RIVER PARK IN MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA

Nature as the Backbone of the City

Sebastián Monsalve (Cauce) +Juan David Hoyos

The urban system of the Parques del Río running along the Aburrà Valley focuses on creating an inhabitable space in a part of the city experienced for years as a boundary, given that Medellin was divided in two for years by the river. This condition limited relations between the riverbanks and defined true and proper separations between two parts of the same city. This reunification was also supported by a process that involved cleaning up the river and the construction of a filtration plant inside the metropolitan area. The project takes concrete form through the development of strategic areas of intervention involving diverse sectors of the city, doing more than offer new public spaces but also providing a solution to a growing population in the valley’s hillside areas. One of the principal aims of the Parques del Río is therefore to recover lands that are not used efficiently and to reutilise them to introduce urbanity in areas near the centre, privileging growth toward the interior, almost building atop the built.

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