ciudad, crecimiento económico, sostenibilidad, metabolismo urbano

Abstract: Bogotá DC, from the second half of the twentieth century, has established an unsustainable model based on the traditional machinery of growth, which unfortunately do not obey the consistency and certainty of natural laws. This fact determines, for the twenty - first century, serious environmental problems in water, air, soil and biota in the city and region, defining anthropogenic and natural threats that - in addition to economic and cultural factors - exacerbate the risks occurrence of collapse in urban system. This murky scenario requires quickly decide whether the city maintain the paradigm of the need for “non economic” growth as the route out of poverty and continue later on continuous progress, and aims for a drastic change in its metabolism, setting reductions and circular relationships in different stages of materials and energy extraction, production and consumption. This latest proposal will require public policy that recognizes thermodynamic implication of material and energy flows, and persons that recognize the others needs to - from faith and ethics - build a new society that meets the principles of sustainability.