Medellín, Colombia is better known for drug kingpins than architects, but a boom in exciting contemporary architecture with a humanitarian approach has both planners and designers flocking to the city.
Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne paid a visit to Medellín after hearing the hype and is a convert.
He writes, "The city's commitment to public architecture, spearheaded by former mayor Sergio Fajardo, has - as advertised - produced a number of exquisitely designed libraries, schools and parks. Rising in some of Medellín's roughest neighborhoods, these projects are the capstones of a broader civic rebirth that has seen murder rates tumble nearly 90% from their highs of the early 1990s."
Hawthorne sees what's happening in Medellín as a unique blend of the two camps of current architectural trends, the experimental and the humanitarian.
FULL STORY: Medellín, Colombia's architectural renaissance
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service