From an aerial position above the surrounding neighborhoods, the landscape unfolds in a 180-degree panorama. The view is from inside a cable car in Medellin, Colombia, which is transiting from a dense hillside settlement toward the city’s central valley. From this vantage point, the overall form of Medellin is remarkable in its legibility and visual drama. Densely packed rows of houses descend the steep slope, each provided with a stunning view of the central business district and opposing mountainside. The entire city is a theater; its inhabitants are the players and the audience, performing regularly on these urban-scaled tiers and stages.
Just two decades ago, this experience was not possible. Armed militias and drug cartels dominated Medellin’s informal settlements, making them epicenters of poverty and violence. Since then, however, visionary design and policy changes have transformed Medellin into a model city. In 2002-2010, the poverty rate declined by 39%—and its homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants dropped from 395 in 1991 to 13 in 2023. In 2013, The Wall Street Journal, Citigroup, and Urban Land Institute recognized Medellin as the world’s most innovative city for its “continuous progress and development potential.”
Significantly, the initiatives that transformed Medellin have made it a model city for both locals and visitors. Unlike the approach of “cleaning up” unsafe neighborhoods by imminent domain projects intended for privileged audiences—or the ubiquitous phenomenon of gentrification, which has a similar long-term displacement effect—Medellin’s neighborhood improvements serve both inhabitants and tourists. The key to this positive outcome was the implementation of “social urbanism” in the form of holistic interventions called Integral Urban Projects (Proyectos Urbanos Integrales, or PUIs). A strategic combination of social programs and physical infrastructure upgrades enhanced underserved areas with new community facilities, housing, and improved public spaces. One of the most visible PUI interventions is the Metrocable system, a collection of cable car lines that fly over the steep terrain, greatly enhancing mobility for local residents and visitors.
The PUI strategy derives its significant potential from the thoughtful consideration of cultural capital, both in tangible and intangible forms. According to one definition, cultural capital “refers to various assets with cultural value, such as noteworthy buildings, monuments, historic artefacts, and so forth.” In Medellin’s informal neighborhoods, these assets include the urban interventions of parks, schools, public libraries, and, in the case of the Comuna 13 district, escalators that traverse the steep terrain. The existing terraced urban landscape may also be seen as a tangible cultural asset, as it provides an extraordinary spatially and visually engaging setting that enhances physical and social connections.
Social urbanism can be implemented in a variety of locations and scales. Another example is Al-Khalifa, a working-class district in Cairo’s Islamic section. The historic neighborhood of 20,000 inhabitants contains over 100 significant religious monuments, such as the Cairo Citadel. Despite its rich cultural heritage, the district has suffered from failing infrastructure and the lack of public green space. And yet, thanks to the Megawra Built Environment Collective, an architectural office and conservation-focused NGO, the neighborhood is benefiting from several urban design improvements. One project is the Al-Khalifa Heritage and Environment Park, a new 32,000 ft2 (3,000 m2) green space full of indigenous plants and a demonstration agricultural project to teach residents about urban farming. The park, which includes walking paths, seating, and recreational areas, utilizes stored stormwater as its primary water source and provides much-needed shade in a district characterized by impervious surfaces. Other Megawra projects include the renovation of the Imam al-Shafi’i Mausoleum and Al-Saliba House to be used as neighborhood resources.
Envisioning new uses for underutilized structures that have historical and architectural merit is another way to maximize cultural capital. Camp North End, a massive redevelopment project in North Charlotte, NC, is a model of this kind of post-industrial transformation. Originally one of the largest Ford plants in the country, the 72-acre property designed by Albert Khan was later purchased by the U.S. government for use as an army quartermaster depot during World War II. When ATCO Properties and Management purchased the land in 2016, the developer imagined new uses for the site’s massive steel and brick warehouses, including retail, entertainment, office, housing, hotel, light industry, and public amenity spaces. Since then, the project has gradually evolved to become one of the most compelling destinations in the city. Two decisions were crucial for Camp North End’s success as a social urbanism experiment: one is the thoughtful, creative adaptation of existing structures and landscape (rather than a raze and rebuild approach), and the other is the respectful engagement with local groups, such as the North End Community Coalition, to ensure that the redevelopment benefits nearby residents as well as visitors.
Any urban transformation carries risks. The complex economic, environmental, and social factors influencing a neighborhood can never be fully predicted or controlled. That said, combining two fundamental strategies for enhancing cultural capital—respectfully utilizing the tangible assets of architecture and the intangible assets of a community—can increase the opportunity for successful outcomes. In some cases, like the revitalization of Medellin’s once war-torn hillside communities, social urbanism can lead to seemingly miraculous outcomes.
