Cities & Health ISSN: 2374-8834 (Print) 2374-8842 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcah20 The transformation of Medellin into a ‘City for Life:’ insights for healthy cities Jason Corburn, Marisa Ruiz Asari, Jorge Pérez Jamarillo & Aníbal Gaviria To cite this article: Jason Corburn, Marisa Ruiz Asari, Jorge Pérez Jamarillo & Aníbal Gaviria (2019): The transformation of Medellin into a ‘City for Life:’ insights for healthy cities, Cities & Health, DOI: 10.1080/23748834.2019.1592735 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2019.1592735 Published online: 29 Apr 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 50 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcah20 CITIES & HEALTH https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2019.1592735 CASE STUDY The transformation of Medellin into a ‘City for Life:’ insights for healthy cities Jason Corburn a, Marisa Ruiz Asaria, Jorge Pérez Jamarillob and Aníbal Gaviria aDepartment of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA; bFaculty of Architecture, Universidad Santo Tomás, Medellín, Colombia ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Medellín, Colombia, managed to turn itself from one of the most violent and unequal places in Received 6 December 2018 the world to a more safe, inclusive and healthy city. Medellín is recognized for this Accepted 26 February 2019 transformation and its innovative city planning, design and development. This paper highlights KEYWORDS ’ some of the key drivers behind Medellín s transformation and the lessons these factors have for Medellín; Colombia; other cities seeking to reduce inequality and violence. We combine one-on-one interviews with violence; governance; key stakeholders involved in Medellín’s transformation, with reviews of archival documents, planning; healthy cities; media content analyses and ideas revealed during a six-month seminar on the transformation equity of Medellín held at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2017. We suggest that a set of inter-related factors, from civil society mobilization, to urban governance reforms to public space investments in the poorest neighborhoods, combined to help transform Medellín’s built, social, natural, political and economic environments. While the transformation of Medellín may be ongoing and incomplete, we suggest that the factors analyzed here offer insights for planning more healthy and equitable cities globally. Introduction transformation focused on both processes (i.e., who is included and how are decisions made) as well as pro- How does a city turn itself from one of the most violent ducts (i.e., the plan, programmes and built form) of in the world to a model of inclusion and a City for Life? healthy city planning and development. We also suggest Much has been said and written about the transforma- that Medellín’s transformation offers the global health tion of Medellín, Colombia, over the past twenty or more community insights for achieving the Sustainable years (c.f., Fukuyama and Colby 2011, Kimmelman 2012, Development Goals and New Urban Agenda. The Vulliamy 2013, Brodzinsky 2014,Martin2014, seven interrelated factors that together have contributed Warnock-Smith 2016). Once the most violent city in to the successful transformation of this city from a place the world, Medellín was recognized in 2013 as the most characterized as greatly unequal and violent, to one of innovative city in the world by the Wall Street Journal increasing prosperity for all and a City for Life,include: and the Urban Land Institute and received the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in 2016 (Lee Kuan Yew 2016). In (1) Governance continuity & transparency – suc- the 2000s, when many Latin American cities were strug- cessive leaders implementing long-range plans gling with growing levels of urban violence and inequal- and strategies. ity, Medellín was celebrated as an impressive case of (2) Planning a ‘city for life’–centering the social urban transformation and a model of successful public determinants of health in redevelopment. initiatives that reduced not only gun violence but also (3) Adaptation & innovation – adjusting programs poverty, segregation and inequality (Economist 2014). as you learn what is and is not effective. This article highlights some of the key factors that have (4) Sustained civic engagement – committing to contributed to the successful, but still incomplete, trans- on-going civil society involvement in generat- formation of Medellín from the 1990s through 2016. ing and implementing solutions. We identified at least seven key drivers of Medellín’s (5) Integrated projects that include public-private transformation that have contributed to it being labeled partnerships – working across sectors and spa- a ‘City for Life’ (UN Habitat 2014) and explore how tially integrating services that promote well- a critical review of Medellín’s transformation can provide being. lessons for healthy city planning everywhere. ‘City for (6) Promoting education & cultural identity – Life’ was the slogan of the Medellín municipal govern- prioritizing youth and culture as ways to ment from 2011–15 and the title used for the City when it ensure all segments of the population benefit. hosted the 2014 World Urban Forum (UN Habitat (7) Ethics of Aesthetics – investing the most beau- 2014). In this case study, we highlight that Medellín’s tiful and functional projects in areas with the CONTACT Jason Corburn [email protected] University of California, 316 Wurster Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group 2 J. CORBURN ET AL. highest levels of poverty and historic Background: Medellin’s urban crisis & early divestment. efforts to recover Medellín is Colombia’s second-largest city, with While many practitioners and governments may be a population of over 3.5 million people. eager to capture the ‘ingredients’ of Medellín’s suc- The city is the capital of the department of cess, we found that investing simultaneously in peo- Antioquia, and is located in the Aburrá Valley, ple, places and policies is a key principle and lesson a central region of the Andes Mountains in South from Medellín for cities everywhere. America. The Medellín River bisects the city and its terrain is characterized by steep hillsides leading fl Methods down to the valley oor. The poorer districts, or comunas, tend to be on the hillsides and most of We report on insights from a diverse group of practi- the commercial activity and services are concentrated tioners involved in the transformation and also those towards the valley floor, East and West of the studying and evaluating the changes in Medellín from Medellín River (Figure 1). the outside. This ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ perspective of Medellin’s economy grew rapidly in the first half of our analyses offers balance and contributes to on- the 20th century on the basis of manufacturing and going policy and planning discourses aimed at redu- financial services (Sánchez Jabba 2013). This contributed cing urban inequities and violence around the world to large population in-migration of people from rural (CCSPJ 2017). We use evidence, data and debates areas, where national conflict between left wing guerrilla presented during a 2017 seminar at UC Berkeley and right-wing paramilitary groups displaced millions of that included practitioners, academics, elected offi- residents and threatened agricultural jobs. As Medellín’s cials as well as non-governmental and private sector industrial sector declined and the economy slowed, actors from Medellín. The seminar was organized many migrants could not find formal employment and around key issues, including violence, governance, there was a steep rise in socio-economic inequality. By education, transport, environment and human health, the 1980s, paramilitary groups and drug cartels fought and each panel presented their findings and offered over control of space and illicit markets, and rates of written reflections. More information on seminar violence in the city began to spike well above national content and participants can be found here, https:// levels. Poverty, drug trafficking and the heavy-hand of iurdmedellinseminar.weebly.com/. the military combined to give Medellín the infamous title To support findings from the 2017 seminar, we also in the 1990s as the murder capital of the world (Vulliamy conducted background research on the transformation 2013). of Medellín, reviewing the media coverage and pub- In 1989, several presidential candidates and poli- lished literatures in English and Spanish. Finally, ticians were assassinated by drug gang leader Pablo a series of interviews with leaders, participants and Escobar, such as the former Governor Antonio close observers of the transformation of Medellín Roldán Betancur and the former Mayor of were conducted. Interviewees were selected to provide Medellín Pablo Peláez González. These same narco- a range of perspectives from politicians, planning pro- terrorist groups threatened to use violence to control fessionals, academics, and activists. We used national and local politics. In 1991 the homicide rate a snowball technique for selecting interviewees, asking per 100,000 inhabitants in Medellín was 381, the each seminar participant to recommend others who highest in the world and in any other city in the were involved in the transformation process. We also last 25 years (Brodzinsky 2014)(Figure 2). Yet, by identified key informants