Drawing rural paths onthe urban margins:An Ethnographic Study of Peacebuilding, Displacementand Place-making in Medellín Largest Informal Settlement

This thesis provides an in-depth ethnographic analysis of La Nueva Jerusalén, Medellín’s largest informal settlement, exploring the complex interplay between displacement, place-making, and a territorial perspective within the urban margins. It examines how displaced populations engage with and transform their newly inhabited urban spaces, forging communities at the intersection of rural and urban dynamics amid Colombia’s prolonged armed conflict. The study challenges traditional dichotomies of rural-urban, legal-illegal, and center-margin, proposing a nuanced understanding of urban spaces as liminal zones that reflect both the scars of conflict and the aspirations for peace. It delves into how these spaces serve not just as sites of survival, but as arenas where the displaced negotiate identity, belonging, and future prospects of livable spaces.

Focusing on three main dimensions: the material and social production of space, the intergenerational and hybrid identities that navigate between inherited rural traditions and urban realities, and the governance structures that oscillate between formality and informality, this research illuminates the ways in which La Nueva Jerusalén’s residents embody and enact new forms of territorial construction from the urban margins It argues that peace should be addressed regarding the plurality of territories advocating to delve into new epistemologies of peace.