Involved since 2004 in a fundamental reform of its governance, the Municipality of Medellin, the second largest city of Columbia, has developed a “Social Urbanism” policy, which has been instigated through urban renovation and mobility programmes. The execution of this Full Scale Urban Project -Projet Urbain Intégral (PUI)- has transformed the social and urban landscape of the city and brought great improvements to the living conditions of inhabitants in working-class neighbourhoods.
These urban transformations have been accompanied by a financial restructuring, based mainly on a result related management programme -GPS-. The City Council but also all lessors and observers of Medellin consider that this process should be thoroughly studied and have more widespread application. At the same time the city has to adapt to new challenges.
In the framework of its new appointment to promote “The Growth of Ecology and Social Solidarity”, the French Development Agency AFD has granted a direct loan of 250 million dollars to the City Council of Medellin in support of the implementation of the Full Scale Urban Project -(PUI)- for the Eastern Central area of the city . It will contribute to the funding of an urban transport system (a tramway and two urban cable-cars) aimed at opening up the working class districts of the area which will, at the same time, be revitalised.
The City of Medellin wanted to extend its links with France, whose technical expertise is much valued, to go beyond a simply financial support, to a cooperation of technical accompaniment with the main objective of making French expertise in the field of urbanism available to Medellin. Consequently the City Council of Medellin made known its wish to be accompanied technically to consolidate its development model and to adapt to the challenges of the next twenty years.
The Apur has long been involved in giving technical support to southern towns and cities. Following a first mission carried out with the AFD in February 2010, assisting to identify the problems of undertaking urban operations in Columbia, the Apur showed interest in developing a cooperation with the city's urban planning teams. Reciprocally, these teams, be they from Medellin Municipality, the urban development company Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano, the Metropolitan Area Team or the Urbam Team, they all manifested their wish to be supported by he Apur within the framework of reflection on the development strategy for “Medellin 2030” that they are at present tackling.
The objectives of the present mission are to accompany the team responsible for drawing up the “MEDELLIN 2030” strategy, in defining the section on “Urban Development”.
The specific objectives are as follows:
- Define the the team's needs in regards to its objectives;
- Train team members to prepare and draw up the urban strategy section;
- Contribute to reflection on urban development that respects the environment and urban solidarity;
- Support members of the team during the different stages of constructing the urban development section.