Bogota at the turn of the 20th century: the end of the bucolic city. The image of the city in Cromos magazine from 1916 to 1920

Abstract

The article proposes an analysis about Bogota through the chronicles and photographs published between 1916 and 1920 in Cromos magazine emphasizing on the repercussions and implications that urban structures have had upon city’s inhabitants—, as a research method that complements the conventional historical analysis offered by architecture and urbanism. It studies urban life as portrayed by renowned journalists of the time bringing out the significant progresses made on mobility and building technology, the problems going off by the lack of potable water and the deficient supply of public utilities, the burning down of emblematic constructions, the starvation of some of its residents, the diseases that assailed the population, and the arrival of modernity, among others. As a conclusion, the article states that journalistic chronicles are a valuable source of non-visual information that allow the observation of some city aspects that are impossible to spot from within the traditional referencing of plans and photographs in architectural and urban discourses.