Here’s how this city transforms from bad to the best and lovely place. For Medellín, Pablo Escobar is old news for a good reason. Declared
the World’s Most Innovative City by the Urban Land Institute and Wall Street Journal in 2012, Colombia’s second city is credited with one of
the most remarkable urban turnarounds in modern history. We take a look at how urban planners, architects, and artists reconquered the
poorest neighbourhoods, giving back the streets to the people of Medellín.
Working with the remnants of a leftover drug cartel, the city’s leaders began their restructure with the now-famous metro cable car. This
transportation structure broke down boundaries and allowed people to connect across all Medellín barrios. Many residents of the city now
champion culture over crime, a motto echoed throughout the barrios by independent role models.
A disaster response system has also been a city-wide initiative, ensuring that the people of Medellín have the ability to rebound quickly
from problems. The city has built a sense of social urbanism from the ground up. Resilient social infrastructures for all are now in place
throughout the city, enabling professional growth and equal access to Medellín’s valuable resources.
The city has established and implemented a participatory budgeting system, where citizens define their priorities and public money is then
distributed accordingly. Son Bata, a famous hip-hop group from the Comuna 13 barrio in Medellín, serve as activists against violence. The
group has founded a cultural centre within the destitute barrio with money provided by the government. The people of this neighbourhood
now have access to musical instruments, musical education and potential job placement resources.
In this same barrio, one of the most talked-about visual structures added to Medellín’s transformation is the giant escalator. This escalator
helps alleviate the stress of stair climbing and reduces the community’s equivalent 26-story ascent from 35 minutes to only six. The
structure is also a contemporary beacon amidst ramshackle houses stacked together like mismatched Lego blocks.
España Library may be one of the most famous architectural structures of the new Medellín. This structure, resembling three large black
interconnected boulders, is strategically placed at the end of a metro cable car route to barrio Santo Domingo. Designed by famed Bogotán
architect Giancarlo Mazzanti, this aesthetic library is not only an educational facility in a barrio once too dangerous for police but also a
civic symbol of hope.
The city’s once off-limits Central Park is now flourishing with new life and hosts the renovated Medellín Botanical Garden. This public space
houses orchids, plants and flora native to Colombia. Within the garden sits the Orquideorama, an impressive wooden and steel flower
patch standing over 50 feet tall, designed by Plan B Architects.
The 40-acres of surrounding public space is also inviting for water activities, horse riding, and bike riding. Beyond recreational enjoyment,
the garden gives people an urban environment with a connection to nature.
Medellín is also known as the home of Fernando Botero, the famous Colombian sculptor often overshadowed by the psychotic stories of
Escobar. Botero, with his obtuse style, could affectionately be called the unofficial artist of Colombia. Medellín has paid homage to their
prized artist with Plaza Botero, a public space that hosts 23 of Fernando Botero’s bronze sculptures. Most of the sculptures have been
rotated and displayed throughout many impressive international art galleries. In the plaza’s adjacent museum, a slew of Botero’s paintings
depicts a darker time when Medellín was under cartel rule.
Beyond brick and mortar structures or urban spaces, the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ goes through a natural, seasonal transformation as well.
With a year-round temperate climate, Medellín is able to produce some of the most brilliant flowers, which are celebrated in a parade every
August. Droves of tourists flock to the city for the yearly flower festival called La Fería de las Flores (The Fair of the Flowers). This 10-day
cultural festival fills the streets of Medellín with lighthearted people, music, laughter and dancing.
Festivals are not the only reason to dance in this renaissance city. Medellín is famous for rumba, the word Colombians use for the party.
From tango to salsa to vallenato, Parque Lleras hosts many of Medellín’s trendiest venues. Located in the El Poblado neighbourhood,
which was built up in the 1990s when Medellín’s elite traded the violence of the city’s centre for the eastern side of the Abura Valley. El
Poblado is the safest and wealthiest neighbourhood in Medellín, displaying dog groomers, yoga studios, gourmet grocery stores, and
restaurants.
Ajiacos y Mondongos is a culinary standout in Medellín. Located in the El Poblado neighbourhood, this restaurant has been rumoured to
serve the best typical Colombian food in the city since its inception in 1991. Owned and operated by German Ochoa and his daughter
Maria Antonia, Ajiacos y Mondogos serves only three menu items: ajiaco soup (a chicken-based soup with vegetables), mondongos (tripe
soup) and cazuelas (hen soup with vegetables).
The meals are made daily from scratch, and the restaurant has been frequented by a gaggle of famous celebrities from fashion mogul
Oscar De La Renta to Colombian superstar Juanes.
With every gentrification process comes an influx of recreational activities that lure tourists into the city, followed by hotels to house these
said tourists. One of Medellin’s newest and chicest properties is the Art Hotel, located on a quiet street near Parque Lleras. Along with the
avant-garde movement of Medellín, this 54-room boutique property offers an art gallery and a 40 seat theatre within its robust brick walls.
International tourism is a new business for this city, which has positioned itself and is ready for an influx of visitors. Medellín has made
exponential transformations over the past decade, going from one of the most violent cities in the world to an award-winning city. Now an
urban area that is recognized worldwide as a role model for cities in other countries, this type of transformation is so rare, it can very easily
be classified as a miracle.
