Gearing Up

Having only recently become aware of Medellín, Colombia, I have since become fascinated by the city. Over the past decade, the city has managed to shed it's previous title as "the most dangerous city in the world" and transform into a safe and inviting place for locals and tourists alike. Much of this positive change can be attributed to the former mayor, Sergio Fajardo and his former Director of Urban Projects, Alejandro Echeverri. Working with the belief that “Our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas” (Sergio Fajardo), this dynamic duo set about initiating major public works across the city. I was first introduced to these urban revolutionaries through the CurryStone Design prize, whose website does a much better job of describing their work, so for further reading, please check out
http://currystonedesignprize.com/2009/finalists/fajardo_and_echeverri

You're probably wondering by now, ok, so Medellín is a cool city with lots of exciting new architecture, but what exactly does that have to do with me? Well, through some awesome connections and a giant dose of good luck, I have been offered the opportunity to play a small part in these transformative works.

Having completed his post as Director of Urban Projects, Alejandro Echeverri recently became the director of Urb.am, the center for Urban and Environmental Studies at EAFIT University. There, he has compiled an interdisciplinary team of experts to study trends in urban society and their effect upon the environment (and vice versa). For those of you who understand Spanish, you can read up on Urb.am here (http://www.eafit.edu.co/centros/urb-am/Paginas/quienes-somos.aspx).

One of the center's current projects is documenting and analyzing the major architectural and urban works completed in Medellín over the past 8 years. Since these projects have evidently played an important role in the revitalization of the city, the obvious questions would be how and why. Apparently, I will get a chance to try and help answer those very important questions while working as a 'foreign consultant' at Urb.am for the next 6 months. Wish me luck! =)


The city of Medellín...as photographed by someone awesome, but whose website I cannot re-locate. If it's you, please let me know and I'd be happy to give credit.