Medellin Metrocable

Description

The Metrocable in the city of Medellín was one of the most influential urban projects of the beginning of the new millennium. The project creatively and innovatively combines the problem of urban mobility with the improvement of the informal urban fabric that surrounds the city and creates real boundaries of exclusion.In an urban context marked by the legacy of violence and social and urban fragmentation from the Pablo Escobar era, the election of Sergio Fajardo as Mayor changed the course of the city’s development. Under the leadership of architect Alejandro Echeverri, the new city council created EDU (Urban Development Company), whose mission remains to transform informal settlements through public space and urban transport projects. One of his great achievements was to address the challenge of urban transformation from a multidisciplinary perspective. The Metrocable transport system has been the fundamental tool for initiating urban improvement processes. This form of high-rise communication minimises the impact on the existing fabric and promotes contact between areas of the city that would otherwise remain isolated. Unlike other cable cars in Latin America, the Medellín Metrocable was designed with social criteria in mind. To this end, social and cultural facilities were built at the most sensitive points along the route and public spaces linked to stations. Perhaps the best example of this strategy is the line from Acevedo station to the Santo Domingo Savio hill. Since its inauguration, more than 170,000 passengers have benefited from this infrastructure.