Colombia's architectural tale of two cities

Although success of Bogotá went bad design, architecture emblematic of Medellin is reviving once a city plagued by crime

During the last decade, Colombia has been the cornerstone of what a good design and enlightened policy can do for the cities. If Barcelona was the example in urban 1990s, city planners today are more likely to report the capital of Colombia, Bogota, and its second city, Medellin. In both cities, a succession of mayors has used dynamic transport infrastructure and new public buildings as tools for social change. But this tale of two cities does not come with two happy endings.

In Bogota, two mayors, particularly the former philosophy professor Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa, has had a dramatic impact. Famous, has decent sidewalks, bike paths and bus service to avoid traffic Transmilenio paralyzing the capital - measures that favored the lack of confidence in his possession. His achievements were even more celebrated in a documentary. But this success story gone bad. Today, TransMilenio is so crowded, even the passengers went on strike (probably a victim of its own success), there are many road projects under way that traffic has come to a standstill, and the mayor last Samuel Moreno, awaiting trial for corruption. "Eight years ago who believes in this city, is currently in crisis," says Giancarlo Mazzanti, Colombia's most famous architect.

could not be said of Medellin, which has undergone an incredible transformation. In the 1990s, Medellin is the capital murder of the world. Then, the home of Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels at war, this is a city where almost everyone has a tragic story of a friend or relative. Violent crime remains a problem, especially in poor neighborhoods, but nothing like in its heyday. Medellín today is more likely that the news of a new building photogenic. In recent years there have been architectural magazines sink fed with self-consciously flagship projects of its kind that has been thin on the ground since the recession.

Mazzanti led the charge. Its library of Spain-park, an outcrop of three monolithic structures, hanging over the city from atop a nearby hill. Located in one of the poorest neighborhoods, has become an emblem of the new image of the city as a metropolis of culture. It is one of many. Not Orquideorama even more picturesque, with a wide canopy structure in the hexagonal Botanical Garden, designed by architects of Plan B and JPRCR. This is not the pool complex with landscaped rigor designed by a young man (now defunct) practice called Emerging Landscapes, and the extravagant sports field cover designed by Mazzanti, again, and Felipe Mesa. I visited all the buildings last week, and although each is impressive in its way, I did not intend to meet their qualities here. More interesting is what they represent -. "Social Planning", as described here

• what you think of a building, such as the library of Spain - and there are those who are less successful than an actual building both in terms of appearance - which marked a fundamental change in urban policy. For decades, cities in South America acted as if there were no slums or neighborhoods - often want to legitimize transport links, power grids or running water, have been widely left to their own devices. This library, sitting among a way to do that slums as visible as can be, and thereby recognized as part of the city proper and not a horror unhappy. This is a big turn around at the time it was common to refer to "cut the cancer" slums. For once, the architecture and show that is not used as a tool to promote cultural industry, but to make poverty visible.

even more important that the library is the cable for him from the foot of the hill, residence registration at least one hour to climb the stairs of concrete. It is unlikely, even if it is in this context, the cable has become a trope in the cities of South America, as is often cling to the steep hills slums where it is difficult to build roads . There is one in Caracas and Rio de Janeiro, but the first was completed in Medellin. In fact, this Colombian city is a test of urban innovations. There are several wind hybrid library (central part of the community and some very necessary public spaces), both cable and, more recently, an escalator running out to about 400 meters from the problematic area of ??the City 13.

The man who usually gets the credit for initiating this sequence of urban interventions is, again, a mayor. Sergio Fajardo was a brilliant mathematician who was mayor of Medellin 2003-7. He was obsessed with the idea of ??public space, especially in poor neighborhoods - which attributed the drop in crime during his tenure, in part to the increased amount of public space per capita. The first is the Park Greetings, a stone plaza with fountains that function as a theater for film screenings outdoors. Fajardo, a good architecture and public spaces are a way to generate civic pride, and today Medellin is a product of that vision.

However, Fajardo, the son of an architect, was the man for the times - and like any politician (currently the Governor of the State) who will be happy to take credit. The true story of the transformation of Medellín has its roots in a civic movement that began in the mid 90s and saw politicians, captains of industry and architects working with a common goal. "The most important thing that happened in this city was not architecture, but a" social architecture "consisting of people - politicians and businessmen knew that you must build a future for all" says Jorge Perez, former head of urban planning for the metropolitan area.

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