Medellin has become known as Colombia's "smart city." However, it is not comparable to the "smart cities" you might immediately recognize like San Francisco or Singapore. Medellin is not famous for its tech industry, driverless cars, or advancements in AI. Rather than the technology being centered around the already wealthy and resourced populations, Medellin's initiatives were focused on the people who were the least advantaged.
Medellin is a city with more than two million people and was a center for narcotic crime, poverty, and despair. However, the efforts the city made to integrate technology into the community have turned much of this around. The homicide rate is now one-12 of what it was in the early 90s. Nearly two-thirds of the population have lifted themselves out of poverty. While the city had few basic services, now there is full access to education, transportation, health care, and economic and online services.
The city was able to break away from the stereotypical ideas of integrating technology into a community. They were able to find a way to integrate technology and social change to impact the daily lives of all classes, focusing on the less fortunate.
In the 1990s, the drug cartels were losing power and Pablo Escobar would soon pass away. In this time, residents, government officials, academic experts, and civic organizers met and discussed how to fix Medellin. People felt that they were rebuilding their city after a social disaster. Many people lived without sewage, safe drinking water, and education. The only way to commute to jobs in the valley was through a two to three hour bus route. However, the largest concern was that the citizens did not feel safe. Although the cartels were dying, gangs and crime still persisted. Rather than overwhelming neighborhoods with armed police, the city was able to identify that people turned to crime as the easiest way to be successful in a depressed and isolated area lacking opportunity. To help relieve this problem, the city put the majority of taxes on manufacturers who hoped this would lead to a return on investment by the citizens. They also provided water, energy, and telecommunication and waste services.
The city renewed its education initiatives, training teachers and giving all children access to local after-school programs for free. These education programs have helped to pul thousands of young children a year out of gangs, raising college attendance.
In 2000, the city built a gondola line to help people commute from poor mountain towns to the valley for work. This cut commute times down to twenty minutes and carries 30,000 people daily. To raise the quality of life, public parks and libraries have been built and Medellin is now home to one of the world's most popular science museums.
https://www.newsweek.com/2019/11/22/medellin-colombia-worlds-smartest-city-1471521.html
This is really cool how the city focused on its less fortunate rather than the wealthy, and is something not seen in many places. I believe what Medellin was going for was a very good idea and has proven to work. It will be really interesting to see if this idea of a "smart city" starts to catch on in other South American countries that face similar problems.
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