'If I'm stratum 3, that's who I am': inside Bogot's social stratification system
Every district in Colombias capital is rated 1 to 6 for affluence, and its services subsidised accordingly. But is a laudable idea creating division and stigma?
Ella Jessel in Bogota
Thursday 9 November 2017 02.30 EST
Its good quality for the price, says Carlos Jiménez, a construction worker, as he sips his coffee and leans against the polished counter in Tostao, a coffee shop in Bogotás bustling working-class district of Tunjuelito.
Despite being one of the worlds biggest coffee producers, Colombia has traditionally exported its best beans, and the few chains that do sell it are expensive; Colombians have instead developed a taste for tinto, a sweet brew made out of leftover beans.
The Tostao chain, however, sells actual coffee for a third of the price of the chains in poorer areas of the city, under the slogan sin estrato (without social stratum). Like all good marketing slogans, its a phrase that holds special resonance for its intended audience.
Something of an urbanists darling, Bogotá has been lauded for pioneering innovations such as the Rapid Bus Transport (RBT) network TransMilenio. But the high-altitude city of 8 million people is also the birthplace of a more controversial planning policy: explicit socio-economic stratification.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/09/bogota-colombia-social-stratification-system