With Medellín we are visiting - for the first time - a South American city, and more particularly, one whose urban and social implications have in recent years been at the centre of contemporary debate on cities and their future.
As usual, we work from four GIS (Geographic Information System) generated maps. The first looks at the topography of the area and population distribution; the second shows the land-use system and how it relates to community patterns; the third examines public transport density; the fourth highlights how the environmental system relates to the particular urban structure.
Given Medellín’s particular orographic context, its compact urban form comes as no surprise.
The first map shows how 3.5 million inhabitants are mainly concentrated along the Aburrà Valley through which runs the river Medellín.
The city appears as an elongated, densely populated urbanised strip that over the centuries has extended along this valley running north-south. Even the slopes coursing east to west encircling the city have been encroached upon. Urban sprawl continues to creep up the high ground.
Indeed Medellín’s specific topography, surrounded by steep hills, explains many of the population and infrastructure density map readings.
The population is mainly concentrated in the outlying areas south and north of the city. The old town in the central part of this long urbanised band is no longer densely populated.
As well as channelling population density, the hilly terrain has greatly affected infrastructure development. This is especially true of the road system, which is prevalently deployed around the city’s only highway (Highway 26). The valley landscape bordered by steep slopes has prevented the creation of a system tangential to the city centre that would relieve this single congested north-south artery. All the maps examined proves Medellín to be a city inextricably...
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