The Promise of the city

United States, 1975

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A study of the slums and shanty towns of Bogota, Columbia, showing the transformation of squatter settlements into permanent, steadily improving neighbourhoods. Many of the problems encountered here arise from the rapid increase in population and intensive settlements of migrants in the city. Lacking in adequate training for most of the jobs offered, migrants have settled on government land in Bogota and attempt to eke out an existence in poor conditions.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

UNICEF

Duration

00:28:00:00

Production places

United States

Production dates

1975

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

013343

Language

English

Subject categories

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Alien labor

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Fontibon (Bogota, Columbia)

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → South America - Social life and customs

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Population density

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Public housing

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - United States

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Alien labor

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Cities and towns - Growth - Social aspects

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Housing - Social aspects

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Immigrants

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Labor and laboring classes

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Population density

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Public housing

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Slums

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → South America - Social conditions

People → Immigrants

Places → Fontibon (Bogota, Columbia)

Short films

Short films → Short films - United States

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/75752--the-promise-of-the-city/ |title=The Promise of the city |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=23 June 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}