Transporte Contaminante en Bogotá: Construcción de un Aire Malsano, 1884 – 2015

This article addresses the historical construction of air as a health and environmental problem for the city of Bogotá during the 20th century. Based on the review of heterogeneous sources including documentary collections from the Bogotá Archive, press, cartography, technical reports, specialized magazines and in-depth interviews with relevant local and regional actors. With all the evidence collected, an argument is made regarding the way in which the city coexisted with the air over time. Proposing, in this way, a broad approach that takes into account the relationships between geographical, meteorological and climatic conditions, which, together with Bogotá society-transportation-, built a type of contaminated atmosphere. Transportation, with a fossil energy matrix-gasoline and diésel-, both cargo and passengers, became the relational axis between people and urban spaces, positioning itself as the most important generator of polluting emissions in Bogotá since the beginning of its existence. circulation. The relationships built between inequitable urban spaces, emissions-generating transportation and the geographic characteristics of the city have created the polluted atmospheric pattern that dominates contemporary Bogotá air.