The trouble with miracles

UNTIL a few years ago, no outsider would have dared to set foot in Comuna 13, once the most dangerous neighbourhood in Medellín, Colombia’s second city. Now travel agencies offer tours to look at the district’s many murals, or to ride the long outdoor escalator built to ascend the steep flanks of the valley in which the city of 2.4m people sits. Such excursions are not just for tourists; mayors from all over the world are trekking to a city that has become a model of urban development. How did the “Medellín miracle” happen? And what can it teach other cities?

Medellín’s recipe looks simple. It used to be the world’s murder capital, the hometown of Pablo Escobar, an all-powerful drug lord. The solution was a radical urban makeover with a redistributive purpose: the best projects were reserved for the poorest, most violent areas. “The point was to bring together a fragmented society and show respect for the most humble,” says Sergio Fajardo, the city’s mayor in 2004-07, who is credited with pioneering what city wonks call “social urbanism”.