District management in geological and social ‘high-risk zones’ in Medellín, Colombia

During the 1990s, in many cities in Europe district management became an instrument of direct neighbourhood intervention, in an effort to foster sustainable cities. District management involves multisectoral, purposeful coordination of public and private resources, as well as local grassroots organisations and citizens, to improve the conditions of life, housing, and environmental quality in segregated and conflictive neighbourhoods. The aim is to reintegrate neighbourhoods into the urban fabric and achieve social and environmental sustainability. Can such a participatory strategy based on local orchestration of conflicting interests be successful in so-called geological and social high-risk districts in a Latin American metropolis like Medellín? Between 1993 and 2003, 46,418 people were killed in Medellín, most of them inhabitants of segregated neighbourhoods. Some answers might be sought in considering the lessons learned from the Integral Program of Subnormal District Improvement in Medellín (PRIMED), co-funded by a German development organisation (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, KfW), and implemented by the municipality of Medellín between 1993 and 2002.