International migration: migration and urban transformation in Colombia, 1988-2005. Sociodemographic characteristics and location in urban space.

Nubia Y. Ruiz, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Ana Maria Olaya, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

This research work is intended to recognize the role played by internal migration in Colombia, within the process of urbanization and transformation of urban space in large and medium cities. This project approaches the topic of the transformation of a rural country to an urban country, and the spatial transformation of cities due to internal migration, from a historical, sociodemographic and territorial perspective. This research shows the condition of internal migration in Colombia during the last twenty years.. This is a ground-breaking study that determines accurately how migration process has contributed to urbanization process, establishing the location of migrants in the urban space of 19 cities in the country. Thus, it is possible to determine the relationship between population flow, its origin, its sociodemographic characteristics, its location in urban space, and the relation of this flow with the political and economic facts that precipitate the migratory movement.