CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Who Learn from Exemplary Cities and Their Makers, is working with Archdaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists behind the projects that have transformed these three cities and are studied in the "Schools of Cities" and "Documentary Courses" made by CityMakers. On this occasion, Victor Restrepo, Coordinator of CityMakers in Medellin, presents his article "Medellin: A Case Study".
Medellín stands as an inspiring example for many cities worldwide. It is a city that transitioned from deep collective fear to hopeful enthusiasm for urban and social life characterized by quality and coexistence. The city's crisis has always been associated with violence and drug trafficking. However, this crisis is more structural and profound, it responds to many more factors, some of which are associated with the accelerated growth of its population, as in many Latin American cities.
The Attractive City
Since Colombia's independence, Medellín became the regional capital of the Antioquia province in the first half of the 19th century. Gold and coffee were the country's main export products for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to capital accumulation and the establishment of industries, which solidified the city as the country's main industrial center by 1950. These conditions of progress and stability triggered migrations, which settled irregularly and informally on the slopes and outskirts of the city. During this time, significant infrastructure and service projects were developed, shaping the city's future: the construction and operation of the Antioquia Railway (1870-1930), the installation of electricity (1898), the installation of the aqueduct (1914), and the electric tram (1921).
In the 1920s, the municipal administration decided to build housing in the neighborhoods of Manrique, Aranjuez, and Gerona, all located in the northeastern and eastern parts of the city, as a strategy to regulate urban growth resulting from population increase and migration. During this period, the hillsides were just beginning to be inhabited, often in a disorderly manner, as seen in the subsequent decades. Simultaneously, due to the state's limited capacity to promote and manage public policies for land regularization, the existence of more informal settlements began to be recorded, particularly in the neighborhoods of Belén and La América, in the western part of the city.
The Conflict City
From the 1950s, the city experienced significant population growth, this brought with it an urbanization that surpassed the State's capacity to provide planned housing solutions, and a large informal market for developable land and housing quickly emerged.
Another factor, the one with the greatest impact, was the appearance of drug trafficking in the neighborhoods. In the narrow streets and urban life, drug trafficking found a favorable environment to thrive. Medellín plunged into a profound crisis during the 1980s and 1990s, as known by all. "Medellín became a city with a conflicted economic, social, and urban geography."
However, the crisis became the catalyst for the city's transformation. Helped by other events of political and social transition during these years, which sought greater territorial autonomy and citizen participation, comprehensive intervention strategies were conceived for territories characterized by informality, irregularity, and social impact resulting from violence and state neglect.
The City Of Comprehensive Urban Projects (PUI)
The PUI is the result of several years, several previous projects, academia, politicians, and citizens who found in dialogue and collective work a favorable strategy to rebuild the territories.
Some important precedents that inspired the principles and strategies of action for the PUI Integrated Urban Projects include the Favela Bairro program in Rio de Janeiro, the Bogotá Experience (Colombia in the 1990s), the Intervention of Marginal Neighborhoods in Barcelona, and the Integral Program for the Improvement of Subnormal Neighborhoods in Medellín - PRIMED. Lessons learned from each of these formed the foundation for Social Urbanism in Medellín. Similarly, the mass transit system Metro was fundamental, as its mobility axes and stations became triggering and integrating elements of the PUIs.
The PUIs are an intervention strategy that applies the Social Urbanism model composed of three components: physical, social, and institutional. The physical component is based on multi-scale urban interventions, involving impactful projects with high aesthetic quality on public space, collective facilities, housing, mobility, and the environment—a chain of projects gradually transforming the territory. The social component relies on a strategy of constant dialogue. This mechanism reaches territories before physical interventions, creating scenarios for the identification, of issues, and spaces for understanding and proposals. The community is co-author and overseer of the projects before, during, and after. This component is in a constant search for a sense of belonging and sustainability. Finally, the institutional component becomes the coordinator of actions of all municipal departments, ensuring constant support. Many facilities become municipal spaces for on-site work, coordinating all necessary actions to keep citizen participation scenarios active.
The city has designed and implemented PUIs in its northeastern, eastern, northwestern, and central-western areas.
PUI Northeast Zone: Commune 1 and 2 - Popular and Santa Cruz
The selection of these communes for the development of the first PUI was based on identifying an area with the lowest quality of life indices and the highest number of homicides in 2004. besides being historically the area with the highest population growth and informal housing, it was a disconnected marginal area. Another fundamental factor was the location of the Metrocable, which was under construction, an opportunity to articulate strategic projects and programs for the city's structural mobility system.
The diagnosis of each component led to intervention conclusions. From a physical standpoint, environmental components and various natural water and soil resources were analyzed, as well as the different urban structures of subdivisions and blocks, their road structure, and their housing component. From the social aspect, the analysis focuses on the level of education, access to health, per capita income, and homicides. And from the institutional component, all the departments of the municipality carry out a detailed study according to their mission.
"In the diagnosis, the street was found to be a key element, both physically and symbolically. With the deficit of public space that these neighborhoods had, the street is the meeting point, the place of transit, but also the place to be. Therefore, the street became the main stage." This is why one of the big bets of the PUI was to design and rebuild the street for social interaction, entertainment, and connection, in addition to all infrastructure projects and equipment of multiple scales.
A Viewpoint Bridge
One of the most symbolic projects is the viewpoint bridge of the Andalusia neighborhood, called La Francia, a comprehensive project to connect neighborhoods, to bring citizens together, to contemplate the city thanks to its location on the hillside, in addition to its great social impact on the conditions of violence in the area. This bridge became a symbol of union and reconciliation between neighborhoods since up to that time there were imaginary borderlines due to gang rivalry.
Three Rocks To Study And Learn
The Spain Library Park is more than a building, it is an operational geography of the hillside, three large black volumes that house an auditorium, classrooms for training, and the library. Its fragmented design allows flexibility and autonomy for use. This project serves as a model for education and culture in areas with high school dropout rates. It becomes a symbol of resilience and belonging for all citizens.
In the PUI there is a commitment to quality architecture with a high aesthetic sense that aims to resignify the places and their inhabitants. Giving the best is a message of deserving.
Commune 13 - San Javier
The diagnosis made for this western zone of the city, with conditions of marginality and violence similar to communes 2 and 3, revealed a high precariousness in the transport systems of high slope and high housing density. The strategy for this area was innovative and risky and was given through electric stairs, a result of collective workshops and socialization with citizens to solve mobility issues in the sector. These stairs are integrated with small parks, viaducts, and pathways along the mountainous topography, fostering vibrant street life and social interaction.
Through this physical intervention, Commune 13 has built an extraordinary hub of economic, cultural, and social development, improving residents' quality of life and creating a globally recognized brand. Today, not only the residents of the neighborhood pass through its stairs, bridges, and streets, but also the world has arrived there, culture and entertainment.
Despite the challenges it still faces, Medellín continues to reinvent itself and adapt to meet the new challenges of the 21st century. Its experience demonstrates the power of integrated planning and community participation in urban and social transformation.
Victor Restrepo Alvarez is an architect from the Pontifical Bolivarian University of Medellín and a Master's in Hospital Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Cataluña. As a professional, he has worked in the public sector in the management, design, and execution of urban and hospital infrastructure projects in entities such as the Urban Development Company, Metroplús, the Government of Antioquia, and currently consults for Metrosalud on strategic health infrastructure projects. In the private sector, he works as a project manager in the company Ciclo Urbano, an architecture and landscaping office based in the city of Medellin, he is also part of the CITYMAKERS team, which seeks to generate spaces for dialogue and knowledge around the collective construction of the city.
