The Transformation of Medellín

By Mauricio Castaño H
Historiador
Traductor de google.
En Revisión.

Time and technique force changes. Others call the times of modernity that come to the rhythm of the newest that presents itself as the best. The city of Medellín in its last decades since 1980 has seen a transformation in relation to the so-called urban equipment, category used to measure the development of a city. With the construction of the mass transportation called Metro and later with its system feeder cables, metro plus, tram, cycle tracks, electric stairs that serve the poorest neighborhoods and improve the quality of life of the general public. In parenthesis, let us remember that the development of a country is measured, among other variables, by its road infrastructure, and in Colombia it goes at 60 km per hour, while the world reaches a speed of 120 km per hour.

And a comment to the margin, these changes cover the population as

a whole, for example, before the 1950s footwear (as well as imported dinnerware and trimmings) was only for wealthy people, later popularized and became Be common, easily accessible for any citizen. The same happens with decent mobility for neighborhoods where there were only trails to wade on a mule, then improvised roads as the only alternative to get home after a tiring day. With the consumption of certain products of the family basket like milk, meat, before a luxury, today are to the access of any worker who earns the basic salary, to this we mean that the changes push for the benefit of the population in general. With this we highlight the changes that produce the technique through the time, the machines produce greater amounts in less time and at low costs.


Therefore, it will be understood by urban equipment construction

works in the sectors of education with modern educational parks, libraries (The Spanish library today threatens ruin), spacious and well equipped schools with high technology equipment, very different To the previous ones that threatened ruins and where there were scarcely chalk, and this is how a poor person can access a competitive education that was previously reserved only for the rich. Here comes a but necessary, although the infrastructure was transformed the same did not happen with the human resource, the same faculty was not intervened, remained the same as always, as the teacher is said to be only chalk, board and saliva, with it Wants to denounce that it does not use, is neither gifted nor trained to use the new educational tools and techniques. So, you can not pretend to change if you continue to do the same.


Another aspect of the urban equipment has to do with the constructions for the enjoyment of the public space and of the sport.

Recall that the international measure is determined per square meter per person, and its standard is 15 square meters per person, in Medellin it only reaches 3 square meters per person. This concept speaks well of the aspirations of educating cities, smartcity, intelligent cities, in the style of the Greek paideia in which the whole environment educates, there is nothing innocent.


Let us not forget also the other anthropological concept which warns

of the proportional relation between number of inhabitants and quality of the coexistence, in sum, in the very dense places violence breeds, it is an instinctual, biological subject that takes to each species to make respect A certain amount of free space around them to lessen a possible threat from a predator. Let's take an example in Medellin with homes built with high density, with no free spaces for adequate recreation and socialization: the Torres de San Sebastián urbanizations located in the center of the city and the other is the citadel of Nuevo Occidente which houses more than Fifteen thousand inhabitants relocated from different territories of the city in which their slums previously threatened death.

To complete the picture of the transformed city, it is pertinent to

mention other interventions that have to do with health and sports infrastructure such as sports courts, cycle paths, pedestrian paths, many of them demarcated for people with reduced mobility or blind. Here also comes another aspect such as access to the internet and Tic, the massification of smartphones, nowadays in the country there are more than 45 million mobile phone lines, surpassing the population in Colombia.

And another aspect not to forget, all this dynamization of the city corresponds with the good times of the economy. And here a somewhat uncomfortable truth for the establishment and is the subject of drug trafficking that literally rained dollars in the city and in the country, so much so that Pablo Escobar was recognized in his time have dominated more than eighty percent of the illicit market world. Without entering into ethical discussions and without ignoring the bloodbath, the truth of the matter is that this group is what is known as the transformed city, the possibility that the poorest communities have access roads, modern health centers, Educational, sports-oriented plaques in their neighborhoods, decent roads and transportation, is what is known as the payment of social debt, invest in the poorest neighborhoods in which they had always been in the forgetfulness of God. That is the city transformed in line with the demands of the modern world of technology and its progress. And this without ignoring the high levels of poverty, inequality in the city.

The previous lines were motivated by the curiosity of the new friends Harry, Debbie, Kaytlyn, and Michael who wanted to come to verify those changes announced by the publicity and that do justice to the poorest people. The main novelty was that of marketing and that makes electric stairs a world singularity as a solution of public transport for the people of the peripheral neighborhoods of those steep mountains of the transformed Medellín, of the same one that finances with the liquor its health And their education.