Medellin Sustainability

Abstract

Medellin was one of the worst cities in the world in the 1980’s and 1990’s. This was due to an increased amount of illegal gang activity. The government in Medellin to change the environment for the better. The way they did this was by introducing some development goals that were set to decrease crime rates and improve total quality of life. Things that were done by the government were things like introducing new forms of transportation and fixing old ones. The government made these goals that connected with the 21st article in the United Declaration of Human Rights. The government has made lots of improvements but there can be more things done to further improve the quality of life for the people.

Introduction

Medellin has changed a lot since the 1980’s and the 1990’s. Back then there were crimes everyday and people dying daily. This was due to all the gang related activity happening there. Medellin is in Colombia where it is always warm weather there in colombia. This meaning that there is nothing to deter crime. In Medellin the temperature does not change a whole lot “During an average day in the city the temperature typically ranges from 63.2 to 82.1 °F”(Weather and Climate in Medellín: The City of Eternal Spring. (2017, May 26). This means that even in the coldest months it is still not freezing cold. In places where the temperature changes and it becomes cold crime rates decrease because it can be too cold for crime to happen but this does not happen in colombia it is a constant weather year round however, in Medellin there are two rainy seasons where it can rain for most of the season. It can rain up to 21 days a month in those rainy seasons (Weather and Climate in Medellín: The City of Eternal Spring. (2017, May 26) .Even with all the violence in Medellin the government decided to try to decrease the crime rates in medellin by introducing Development goals that had targets that they had to accomplish by a certain year. Medellin wanted to become more sustainable and to become more urbanized. In the development goal they have implemented a some different things to help decrease crime and increase the urbanization of Medellin. There has been lots of development goals happening in Medellin throughout the years.

Past History Of Medellin

In the 1980’s to the 1990’s Medellin was known as one of the most violent city in the world. This was due to all the illegal activities that were being done in the area. Gangs took over the area and created a lot of crimes at very high rates. Pablo Escobar was the leader of the gang that was fighting with the government. The cartel sells drugs “Medellin is one of the most violentcities in the world because of the cocaine cartel”(Farah, D. (1991, March 10). Drugs are a big market of selling because there are always going to be people who want a certain drug and are willing to pay top dollar for it. This is why the drug cartels are successful because people want what they have. The cartels have many people killed to protect themselves and everyone that works for them. According to a Medellin spokesperson they said that there were only 1200 deaths in that year. People did not believe him because lots of killings go left unreported so thereis a higher number of murders depending on who is asked “In 1990, according to police figures, 4,637 people were murdered in Medellin, up from 4,141 in 1989.”(Farah, D. (1991, March 10). There was an increased amount of people killed during the years in the 1990’s. Many people were dying at the hands of cartels in those years; however the Government wanted to change those statistics and decided to make development goals in wish of lowering crime rates and increasing urbanization.

Problems In Medellin

Problems in Medellin were mostly associated with all the gang activity that was happening at the time. These gangs killed thousands of people every month at gunpoint for what looked like to be no reason “in April, when killings surged to as many as 40 a day”Farah, D. (1991, March 10). This meaning that lots of people were dying daily this number is one of the highest numbers in the world. Another problem in Medellin is the environment this meaning that the way they live in is bad they have bad air quality and other problems. These problems include“ significant problems associated with transport–such as energy consumption, air pollution, the excessive growth of car ownership, congestion, accidents” also things like bad use of green spaces or deterioration of green spaces amongst other things.

What They Are Doing To Fix It

The government in Medellin wanted to fix these problems and so they came up with a development goal to help accomplish the things they wanted to change. So they implemented “the Development Plan 2016–2019–‘Medellin is counting on you’”(Andrews, J. (2017, May 31).With this plan they wanted to increase the amount of transportation a person can use. In this planthey wanted to integrate the systems from a larger transportation system into their system to make it better for the people using it making it more widespread and accessible to the people who wanted to use it. Doing these things would increase the quality of life that the people felt and make the people overall more happy to live there. Things the government of Medellin plan to do “The city is looking to achieve infrastructure that favours the movement of people using non-motorised modes of transport;”(Andrews, J. (2017, May 31). This means that the government wanted to add more things like bikes and other ways of transportation that did not include motors and that would benefit the environment. Other things that would be done would be “Strengthening the use and culture of public Transportation”(Andrews, J. (2017, May 31).

The government wanted to improve the conditions regarding accessibility and road safety of the population. By doing this not everyone will need a car and can rely more on the public transportation. This is good because with everyone having a car the streets were becoming more and more crowded and it became harder to move around. Another thing According to Andrews with everyone having cars this decreased the air quality in Colombia because there was more exhaust fumes coming out of cars because there were more cars around. How Medellin Is During The GoalMedellin is in the development goal right now ‘Medellin is counting on you’. With this goal they have increased the quality of life for the people that live there .The government's approach was ”Medellin has successfully implemented an integrated and multi-sector approach that has included a combination of violence prevention programs”(Ijjasz-Vasquez, E. (2017, July10). They split of the city into different parts and looked at them individually and added what needed to be added to the city to make it better for the people whether it be crime prevention or something else. They did these things so they can make a better and more livable city for the people there. They implemented cable cars and added the system “MetroPlús, which is fully integrated with the existing underground metro and cable car systems, EnCicla bike share”(Medellín: A Leader in Sustainable Transport. (2014, September 04). This system helped the people get around the city of Medellin more easily than before because now they borrow a bike or take the public transportation which will reduce the congestion due to all the cars and increase the air quality. During the goal they have added and remade parks and green spaces “1.6million square meters of new public space, including 25 new parks and 11 new promenades.(Medellín: A Leader in Sustainable Transport. (2014, September 04). The government wants to make the city better so people can enjoy living there. Before there was a bad system of transportation and lots of crimes. During the development goal the transportation system is beingupgraded and the crimes rates are being reduced. The car emissions were decreased a lot “Vehicle exhaust emission control and sulphur content improvement”(Sustainable Transport Award - Medellin - United Nations Partnerships for SDGs platform. (n.d.). This meaning that thegovernment is making new laws for car companies.

UDHR

The development connects with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The development goal connects with Article 21 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 21 states “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly”(Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). Therefore people can participate in the government themselves or have people that they voted for participate. So people going to the government to get bills passed and talking about things to do is participating in the government. People do not have to be elected officials to take place in the government. This is what the 21st article says, everyone has a equal right to participate.

Conclusion/Solutions

Medellin is already becoming better than it was in the past due to the government trying to make it better. Somethings that can be further done to improve the conditions for people who live in Medellin will be to further enhance the fuel efficiency of the cars that are driven for example like the public transportation and the privately owned cars. This will decrease the amount of exhaust that is produced and help to increase the air quality in Medellin. Another thing would be to add more green spaces and parks for people. By adding more public spaces forpeople life quality can be improved for people because they will believe that the government is trying to better the city. Colombia has done a lot to improve the overall condition that the people live in by “focusing on the improvement of public spaces, enhancing physical connectivity, and expanding education.”(Medellín: A Story of Transformation. (2018, October 26). This means that people are becoming smarter because they are improving technology and public spaces and other things that make a person overall life quality higher.

Citation Page

Andrews, J. (2017, May 31). Why Medellin is 'counting on' citizens to improve its sustainability.Retrieved from https://cities-today.com/why-medellin-is-counting-on-citizens-to-improve-its-

Running Head: Sustainability In Medellin9sustainability/Ijjasz-Vasquez, E. (2017, July 10). How is Medellin a model of urban transformation and social resilience? Retrieved from https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/how-medellin-model-urban-transformation-and-social-resilienceFarah, D. (1991, March 10). RECORD MURDER WAVE OVERWHELMS MEDELLIN. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/03/10/record-murder-wave-overwhelms-medellin/5e7f1080-1ea0-46e8-bfef-1ab4df9d53d0/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a2786f1db350How Medellín's Most Crime-Ridden Area Became a Top Tourist Destination. (2018, April 11). Retrieved from https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/medellin-most-crime-ridden-area-top-tourist-destination/Medellín: A Story of Transformation. (2018, October 26). Retrieved from https://blog.iese.edu/cities-challenges-and-management/2018/10/26/medellin-a-story-of-transformation/Medellín: A Leader in Sustainable Transport. (2014, September 04). Retrieved from https://www.itdp.org/2012/04/03/medellin-a-leader-in-sustainable-transport/

Running Head: Sustainability In Medellin10Sustainable Transport Award - Medellin - United Nations Partnerships for SDGs platform. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=2246Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/Warnock-Smith, A. (2016, May 13). Story of cities #42: Medellín escapes grip of drug lord to embrace radical urbanism. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/13/story-cities-pablo-escobar-inclusive-urbanism-medellin-colombiaWeather and Climate in Medellín: The City of Eternal Spring. (2017, May 26). Retrieved from https://medellinliving.com/weather-climate/ 

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