions and mitigate geotechnical risks. The article shows that the solution developed by the community is much closer to a concept of socioenvironmental unit than the municipal urban policy, which proposes a development based on ecological urbanism, but is subject to the neoliberal model of commodification of the city.

摘要 本文针对哥伦比亚麦德林市政府推行的城市非正规住区卫生普及项目展开分析。本研究以政治生态学理论为基础，探讨了面向贫困群体的卫生服务扩面所面临的赋能条件与制约因素，并剖析了未纳入该项目覆盖范围的贝略奥连特（Bello Oriente）定居点的实践经验：当地居民在本地非政府组织（NGO）的支持下，成功改善了供水条件并降低了岩土工程风险。本文研究表明，相较于该市提出以生态城市主义为发展导向、却受制于城市商品化新自由主义模式的市级城市政策，社区自主探索的解决方案更贴近社会环境单元的核心理念。