Metamorphosis of Medellín_Joost de Bont_19032013

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The Metamorphosis of MedellínFrom narcotraffi c capital to city of fl ourishing civic culture

Architectural History Thesis [AR2A010] by Joost de Bont | spring 2013

Faculty of Architecture | Del University of Technology

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Cover photo: Cityscape of Medellín; some rights reserved by David Peña (DavidPLP under a Crea ve Commons license) Source: h p://www.fl ickr.com/photos/davidpenal/350023280

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Contents 3

Introduc on 5

Urban history 7Medellín as a La n American case 7City of violence 7Illegal land tenure and the right to the city 9 Narco traffi c, paramilitaries, guerrillas and poli cs 11Spa ally fragmented city and globaliza on 13

The transforma on 17Reinven on of Colombian civic pride 17The example of capital Bogotá 17Civic pride of the bogotanos 19The renaissance of Medellín 21Metrocable 23Public libraries and other ameni es 25Cultura ciudadana 27

Conclusions 29

Bibliography 30

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Introduc on

The city of Medellín, the second largest city of Colombia, has gone through some decades of major change. What was once one of the most dangerous and deadly ci es in the world and home to one of the biggest criminals in the recent world history, Pablo Escobar, is now one of the La n American ci es with the highest annual economic growth rate (McKinsey Global Ins tute, 2011). This is not only the eff ect of the decreasing homicide rate and declining narcotraffi c. The urban governance of Medellín has improved a lot since the beginning of the nine es of the last century, together with the fact that the municipal government has become more stable over me (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 30). Partly due to this an integral improvement plan for the whole city, including the highly precarious slums in the outskirts of the city, was established and is now being executed bit by bit. The main idea of this thesis will be to explain how Medellín ended up to be the most violent city of its con nent and how it a erwards miraculously escaped from this posi on. The men oned improvement plan was partly based on the one that is ini ated in the Colombian capital Bogotá. One of the main objec ves of this plan is to increase labour mobility by improving access to public transport. Labour mobility can be seen as one the most important ways to improve the socio-economic status of people living in underdeveloped areas, as economist Jeremy Ri in stretches in his book The Age of Access (2000). Next to that a tendency emerged of improving civic culture by construc ng public buildings and making educa on and culture accessible for the people from all diff erent strata in the city. To describe this transi on in a proper way, fi rst the preceding history of Medellín will be dealt with. This part on the early history will mainly deal with the socio-economic and urban issues during the twen eth century, which leaded to the notorious status of being the drug cartel capital of the eigh es. A er that the era in which the city changed towards the (more successful) metropolitan area that it is now will be described. This deals with both socio-economic and governance issues, as well as the planning and urbanism aspects of the improvement plan. In order to place this urban improvement and slum upgrading project in the context of similar ones, the Medellín case will be compared with the case of Bogotá. Where necessary there will be referred as well to other La n American ci es and improvement projects. This all to explain the process of major posi ve change that took place in Medellín, which was described by journalist Sara Miller Llana as follows: “a combina on of urban planning at the local level, security at the federal level, and a truce among gangs on the ground has given rise to what some say is no less than a miraculous transforma on.” (2010).

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Figure 1. La n American ci es round 1900, Medellín with about 50,000 inhabitants (Fernández-Maldonado 2011)

Figure 2. Evolu on of La n American ci es in general with boom from 1950s on (CEDLA 2008)

Figure 3. Urban popula on in La n American and annual growth (Fernández-Maldonado 2011)

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Urban history

Medellín as a La n American case

La n American ci es to a great extent share their early urban history. This shared historic is mostly based on the total Iberian coloniza on of this part of the world. The shared history is even more evident within the big Hispanic part of the con nent. In the ini al years of European coloniza on new ci es were founded as centres of mine extrac on or near indigenous se lements. From 1540 to the end 16th century the highest peak of European expansion was reached. From 1600 to the mid 19th century there was a period of slow change (Fernández-Maldonado 2011). By than ci es func oned as nodes of mari me and land routes. These ci es were based on the classic Hispano American colonial model, mostly recognized by a strong grid structure. Up un l far in the twen eth century most of the ci es kept following this ini al structure when spreading out over the surrounding area. Star ng in the nine eth century the fi rst urbaniza on wave spread over the con nent (see fi gure 1 and 2). By the end of this century Medellín was s ll a rather small city with around 50,000 inhabitants (fi gure 1). The period from the 1950s on ll 1980 can be mostly characterized by high rates of industrializa on and urbaniza on, which leaded to heightened urban primacy and popula on concentra ons (see fi gure 3). Next to the growth of industrial centers, prolifera on of squa er se lements took place. This resulted in an increasing diff eren a on between the ‘formal’ and the ‘informal’ parts of the ci es in La n America. In the upcoming period, from 1980 on, a new demographic and economic context came into existence, a new hierarchy of ci es in terms of their global economic integra on (Fernández-Maldonado 2011). Next to that a diversifi ca on of na onal urban systems began. A second wave of sub urbaniza on, mainly symbolized by the fragmenta on into islands of wealth, preceded by road and telecommunica on networks (Caldeira 1996). This urban (spa al) fragmenta on has an immense impact on the rela on between diff erent strata in the urban society. It creates tremendous tensions in the city, which can be men oned in both daily street life as well as in poli cs. This was as well one of the main reasons that Medellín became the highly problema c city that it was.

City of violence

If we look closer into the situa on of Medellín and the rest of Colombia, we see that during the fi ies and the six es mass immigra on was caused by poli cal violence taking place in the country side. In the period of me from 1948 ll 1953, o en referred to as La Violencia (The Violence), a civil war took place and one the most cri cal periods in Medellín’s history commenced (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 36). Even though this le an immense scar, the 1950s, 60s and 70s were decades of prosperity. This prosperity leaded to an immense growth of the city, as in most of the other La n American ci es, which can be seen as well in fi gure 4 and 5. This created together with the emerging poli cal balance, because of the Frente Na onal coali on being in charge, hope and a posi ve vision for the future (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 36). This is also visible in high amount of ins tu onal and public buildings being constructed and educa onal organiza ons and private businesses being founded in this period. In this period also the expansion limits of the city were reached, also see fi gure 4. The slums on the slopes around the city covered the whole ring surrounding the metropolitan area in all possible direc ons. As a result of this the only solu on was to grow in the ver cal direc on, this mainly happened with residen al buildings in the city centre, the construc on of the business district and the together with them constructed new avenues. Next to that Medellín became pioneer in the industrializa on process and development of the country. But nevertheless the city started declining round about the start of the 80s, and was confronted with a wide range of violence, fear and terror (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 36). A erwards the degenera on of the rural economy leaded to an ongoing migra on fl ow to the city. At a high pace, in a few decades, Medellín was transformed from a small agricultural based city with a few hundred thousand inhabitants to a metropolitan area of millions of people. As the main character Fernando in the movie La Virgen de los Sicarios (1999) explains as well: ”Medellín was one big farm with a bishop”. The on during mass immigra on together with a governmental incapability of dealing with it resulted in the complex urban reality of rebellion, criminality and inequality. What made the situa on even worse was the fact that corrup on started to penetrate into essen al state en es (Mar n and

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Figure 6. Loca on of pirata and invasione se lements with contract forms used (Restrepo Cadavid 2009, p. 47/74, edited by author)

invasione

pirata

Figure 4. Expansion of Medellín in the period 1950-2000 (Hernandez Palacio 2012, p.107, edited by author)

Figure 5. Popula on growth of Medellín in the period 1905-2008 (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 42, edited by author)

1905

1912

1918

1928

1938

1951

1964

1973

1985

1993

2005

2008

59.815

70.547

79.146

120.044

168.266 358.189

772.887 1.077.252 1.468.089

1.630.009

2.223.078

2.314.973

500.000

1.000.000

1.500.000

2.000.000

2.500.000

905-2008)

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Corrales 2011, p. 38). These corrupt ac vi es were mainly fi nanced out of narcotraffi c, which was also no ceable in the fact that cartel leaders had immense (poli cal) power. A good example of this last point are the poli cal ambi ous of Pablo Escobar, supported by the enormous infl uence that he had on the lower social class of the urban society (Pescados de mi padre 2009). Escobar mainly gained this infl uence by inves ng the money from the narcotraffi c partly into the housing of this lower social class and by this crea ng support for his ideas. During the eigh es and the early nine es migra on to the city happened mostly due to the growing infl uence of armed guerrilla groups and drug cartels (Pa ño 2011). This all leaded to an enormous growth of informal se lements in the unorganized and hardly unreachable sloped outskirts of the city. As a result the inhabitants of these informal neighbourhoods or shantytowns had no link to the city; nor physically (in sense of infrastructure), nor culturally (they did not feel like part of the city, ci zens of Medellín), they missed the feeling of being part of the civic culture. The people that moved from the country side to the illegal occupied hill sides; exchanged being in a civil war within the rural area for a maybe even more insecure situa on in the city periphery. A situa on that was controlled by armed guerrilla groups, organized narcotraffi c groups and paramilitary groups that had as well big infl uence on the poli cal situa on of the city. In order to analyze all the diff erent aspects that are men oned before and the ones that contributed as well to the highly fragmented and problema c urban structure, they will be described separately in the upcoming parts.

Illegal land tenure and the right to the city

One of the things that was not discussed before in this text, but is of a great importance regarding the problema c growth of the city, is the issue of land tenure. The land that the slum dwellers use is not their legal property; they occupied a piece of (mostly) state property. More nuanced there is a dis nc on to be made between invasiones, when families illegally occupy land by construc ng a house; and pirata, which exists of landowners or promoters illegally selling plots to people where they will build their houses (Baross and Mesa 1986, p. 153). Mainly the la er is interes ng to look deeper into. The land prices of the plots as they were off ered by pirata developers where rather low, as a result they fl ourished from the end of the 1960s onwards. One of the main objec ves of these developers was not so much to help these low class people having their own house. In stead of that they used this process in order to force the government to invest in minimum infrastructural development of these areas (Baross and Mesa 1986, p. 155). This land tenure specula on mainly took place in the zone between the predominantly fl at inner city (which was commercially more interes ng to develop); and the steep surrounding hills that are mostly occupied by the invasione se lements. A er the infrastructure was deployed, the pirata developers removed the low income dwellers and their houses from the land and further (commercially) developed these areas. This clearly shows the underdog role that the slum dwellers were put into, and as a result that the inhabitants of these areas lacked the right to the city. This instable basis on which the slum dwellers balance is as well for a big part the result of the fact that most of the concluded contracts are based on an oral agreement (see also fi gure 6) and thus rela vely easy to misuse. Se lers with an oral contract have in this case a bigger change of being evicted from their house (Restrepo Cadavid 2009, p. 80). With regards to this it is interes ng to add that in these informal se lements, although based on illegal ac vi es, there is such a thing as a real estate market in which trading of housing units takes place. Just like in other La n American ci es with big percentages of informal se lements, like São Paulo in Brazil, this mostly takes place a er a certain neighbourhood is already consolidated for a certain me (Dias Tamborino 2011, p. 11). The pirata development greatly declined a er 1970 although s ll present (see fi gure 6), but a er this the invasione sites kept on emerging (Baross and Mesa 1986, p. 156). These invasione neighbourhoods consist of even more unfortunate inhabitants, since they are even less wealthy than the people in the pirata neighbourhoods. The result of this is that these sites are in even more dangerous and underdeveloped status. It was only from nine es of the last century on that improvement plans for these neighbourhoods started to be developed, and that these issues gained poli cal importance (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 42). Before that, these urban regions were basically denied, did not exist on both geographical maps and

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193.2

053.3

960.4

424.5

943.6

188.5

625.5 777.4 951.4

358.3 441.3

899.2

952.3

851.3

084.3

127.3

210.2

781.1 287

408

3.000

5.000

7.000

Number of homicides (1987-2008)

Figure 7. Homicides in Medellín between 1987-2008 (Sistema de Información para la Seguridad y la Convivencia 2009, p.14, edited by author)

Figure 8. Repressive act of Colombian military in informal se lement (Suarez 2012)

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poli cal agendas. Next to that the inhabitants of these neighbourhoods simply did not have the same civil rights as the people from the formal city, they were not fully accepted as ci zens of Medellín.

Narco traffi c, paramilitaries, guerrillas and poli cs

These urban problems are not all standing on their own and are part of a bigger range of urban issues. Problems in both spa al and socio-economic guises that appeared together with the boom of informal se lements are for instance: scarce educa on ameni es, criminality and narcotraffi c; and high violence and homicide rates. If we look into the la er ones, we see that these are to a big extent correlated to each other. Medellín became notoriously known during the eigh es because of the drug cartel leaded by Pablo Escobar, called the Medellín Cartel. This was not only measurable in criminality rates and the amount of cocaine that was produced by them, but also in violence and homicide rates. During the end of the eigh es, murder rates grew explosively, with a summit in 1991 of 6,349 homicides in one year (see also fi gure 7) (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 38). It was in this period that Medellín became not only the most violent and dangerous city of Colombia, but also one of the most violent ci es in La n America and even the en re world. With a homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants of up to 444, according to what Medellín’s former mayor Alonso Salazar stated in an interview, the city earned this dubious tle (Carbona 2011, p. 7). It was mainly because of the absence of ins tu onal power, such as police and judiciary, that in the poor (informal) se lements and outskirts of the city the violence fl ourished (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 40). But not only the lack of repressive power from the state was a problem, also the fact that ameni es like educa on, health care and recrea on missed in these areas. As a result there were the organized criminal groups (such as guerrillas and narcotraffi c cartels) that took over the power in these areas. This did not happen only because violent suppression of the inhabitants in these informal neighbourhoods, it was also because the gang leaders jumped into the vacuum of care taking for these areas. This is shown as well by for instance whole communi es that were housed with the money of the Medellín Cartel, with even a whole neighbourhood being named a er Pablo Escobar (Pescados de mi padre 2009). Although the government tried to control the situa on by suppressing these ac vi es, see fi gure 8, it grew totally out of their hands. Not only narcotraffi c cartels had taken over the power in the informal se lements. They had to share their prevalence with other par es such as le wing guerrilla and right wing paramilitary groups. These groups had moved up from the salve (the hardly accessible jungle) to the periphery of the city (La Sierra 2005). So the people that escaped from the civil war in rural areas, as was men oned before, found themselves again in a war since the armed groups followed the same path to the city. This power struggle was and is not only a ma er of machismo, but as well a way to provide a certain sense of security for the inhabitants of these neighbourhoods (Gu érrez Sanín and Jaramillo 2004, p. 17). A constant dynamic of new created alliances and enemies made the situa on in these peripheral parts of Medellín one of constant unpredictability, fear and insecurity. Most of the major extreme le wing guerrilla groups were formed in the 60s of the last century, of which the FARC, the ELN and M-19 are most known. That the power of these groups is not solely based on military power can be seen in the fact that a lot of these groups also founded a poli cal equivalent, like the Patrio c Union Party (FARC) and the M-19 Democra c Alliance (M-19) (Insight on Confl ict 2012). Although many of these side organiza ons feigned to achieve a secure and peaceful situa on and had some posi ve side eff ects, for the greatest part they only enlarged the hegemony of the terrorist groups. The power that these groups have within the periphery of the city is poli cally so big that they are o en referred to as a state inside the state (Gu érrez Sanín and Jaramillo 2004, p. 21). This situa on wherein wars between diff erent militant groups take over the daily life in these neighbourhoods is very well recorded in the 2005 documentary La Sierra, about the slum that goes by the same name. It shows the incompetence of the state and the police to control the situa on in these areas, as well as the almost hopeless situa on that the gang members and other inhabitants of the neighbourhood fi nd themselves in (La Sierra 2005). But eventually it shows as well sparkles of hope as the paramilitary group in which they end up, Bloque Cacique Nu bara, gives up its weapons and as

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Illegal Armed Actors

Local government gradient of control

Informal ments

Figure 9. Loca on of informal se lement, local government control and illegal armed actors (Samper 2010, edited by author)

Figure 10. Spa al fragmenta on process in the centre of Medellín in the period 1950-2000 (Hernandez Palacio 2012, p.110)

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members get amnesty from the government and return to legality (Gu érrez Sanín and Jaramillo 2004, p. 27). That these diff erent groups are s ll present in the diff erent areas of the city and the ba les between these par es are s ll ongoing is very apparent (La Sierra 2005; Sanín and Jaramillo 2004). This is mainly a result of the poli ciza on of crime and violence that is s ll very much extant. For is big part because old role models do not disappear overnight, but as well for the fact that this process is s ll (to a lesser extent) going on. A er the mainly repressive ac ons that were taken by the state in mainly the 80s, now they seem to believe in more result from peace accords, as is shown as well by very recent nego a ons between the government and the FARC (Reyes 2013; Sanín and Jaramillo 2004). The fi rst nego a ons with the diff erent mili as in the city started in the beginning of the 90s under leadership of president César Gaviria (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 46). These nego a ons did not sort that much result on the longer term. It is even said that in way the state provided for these groups a way to con nue their ac vi es, while appearing to be socially ac ve. This is maybe best stressed by a quote from a mili a member that their ac vi es existed of “military undertakings in the night […]and social work in the day me” (Sanín and Jaramillo 2004, p. 22). These nego a ons did not work out on the long term, in that sense that a erwards the homicide and criminality rates in Medellín stayed high. On the other hand the sen ment that was present within the communi es of the informal se lements is very well stressed in the agreement that was achieved in 1994. This agreement stated that the state should invest in improving the community infrastructure, basic health care, educa on and recrea on ameni es; as well as it should take care of the level of security in these neighbourhoods (Sanín and Jaramillo 2004, p. 23). One could say that the government agreed here on the fact that they have to take proper responsibility for the quality of life of their ci zens living in these informal areas of the city. The local government of Medellín did not take this responsibility in full account right a er the 1994 agreement. But with the introduc on of a new na onal law, manda ng the municipal administra ons to be responsible for assessing their own urban issues with a local development plan, ci es like Bogotá and Medellín showed during the last decade how signifi cant planning is in the renewal of a society (Calderon Arcila 2008, p. 58). And with the introduc on of the Proyectos Urbanos Integrales (PUI) (Urban integral projects), ini ated by the municipality of Medellín in 2002 a real change became visible (EDU 2008). It was from that moment on that the (local) government really started to take responsibility for these areas of the city, which should be a part of their poli cal task. The urban development plan as such revitalized both planning, governance and local democracy, by using these concepts in order to structurally fi ght social injus ce (Calderon Arcila 2008, p. 58). As a result the city was able to change into a con nental (or even world wide) example of urban improvement and good governance.

Spa ally fragmented city and globaliza on

The social fragmenta on within the city of Medellín, both between informal and formal city and within the informal se lements it selves, has a spa al correla ve as well. The big diff erence between rich and poor, as it exists in a lot of developing countries, results in a cityscape that refl ects this socio economic reality of extremes. This process of urban segrega on cons tuted the fragmented city that Medellín is. The fragmented city as a concept is frequently described since it was fi rst men oned in the beginning of the 90s. In an ar cle on ci es in developing countries Italian urban planning professor Marcello Balbo introduced the term fragmented city (Balbo 1993). A fragmented city is characterized by its heterogeneous structure, which is hard grasp with tradi onal planning techniques that were developed for more homogeneous European and North American ci es. Medellín is a very par cular example of this model of a city as a heterogeneous and fragmented assembly. Due to the organic and uncontrolled growth of the city, mainly during the twen eth century, as is described before a cityscape emerged that is very unclear and appears very messy. This is for a big part the result of the informal growth of the peripheral areas of the city, see fi gure 9. The contradic on in these ci es lays in the fact that there are islands of wealth, with private golf courts and police patrolling, interspersed with slums that barely have access to fresh water and other basic infrastructures (Balbo 1993, p. 25). The city of Medellín exists of diff erent kinds of (sub) cultures, urban forms and architectural styles that do not meet each other in the sense that they all seem to speak another language (Vasquez Zora and Villalba Stor 2008). This physical fragmenta on is partly generated by new highways and avenues

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that were constructed within the tradi onal city grid, see also fi gure 10 (Hernandez Palacio 2012, p. 109). This resulted in an oversupply of services for the high class, in sense of infrastructure, but an undersupply of services within the slums of the city. To put it even more extreme; with the crea on of this hyper connec vity the rich elite, in the form of these highways, the inhabitants of the informal se lements became even more cut off from the rest of the city. For them these ‘infrastructural axis’ works as a barrier, that decreases their access to services and ameni es outside their own neighbourhood. It is this incommensurable aspect of the city that shows very well with what kind of complexi es inhabitants, planners and poli cians have to deal. A lot of mes the fragmented city is related to as an eff ect of globaliza on, since the government o en invests more in the accumula on of global capital than they do in development for their local ci zens (Bolay 2006, p. 285). In the case of Medellín some notes can be made with regards to this theory. With having one of the biggest tex le industries of La n America, during the 1980s the produc on largely decreased and shi ed to South East Asia (Mendieta 2011, p. 177). Even with the cocaine cartels taking over the local economy of the city during the same era, Medellín was s ll very much known as well for the tex le produc on with major brands like Coltejer and Fabricato. In that sense the a rac on of global capital for Medellín could be a way to reinvent itself as a big tex le producer in the world. And by organizing a big tex le fair every year, Colombiatex, the city of Medellín works on endogenous development in the words of John Friedman (Friedman 2007, p. 990). The gain is that both local entrepreneurs profi t, jobs are created and there are investments in both local economy and culture (El Colombiano 2013). The investment in local endogenous culture and economy seems the way to bridge the gap that is created between the diff erent strata in the city. This counts for the social economic development within the city, as well as for the spa al planning of the city. The crea on of a common civic culture seems to be the answer to the ques on that has been raised in the last few decades by violence and social unrest.

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Figure 12. Antanas Mockus as Superci zen (The Telegraph 2010)

Figure 11. Medellín divided in the diff erent sectors with upgrading projects indicated (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 30/31).

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The transforma on

Reinven on of Colombian civic pride

The intended changes that were already present in the 1990s became really tangible with the implementa on of the fi rst Proyectos Urbanos Integrales (PUI), also see fi gure 11. This upgrading plan was not the fi rst of its kind in La n America and can therefore be compared to its predecessors. There are several other big ci es on the same con nent that improved labour mobility by means of implemen ng public transport into the informal se lements of the city (Curi ba, Carácas, Bogotá). This has been done with diff erent kind of transport modes, systema c approaches and on various scale levels. In both Curi ba and Bogotá this has been done by the introduc on of the Rapid Bus Transit system (Ardila 2004). Curi ba was the fi rst to implement a system as such, already back in the 1970s. That the mode of transport itself is not necessarily the point can be seen in the case of Medellín itself and in Carácas where a Metrocable system was implemented. In order to take a look not so much in the mode of transport that was implemented itself, but more into the plan that it is embedded in, a comparison to the case of Bogotá is the most frui ul. The comparison to Bogotá will be made, since this is not only geographically, but also with regards to the undergone development process, a city that is close to Medellín.

The example of capital Bogotá

Compared to Medellín the city of Bogotá had to come from less profound, it did not suff er as much from guerrilla and paramilitary wars and narcotraffi c. But was s ll considered to be one of the most violent ci es in the world, during the beginning of the 1990s (Feireiss 2011, p. 85). The stabiliza on of the situa on in the capital of Colombia took place already round the change of the centuries. The start of the era of recupera on is considered to be with the inaugura on of mayor Antanas Mockus (1995-1997), also see fi gure 12, and a er that con nued by mayor Enrique Peñalosa (1998-2000) (Pizano 2003, p. 13). Antanas Mockus con nued his recupera on work in another term from 2001 to 2003. On the Architecture Biennial in Venice of 2006 the city of Bogotá was even acknowledged with a Golden Lion for being the “best-prac ce case of egalitarian urban transforma on” (Calderon Arcila 2008, p. 10).

The main reason for this major turn seems to be the stabilizing governance situa on since the mid nine es. Several numbers support this postulated improvement of both the socio-economic status of the city and the spa al organiza on level. A good example for this more stabilized governance situa on, is the increase from 25 months in 1992 to four years for every mayor to stay in charge (Gilbert 2006). This without a doubt leads to more con nuity of administra on and thus poli cal stability. A more stable poli cal situa on is a really fer le ground for development of integral urban improvement projects. The Transmilenio project (fi gure 13), based on the Bus Rapid Transit system in Curituba, is a good example of this. The project led to a higher labour mobility and by this increased chances for people, from neighbourhoods that were formerly disconnected from the rest of the city, on the labour market. Along with big projects like the Transmilenio there were projects on the lower urban level. These projects that were developed closely with local communi es were mostly dealing with recupera on of the public space. They existed out of thousands of partnership between the (local) government and civil community ini a ves (Pizano 2003, p. 54). These projects are part of an overarching plan called Red de Espacios Publicos (Network of Public Spaces) which was launched by the local government together with the Plan Maestro de Ciclovias (Master Plan Bike Paths) and Red de Bibliotecas (Network of Libraries) (Calderon Arcila 2008, p. 10). While the fi rst term of Antanas Mockus was mostly characterized by the improvement of the civic culture that he made, besides his some mes eccentric behaviour (fi gure 12), Peñalosa was the one who pleaded most for infrastructural enforcements (Feireiss 2011, p. 86). Under leadership of Mockus major changes were achieved, as stated very clear by Lukas Feireiss:

“water usage dropped 40 per cent, 7,000 community security groups were formed and the homicide rate fell 70 per cent, traffi c fatali es dropped by over 50 per cent, drinking water was provided to all homes (up from 79 per cent in 1993), and sewerage was provided to 95 per cent of homes (up from 71 per cent). When he asked residents to pay a voluntary extra 10 per cent in taxes, 63,000 people did so” (2011, p. 86).

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Figure 13. Transmilenio BRT system along Avenida de las Americas (Tongeren 2011)

Figure 14. El Tunal Library (Villamil 2011)

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Next to that also behavioural changes can be men oned in the daily life of the bogotanos. This diff ers from a general clampdown on drunkenness to homicide rates dropping from 80 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993 to 23 in 2006 (Gilbert 2006, p. 397). In that sense Mockus and Peñalosa were complementary to each other, as is also stretched by Colombian ar st Adriana Torres Topaga in an interview: “The fi rst changed the city’s a tude, and the second con nued with these ideas, bringing to frui on necessary infrastructural changes.” (Feireiss 2011, p. 88). From the introduc on of the Transmilenio system on the commuter me dropped with 20 per cent in 2001, with only a quarter of the total system being completed yet (Echeverry et al. 2004, p. 23). In 2005 the network already existed out of 362 buses driving on 421 kilometres of especially for these vehicles constructed bus lanes covering 78 mainly poor neighbourhoods in Bogotá (El Tiempo 2005). Peñalosa, who is for the biggest part responsible for the introduc on of the Transmilenio, was also the one who opted for the construc on of new public libraries all over the city (Red de Bibliotecas), see also fi gure 14, and par cularly in the poor (informal) neighbourhoods. These libraries that were designed by Colombia’s most famous architects now welcome about eleven million visitors per year (Gómez 2004).

Civic pride of the bogotanos

That these big investments in the cultural, but as well the economic, life of the bogotanos improved the quality of living is not to be doubted about. Various opinion polls show very well that the amount of the ci zens that see the situa on in Bogotá improving doubled between 1999 and 2005 (Gilbert 2006, p. 397). This shows that not only in (economic) sta s cs the quality of life has increased, but also in the inhabitants’ daily life opinion on the city that they live in. This improvement of the quality of life in Bogotá also resulted in that the inhabitants of the city “discovered a sense of pride in their city”, as Bri sh geographer Alan Gilbert put it (2006, p. 398). This civic pride is maybe one of the most important achievements of all the upgrading projects that were executed in Bogotá. The crea on of this common iden ty is also very important regarding the fact that un l 1990 inhabitants did not iden fy themselves with Bogotá, but with the region they originally came from, even though they already lived in the city for genera ons (Mosca 1987). This changed into four-fi hs of the city popula on seeing themselves as bogotano, a full ci zen of Bogotá (2006, p. 398). This is a major victory, which can not be overes mated, for both the city as for the inhabitants. That Bogotá can be seen as a (global) example of slum upgrading, and of upgrading a city in general, goes without a doubt. This can be shown by the fact that many delega ons from all over the world came to visit the city and see how they changed things (Ardila 2004). One of the major challenges in that sense is the con nua on of this process of progress. The city has s ll a lot to improve, like the big inequality that is s ll present in the city. The inequality is very much visible with 40 per cent of the income of the metropolitan area, in hands of the upper 7 per cent of the almost 11 million inhabitants (Klink 2008, p. 2). Recent developments s ll show improvement in for instance a decreasing murder rate, 24 per cent cut in 2012, but there is also cri cism on for instance the failed a empt to make rubbish collec on a state issue (The Economist 2013). This last point of cri cism is due to policy of current mayor Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla, who is following a more extreme le wing direc on. There where his recent predecessors were more in favour of priva sa on, which seemed to be a successful way (Gilbert 2006, p. 402). This shows as well the main possible problems for the future, namely that poli cal discon nuity, with a total diff erent approach the achievements can be made (partly) undone. Nevertheless the investments that are done in public transport, libraries and the public space of the city are there to stay. They made the bogotano proud of its own city and brought the city a lot of welfare and prosperity. The technocra c approach, of mainly the mayors Mockus and Peñalosa, was essen al in the rela vely quick process of implemen ng the Transmilenio and other public services (Gilbert 2006, p. 415). These mayors with their brave and refreshing poli cal style made a change in the physical cityscape of Bogotá, as well as in the socio economic status of this metropolis. As Marcela Aguilar, a local den st, points out very clearly in an interview:

“The two mayors undoubtedly changed the quality of life of Bogota’s inhabitants and visitors. Before their terms as mayor, it was not possible to walk along the sidewalks in many streets; one had to walk in the street. Chaos and insecurity reigned in the city” (Feireiss 2011, p. 88).

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Figure 15. Loca on of PUI projects, local government control and illegal armed actors (Samper 2010, edited by author)

Figure 16. Parque Explora building (Gil 2011)

Local government gradient of control

Informal ments

Integrated Urban Projects

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Seen from that side it is very much palpable that Bogotá worked as a kind of model city for Medellín. The results that were obtained created a trend in the country, Medellín was one of the ci es where just like in Bogotá public services, facili es and public spaces are developed (Calderon Arcila 2008, p. 58). This was not so much a literal transla on of the used plans, but more an intui ve example of how public life in city that dealt with this kind of issues can be improved.

The renaissance of Medellín

A er decennia’s of violence, growing social problems and urban degenera on as men oned before the city of Medellín has almost turned one hundred and eighty degrees during the last years. Following the example of Bogotá, also in Medellín plans were made to come up with an integral approach to fi ght both the socio economic and spa al urban problems of the city. The example of Bogotá could not be followed as a mere blueprint, since there are curtain diff erences like in the specifi c topography of the city, the rela on with the salve (jungle outskirts), see also fi gure 15, and popula on confi gura on and a lot of other urban specifi cs. The year 2003 can be seen as the start of this process, with Sergio Fajardo in offi ce as mayor of the city. Fajardo appointed a technocra c cabinet that prepared the integral transforma on model of the city for the term 2004-2007 (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 48). The main point of this plan is, as was stated a publica on of the municipality, to create an equal city were all ci zens have the opportunity of developing rela ons supported by all the (cultural) services that are supplied, in the public space (López 2006, p.10). The successor of Fajardo was Alonso Salazar, he con nued the transforma on plans a er 2008. Salazar was already a prominent poli cian and was part of Fajardo’s government as well, in that way he was very much complementary to his predecessor. Just like Mockus and Peñalosa made the diff erence in Bogotá, Fajardo and Salazar were the ones who brought Medellín change and poli cal con nuity.

There were several plans ini ated by the local government to improve the underdeveloped parts of the city. Just like in Bogotá the improvement plans focus upon the diff erent aspects of urban transforma on. These plans meant to increase mobility, improve educa on and recover public space and green areas. They go under following specifi c plans as they are executed: Integral Urban Project (PUI), the Land Use Plan (POT) and the Master Plan for Green zones (Drissen 2012). Known experts out of these plans are the Metrocable project, Parque Bibliotheca España and the outdoor escalators in Comuna 13 (BBC 2011). The Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano del Municipio de Medellin (Urban Development Coorpora on of the Municipality of Medellin) is in charge of the implementa on of these plans (EDU 2008). These development projects are received in a very posi ve way. This not only follows from literature within the fi eld of governance, planning and architecture, but also turns out to be in interviews with inhabitants from all diff erent strata and areas of the city. This if for example explained by interviews with local inhabitants in the book Tes fy! The Consequences of Architecture on the Parque Explora (fi gure 16) project. The people from the community changed their mind about poli cians, since they saw really posi ve change in their neighbourhood (Feireiss 2011, p. 62). This seems to be a mutual exchange of growing respect, since in the same interview appears that the mayor’s offi ce improved the rela onship with the community. And a really important gesture was made by crea ng close partnership with the local community, also showed by the fact that residents were employed in the construc on zone (Feireiss 2011, p. 62). The construc on of new public projects in neighbourhoods that were formerly seen as degraded; gives them a new image and supplies in public func ons, like cultural and educa onal ameni es. In an ar cle for El Colombiano Jaime Sarmiento states that the new architecture helped to change the behaviour and mentality of the people in these poor neighbourhoods (Sarmiento 2011). This idea of architecture changing the image of an area, also referred to as the Bilbao eff ect, should be nuanced with the idea that most of these changes are preceded by years of civic renewal (Kimmelman 2012a). As is shown in the example of Bogotá the built Transmilenio and library projects, among the others, were not the boosters of the success on themselves. They were supported by societal and poli cal changes, and are maybe more physical refl ec ons of these changes in civic life. The built projects in that sense can be seen as material representa ons of the civic pride and not merely as the cause of these proud feelings of the inhabitants. This makes these projects really valuable in both material and social psychological sense. It

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Figure 18. Loca on of metro lines in orange, with other projects of PUI located with circle (Navarro Ser ch 2010)

Figure 17. Metro network of Medellín with Metrocable lines J, K and L (Medellín Digital 2011)

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should on the other hand not be confused with the idea of these buildings being the reason that this civic pride is present in the city. The buildings, the architecture, should be seen in a “larger social and economic ecology” (Kimmelman 2012b). In the upcoming part this process will be described, from the ini a ons of the plans, to the construc on ll the newly created urban situa on. In order to give a nuanced idea of this, and to cover both the lower scale implica ons and the integral urban plan, diff erent par cular projects will be described. These projects vary from transit projects (i.e. Metrocable) to public buildings (i.e. Bibliothecas España) and public space developments (i.e. Parque de la Paz 20 de Julio). This will be done in order to describe the eff ect from the diff erent interven ons on the diff erent scales.

Metrocable

This aerial cable-car project was one of the fi rst interven ons to be executed, star ng in 2004 (Dávila et al. 2011). This together with the fact that this project has a very iconic eff ect on the upgraded area made it one of the fl agships of the integral development process. The introduc on of this transport mode was a way to deal with urban challenges such as growing amounts of commuters, increasing transport speed demands and a ques on for environmental friendly solu ons (Brand 2012, p.17). The choice for an aerial cable-car was as such merely the solu on to solve the big height diff erences that had to be bridged. The informal se lements that should be taken out of their posi on of isola on, are located mostly on the steep hills surrounding the city. As a par cular solu on to solve transport problems for informal se lements in comparable topographical se ng; the example is followed by other ci es. Other ci es that introduced a comparable system are Carácas (Venezuela), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Kohima (India). The advantages of such a system is that it needs rela vely less space on surface level, only the sta ons and the columns are placed on the ground. This off ers a lot of opportuni es, since there is hardly any spare ground in these informal se lements available. Next to that, demoli on of exis ng structures is not desirable, since the underlying social structures will be destroyed as well, which leads to a lot of social unrest. This Metrocable system instead builds upon these social structures that are already present and reinforces them with the poten al of mobility, which becomes a more and more powerful concept within contemporary society (Brand 2012, p.18). As already men oned before it increases labour mobility, but not only that, it gives the inhabitants of these informal se lements the right to the city. The introduc on of a public transport system as such is a way to fi ght inequality, which was very much present in the city of Medellín. It literally connected the informal se lements with the rest of the city and by this these areas where taken out of their (socio economic) isola on.

The exis ng metro network of Medellín, exis ng of two train lines, was supplemented in 2004 with the comple on of Línea K (Line K), see also fi gure 17. This line connects the areas in the northeast (Comunas 1 and 2) of the city to the exis ng public transport network (Brand et al. 2012, p. 39). Later on, in 2010, this line was extended by a (mainly) tourist line (Línea L) up to Arví, in the rural outskirts of the city. The informal areas in the west side of the city (Comunas 7 and 13) where connected to the rest of the network in 2008, when Línea J was completed, see fi gure 18 (Dávila et al. 2011). With the comple on of these lines some of the objec ves as they were formulated in the beginning of Fajardo’s term in 2004 were achieved. By including these areas in the exis ng transport network, they did not become only spa ally integrated with the rest of the city. These comunas (neighbourhoods) also became part of the service network that is already present in the city, it became a poten al part of the daily life of the inhabitants. By this the objec ve of making educa onal, sport, recrea onal and health services accessible together with increasing the mobility for all inhabitants of the city was achieved (López 2006, p. 11). On one hand the Metrocable is a system that has impact on the diff erent comunas, because of the city integra on eff ect, but on the other hand it has also an eff ect on the local level. Thus on the level of the neighbourhood itself this public transport hubs have an impact on for instance the local economy and the social structure. That the reten on and reinforcement of these structures on the lower level are obviated as well is showed by the ini a on of the Centros de Desarrollo Empresarial Zonal (Cedezo) (Local Entrepreneurship Development Centres). The centres are strategically located at the end of the Metrocable lines, which seems to be well chosen, since for instance in Comuna 1 from all of the local produc on units 72 per cent are placed along Línea K (Coupé et al. 2012, p.81). Next to that, the

24

Figure 20. Fernando Botero Library Park designed by G Ateliers (García 2012)

Figure 19. Public escalators in Comuna 13 (La Tercera 2011)

25

contractors who are commissioned by the local government for one of the many satellite projects need to hire a signifi cant amount of local labourers (Dávila et al. 2011, p. 9). These diff erent projects that are developed alongside the Metrocable project ensure its success, by simply implemen ng the cable-car system on its own it would not embedded enough in the exis ng structure. The complexi es of the exis ng informal neighbourhoods ask for a way more subtle solu on. These local entrepreneurship and employment projects make sure that both on the long and the short term there is a good basis for socio economic success. With regards to the exis ng social structure in informal se lements it is also really important to take care of the embedding of a new transport system. Within these neighbourhoods there is very strong sense of a community bond. They are used to take the same pathways on a daily basis, since they are considered to be safe. This kind of really precarious social structure should be taken into account when a sta on of the Metrocable is placed in a certain neighbourhood. This is why working closely together with people from the community is a very important issue during the prepara on and design process of such a transport system. That the authori es some mes s ll use to much of an top-down approach, even though with good inten ons, was what Colombian American urban sociologist John Betancur found during his research in Medellín (Betancur 2007, p. 10-11). In reac on to this the government seems to take this cri que serious. It is even explicitly stated that par cipatory planning is a main objec ve of the development plans, together with construc ng secondary infrastructure like pavements and public space equipment (Municipio de Medellín 2007, p. 14). By this it can be seen that a lot of lessons where as well learned along the way and made the whole process bit by bit more integral. The mobility of the inhabitants of the diff erent comunas is not only enhanced by the Metrocable network. As stated before also the more local mobility of the inhabitants is developed. A good example of this is the earlier men oned elevators in the barrio Las of Comuna 13, see fi gure 19. These elevators are complementary to the Metrocable system and cover a total height of about 300 meters, decreasing the travel me from 30 to 5 minutes (Morales Velásquez 2011 and BBC 2011). These elevators make the rest of the city accessible for those who where not able to climb all the exhaus ve stairs anymore and they run during same me of the day as the Metrocable (Gualdrón 2011). This highly integrated development on a (local) infrastructural level in combina on with socio economic support of entrepreneurship and cultural ameni es make these PUI as successful as they are.

Public libraries and other ameni es

The combina on and integra on of both the physical infrastructural networks, like the ones are described in the previous part; and the cultural and educa onal network is one of the main characteris cs of the PUI. The upcoming part is dealing with these educa onal and cultural ameni es that are an integral part of the development plan. One of the most known is the Bibliotheca España, which is actually just one of the 23 libraries that are part of the Medellín Library Network (Red de Bibliotecas del Medellín) who off er together public knowledge to all the city ci zens. In the ar cle that New York Times’ architecture cri c Michael Kimmelman devoted to the upgrading projects in Medellín he interviewed several local inhabitants on the par cular projects. Among them was Mateo Gómez, who stated that: “The España library changed our concep on of ourselves [...] before, we felt a s gma” (Kimmelman 2012b). The España library is located at the intersec on of Línea K and L. Because of the many tourists that use the Línea L, as explained before, the library is good addi on to the tourist route they take. This is maybe at the same me one of the weaknesses of the project as such. Some of the cri ques on the project are on the fact that the objec ve of this building s ll seems to be on crea ng “eye-catching buildings to grace the covers of glossy magazines” (Kimmelman 2012b). This also counts up to a certain extent for a project like the Fernando Botero Library Park on the western outskirts of the city, close to the Línea J terminal sta on of the Metrocable, see fi gure 20. This cri ques of course do not erase the big amount of opportuni es that were created for the inhabitants of the informal districts of the city. Because it did not only changed their concep on of themselves and about how the government and the rest of the city thinks about them and sees them. But it creates new possibili es that could not be thought of before. So explains as well Harold Giraldo, a regular user of one of the educa onal building projects, in an interview: “Parque Explora is a gateway to

26

Figure 21. Public life in the late a ernoon at Parque de los Deseos designed by Felipe Uribe in Comuna 4 (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 143)

27

knowledge, a place where one can fi nd out how things work” (Feireiss 2011, p. 63). This clearly supports the idea that this projects opened up a world of changes for the dwellers of informally built housing units. They are no longer an unsupported part of the city, but they are supplied with the services and ameni es that are available to the rest of the ci zens of the city as well. And not only do these places like Parque Explora, among others as the renovated Botanic Garden and the Parque de los Deseos, supply services and ameni es to the inhabitants of the poor neighbourhoods. They also a ract people from other strata of the society and work in that way as a social integrator for the city (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 128). Because not only did they invest in the development of public space and buildings within the informal se lements themselves. They also developed the public space in other places in the city and on the boundaries between the formal and the informal. These projects include places varying from sport fi elds, to cultural centres up to bicycle paths (Mar n and Corrales 2011, p. 132). These places also added to the sense of ci zenship for the informal city dwellers. From now on they are literally able to par cipate with all the other ci zens of the city, they became an inherit part of the city. On the more pragma c level there are s ll aspects that could be improved, as they are men oned by both inhabitants and other actors in the projects. The libraries for instance can be seen as a good start of the development of a public realm within the comunas. But as is explained by earlier quoted Mateo Gómez: “we’re s ll missing cultural spaces, the library closes too early, the situa on is s ll very uncertain” (Kimmelman 2012b). There is a certain risk that projects become to much of a sham, and are only becoming a aesthe c make over. The challenge of course is to con nue this development for a more equal city, like it is in Bogotá too. Here it is best to quote the words of Michael Kimmelman, who sees a big role for the new genera on, that is not to much concerned about architecture magazine covers, but more about a city of greater equality: “The city has made big strides, a er all, using cu ng-edge architecture as a catalyst. But here young architects press for yet more crea ve solu ons. They take for granted as their jobs both formal innova on and also the humanitarian role of architectural ac vism” (2012b).

It is this a tude that has to be inherit by both the community itself as well as by the poli cians and planners. A good looking building is something that one can be proud of and should take care of, on the other hand it should not become a goal on its own. The social context in which the building has to be embedded should be strengthened by its presence. As is shown with the public buildings that were built within the upgrading process, a building is able to create new possibili es, to bring people together. It is this force of a building that should be taken to its maximum strength.

Cultura ciudadana

One of the most important achievements of the upgrading projects is the fact that the informal neighbourhoods of the city that were: “once shunned by ci zens and forgo en by the public administra on, are now a symbol of the urban renaissance in Medellin” (Duarte 2011, p. 10). The projects, as is men oned before, created a sense of ci zenship for the inhabitants of the comunas. For decades they were seen as the parasites of the city. The government did not see the informal se lements in which they lived as part of their responsibility. With the realiza on of the upgrading projects it did not only appear to the dwellers of these self built neighbourhoods that they were tolerated, but they became an offi cial part of the city. It was the physical representa on of their way out of informality, of not being registered and not exis ng for the local authori es. It is this being part of what one could call the cultura ciudadana (ci zen culture), that is the legacy of this integral upgrading process (see also fi gure 21). Or to put it in the words of one of the revolu onary mayors Alonso Salazar: “It was a process in which society reaffi rmed itself in pride of iden ty, in the work ethic; a self-made society because it had always been far away from everything” (Carbona 2011, p. 37). The integral upgrading project had as one of its main objec ves the social inclusion of a signifi cant part of Medellín’s habitants. And although it was long way, from the fi rst ini a ves in 1993, ll its success nowadays, it paid of well. The process proved that there are frui ul counter proposals possible as an alterna ve to the neo-liberal fragmented city of social exclusion. It created a city with inhabitants that are proud of living in Medellín and being part of a society with a fl ourishing civic culture.

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29

Conclusions

What can we learn from the process that took place in Medellín? First of all that the project does not stand on its own. The integral upgrading project of the informal se lements in Medellín is one that was a result of years and years of poli cal and societal struggle. The city had to come from the absolute bo om, with having one of the highest homicide rates in the world. And it was with acknowledgement to a new poli cal genera on that the process of social inclusion could take of. This change was necessary in order to overcome the enormous problems that the city was dealing with, as we can conclude from the following as well:

“Figh ng against social exclusion presupposes changes in the exis ng governance structures, such as rethinking mechanisms for delivery of services and providing ins tu onal space to allow residents to act as subjects in decision making and change in their neighborhoods” (Cars et al. 2002, p. 6).

The extreme situa on that the city found itself in asked for new experimental and bold decisions. Fortunately there were examples that could be learned from. As well from within Colombia itself, like the process ini ated in Bogotá in the 1990s, as from foreign ci es like Curi ba in Brazil. These ci es showed that with innova ve public transport systems (Bus Rapid Transit) the socio-economic situa on of a big part of the society could be increased. This by li ing up their labour mobility and as a result giving them the right to city, access to services and ameni es. Not only the labour mobility and access to other parts of the city were improved, but by the construc on of public buildings like libraries and educa on centres the informal areas themselves were developed as well. This not only created a new face for these neighbourhoods that were before seen as hideous and a burden by the rest of the urban society. It created a sense of civic pride within these communi es, the feeling that they are an offi cial part of the city. This was done with the construc on of both public facili es as well as open public spaces, that are scarce and mostly even lacking in informally built neighbourhoods. These interven ons in the built environment were combined with policies like legaliza on of land tenure (Betancur 2007, p. 10). This not only created an infl ux with regards to the socio-economic status of the inhabitants, but also ensured them that they had the right to stay were they live. The la er is very important, because this was also a reason for house owners to invest in their home and by that crea ng a more liveable environment with a higher quality of life. The ini ated process resulted in new emerging social capital that not only added to the value of the daily environment of the inhabitants of the comunas, but to the city as a whole. It did that by reinforcing the social bonds that are present and crea ng new possibili es that together lead to a urban society of par cipa on, instead one of exclusion and fragmenta on. It was the integral approach of the upgrading project that marks a big part of the success. What started at the city scale with the implementa on of the Metrocable system and the construc on of big public works was completed with the embedding of these systems within the small and local scale. And all this with a par cipatory approach wherein inhabitants did not only have a voice, but were included up to the construc on process. All the diff erent projects were developed in close partnership with the local community. By this both the diff erent scales where covered, from big tot small, as well as the whole process range, from ini a on to construc on. The architecture that has been built works both as a physical representa on of the civic pride of the inhabitants and as a catalyst of social cohesion. It is up to the new genera ons to con nue this process and even leapfrog the older genera on that was some mes maybe more concerned with aesthe cs than with social issues. The process that took place shows that it pays of for policy makers, planners and architects to stride for a more humanitarian and equal city by carrying out the role of social ac vist.

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Back photo: Bibliotheca España with the Metrocable on the right (c) All rights reserved by K-ndeLaSource: h p://www.fl ickr.com/photos/7942866@N07/3164775703

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The Metamorphosis of Medellín | From narcotraffi c capital to city of fl ourishing civic culture

Architectural History Thesis [AR2A010] by Joost de Bont | spring 2013 | Faculty of Architecture | Del University of Technology