Abstract
Social urbanism, an idea underlying the urban transformations of Medellin in the last 15 years, refers to an intervention methodology within the urban fabric that associates public policies, urban planning, and design through a participatory process. Its main objective would be to transform the city’s social and spatial dynamics by improving the infrastructural and morphological reality of urban space, thereby increasing the quality of life of citizens.
This process is linked to Mayor Sergio Fajardo’s term (2004–2007), but several strategies were also carried out by his successors Alonso Salazar (2008–2011), Aníbal Gaviria (2012–2015), and Federico Gutierrez (2016–2019). Analyses on this political and urban process have led to judgments of convictions or of unrestricted success. After 15 years of this pioneering experience, a more detailed evaluation of the urban reality of Medellin is needed.
Thus, this chapter intends to carry out this task on three fronts: the first two parts present the two main elements of the equation of the Medellin phenomenon, that is, the worsening of a the historical, social, and spatial problem (1) and the development of management and intervention instruments in the urban space as strategic tools for social cohesion (2). The reflection ends with a look at the resulting urban environment (3).
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Notes
- 1.
The term social urbanism as a government brand would be linked to the two mandates, Fajardo and Salazar, covering the periods of 2004–2011, according to a publication by the Urban Development Company of the Mayor’s Office of Medellin. See (Heredia et al. 2014, p. 55).
- 2.
Addressed in the author’s doctoral research, entitled “Architecture for cities in Latin America: distances and approximations between Sao Paulo and Medellin”
- 3.
- 4.
Population forecast in 2018, according to projections made by Medellin City Hall, Demographic Profile 2016–2020 available at: https://www.medellin.gov.co/irj/go/km/docs/wpccontent/Sites/Subportal%20del%20Council/Plan%20development/Sections/GeneralInformation/Documents/POT/medellinpoblacion.pdf. Accessed 16 Aug 2018
- 5.
The Metropolitan Region of the Aburrá Valley is a legal public administration entity that associates the 10 municipalities that compose the Valley of the Aburrá. It was created through Departmental Order No. 34, of November 27, 1980, for the promotion, planning, and coordination of the joint development and provision of services of those municipalities. Currently it fulfills the following functions: planning of the territory under its jurisdiction; environmental authority in the urban area of the municipalities that comprise it; metropolitan authority regarding public mass transportation; and executive agency for public works of metropolitan interest. Source: http://www.metropol.gov.co/institucional/Paginas/Presentacion.aspx
- 6.
It is the first metropolitan area created in Colombia in 1980. The municipalities are integrated geographically as well as economically and also in the supply of energy, water, sewage, and telecommunication services (Alcaldía de Medellín 2014).
- 7.
POTs operate on the municipality, but there are instruments of territorial planning for different administrative levels in Colombia.
- 8.
POTs operate at municipal level, but there are instruments of territorial planning for the different administrative levels in Colombia.
- 9.
Since the first Medellin PDM (1995–1997), economic, territorial, and social objectives have been linked to the concept of competitiveness. This is true in all subsequent plans.
- 10.
The Tripartite Commission (formed by the Government of Antioquia, the Municipality of Medellin and the Metropolitan Region of the Aburrá Valley), with the support of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), developed the project “Guidelines for Territorial Planning in Antioquia” (LOTA) in 2004.
- 11.
This is the case, for example, of Alejandro Echeverri, architect and urbanist who would be the director of EDU, Empresa de Desarollo Urbano (from 2004 to 2005) and head of the city planning office of the city hall (from 2005 to 2009).
- 12.
This local group was composed of teachers and urban planners such as Giovanna Spera, Patricia Schnitter, and Jorge Pérez Jaramillo.
- 13.
Instituitions/ public departaments in charge: Alcaldía de Medellin; Instituto Social de Vivienda y Hábitat de Medellin ISVIMED; Departamento Administrativo de Planeación (DAP); Secretaría de Planeación; Secretaría de Obras Públicas; Secretaría de Desarrollo Social; Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano –EDU
- 14.
Other projects were carried out between 2004 and 2011: the PUI of Commune 13 and Moravia, the Explora Science and Technology Museum, the improvements of the Botanical Garden and Parque Norte, music schools, the Paseo de Carabobo, among others.
- 15.
Transports via buses, vans, and taxis, on the other hand, are private sector concessions.
- 16.
Aware that urban intervention promoted increases in real estate value as well as increased living costs in the neighborhood, the municipality tried to develop some instruments to avoid the evasion of residents from their place of origin. For this purpose, household public service tariffs were subsidized by the local authority, adapting them to the population’s payment capacity, as with the “Minimum Vital Drinking Water Program” and the differential rates of property taxes (de Zuquim et al., p 10).
- 17.
The Colombian Society of Architects, in a statement published on its website, defends the office, stating that a technical report from the National University of Colombia states that construction does not correspond to the architectural project and also that the office of Mazzanti was not responsible for construction decisions.
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Leite, C. et al. (2020). Medellin. In: Social Urbanism in Latin America. Future City, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16012-8_2
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