Political theatres in the urban periphery: Medellín and the Library-Parks Project

Cauê Capillé

doi:10.15446/bitacora.v28n2.69893

Abstract

Los Parques-Biblioteca de Medellín son cruciales en el proyecto de ‘mejoramiento urbano y social’ de esta ciudad. Ellos consisten en una combinación de programas culturales y generosos espacios exteriores y interiores para uso público, construidos con la intención de producir un nuevo sentido de comunidad y ciudadanía mediante la arquitectura y su apropiación. Este hecho abre una serie de preguntas sobre el uso instrumental de la arquitectura dentro de proyectos más amplios de transformaciones urbanas. En particular, estos proyectos urbanos intentaron transformar áreas que hasta ahora eran periféricas en la economía, la cultura y la política de esta ciudad. Este artículo intenta abordar cómo el ‘Proyecto de Parques-Biblioteca’ materializa y produce ideologías de política y cultura en contextos de periferia (cultural, económica y política).

Highlights

Medellín, the second largest city of Colombia, is undergoing important social and urban changes since the beginning of the 1990s
These areas were hitherto peripheral in this city’s economy, culture and politics, and even stigmatised as places of violent drug trafficking. These conditions and negative image have been gradually replaced by that of a planning practice that focuses in ‘upgrading’ the spatial condition of informal settlements, as well as integrating these settlements with the ‘formal’ city. Due to this process of urban ‘upgrading’, Medellín became a model for the re-making of the urban peripheries in Latin America and in the so-called ‘Global South’ (Ortiz Arciniegas, 2012; 2014b)
In the case of the Library-Parks, for example, Herman Montoya (2014) explains that participatory processes had to be extensively improved for what he called the ‘second generation’ of Library-Parks, after the first five were built. These projects made possible to include these areas into an urban economy that a few elite groups took control – all under the motto of a ‘greater good’ (González Vélez and Carrizosa Isaza, 2011; Ortiz Arciniegas, 2014a; 2014b)

Summary

Introduction

The second largest city of Colombia, is undergoing important social and urban changes since the beginning of the 1990s. In the case of the Library-Parks, for example, Herman Montoya (2014) explains that participatory processes had to be extensively improved for what he called the ‘second generation’ of Library-Parks, after the first five were built (namely, the Library-Parks San Javier, España, La Ladera, La Quintana and Belén) These projects made possible to include these areas into an urban economy that a few elite groups took control – all under the motto of a ‘greater good’ (González Vélez and Carrizosa Isaza, 2011; Ortiz Arciniegas, 2014a; 2014b). Studies (Cardona Ortiz, 2012) indicate that the Library-Parks have a positive effect in the education of people of the surrounding neighbourhoods, mainly due to their cultural programmes and the open access to internet and computer facilities Aside these programmes, these buildings are “for collective life”, as they work as extensions of urban public space (Franco Calderón and Zabala Corredor, 2012; Giraldo Giraldo, Román Betancur and Quiroz Posada, 2009; Jaramillo, 2012). It is precisely the spatial rather than economic and literary impact of the Library-Parks that has received very little attention in the literature

Politics through architecture

Political theatres in the urban periphery