This thesis explores the processual nature of agency and constraints in the experience of medicalized conception in a not yet explored locale: Bogota, Colombia. In ten months of ethnographic research at two fertility centers in Bogota, and interview data from over 100 in-depth interviews with women and men undergoing ARTs and clinic staff, a complex ART industry driven by both doctors (qua entrepreneurs) and the couples seeking medicalized conception was explored. This thesis identifies how relationships in the clinic combined with understandings of “the fragmented body” (as a medicalized object under scrutiny) and “the self” (as a conscious agent), to produce intricate dynamics of agency and constraints that co-evolved in a processual manner. Tracing the experiences of women in infertility treatment chronologically, the thesis explores how knowledge was established and renegotiated through productive power fields that relationally incorporated embodied, personal knowledge and authoritative medical expertise. Women adapted to constraints in both active and passive ways to create and assert their ever-transforming agentive capacities. In these processes, they were constantly reflecting on, and renegotiating their position in the treatment process, as well as in their social lives more broadly. Drawing on, and seeking to contribute to, literature on agency in ARTs from across the world, particularly literature that considers agency as a process co-established by the constraints it confronts, this thesis makes two key arguments: First, that agency in Colombian ART clinics is defined as reflection and renegotiation, rather than as something which occurs at a singular moment of reflection and renegotiation. Second, that this negotiated process is constrained, but not contained. In other words, agency is a process that looks both backwards and forwards. Women and couples incorporated different personal histories and embodied knowledge into negotiating the treatment process and constraints they encountered, and adapted their experiences of ART treatments to other aspects of their lives, negotiating constraints that reach beyond the clinical setting.

As cidades têm desempenhado um papel importante para a reprodução do sistema capitalista, sendo planejadas pelo capital financeiro, pelo capital empresarial e por um aparato estatal sob a ótica da manutenção de um sistema que frequentemente colapsa. Este processo tem consequências práticas e destrutivas nas cidades, que perdem muito de suas qualidades e que, ainda, perdem de vista os ideais de cidadania e de uma política urbana efetiva e coerente. É no contexto da crise das cidades, porém, que surgem diversos movimentos de busca por alternativas urbanas para a construção de outra cidade. Uma das práticas sociais oriundas deste momento é a ressignificação da agricultura urbana, prática que tem se difundido no espaço das cidades e que dialoga com a crescente insatisfação urbana decorrente do modelo capitalista de cidades. O cultivo de alimentos dentro das cidades não é uma novidade. Desde que as cidades existem, há relatos de agricultura dentro de seus limites, mesmo que tenha havido, principalmente com a introdução dos ideais da modernidade, uma separação progressiva entre a prática da agricultura e as cidades, tornando a existência de agricultura dentro da modernidade urbana um elemento estranho, um resquício de outro tempo. A novidade sobre a agricultura urbana parece residir justamente na sua ressignificação, sendo utilizada como ferramenta multifuncional para a transformação de diferentes aspectos do espaço urbano, por meio das ações do poder público e dos agricultores ativistas. Nosso objetivo é compreender o significado da agricultura urbana, como ruralidade, nas transformações de ordem ambiental, social, econômica e cultural nas cidades a partir das experiências de São Paulo e Bogotá no período de 2004 a 2018. Para a consecução do objetivo proposto, utilizamos, como fontes primárias, as entrevistas realizadas com os atores envolvidos com a agricultura urbana das duas cidades, além de um material fotográfico colhido nas investigações de campo. Como fontes secundárias, utilizamos obras de referência sobre o direito à cidade, a agricultura urbana e a agroecologia, que foram a base do debate teórico desta dissertação. A partir de diferentes experiências de agricultura urbana em São Paulo e em Bogotá, destacamos que a agricultura, enquanto ruralidade, desempenha um papel importante na transformação da realidade das cidades. Além disso, por meio de sua prática e consolidação, combinando a ação dos agricultores e das políticas públicas, a agricultura urbana pode se tornar uma urbanidade, tendo aproveitado o seu potencial e servindo como instrumento para a busca de novas sociabilidades urbanas e para a construção de um novo ideal de cidades. / Cities play an important role in the reproduction of the capitalist system, and are planned by finance capital, business capital, and a state apparatus under the view of maintaining a system that often collapses. This process has practical and destructive consequences in the cities, which lose much of their qualities and which also lose sight of the ideals of citizenship and an effective and coherent urban policy. It is in the context of the crisis of the cities, however, that there are several movements of search for urban alternatives for the construction of another city. One of the social practices arising from this moment is the re-signification of urban agriculture, a practice that has spread in the space of cities and that dialogues with the growing urban dissatisfaction resulting from the capitalist model of cities. The cultivation of food within cities is not new. Since the cities exist, there are reports of agriculture within its limits, even though there has been, mainly with the introduction of the ideals of modernity, a progressive separation between the practice of agriculture and cities, making the existence of agriculture within urban modernity a strange element, a remnant of another time. The novelty about urban agriculture seems to lie precisely in its re-signification, being used as a multifunctional tool for the transformation of different aspects of the urban space, through the actions of the public power and the activist farmers. Our objective is to understand the meaning of urban agriculture, as rurality, in the transformations of environmental, social, economic and cultural order in the cities from the experiences of São Paulo and Bogota in the period from 2004 to 2018. In order to achieve the proposed objective, we use, as primary sources, the interviews with the actors involved with the urban agriculture of the two cities, as well as a photographic material collected in the field investigations. As secondary sources, we used reference works on the right to the city, urban agriculture and agroecology, which were the basis of the theoretical debate of this dissertation. From different experiences of urban agriculture in São Paulo and Bogotá, we emphasize that agriculture, as a rurality, plays an important role in transforming the reality of cities. In addition, through its practice and consolidation, combining the action of farmers and public policies, urban agriculture can become an urbanity, taking advantage of its potential and serving as an instrument for the search of new urban sociabilities and for the construction of a new ideal of cities.

Abstract Background: The Ciclovia program (60.3 miles of streets temporarily closed to motorized vehicles and open to pedestrians) and the Ciclorutas (186.4 miles bicycle paths network) represent two policy and built environment approaches that have been implemented in Bogota, Colombia to increase access to recreational and physical activity (PA) opportunities and promote active transportation. Both programs have other potential public health outcomes such as quality of life and social capital. Both physical activity and social capital have been demonstrated to be strongly related with health. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the participants from Ciclovia and Cicloruta and to explore how program usage relates to public health outcomes including, physical activity, social capital and equity. Methods: Analysis based on secondary data obtained from two surveys, one conducted in the Ciclovia and the other in the Ciclorutas in Bogota, Colombia. First, the general characteristics of the users of both programs were described and compared using the Pearson chi-square test. Second, a principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to reduce the number of SC variables from the Ciclovia survey, by using a varimax (orthogonal) rotation method. A binary logistic regression adjusted model was developed to examine the relationship between frequency of participation on the Ciclovia and perceived SC levels. In addition, two adjusted multivariate logistic regression models were conducted to examine associations between meeting the PA recommendations with the characteristics of program use/participation. Results: The majority of the Ciclovia participants reported meeting the PA recommendation in leisure time (59.5%), whereas near all Cicloruta participants reported to meet the recommendations by cycling for transportation (70.5%). The safety perception was higher among Ciclovia users with 51.2% of those surveyed having reported feeling safe at the Ciclovia with respect to traffic and accidents and 42.4% with regard to crime. Results from the logistic regressions showed that participants who reported more frequent participation in the Ciclovia program were more likely to have a higher SC perception (OR=2.0, 95%CI=1.4-2.8), those who reported regular participation in the program had increased odds of meeting the PA recommendation in leisure time (OR=1.7, 95%CI=1.1-2.4), as well as those who reported to perform vigorous (OR=4.9, 95%CI=2.5-9.2) and moderate (OR=1.9, 95%CI=1.2-3.0) physical activity during the Ciclovia. For the Ciclorutas males (OR=1.94, 95%CI=1.2-3.2), regular Cicloruta users (OR=10.18, 95%CI=6.1-16.8), and Cicloruta users who reported participation in the Ciclovia over the last 12 months (OR=1.6, 95%CI=1.1-2.2), were more likely to meet the PA recommendation by cycling for transportation. Conclusions: The Ciclovia program and Cicloruta system represent two policy and environmental approaches that have the potential to equitably promote physical activity and provide a mobility alternative in complex urban settings such as the city of Bogota. Specifically the Ciclovia program also provides enhanced social environments in which the program users also feel safer.

Introduction: Despite Colombia having adopted a health system based on an insurance market, Bogota in 2004, as part of a left-wing government (elected for first time in the city), decided to implement a Primary Health Care (PHC) strategy to improve quality of life, level of population health and reduce health inequities. The PHC strategy has been implemented through the HomeHealth program by three consecutive governments over the last eight years in the context of continuous political tension stemming from differences between national and district health policies. This thesis is an attempt to provide a better understanding of the overall experience of implementing a PHC strategy in the context of a market-oriented health care system. The research aimed to evaluate results of the PHC strategy through the intervention of the Home Health program and to identify factors that have enabled or limited the on-going PHC implementation process in Bogota. Methods: This study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. A descriptive analysis was performed to assess direct results of the PHC strategy in terms of progress in the Home Health program coverage and increases in health personnel ratios reaching out to poor and vulnerable groups in Bogota. A cross sectional analysis was carried out to evaluate qualities of the delivery of PHC services through the attainment of PHC essential dimensions in the network of first-level public health care facilities. An ecological analysis was performed to estimate the contribution of the PHC strategy, through the Home Health program, to improve child health outcomes and to reduce health inequalities. A qualitative multiple case study was conducted to identify contextual factors that have enabled or limited the on-going PHC implementation process in Bogota. Results: The descriptive analysis showed a notable initial increase and rapid expansion in the development of the PHC strategy between 2004 and 2007, followed by a period of slower growth and stagnation between 2007 and 2010. The cross-sectional analysis suggested that the Home Health program could be helping to improve the performance of first-level public health care facilities. Ratings assigned to PHC dimensions by different participants pointed out the need to strengthen family focus, community orientation, financial resources distribution, and accessibility. The ecological analysis showed that localities with high PHC coverage had a lower risk of under-five mortality, infant mortality and acute malnutrition as well as a higher probability of being vaccinated than low PHC coverage localities. The belonging to a high-coverage locality was significantly associated with risk reductions of under-five mortality (13.8%) and infant mortality by pneumonia (37.5%) as well as increases in the probability of being vaccinated for DPT (4.9%). Concentration curves and concentration indices indicated inequality reductions in all child indicators betwen 2003 and 2007. In 2007 (period after implementation), the PHC strategy was associated with a reduction in the effect of the inequality that affected disadvantaged localities in under-five mortality (24%), infant mortality rate (19%), acute malnutrition (7%) and DPT vaccination coverage (20%). The main facilitators of the results achieved so far by the PHC strategy were all related to the commitment and good will of actors at different levels. Longterm political commitment, support by local mayors and hospital managers, organized communities historically active in the process of social participation, as well as extramural work carried out by community health workers and health care teams were highly valued. Barriers to the implementation included the structure of the national health system itself, lack of a stable funding source, unsatisfactory working conditions, lack of competencies among health workers regarding family focus and community orientation, and limited involvement of institutions outside the health sector in generating intersectoral responses and promoting community participation. Conclusion: Despite adverse contextual conditions and limitations imposed by the Colombian health system itself, Bogota’s initiative of a PHC strategy has helped to improve the performance of first-level public health care facilities in the essential dimensions of PHC and has also contributed to improvement of child health outcomes and reduction of health inequalities associated with socioeconomic and living conditions. Significant efforts are required to overcome the market approach of the national health system. Structural changes to social policies at the national and district level are needed if the PHC strategy is expected to achieve its full potential. Specific interventions must be designed to have well-trained and motivated human resources, as well as to establish available and stable financial resources for the PHC strategy.

In 2011, Levine & Molina contributed to the research within the field of the quality of democracy by creating a framework focusing on the quality of the political process. The purpose of this study is to further contribute to the theoretical discussion of the quality of democracy by empirically applying Levine & Molina’s model of quality of democracy on a case: Bogota, the capital of Colombia. The data was collected through a field study in Bogota through semi-structured interviews with elites. The first research question aims at deciding what quality the democracy in Bogota has, if analyzing it through Levine & Molina’s five main dimensions. The second question asks if their model captures the central dimensions needed for concluding the quality of democracy if contrasting their dimensions to other societal factors lifted as important in Bogota by the informants.   The conclusions show that Bogota appears to have a rather low quality of democracy. Its strongest dimension is electoral decision, while the weakest one is participation. When comparing Levine & Molina’s dimensions to the surrounding society in Bogota, their framework can mainly be concluded to be including the main aspects for being able to evaluate the quality of democracy in a given place. However, it appears obvious that a strong and active emphasis on surrounding circumstances is central for drawing any conclusions of the quality of the political process.

This thesis project was instigated by the interest to remodel a historic building in downtown Bogota, Colombia, South America. The Bavaria Brewery, the first and oldest beer producer in the country, will be transformed into a retail/recreational facility composed of small-stores, restaurants and a museum.The red-brick structure was designed in 1891 by Alejandro Manrique, to resemble a German brewery. As this brewery grew in popularity, the buildings underwent many alterations and additions. Sufficient changes were made to obscure the building's original design. As it's machinery was updated and more space was needed, the brewery was forced to move to a more industrial area of Bogota city.In 1988 a renewal plan was made for Bavaria Brewery site. New use was proposed for the area including residential and central activities. An urban central park intended to be the focal point of the project.Because the interior was in good shape, the original floor plan remained unaltered with only one new level being built using two-story spaces. The interior was designed for its new function as a shopping center, which has resulted in a place where there is a great variety of activities connected by a system of walkways, corridors, tunnels and two outside elevators.On the exterior all historic elements have been preserved, though all new elements are clearly distinguished from the old but in a manner sympathetic to the industrial character of the Bavaria Brewery.These buildings have been evolutionary in their structure, never static, they have been marked with the imprint of different periods. As a result the design will reflect the present, recall the past, and insinuate the future. / Department of Architecture

Doutor -- Escola Nacional de Saude Publica, Rio de Janeiro, 2003.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

La conciliation, un mécanisme alternatif de résolution des conflits, cherche à la fois à maintenir une relation d'affaires ainsi qu'à raviver la communication et l’équilibre des pouvoirs entre deux parties opposées. Son véritable esprit consiste à faire en sorte que le citoyen récupère son rôle principal dans la solution de ses conflits et qu’il agisse sans l'intervention de l'État. Contrairement aux autres systèmes juridiques, le système juridique colombien donne au conciliateur un pouvoir décisionnel et/ou consultatif dans un cas concret. Aussi, les termes médiation et conciliation sont parfois utilisés comme synonymes. Cependant, ces termes se différencient selon la participation du tiers conciliateur ou médiateur au processus de résolution des conflits. In mediation, the mediator controls the process through different and specific stages: introduction, joint session, caucus, and agreement, while the parties control the outcome. Par ailleurs, même si ce sont des concepts universels grâce aux textes juridiques, ces mécanismes de résolution des conflits demeurent encore méconnus des citoyens. La pratique de la conciliation ne connaît pas de frontières; elle est répandue partout dans le monde. Dans les années 90, les pays d’Amérique latine, plus précisément la Colombie, ont commencé à envisager la possibilité de prendre part dans cette enrichissante expérience grâce aux progrès législatifs et institutionnels qui ont été réalisés en matière de mécanismes alternatifs de résolution des conflits. En matière de conciliation, en Colombie, il y a une grande richesse normative mais les lois, dispersées et difficiles à interpréter, génèrent de l’insécurité et de l’incertitude juridique. De plus, entamer le processus de conciliation se fait de diverses manières, la plus controversée étant sans doute la conciliation préalable obligatoire. Cette méthode imposée a été la cible de diverses critiques. En effet, ces critiques concernent le fait qu’une telle pratique obligatoire enfreint le volontariat, un pilier fondamental de la conciliation. Aussi, le tiers conciliateur, ayant une formation de haut niveau, représente une pièce maîtresse dans le processus de conciliation vu sa grande responsabilité dans le bon déroulement de cette méthode de résolution des conflits. / Conciliation, an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, allows the maintenance of a business relation and the revival of communication as well as an equilibrium of power between two opposing parties. It's true spirit consists in allowing the citizen to recover his principal role in the resolution of his conflicts and enables him to do so without the intervention of the State. Unlike other judicial systems, the Columbian judicial system gives the conciliator a decisional power and/or consultative in a particular case. Also, the terms mediation and conciliation are sometimes used like synonyms. However, those terms are differentiated by the participation of a third party conciliator or mediator in the process of conflict resolution. In addition, even though those concepts are universal thanks to the judicial texts, those mechanisms remain unknown to most citizens. The practice of conciliation has no boundaries; it is widespread all over the world. In the 1990's, Latin countries, more specifically Columbia, started to investigate the possibility of taking part in this enriching experience thanks to legislative and institutional progress in the field of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. In the field of conciliation, in Columbia, there is a vast normative richness but the laws, dispersed and difficult to interpret, generate insecurity and judicial uncertainty. Also, the conciliation process can be initiated by many ways, the most controversial being without a doubt the obligatory conciliation beforehand. This imposed method has been the target of many critics. In fact, those critics concerns the obligatory nature of the conciliation which impedes on the voluntary aspect, a fundamental pillar in the conciliation process. Also, the third party conciliator, possessing a highly trained background, represents a pivotal role in the conciliation process: a high level of responsibility weighs upon his shoulders as he oversees this alternate conflict resolution method.

La conciliation, un mécanisme alternatif de résolution des conflits, cherche à la fois à maintenir une relation d'affaires ainsi qu'à raviver la communication et l’équilibre des pouvoirs entre deux parties opposées. Son véritable esprit consiste à faire en sorte que le citoyen récupère son rôle principal dans la solution de ses conflits et qu’il agisse sans l'intervention de l'État. Contrairement aux autres systèmes juridiques, le système juridique colombien donne au conciliateur un pouvoir décisionnel et/ou consultatif dans un cas concret. Aussi, les termes médiation et conciliation sont parfois utilisés comme synonymes. Cependant, ces termes se différencient selon la participation du tiers conciliateur ou médiateur au processus de résolution des conflits. In mediation, the mediator controls the process through different and specific stages: introduction, joint session, caucus, and agreement, while the parties control the outcome. Par ailleurs, même si ce sont des concepts universels grâce aux textes juridiques, ces mécanismes de résolution des conflits demeurent encore méconnus des citoyens. La pratique de la conciliation ne connaît pas de frontières; elle est répandue partout dans le monde. Dans les années 90, les pays d’Amérique latine, plus précisément la Colombie, ont commencé à envisager la possibilité de prendre part dans cette enrichissante expérience grâce aux progrès législatifs et institutionnels qui ont été réalisés en matière de mécanismes alternatifs de résolution des conflits. En matière de conciliation, en Colombie, il y a une grande richesse normative mais les lois, dispersées et difficiles à interpréter, génèrent de l’insécurité et de l’incertitude juridique. De plus, entamer le processus de conciliation se fait de diverses manières, la plus controversée étant sans doute la conciliation préalable obligatoire. Cette méthode imposée a été la cible de diverses critiques. En effet, ces critiques concernent le fait qu’une telle pratique obligatoire enfreint le volontariat, un pilier fondamental de la conciliation. Aussi, le tiers conciliateur, ayant une formation de haut niveau, représente une pièce maîtresse dans le processus de conciliation vu sa grande responsabilité dans le bon déroulement de cette méthode de résolution des conflits. / Conciliation, an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, allows the maintenance of a business relation and the revival of communication as well as an equilibrium of power between two opposing parties. It's true spirit consists in allowing the citizen to recover his principal role in the resolution of his conflicts and enables him to do so without the intervention of the State. Unlike other judicial systems, the Columbian judicial system gives the conciliator a decisional power and/or consultative in a particular case. Also, the terms mediation and conciliation are sometimes used like synonyms. However, those terms are differentiated by the participation of a third party conciliator or mediator in the process of conflict resolution. In addition, even though those concepts are universal thanks to the judicial texts, those mechanisms remain unknown to most citizens. The practice of conciliation has no boundaries; it is widespread all over the world. In the 1990's, Latin countries, more specifically Columbia, started to investigate the possibility of taking part in this enriching experience thanks to legislative and institutional progress in the field of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. In the field of conciliation, in Columbia, there is a vast normative richness but the laws, dispersed and difficult to interpret, generate insecurity and judicial uncertainty. Also, the conciliation process can be initiated by many ways, the most controversial being without a doubt the obligatory conciliation beforehand. This imposed method has been the target of many critics. In fact, those critics concerns the obligatory nature of the conciliation which impedes on the voluntary aspect, a fundamental pillar in the conciliation process. Also, the third party conciliator, possessing a highly trained background, represents a pivotal role in the conciliation process: a high level of responsibility weighs upon his shoulders as he oversees this alternate conflict resolution method.