Living Lab
The city of Medellín—together with 100 Resilient Cities –
releases citywide Resilience Strategy
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The city has the support of 100RC Platform Partners, such as Swiss Re, The Nature Conservancy, RMS, Fundación Mario Santo Domingo, Build Change, and Save the Children, among many others.
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The Medellín Resilience Strategy will allow the city to implement solutions for meeting the challenges generated by globalization, urbanization, and climate change, and their social and economic impacts.
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‘Resilient Medellín’ comes three years after Medellín was selected to join the 100RC Network.
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Mayor Federico Gutiérrez also signs 10% Resilience Pledge, allocating 10% of Medellín’s newly released 2016-2019 City Development Plan from 2016 to 2019 for resilience efforts. As a result, 100RC will provide up to $5 million in goods and services from the 100RC Platform to support ‘Resilient Medellín’.
Medellín, Colombia - The Mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, announced today the launch of ‘Resilient Medellín: A Strategy for the Future’, a citywide Resilience Strategy that seeks to implement solutions to meet the challenges posed by globalization, urbanization, and climate change, along with their social and economic impacts.
The strategy is a result of the partnership between Medellín and 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) through the Medellín Office of Resilience, led by Chief Resilience Officer Santiago Uribe Rocha. In 2013, Medellín was one of the first cities to join the 100RC network, which also includes a number of global cities like Los Angeles, Barcelona, London, Paris, Athens, Bangkok and Rio de Janeiro, among others.
The strategy is structured around four main themes:
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An Equitable Medellín, to develop a more inclusive city with opportunities for all citizens;
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A Safe Medellín, by promoting the prevention of crime and violence and a culture of legality;
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A Sustainable Medellín, prepared to face risks by improving available infrastructure; and
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A Well-Informed Medellín, through improvements in data management systems, and access to information.
Mayor Gutiérrez said that ‘Resilient Medellín’ is a great opportunity to support the newly released citywide Development Plan and continue working for a city with an inclusive and forward-looking vision for the future. "Resilient is perhaps the most beautiful and complete adjective we can use to describe Medellín. Today Medellín is an innovative, inclusive, and forward-looking city. But all this has only been possible thanks to the ability to overcome the obstacles we have faced over the years," Gutiérrez added.
To achieve Medellín’s vision of resilience and implement ‘Resilient Medellín’, the city has the support of the members from the 100RC Platform of Partners, including Swiss Re, The Nature Conservancy, RMS, Fundación Mario Santo Domingo, Build Change, and Save the Children, among many others.
"100 Resilient Cities is very excited to continue our relationship with Medellín, a city at the forefront of urban transformation and resilience for Latin America and the world," said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100RC. "As we celebrate the launch of ‘Resilient Medellín’, we see a city striving to get ahead of its challenges. This strategy exemplifies the holistic and award-winning thinking that Medellín has shown the world,” he said.
Berkowitz also stated that the strategy contains a strong component to combat the effects of climate change: "Climate change is a major determinant in the activities established within the Strategy. When weather events become more extreme due to climate change, the most affected populations are generally those vulnerable and in poverty. Therefore, you need to implement comprehensive measures to effectively live the impacts,” he said.
Among the key proposals in "Resilient Medellín" are:
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“A Colaboratorios” – Public Experimentation Workshop: To foster an open city, focused on youth development, by equipping spaces with tools for research, experimentation, and collective creation in diverse fields, such as robotics, astronomy, and biodiversity.
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Guarantees of Non-Repetition of Violence: To ensure social stability, security, and justice, the implementation of a legal instrument to determine effective violence prevention strategies jointly at the local, regional, and national levels, while ensuring the rights of victims and strengthening political culture.
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Strengthening Community Risk Management: To ensure continuity of essential services, while also maintaining and improving city assets, a pilot project that aims to train a group selected from city’s local risk management committees located in the neighborhoods of Medellín, which are responsible for identifying and alerting the communities about the possible natural risks that may occur, so they can take preventative measures to save lives.
"For most people, ‘resilience’ is a new, strange, even difficult word to understand and that few people associate with the history of Medellín, its institutions, and its people,” said Santiago Uribe Rocha, Chief Resilience Officer of Medellín. “However, after the recognition the city received by joining the 100 Resilient Cities Network, the word has become a common concept when talking about urban and social transformations of the city.”
Along with the presentation of ‘Resilient Medellín’, Mayor Gutierrez also signed the "10% Resilience Pledge” in partnership with 100RC. In signing the pledge, the City of Medellín pledges to allocate 10% of programs in the Citywide Development Plan to resilience initiatives, which enables the city to financially manage the goals of the Resilience Strategy. Under this initiative, Medellín now joins two dozen other cities to have signed the pledge, including Mexico City, Paris and New Orleans. As a result of this commitment, 100RC will provide up to an additional $5 million worth of goods and services from the 100RC Platform of Partners to support implementation of ‘Resilient Medellín’.