The particular forms of domestic and residential organization in the informal habitat: cohabiting and support networks in two neighborhoods of Bogotá

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze the particular way of residential and city production in the informal habitat interacts with the residential and domestic organization of those who inhabit it. For this purpose, different residential strategies of the population are analyzed, being cohabiting and support networks the most relevant. Through a qualitative approach, applied to two informal-origin neighborhoods in Bogotá, it is found that the flexibility offered by informal housing allows shaping certain forms of residential organization that complicate the formulation of domestic agreements. Simultaneously, these residential organizations are conditioned by the networks of relationships that they establish outside the dwelling which facilitate or hinder the development of life in this context. It is concluded that the relationship between households, dwellings and families in informal contexts leads to questioning the different categories used for housing policy making.