Contenido

El escudo, la bandera y el himno de la ciudad tienen el reconocimiento de símbolos oficiales del municipio de Medellín según el Decreto 151 del 20 de febrero de 2002,[21]​ y como emblemas de la ciudad forman parte de la imagen institucional de la administración municipal, por lo cual están presentes en los actos, eventos y medios oficiales en los que deban figurar por su carácter representativo.

Shield

The coat of arms of Medellín is the oldest emblem of the city; It has its origin in the granting of its use by King Charles II of Spain through the Royal Decree given in Madrid on March 31, 1678, and whose document says:

However, a more refined and structured description in heraldic language, although it is not official, would be:[22]​.

The coat of arms has been maintained over time since it was granted, with no more variations than aesthetic ones, since it is noteworthy that there are different stylistic versions between the Mayor's Office and the Municipal Council, and none of them aesthetically comply with heraldic norms.

Flag and anthem

The municipality adopted the flag of Antioquia, to which the city's shield was added to differentiate them. The flag is made up of two horizontal stripes of equal proportions, the upper one white and the lower green, and in the center between both stripes is the shield. The color white symbolizes purity, integrity, obedience, firmness and eloquence. Green represents hope, abundance, freedom and faith.

Likewise, Medellín adopted the anthem of Antioquia, in accordance with decree 151 of February 20, 2002, Article 10:[23]​.

First settlers

Around the 1500s, the Aburrá Valley was traveled by tribes of hunters and gatherers. When the Spanish conquerors arrived they found a large native population settled, which offered little resistance. They were aburraes, yamesíes, peques, ebejicos, noriscos and maníes who had been there since the century BC. C., according to approximations. They had corn and bean crops, raised curies and mute dogs, wove cotton blankets, traded salt ("Sal (condiment)"), and knew goldsmithing. Under Spanish rule they were distributed into encomiendas and displaced from their territories. Desertion, mistreatment, diseases and hard, intensive work on the land and in the mines decimated them in a few years.[24]​.

Spanish period

The valley where Medellín is located today was discovered on August 24, 1541, Saint Bartholomew's Day, by Jerónimo Luis Tejelo, a captain under the orders of Marshal Jorge Robledo "Jorge Robledo (conquistador)"), who founded Santa Fe de Antioquia that same year and is considered the conqueror of Antioquia. The valley was called Valle de Aburrá by the indigenous people who inhabited it and was called Valle de San Bartolomé or Los Alcázares by the Spanish. The indigenous people responded with bellicosity according to some chroniclers, a resistance that forced Tejelo to entrench himself for defense and to send an express to Marshal Robledo asking for help, with which they easily defeated the aborigines. This resistance was actually carried out by the indigenous people who lived in the Guayabal hamlet, since the others who occupied the valley preferred to flee or take their own lives.[25]​.

On January 15, 1574, Gaspar de Rodas requested from the Cabildo of the city of Antioquia a strip of land in the Aburrá Valley to found ranches and food ranches; However, the first property title was granted in 1580 to the bishop of Cartagena, the Spanish Juan Daza. In 1582, as governor, Gaspar de Rodas gave some of his lands to his son Alonso and Juan Rodríguez Angulo, but he kept an Indian encomienda for himself. On February 4, 1596, Rhodes gave the few indigenous people who were in the Aburrá Valley land titles for their farms and cement factories.[26]​.

On March 2, 1616, Francisco de Herrera Campuzano, of the Council of King Philip III, judge of the Royal Court of the New Kingdom of Granada and general visitor of the province of Antioquia, founded an Indian town, an indigenous reservation which he called San Lorenzo de Aburrá, where today El Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)" is located;[27]​ However, the gradual decrease in the number of indigenous people who inhabited the town He caused the lands to be assigned, little by little, to new owners, which led to their disappearance in 1685.

A large part of the population that settled in the valley was located on the banks of the Aná ravine, taking the name of Sitio de Aná, a space that emerged without a foundation and whose inhabitants increased little by little. Around the central square, the first church of walls and tiles was built, consecrated to the Virgin of Candelaria, and at 54 years of life it had barely 700 inhabitants of the 3,000 that populated the territory between Ancón de la Valeria (today Caldas "Caldas (Antioquia)") to the pastures of Barbosa "Barbosa (Antioquia)").[25]

Since 1670, the inhabitants asked the Royal Court to erect their population into a town, encountering resistance from Santa Fe de Antioquia. On March 20, 1671, the then governor of the province of Antioquia, Francisco de Montoya y Salazar, decreed the founding of the Villa, but the complaints of the residents of the city of Antioquia before the Royal Court led to the annulment of the erection of the Villa only eleven months later.

Finally, Queen Mariana of Austria, widow of Philip IV, on behalf of her son Charles II, granted the Royal Certificate of Foundation on November 22, 1674, and on November 2, 1675, the erection of the small town into a town by Miguel de Aguinaga y Mendigoitia was carried out, which was now renamed Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Medellín. On November 17, the first councilors took office and on November 20, the first meeting of the Town Council, Regiment and Justice took place.

A century later, in 1783, new streets were opened by order of Francisco Silvestre y Sánchez, who was governor of the province of Antioquia. In 1786, the Oidor Juan Antonio Mon y Velarde had the houses numbered, which were 242 with one floor and 29 with balconies, and marked the streets with the names of San Francisco, San Lorenzo, La Amargura (today Ayacucho Street), El Prado, among others.[25] He also dictated measures on sanitation, public education, improvement of commerce and administrative systems; It also provides the town with running water, creates agricultural colonies and stimulates mining. These progressive measures lift the spirits of the inhabitants and allow us to glimpse better times for the population and for the entire province.[2]​.

Already in the century and at the height of Independence, on August 21, 1813, after declaring the independence of the State of Antioquia, the Most Excellent President Dictator Juan del Corral established Medellín and Marinilla as a city, and recognized its inhabitants as free people, a privilege that until then, and with regard to the province, only Santa Fe de Antioquia and Rionegro "Rionegro (Antioquia)" had. In 1826 it was named capital of Antioquia, with 6,050 inhabitants that year.[2]​.

19th century

In the first years of the century, the city experienced slow development due, among other things, to the precarious communication routes with the rest of the country and abroad. From the intellectual, material and social point of view, the characteristics of a town of incipient civilization continued to be preserved. It was not until the period between 1830 and 1850 when the city began its gradual development.[25] Education took a transcendental leap in this period. During the colonial era and even at the beginning of the Republic, there were few schools and colleges, a situation that changed from the middle of the century, being notable during the government of Pedro Justo Berrío.[28]​.

At that time, the Medellín River lacked bridges that crossed it and the construction of one became necessary, since its waters were abundant, especially in winter, and rafts were required to cross it. The Colombia bridge was the first within the city's territory and was built with national aid offered by the then president Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera in 1846. The second bridge over the river was that of Guayaquil.[25]​.

In 1868, the transfer of the headquarters of the diocese from Santa Fe de Antioquia to Medellín was decreed, which allowed it to strengthen the religious institutions that existed at that time.[28]​ The construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral marked a milestone not only in the religious field but also from an architectural point of view.[29]​ Likewise, commerce was strengthened until it was consolidated as a financial activity. This is how the Banco de Antioquia emerged in Medellín in 1871, the Banco de Medellín in 1881, the Banco Popular in 1882 and the Banco del Comercio in 1896.[28]​.

20th century

The city's takeoff towards modernity coincided with an accelerated growth of its population, from 20,000 inhabitants in 1870 to 170,000 in 1938. The city consolidated itself as a center of trade in gold, coffee, real estate, mechanics, foundry, speculation and import of merchandise. This commercial vocation was complemented at the beginning of the century with an industrial one (textiles, soft drinks, cigarettes, footwear, among others), taking advantage of the presence of abundant water sources, advances in mobility and nearby markets.

At the same time that the first automobiles imported from the United States and France entered, important factories were created, particularly textile companies, such as the Compañía Colombiana de Tejidos Coltejer (1907), or the Hilados y Tejidos del Hato factory (Fabricato), which began operating in the 1920s and in less than two decades would consolidate itself as the second most important textile company, after Coltejer. Other important companies were created in these years such as the Colombian Tobacco Company (1919), the Lux Soda factory (1925) and in relation to the coffee industry, the founding of Café La Bastilla in 1922 stands out.

Starting in 1910, these industries became the main engine of urban growth, and created a first generation of industrial entrepreneurs and salaried workers. The city attracted immigrants from the countryside with aspirations of working in factories and warehouses. More prosperous immigrants also arrived, such as mining entrepreneurs, merchants, ranchers and young people from wealthy families, with the idea of ​​getting an education.

In the middle of the century, the city also began to develop modern architecture with the help of architects such as the Austrian Federico Blodek, who designed works such as the Suramericana, Fabricato (which was the tallest in the city) and Banco de Colombia office buildings. the settlements on the slopes, setting up an industrial zone in Guayabal, articulating the city around the river, building the Atanasio Girardot stadium and the “La Alpujarra” administrative center. Soon, the Pilot Plan was overwhelmed by the reality of a population that tripled in 20 years, going from 358,189 inhabitants in 1951 to 1,071,252 in 1973.

During this period, construction was very dynamic and farmers, who did not have access to housing credit, began to build on the slopes. Many old buildings in the center, and even from the beginning of the century, were demolished to make way for buildings that were used for offices and housing, including Coltejer, the symbol of the city. The textile sector was modernized in this period and the industrial vocation of the city was definitively consolidated.[33]​[34]​.

For the first time, after Antioquia had a rising economy for 150 years, in the 1970s the initial symptoms of what was the greatest economic and social crisis in its history appeared. Indicators of increased unemployment appear, and with it crime and general insecurity. Although the country as a whole faced a critical period in its economy between 1970 and 1980, this crisis had a special impact on Medellín, which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation.[35]​.

21st century

Until 2008 in the Paisa region, of which Medellín is a part, at least six of the main emerging gangs[38][39]​ operated from the remains of the paramilitary groups[40]​ that demobilized during the peace talks with the Colombian government in the period 2004-2006, such as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, Águilas Negras, the Oficina de Envigado, Los Urabeños, Los Rastrojos and Los Paisas "Los Paisas (Criminal Gang)"); the last four active as of 2015.

These criminal groups concentrate their operations in cities and small towns throughout the country, trying to control drug flows to the Atlantic Coast "Caribbean Region (Colombia)") and control illegal mining.[41]​ The drug trafficking routes move especially through the departments of Córdoba "Córdoba (Colombia)") and Sucre "Sucre (Colombia)") where they sell drugs to organizations that have better infrastructure. large and can move drugs internationally.[38]​.

The concern to stop the flows of urban violence has led to the presentation of social inclusion projects that include infrastructure such as park-libraries in conflictive urban areas, mass transportation systems such as the Metro, Metroplús and the Tram[42]​ and the participation of the private, official and institutional sectors to unify a city project, the proliferation of cultural and artistic events, the construction of libraries, parks and educational centers and the creation and renewal of public space.

Location

Medellín is located in the geographic center of the Aburrá Valley, on the central mountain range "Cordillera Central (Colombia)") of the Andes at the coordinates. The city has a total area of ​​328 km of which 110 km are urban land and 218 km are rural land.[43]​.

The Aburrá Valley has an extension of 1,152 km that is part of the Medellín River basin, the main river artery that crosses the region from south to north. The formation of the Aburrá Valley is the result of the geographical unit determined by the Medellín River basin and a series of tributaries that fall along its route. The Valley has an approximate length of 60 kilometers and a variable width. It is framed by an irregular and sloping topography, ranging between 1300 and (meters above sea level).

The mountain ranges that enclose it give rise to the formation of various microclimates, waterfalls, forests and sites of diverse landscape and ecological value.[44]​ The valley has an elongated shape and presents a widening in its middle part, which measures 10 kilometers and is where Medellín is located.[45]​ The Aburrá Valley is fully urbanized in its flat part, and very busy on its slopes.

Topographically, the city is an inclined plane that descends from 1800 to , however, the official height of the city is [46]​ at the confluence of the La Iguaná, Santa Elena and Medellín river streams, and rises to the El Romeral, Padre Amaya and Las Baldías mountain peaks.[46]​.

Within the urban landscape, the Nutibara and El Volador hills stand out, rising like green spots in the middle of the city. The plateaus and mountains that surround the valley surpass the The main heights in the territory of Medellín are: Alto Padre Amaya (), Alto Patio Bonito (), Alto Boquerón (), Alto Venteadero () and Alto Las Cruces (), among others.[47]​.

Hydrography

The Medellín River is the most important hydrographic flow of the city, it divides it into two parts and is its natural drainage. It is born at the top of San Miguel, in the municipality of Caldas "Caldas (Antioquia)"), at an altitude of (meters above sea level); It has an approximate extension of 100 km from its source to its mouth (where it converges with the Río Grande "Río Grande (Antioquia)") and gives birth to the Porce) and receives the waters of approximately 196 tributaries along its entire length.

Regarding the city's territory, it receives 57 direct tributaries and more than 700 second and third order streams, with 23 major streams, constituting a hydrographic network of considerable density.[45]​[46][48]​ The Santa Elena and La Iguaná streams, due to their flow and length of route, are the most important in the municipal territory. The La Iguaná ravine begins in the Las Baldías mountain range and the Santa Elena ravine begins on the Espíritu Santo Verde hill.[46]​ The first crosses the central-western area, while the second crosses the central-eastern area and is covered as it passes through the center of the city.

The major currents of the city in addition to these are from south to north: Doña María, La Aguacatala, La Jabalcona, La Volcana, La Presidenta, La Poblada, La Guayabala, Altavista, La Picacha, Ana Díaz, La Hueso, Malpaso, El Ahorcado, El Molino, La Quintana, La Bermejala, La Rosa, La Herrera, Cañada Negra and La Madera.

Climate

The latitude and altitude of the city result in an equatorial climate (Af), since every month is above 18 °C and 60 mm "Precipitation (meteorology)") of rain, although due to the altitude the temperatures are not high. The climate is temperate and humid, with an average temperature of 21.6 °C. The nickname "city of eternal spring" comes from the fame of a uniform climate throughout the year, with a few temperature variations between December and January and between June and July, the driest and warmest seasons of the year. However, there are significant differences in the climate of the city's neighborhoods.

The hottest neighborhoods are those located in the center of the city (La Candelaria "La Candelaria (Medellín)"), El Chagualo, San Benito, among others) and in the northern part of the banks of the Medellín River (La Toscana, Boyacá-Las Brisas "Castilla (Medellín)"), Moravia "Aranjuez (Medellín)"), Santa Cruz "Santa Cruz (Medellín)"), while the neighborhoods coldest are located in the high parts of the surrounding mountains (Altos del Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)"), San Lucas, La Sierra "Villa Hermosa (Medellín)"), 8 de Marzo "Buenos Aires (Medellín)"), Oriente "Manrique (Medellín)"), Santo Domingo Savio "Popular (Medellín)"), San José de la Cima, Carpinelo, Picacho "Doce de Octubre (Medellín)"), among others).

On sunny days at midday temperatures can reach up to 30 °C. However, in Medellín completely clear days are rare, a normal day in Medellín is partially cloudy with intervals of sun and shadow, which means that the rate of sunshine in Medellín is relatively low (about 5 or 6 hours of sun per day on average) compared to that of cities like Barranquilla (which has between 7 and 8 hours of sun per day on average). On a partly cloudy day the temperatures rise to 27 °C at noon and on rainy days it barely reaches 24 °C.

The temperature of Medellín is determined by the thermal floors that go from the páramo "Páramo (geomorphology)") (which is equivalent to 3 km of the territory), through the cold (192 km) until reaching the middle (185 km),[49]​ where the urban area is, which has a temperature that ranges between 12 °C and 30 °C.[50]​ The highest temperatures range between 27 °C and 31 °C,[50]​ with an absolute maximum of 33.2 °C, which was recorded in 1993 in the San Javier neighborhood, in the center-west of the city. The lowest ranges around 13 °C and 15 °C,[50]​ with an absolute minimum of 10 °C. The beginning and middle of the year are dry seasons, otherwise the climate is variable, rainy at times. The average annual precipitation "Precipitation (meteorology)") is moderate: 1656 mm,[50]​ and is not the same throughout the valley: it rains more to the south than to the north.[45]​.

Temperatures are constant throughout the year, in summer temperatures can rise above 30 °C, it rains more in autumn, there are rarely low temperatures in winter.

Due to its location between mountains, Medellín is a city of gentle and constant winds. The wind regime is determined by the dominant northeast trade winds and the warm air masses that rise from the lower valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers, with predominance of movement in the northern part of the valley, which causes the wind to blow in a north-south direction. Then there is more rain or more drought.[45]​.

Natural resources

As a result of the urban and demographic growth of the city, there has been a notable alteration of the fauna and flora within the Aburrá valley. With the contamination of the waters, almost all the aquatic fauna and flora of the river that runs through it and its tributaries disappeared. However, there are notable natural reserves within the city area that complement the entire ecological system of the Aburrá Valley. Medellín is among the group of the twenty most polluted cities in Latin America.[54]​.

As for minerals, in the towns of San Cristóbal and Altavista, west of the urban area, there are more than 30 open pit mines that extract clay-type construction materials.[55]​ Additionally, in the area known as Marmato-Titiribí there is potential for the exploitation of porphyries and veins with metals such as copper, gold and molybdenum. These zones are dispersed in the area of ​​the townships to the west of the urban area.[55]​[56]​.

Climate change and environmental crisis

Medellín and the Aburrá Valley suffer from the increasing volume of atmospheric pollution emissions, which has generated a decrease in air quality that is affecting the sustainability of the region, with serious implications for health, the environment, social well-being and economic development. This has been the result of several factors: on the one hand, the accelerated demographic growth resulting from the intensification of industrial production activities, and on the other hand the increase in motorized transportation and the provision of services with fossil fuels.[57]​.

Medellín no escapa a la tendencia colombiana de crecimiento de las áreas urbanas en detrimento de la población rural, este proceso de urbanización acelerado no se debe exclusivamente a la industrialización, ya que existen unas complejas razones políticas y sociales como la pobreza y la violencia: principalmente causadas por el conflicto armado que ha vivido Colombia, las cuales han motivado la migración del campo a la ciudad a lo largo del siglo , generando un crecimiento exponencial de la población en las zonas urbanas. Hoy en día el 58 % de la población de Antioquia habita en el área metropolitana. El 67 % de los habitantes de dicha área, corresponden a Medellín, de los cuales el 61,3 % nacieron en la ciudad, el 38,4 % en otro municipio y el 0,3 % son de otro país.[59]​.

De acuerdo con las cifras del último censo nacional (2005) realizado por el Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística -DANE-,[59]​[60]​ dio como resultado una población de 2 223 078 habitantes para Medellín y 3 312 165 personas para el área metropolitana conformada por otros 9 municipios, con proyecciones al 2014 de 2 541 123 y 3 731 447 respectivamente,[4]​ siendo esta la segunda aglomeración urbana de Colombia. Además, según el censo, la ciudad cuenta con una densidad poblacional de aprox. 5820 habitantes por kilómetro cuadrado. Solamente 130 031 habitantes se ubican en la zona rural de Medellín. El 46,7 % de la población son varones y el 53,3 % mujeres, y el promedio de personas por hogar es de 4.[59]​.

La ciudad cuenta con una tasa de analfabetismo del 6,8 % en la población mayor de 5 años de edad. Los servicios públicos tienen una cobertura del 98,8 % de viviendas con servicio de energía eléctrica, mientras que un 97,3 % tiene servicio de acueducto y un 91,0 % de comunicación telefónica.[59]​.

Actualmente la ciudad enfrenta una ola de migración de extranjeros derivada de su proyección internacional. Estadounidenses, alemanes, suecos y hasta coreanos han encontrado en Medellín un nuevo hogar. Además, se destaca la migración de venezolanos, debido a la crisis interna que vive el país vecino, la cual se estima a 2017 en 57 932 venezolanos viviendo en la entidad.[61]​.

Birth and mortality

In 2015, 95,335 births were registered in Medellín (48,858 boys and 56,497 girls).[62]​ Longevity in the city is 75 years, this being greater in women than in men.[63]​.

Deaths in 2015 were 15,430 (8,191 men and 7,236 women).[64]​.

In 2015, more than 99 women were murdered,[65]​ of which 88 died in crimes related to conflicts between gangs.[66]​ In 2010, the Medellín Mayor's Office recorded 182 homicides of children and adolescents (between 0 and 17 years old), while in every 100 victims of violent deaths, 9 were children or adolescents.[67]​.

However, the Medellín Ombudsman in its report on human rights in the city concluded that during 2012 there was a 28% reduction in homicides, 8% in domestic violence, and 7% in sexual violence.[68]​.

By 2017, a mortality rate of 19 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants was achieved.

Ethnography

The intercensal statistics provided by DANE are:.

Note 1: This value groups the responses to the question "None of the above" in the 2005 census and to the question "No ethnic group" in the 2018 census. This category includes ethnicities not registered by the government of Colombia, grouping together mestizo people, Caucasians "White (person)") and other ethnicities not recognized by DANE.[71]​.

Note 2: DANE initially provided this figure for the population in the city, although it later updated it to 2,427,129,[72]​[73]​ without extrapolating or indicating changes in the ethnic proportions of the city.

Migration

4% of Medellin households have international immigration experience, with the United States being the first preferred country (55.5%), followed by Spain (17%), and other countries (12.1%). But there are significant destination preferences towards Venezuela (5.5%), Peru, Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Canada, Bolivia, the United Kingdom and Australia.[59]​ The demand for a low-skilled workforce makes the search for job opportunities one of the main motivators for this migration; likewise, the desire for a better quality of life, the search for higher education offers or family reunification are also main reasons.[74]​.

39% of the population residing in the city was born in another region of the country, the majority being displaced by the internal armed conflict in Colombia, turning Medellín into a city of immigrants, coming mainly from Chocó and internally from other regions of Antioquia;[75]​ while 0.4% come from another nation.[59]​.

The political and social crisis in Venezuela caused the massive arrival of citizens of that country who, since 2017, have Medellín as their fifth favorite destination to settle. According to figures from Migración Colombia,[76]​ in August 2018, 41,128 Venezuelans resided in the capital of Antioquia, of which 23,000 did so legally. Many have found opportunities with informal jobs.

Medellín está regido por un sistema democrático basado en los procesos de descentralización administrativa generados a partir de la proclamación de la Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991. La ciudad es gobernada por el alcalde (poder ejecutivo) y el Concejo Municipal (poder legislativo).

El alcalde de Medellín es el jefe de Gobierno y de la administración municipal, representando legal, judicial y extrajudicialmente al municipio.[77]​ Es un cargo elegido por voto popular para un periodo de cuatro años.[77]​[78]​ Entre sus funciones principales está la administración de los recursos propios de la municipalidad, velar por el bienestar y los intereses de sus conciudadanos y representarlos ante el Gobierno Nacional, además de impulsar políticas locales para mejorar su calidad de vida, tales como programas de salud, vivienda, educación e infraestructura vial y mantener el orden público.[77]​.

El Concejo de Medellín es una corporación administrativa de elección popular, compuesta por 21 ediles de diferentes tendencias políticas, elegidos democráticamente para un período de cuatro años,[78]​ y cuyo funcionamiento tiene como eje rector la participación democrática de la comunidad.[79]​ El concejo es la entidad legislativa de la ciudad, emitiendo acuerdos de obligatorio cumplimiento en su jurisdicción territorial. Entre sus funciones está aprobar los proyectos de los alcaldes, elegir personero y contralor municipal y posesionarlos, dictar las normas orgánicas del presupuesto y expedir anualmente el presupuesto de rentas y gastos.[79]​.

Administrativamente la alcaldía de Medellín se divide en dos grupos: La administración central y las entidades descentralizadas. Se entiende por Administración Central, el conjunto de entidades que dependen directamente del alcalde. Estas entidades son denominadas Secretarías o Departamentos Administrativos. Las secretarías son unidades administrativas cuyo principal objetivo es la prestación de servicios a la comunidad o a la Administración Central. Los Departamentos Administrativos son unidades de carácter técnico. Para lo cual, la Alcaldía cuenta con 21 Secretarías, 2 Departamentos Administrativos y 23 entidades descentralizadas.[80]​.

administrative division

The municipal seat is divided into 6 zones, and these in turn are divided into communes, adding up to a total of 16.[81]​ The zones actually have no territorial value, and are only used to group the communes according to their location within the city. The communes are divided into neighborhoods and institutional areas. The city has 249 official neighborhoods and 20 institutional areas.[81] Institutional areas are sectors with some neighborhood characteristics, but their population is not permanent and lacks housing, for example university campuses. The rest of the municipal area is grouped into 5 townships, these in turn contain town centers and villages "Vereda (Colombia)"). The townships San Antonio de Prado and San Cristóbal are the most populated townships in Colombia, with more than thirty thousand inhabitants each.[82]​ As seen in the diagram, Medellín is structured following the flow of the river that crosses it, the Medellín River, which runs through it from south to north.

Each commune and township has a Local Administrative Board "Juntas Administradoras Locales (Colombia)") -JAL-, made up of no less than five nor more than nine members, elected by popular vote for a period of four years that must coincide with the period of the Municipal Council. or township and the investments made with public resources, in addition to what concerns the distribution of the global items assigned to them by the municipal budget and, in general, ensure compliance with its decisions, recommend the adoption of certain measures by the municipal authorities, and promote citizen participation.[77]​ In Medellín there is a zoning by strata throughout the city.[83]​[84]​ The 16 communes of Medellín, in their respective order, they are:[85]​.

1. • Popular "Popular (Medellín)"). In the 1960s the first settlements appeared. The urban layout follows a certain order in some sectors.[86]​.

2. • Santa Cruz "Santa Cruz (Medellín)"). The urban development of this commune began in the 1930s. Its formation was adapted to the conditions of the terrain and the criteria of those who at that time urbanized in a spontaneous and disorderly manner.[87]​.

3. • Manrique "Manrique (Medellín)"). Its formation began in 1940. Its growth and urban development is explained, among other reasons, by the industrial boom of 1930 and by the emigration of peasants after the Bogotazo in 1948.[88]​.

4. • Aranjuez "Aranjuez (Medellín)"). Its development began in 1919 and its formation was also influenced by the arrival of a tram in 1922. The University of Antioquia, Parque Norte&action=edit&redlink=1 "Parque Norte (Medellín) (not yet written)") and the botanical garden are not neighborhoods in themselves but belong to the commune.[89]​.

5. • Castilla "Castilla (Medellín)"). Its formation began to take shape in the 1930s and its settlement extended until the 60s.[90]​.

6. • Doce de Octubre "Doce de Octubre (Medellín)"). In the 1930s, slow settlement began in the El Picacho sector, a settlement characterized by dispersed homes that were accessed from the road to the Sea. Only in the 1950s did massive urbanization begin.[91]​.

7. • Robledo "Robledo (Medellín)"). Until 1938 it was the district of Medellín. In the 1950s, settlement began due to the city's expansion process. In this commune the El Volador hill is located.[92]​.

8. • Villa Hermosa "Villa Hermosa (Medellín)"). Its settlement process took off in the 1940s, following the trend that prevailed in the city at that time in which developers came to buy large plots of land and complete farms in places near the center, right where the mountains began to steepen.

9. • Buenos Aires "Buenos Aires (Medellín)"). The commune developed around the traditional 49th Street (Ayacucho).[93]​.

10. • La Candelaria "La Candelaria (Medellín)"). It is the center of the city. In this commune, multiple points of reference with city value stand out, ranging from religious centers to buildings of general interest.[94]​.

11. • Laureles - Stadium. Some of its streets and avenues have a radial layout, different from the rest of the city. Along with El Poblado, it is one of the areas where there is the greatest presence of homes classified as stratum 5 and 6 (highest socioeconomic class).[95]​.

12. • America. Its name was taken in honor of the 400 years of the discovery of America and it was a township of Medellín until 1938. Its urbanization process began with the construction of the Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores church and the opening of the highway to La América (today San Juan Avenue).[96]​.

13. • San Javier "San Javier (Medellín)"). It is one of the communities furthest from the city center. It has several problems of poverty, territorial disorganization, insecurity, among others. It has a Medellín metro station as well as a Metrocable line.

14. • El Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)"). It is the largest commune. Formerly it was an area made up of large farms with fruit and sugar cane crops; Some of these estates continue as an important spatial reference.[97] It is next to Laureles - Estadio, one of the areas where the wealthiest people in the city, the department and even the country live. It is an important economic zone.

15. • Guayabal "Guayabal (Medellín)"). In the decades of the 1930s and 40s, a construction dynamic was presented to meet the housing needs of the new settlers linked to the nascent industry. Process that was accompanied by the development of road infrastructure and services. This area was defined as the site for the location of the city's industry.[98]​.

16. • Belén "Belen (Medellín)"). With the construction of the Guayaquil bridge, the process of integration of this area with the rest of the city began.[99]​.

The 5 towns of Medellín, in no established order, are:

1. • Palmitas "Palmitas (Medellín)"). Located to the west of the Aburrá Valley and founded in 1742 with the name of San Sebastián de la Aldea. Later it would be known as Palmitas due to the wax palms that can be found in its territory.[100]​.

2. • San Cristóbal "San Cristóbal (Medellín)"). Founded in 1752. It emerged as a transit town between Santa Fe de Antioquia and Rionegro, two towns of importance during the colony.[101]​.

3. • Altavista "Altavista (Medellín)"). It arose from the activities generated around the bridle path that connected Medellín with the municipalities in the southwest of the department.[102]​.

4. • San Antonio de Prado "San Antonio de Prado (Medellín)"). Its development began in the colony. In 1903 it became a municipality, lasting only four years as such, later becoming a district of Medellín.[103]​.

5. • Santa Elena "Santa Elena (Medellín)"). It constituted a communication bridge between Medellín, the municipalities of eastern Antioquia, other places in the department and even the country. In 1987, it became a township of the city.[104]​.

Metropolitan area

The metropolitan area of ​​the Aburrá Valley is a political-administrative entity that sits along the entire length of the Aburrá Valley at an average altitude of (meters above sea level). The Area is made up of the 10 municipalities that sit in the valley. Envigado entered the metropolitan area after a popular consultation was held on July 10, 2016.[105]​[106]​.

It was the first metropolitan area created in Colombia in 1980, and it is the second most populated area in the country after the Capital District of Bogotá.[106]​ The total population, which adds the urban and rural population of the 10 municipalities, is 3,821,797 inhabitants. The main urban area of ​​the metropolitan area is located in the center of the valley and is made up of the four largest cities by number of inhabitants, Medellín, Bello "Bello (Antioquia)"), Itagüí and Envigado.

Health

The San Vicente de Paúl University Hospital, the Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital and the Santa María Cardiovascular Clinic are pioneers in "Transplant (medicine)") organ transplants, merits that have had national and international recognition.[107]​ In Medellín, milestones have been marked in the history of medicine in Colombia, such as the creation of the first valve laboratory and tissue bank, the first transplants of heart, lung, bone marrow, kidney, stem cells and intestine.[107]​ The first liver transplant in Latin America and worldwide, the first trachea and esophagus transplant, were performed.[107]​.

Likewise, the city has gained recognition as a destination in medical tourism, which has made health behave like an industrial sector, seeking opportunities for growth in profits; which implies taking into account exports of medical services as a strategy to increase the number of clients and to obtain higher operating margins. The district offers patients advantages over other countries with similar developments: in terms of cost-utility of treatment, waiting times and first-class hotels. In this way, medical tourism is increasingly consolidated; In the last 5 years, more than 4,000 foreigners have visited Medellín in search of relief.[107]​

In terms of infrastructure, the city has 12 hospitals, 43 clinics, 39 health centers and 5 health posts.[108]​[109]​ In addition to the private health service, the public health service is in charge of two local institutions, the Secretariat of Health and Metrosalud. In each area and commune of the city there is an official medical center. However, the demand for emergency services in public hospitals almost exceeds the supply, which is why, if a massive calamity were to occur, private services would have to be resorted to, a situation that is below international standards, which recommend maintaining a 20% extra supply of emergency beds over the normal functioning of the public hospital system to deal with possible cases of mass calamities. Some of the main hospital centers in the city are: San Vicente de Paúl University Hospital, Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital, Medellín General Hospital, Santa María Cardiovascular Clinic, Las Américas Clinic, El Rosario Clinic, Bolivarian University Clinic, Medellín Clinic"), León XIII Clinic, Las Vegas Clinic, Soma Clinic, Neurological Institute of Colombia Foundation among several others.

Education

The network of public schools and colleges for basic education and high school depends on the Ministry of Education. 78% of students study in public schools and colleges, while 22% study in the private sector.[110]​

Among the most outstanding public education institutions in the State exams (ICFES) are the Pascual Bravo Industrial Technical Institute, INEM José Félix de Restrepo Educational Institution, Santo Ángel Educational Institution, San Juan Bosco Educational Institution, Antioquia Training Center Educational Institution "CEFA", La Salle de Campoamor school, Liceo Municipal Concejo de Medellín, Cristo Rey Educational Institution and the Ana de Castrillón Educational Institution, among others.[110]​.

There are numerous private educational centers with a certified level such as the San José de La Salle school, the Jesús María community school, the Compañía de María La Enseñanza school, the Salesiano el Sufragio school, the Emaús parochial school, the San Ignacio de Loyola school, the Los Pinares gymnasium school, the Diego Echavarría Musical Institute, the Fontán school, the José María Córdoba military school, the Calasanz school, the Presentación school, the San Carlos de Lasalle Institute, the San José de las school. Vegas, Padre Manyanet school, Corazonista school, Sagrada Familia Aldea Pablo VI school, UPB school, Liceo Salazar y Herrera school and the Salesiano Pedro Justo Berrío Educational Institute. Many of these educational centers have a Bachelor-Technical degree.[111]​.

Medellín has 130,000 students in around 35 higher education institutions, both public and private. Some of the most prominent public universities[112]​ are the Jaime Isaza Cadavid Polytechnic, the University of Antioquia and the National University of Colombia, Medellín headquarters. Among the private ones are the EAFIT University, the Antioquia School of Engineers, the CES and the Pontificia Bolivariana University.

In Antioquia there are 511 registered research groups, 95% of which are located in Medellín, which is ranked as the second most representative city in Colombia in terms of research and development in terms of the number of works produced.[113]​.

Security

During the 1980s and 1990s, Medellín was notorious for high rates of violence, including high homicide rates. In 2002, the rate of violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants was 229; but, thanks to social and cultural programs against violence, in 2005 this figure was 66.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest figures in recent years. Also for 2002, the homicide rate was high: 183.3 per 100,000 inhabitants; This figure also decreased significantly, since in 2005 it went from 183.3 to 33.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2010, the gang war once again increased the homicide rate, taking it to 87.2 per 100,000 inhabitants; During that year, serious public order problems arose that motivated the national government to intervene on several occasions through security councils and an increase in public force;[114] This situation was caused by criminal gangs that disputed control of drug sales centers.

The data presented by the Municipal government contrasts with international studies. According to the Security, Justice and Peace ranking presented by the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice A.C, Medellín presented a rate of 38.06 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, placing it among the 50 most violent cities in the world, according to the same study.[115]​.

By 2014, 150 motorcycles, 160 patrol cars and 10 mobile CAI were delivered to the city police for a value of 16,490 million;[116]​ policies that caused the city to present the lowest homicide rate in 30 years, with 26.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants (lower than the average for Colombia). In 2015, according to the annual ranking of the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice of Mexico, the number was reduced to 19 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.[117]​[118]​.

Public services

They are run by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), which was created on August 6, 1955. The administrative council of Medellín, through agreement No. 58, merged the four independent entities that until then provided public services in the city (energy, aqueduct, sewage and telephones), into a single autonomous establishment. On November 18, 1955, the mayor's office regulated the existence of EPM; A week later, on November 25, the governor sanctioned the decree in which the statutes were issued, and its administrative life began in January 1956.

In 1989, the management and improvement of the environment was included as part of its statutes and the name of telephone service was changed to telecommunications. This service was spun off in 2007 to create the subsidiary UNE. In 1998, EPM was transformed into a State Industrial and Commercial Company and that is why today it is subject to the provisions of the commercial law for the exercise of its activities. It was chosen as the best company of the century in Colombia both for its performance in the field of public services, as well as for its solid national and international projection.[119]​.

Transport

The main gateway to Medellín for international and national travelers is the José María Córdova International Airport, located in the jurisdiction of the municipality of Rionegro "Rionegro (Antioquia)"), 35 kilometers from the city in an eastern direction. It was inaugurated in 1985 and later expanded its national dock with the construction of new ones.[120] Within the urban perimeter of the municipality of Medellín, to the southwest, the Olaya Herrera airport is located, which provides national and regional (departmental) flight services.

It is the first mass transportation system that was built in Colombia. It began operations on November 30, 1995 and since then has moved more than one billion passengers.[121] The metro crosses the metropolitan area from south to north, between the municipalities of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)") and La Estrella "La Estrella (Antioquia)"); It also extends from the city center to the west. The Metro combines a railway system with an aerial cable system called metrocable "Metrocable (Medellín)") (not to be confused with the cable car system, although they are similar), which has been used for the first time in the world in Medellín as permanent mass transportation. The Metro has several types of levels (ground level, elevated viaducts and overhead cables), and does not have underground sections. The Metro Network has a length of 33 km and includes 5 lines: line A (railway) with 19 stations, line B (railway) with 7 stations, line C (railway) with 11 stations, line L (cable) that connects the metropolitan area with the Arví natural park from the Santo Domingo Sabio station to the town of Santa Elena, line K and line J each with 3 stations (these last three are from the aerial cable system).

It is a light rail or tram line, made up of six stops and three stations: San Antonio, Miraflores and Oriente. Together with two new Metrocable lines, H and M, they connect the central-eastern neighborhoods with the city center. The tram runs along 49th Street (Ayacucho), it is 4.3 kilometers long and its entry into full operation occurred in November 2015.[122]​ Meanwhile, the entry of a Monorrail, or 'Small Metro' that crosses communes 1, 3, 8, 9 and 14 in the northeastern area of ​​the city is also planned.[123]​.

It is an articulated bus system for mass transportation. It is physically integrated with the Medellín Metro at the Hospital "Estación Hospital (Medellín)"), Industriales "Industriales (station)") and Cisneros stations; It also has a second pre-trunk line "Line 2 (Metroplús)", Aranjuez-Universidad de Medellín, which crosses the city center along Oriental Avenue "Avenida Oriental (Medellín)"). It has stations every 500 meters and the vehicles are joined by a joint that gives them mobility, with a capacity of 160 people each; They come equipped with three access doors, automatic transmission and pneumatic suspension. The Envigado to Itagüí pre-trunk is currently under construction. Although Metroplús is physically and fare-wise integrated with the Medellín Metro, it is actually a separate company, which has Medellín Metro itself among its shareholders (25.64% shareholding).[124]​.

Medellín es el segundo centro económico más importante de Colombia, después de Bogotá. La ciudad representa más del 8 % del PIB Nacional y en conjunto con el Valle de Aburrá aporta cerca del 11 % del mismo, siendo una de las regiones más productivas del país.[127]​.

Tiene un PIB per cápita para el 2014 (con PPA) de US$11 466[128]​ y una densidad empresarial de 25 empresas por cada 1000 habitantes, lo que la posiciona como la segunda más alta de Colombia tras la misma.[129]​ La industria representa el 43,6 % del producto interno bruto del Valle de Aburrá, los servicios el 39,7 % y el comercio el 7 %.[130]​ Los sectores industriales con mayor participación en el valor agregado generado en el área metropolitana son las empresas textiles, con 20 %; sustancias y productos químicos, con el 14,5 %; alimentos, con el 10 %, y bebidas con el 11 %.[130]​.

El 10 % restante comprende sectores como el metalmecánico, eléctrico y electrónico, entre otros.[130]​ La industria textil y de confecciones es hoy una de las grandes exportadoras de productos hacia los mercados internacionales; el desarrollo en estos sectores ha convertido a la ciudad en un centro de la moda latinoamericana. En las últimas tres décadas se ha venido registrando una diversificación de la estructura económica de la ciudad, con el desarrollo de otros subsectores, como el de bienes intermedios y bienes de capital.

En el sector del turismo, Medellín ha avanzado hasta convertirse en el tercer destino turístico para los visitantes extranjeros que visitan Colombia.[131]​ Entre 2005 y 2006, el número de extranjeros que tuvo como destino final Medellín creció un 33,4 %, al pasar de 71 213 a 95 026 visitantes.[131]​ A julio de 2007, ese número fue de 62 003, lo que representa un incremento de 20,7 % en relación con lo registrado en igual periodo de 2006.[131]​ Estos avances son principalmente generados por el turismo de negocios, ferias y convenciones, y por el turismo médico, gracias al excelente nivel de la medicina con que cuenta la ciudad, en particular en el ámbito de los trasplantes "Trasplante (medicina)") de órganos "Órgano (biología)").[132]​[133]​ La ciudad hace parte del sistema integral económico del departamento de Antioquia, el cual aporta el 15 % del PIB nacional.[81]​.

En la actualidad, Medellín es la principal ciudad exportadora de Colombia en tejido plano y punto, con un 53 % del total de las exportaciones en prendas terminadas a países como Estados Unidos, Venezuela, Ecuador, México, Costa Rica y la Comunidad Europea. La industria textil genera para la ciudad un 30 % del total del empleo, lo que equivale a 45 000 empleos directos y 135 000 indirectos.[134]​.

En Medellín están ubicadas las sedes de las compañías discográficas Discos Fuentes y Codiscos, cada una con estudios de grabación.

Cluster Community

With the growth of the economy and exports, several challenges arose for the industry of Antioquia and Medellín: diversify the export base, develop advanced human resources, improve internal conditions for foreign investment. Antioquia was the most exporting department in Colombia in 2007,[135]​ which is why nearly 500 new tariff positions were included in the export portfolio and the number of exporting companies went from 990 to 1,750 in the last five years.[135]​ A good proportion of these companies belong to the first Cluster Community of Colombia, created with the support of the Medellín Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia and the Mayor's Office of Medellín, and to which nearly 21,000 companies belong, with a share of 40% of total exports, 25% of the regional GDP and 40% of employment in the metropolitan area.[135]​.

Clusters are understood as a geographic concentration of companies and institutions that interact with each other and that in doing so create a business climate to improve their performance, competitiveness and profitability. The clusters that are already established are Electrical energy, Textile/Clothing, Design and Fashion, Construction, Business Tourism, Fairs and Conventions "Convention (meeting)").[136]​.

Unemployment and poverty

According to data published by the Mission for the Joining of Employment, Poverty and Inequality Series -MESEP- in November 2009, in Medellín and its metropolitan area the poverty rate in the period 2002-2008 was reduced by 22.5%, going from 49.7% to 38.5%. Likewise, the indigence rate decreased by 25.2%, going from 12.3% to 9.2%.[137] These results are in line with the greater coverage of basic services such as health, education and public services in the city. However, poverty and homelessness in Medellín and its metropolitan area continues to be above the average of the 13 main metropolitan areas of Colombia. In 2008, this average was 30.7% for poverty and 5.5% for indigence.[137]​.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate in Medellín has shown a decreasing trend. In 2000, unemployment in the city was at 17.7%, and according to DANE data, in Medellín and its metropolitan area unemployment in the June-August 2010 quarter was 14.3%,[138]​ although still above the national average, which for August 2010 was 11.2%.[138]​[139]​ DANE placed in its results In 2012, Medellín was named the most unequal city in Colombia, revealing that its Gini coefficient is 0.54 due to factors such as the poverty index, in relation to the total population, which is 22%.[140]​.

Tourism

Among the main destinations, the Antioquia Museum, the Botero square, the Pueblito Paisa, the Plaza Mayor International Convention and Exhibition Center, the Carabobo Pedestrian Passage, the Pies Descalzos park, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Basilica Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater, the Metropolitan Theater, the Oviedo Shopping Center, the Explora park, the botanical garden,[141]​ Lleras Park, the El Castillo Museum and more recently, Commune 13 "San Javier (Medellín)").

Regarding natural sites, the most popular are Cerro El Volador and Cerro Nutibara. A new natural space inaugurated a few years ago is the Arví regional park, which has an area close to 20,000 hectares, includes practically the entire territory of the district of Santa Elena "Santa Elena (Medellín)") and extends between the municipalities of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)"), Copacabana "Copacabana (Antioquia)"), Guarne and Envigado.

For its part, in December, the city is covered with thousands of colored bulbs, creating the Christmas lighting "Christmas Lighting (Medellín)"), considered by National Geographic to be one of the ten most beautiful in the world,[142]​ and which can be seen mainly in Parque Norte, near the botanical garden, on Avenida de la Playa and in the Medellín River Park, between Avenida 33 "Avenida 33 (Medellín)") and Avenida San Juan. "Avenida San Juan (Medellín)").

• - Paisa town.

• - Botero Square; In the background, the Museum of Antioquia.

• - Christmas lighting in Medellín.

• - Cisneros Square.

• - Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture.

• - View of Medellín from Pan de Azucar hill.

There are different sectors where the hotel offer is concentrated. The hotels in El Poblado have the capacity to accommodate 8,200 people. In the Laureles-Estadio area there are 73 hotels with accommodation capacity for 2,100 people and, in the city center, 34 hotels that have 1,400 beds at their disposal.[143]​.

In addition, Medellín offers visitors different accommodation options in traditional farms, country houses and family-type urban houses and boutique hotels.

En los inicios del siglo la ciudad ha vivido un proceso de intensa transformación urbanística que le ha conferido importantes reconocimientos nacionales e internacionales.[144]​ Dicha transformación se basa en el urbanismo social, una política pública consistente en otorgarle prioridad a los pobladores y territorios más pobres, así como a las víctimas de la violencia, mediante obras y programas que buscan reparar el herido tejido físico y social.[33]​ Un ejemplo de estas políticas son unas novedosas escaleras eléctricas instaladas en un barrio de la comuna 13,[145]​ zona que se caracteriza no solo por los problemas mencionados anteriormente, sino también por su ubicación en las laderas de montaña, lo que hace un tanto difícil la comunicación y la calidad de vida de esa parte de la población.

Current city configuration

In 1890, the city's municipal council issued an agreement by which it was ordered to draw up the plan for the future expansion of the city, which also regulated aspects such as the construction of buildings, the opening and paving of roads, the aqueduct, the sewer, and even the shape of the windows so that they did not obstruct the passage of passers-by. In a subsequent reform, the rectification and channeling of the Medellín River, which ran through the entire Aburrá Valley in a sinuous manner, was contemplated in order to gain land for the construction and growth of the city. This plan, called Medellín Futuro, could only be partially fulfilled, but it served to guide the advance of the city in the first half of the century.

Some important chronological dates in this stage were the following: in 1900, the Santa Elena ravine "Santa Elena (Medellín)") was consolidated as the center of the city and began to be laid out as an urban promenade. In 1905, a mule-drawn tram "Mule (animal)") was inaugurated. In 1914, the Antioquia Railway arrived in the city. In 1920, the layout of the tracks began. In 1921, electric trams began to operate. In 1928, the coverage of the Santa Elena ravine takes place. In 1931, the Olaya Herrera airport was built. In 1940, the canalization and rectification works of the Medellín River began. In 1941, the architect Pedro Nel Gómez was in charge of urban design of the Laureles sector. And, in 1945, the Nutibara hotel was built.[146][147]​.

Once the works were carried out on the river, and due to the urban expansion towards the west (the Otrabanda), at the end of the 1940s the need was seen to draw a new plan to organize the city. This is how the urban planners Paul L. Wiener and José L. Sert were in charge of projecting the Pilot Plan between 1948 and 1950, which suggested, among other things, the construction of various avenues and the design of a new government center. Due to this, such representative works in Medellín as Oriental Avenue, built in the seventies, and the La Alpujarra Administrative Center, in the eighties, although they were not directly contemplated in the Wiener and Sert Plan, can be considered to have been based on it.[146]​[147]​.

Between the years 1950 and 1980, the phenomenon of territorial invasion worsened, making it difficult to comply with the plans that tried to organize the growth of the city. The Pilot Plan was overwhelmed by the reality of a population that tripled in 20 years, going from 358,189 inhabitants in 1951 to 1,071,252 in 1973. Construction was very dynamic in that period and a good part of the city's slopes began to be occupied by inhabitants who, arriving from the countryside, did not have the possibility of accessing housing loans.

The textile sector was modernized in this period and the industrial vocation of the city was definitively consolidated.[24] Some important dates during this period were the following: in 1962, construction of the Atanasio Girardot Sports Unit began in the surroundings of the stadium; From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the Coltejer building was built, a complex of buildings that is still the most representative urban symbol of Medellín today. In 1980 the river road plan was built; In 1987 La Alpujarra was inaugurated. Starting in 1995, the Metro began to operate, a work that from an urban planning point of view has had detractors due to its elevated passage through the center of the city.[146]​[147]​.

Architecture

In 2013, Medellín won the Verónica Rudge Green Prize in urban design, awarded by Harvard University, due to the PUI Integral Urban project of the Northeastern area, designed and executed by the Urban Development Company.[148]​[149]​ Medellín retains little colonial and century urban planning memory. Although the Aburrá Valley was an active area in agriculture and livestock throughout the colonial period, its relative wealth was not expressed in outstanding civil and religious architecture as in Cartagena, Tunja, Popayán or Bogotá. This can be explained by the fact that the Town of Medellín was not a political-administrative center but rather a geographically isolated place whose elite invested little in the development of monumental architecture. The churches of Candelaria and Veracruz "Iglesia de la Veracruz (Medellín)") remain from the end of the colony, but with transformations.[150]

The architecture produced in Colombia between 1850 and 1930 is called "republican". The use of brick and the application of historical European styles were the main novelty. The German Enrique Haeusler was the author of the Guayaquil bridge (1879). But the French architect Carlos Carré was the main figure of the republican architecture of the century in Medellín; Carré arrived in the city in 1889, having been hired to design and build the new Episcopal cathedral and several commercial and residential buildings that were planned for different places in the city, especially in the new neighborhood of Guayaquil.

The Metropolitan Cathedral was completed in 1931; He also created the Vásquez and Carré buildings, which are located next to Plaza de Cisneros. The Medellín station of the Antioquia Railway was the work of Enrique Olarte, a work that allowed the definitive urban consolidation of the Guayaquil sector.

In the 1920s, republican architecture reached its culminating phase. From this period, the old Municipal Palace (now the Antioquia Museum) stands out in 1928, and the buildings of the National Palace "Palacio Nacional (Medellín)") and the Departmental Government Palace (today the Palace of Culture) between 1925 and 1928. These last two works were designed by the Belgian Agustín Goovaerts, both inspired by the Belgian modernist movement, in which he applied the Romanesque and neo-Gothic styles. respectively. Other works by Goovaerts were the church of the Sacred Heart "Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Medellín)") (Guayaquil sector), and the church of San Ignacio "Iglesia de San Ignacio (Medellín)"), among others. From the 1930s, some buildings in the Prado neighborhood "Prado (Medellín)") stand out, such as the Egyptian house and the current Prado Theater.[150]​.

The economic expansion of the State, industry, banking and population framed the appearance of skyscrapers. Being located in the historic-civic center of the city, the construction of skyscrapers for offices, commerce and housing brought with it the destruction of a good part of the already scarce ancient urban heritage of Medellín. Living in buildings in the center was then an analogous sign of prestige and social status. The Furatena buildings (1966) with its thirty floors and Coltabaco (1967), the latter located in Berrío park, inaugurated this trend.

Parks

One of the most important parks in the city is the "Central Park", which, although it is located in the municipal territory of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)"), is property of the municipality of Medellín.

With an area of ​​one million square meters, the "Central Park", on the north side of Medellín, is a large area intended for recreational, recreational and sports activities, as well as concerts, with a capacity for 100,000 attendees, and which can also be used for other types of concentrations, for example political or religious. Inside is located the Medellín Autodrome, a track for motor competitions measuring 300,000 square meters. The racetrack is designed to practice car, motorcycle and kart racing, but also cycling, skating and athletics, among other sports.

Other main traditional parks in the city are: Berrío Park, located in the heart of the city; the Bolívar Park "Parque de Bolívar (Medellín)"), located a little further north of the previous one and framed by the Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest building in the world built of fired brick; Other parks are located in more residential areas such as Belén Park, El Poblado Park or the Laureles Parks. The more recently built parks are more interactive, and have been welcomed by the inhabitants, since some are not only places for recreation but also allow learning through direct and personal experiences of visitors; Among them, the Pies Descalzos park, the Deseos park, the Explora park and the Bicentenario park stand out, the latter inaugurated on the occasion of the Bicentennial of Colombia.

Likewise, you can find recreational parks that have been open to the public for some time and have become references for the city; Among them, the following stand out: Parque Norte, Parque Juan Pablo II, the botanical garden, Cerro El Volador, Cerro Nutibara (at the top of which is Pueblito Paisa), and Parque Arví offers a unique theme for walkers, bird watchers and hikers. It is an exotic park worth exploring for locals and visitors.[155]​ The Santa Fe Zoo was founded in 1960 and as of 2020 houses nearly 1,000 animals from Asia, Africa and other places in America.[156]​.

• - Los Deseos Park.

• - Botanical Garden of Medellín.

• - Lleras Park.

• - Bolívar Park "Parque de Bolívar (Medellín)").

• - Berrío Park.

• - Plaza de San Antonio: built in 1994, it is the largest square in the center of Medellín: it is approximately 33,000 m. It is a place for citizen meetings and for the programming of public events. It has three monumental sculptures by Fernando Botero and another sculpture, El Portón de San Antonio, the work of Ronny Vayda. Generally, people call it San Antonio Park.

• - Plaza de Cisneros: located between the EPM Library and the . It has a forest of light poles, 24 meters high. There are 300 posts with 2,100 reflectors (seven per tower), and 170 floor lamps. These elements are mixed, in turn, with bamboo and water sources. It is a kind of artificial forest, with clear spaces for meetings and mass concentrations.

Land communication routes

The main land route of the city is the river road system, which crosses the entire Aburrá Valley from south to north on both sides of the Medellín River. This road is known as Autopista Sur on the western side of the river, and as Regional Avenue on the eastern side of the river. In the east of the city, the Eastern Tunnel, the longest in South America (8.2 km), connects it with the José María Córdova International Airport and in the west, the Western Tunnel (5 km), connects it with the colonial city of Santa Fe de Antioquia. Additionally, there are the "Medellín-Villeta Highway "Villeta (Cundinamarca)")-Bogotá" that goes directly to Calle 80 "Calle 80 (Bogotá)") to the northwest of Bogotá, the "Las Palmas Highway" and the old "Carretera al Mar" or National Route 25 "National Route 25 (Colombia)").

La nomenclatura en el distrito de Medellín está profundamente conectada con su estructura física, que se organiza en gran medida en un diseño de retícula, con vías numeradas de manera consecutiva. En este sistema, las vías que se orientan de norte a sur son clasificadas como calles, mientras que las que se extienden de oriente a occidente son conocidas como carreras. Además, en el paisaje urbano medellinense se encuentran otras denominaciones, como circulares, diagonales, transversales, entre otras; que se detallarán más adelante.

Para mejorar la localización de las personas dentro de la ciudad, se utiliza la nomenclatura urbana, que se entiende como el mecanismo de identificación de calles y propiedades que integran el área de una ciudad o población, mediante signos numéricos y alfanuméricos. Este sistema tiene como finalidad referenciar la ubicación de edificaciones y lotes en relación con las vías adyacentes, señalando sus accesos.[157]​ La nomenclatura se divide en dos categorías: nomenclatura vial y nomenclatura predial. En este apartado, se examinará la diferencia entre la nomenclatura vial, la nomenclatura domiciliaria y los componentes de esta última.

Road nomenclature

Road nomenclature refers to the way in which different roadways are designated. In various nations, this designation may be associated with names of historical figures, while in Colombia a sequential numbering system is used to identify streets and streets, such as: street 1, street 2, street 3; race 1, race 2 race 3, and so on. In addition to the alphanumeric identification of the roads, the possibility of assigning names that represent people, countries, cities, surnames or elements of the urban environment is contemplated.[157]​[158]​.

Typically, road crossings have two plates, located on two of the corner plots of each crossing, where each plate is placed directly on the top of the first floor or on the bottom of the second floor of the building. The owners of the building where these urban signage plates are installed are obliged to carry out continuous surveillance and maintenance. If they deteriorate, it will be your responsibility to restore them, and if they have been removed, they must be replaced in accordance with the specifications detailed in the Territorial Planning Plan.[159]​.

Below are the key terms that are relevant to roads in Medellín:.

It is the area, whether publicly or privately accessible, that is used for the movement of vehicles or people or both.

The road that gives main access to the property is made up of three parts: the category of the road, an alphanumeric identification and the corresponding geographic sector, in case the road belongs to one.

It is the space assigned to the movement of vehicles or individuals or both, which is located within private land and which is used exclusively.

This road is the one with the smallest numerical denomination that intersects with the main road and is used for the formulation of property nomenclature, which varies depending on the location of each property.

Property or home nomenclature

Municipal agreement number 253, enacted on December 1, 1934, allows the city of Medellín to adopt a general nomenclature plan that establishes the bases of the current nomenclature system. This agreement determines that the city's nomenclature will go from being descriptive to an exclusively numerical and sequential system. The 50 Palace race; and 50 Colombia Street) "Avenida Colombia (Medellín)"); are designated as the origins of the system, which will be used to define the domiciliary nomenclature of homes and establishments, «...it will be done in the following way: each door will have a plate that has two numbers separated by a hyphen and that indicate: the first, the number of the lowest-numbered street or race between the two that comprise it; and the second, the approximate distance in meters to the corner of the same street. The plates on the right side, following the numbering, will carry this distance in even numbers; and the plates on the left side, also following the numbering, will carry these distances in odd numbers».[160]​.

The city has a nomenclature that has been defined by agreement number 46 of 2006, called Territorial Planning Plan. This system allows identifying vehicular and pedestrian routes, as well as properties and buildings in an urban or rural grid.[161]​[160]​.

Each property is assigned a unique alphanumeric identifier.[162] This identifier is divided into two sections: the nomenclature of the main road and the home plate. The home plate includes two components: it begins with the type of generating road, followed by a number that can have up to three digits, which can be accompanied by an alphabetical appendix that does not exceed two letters, from A to HH.[163]​ An orientation is also included, which must be EAST for Races and SOUTH for Streets;[164]​[165]​[166]​ and the distance to the intersection. The first identifier is determined from the lowest denomination road that defines the block where the access to the property is located. The second identifier refers to the distance in meters between the corner formed by the intersection of the lower category road and the road that provides the main access to the property, adjusting to the corresponding odd or even number. If the property is located to the right of the street or road, it will be assigned an even number; If it is on the left, it will be assigned an odd number, following the direction of the numbering of the road axes.[167]​ The address plate is usually installed in a visible place, at the top of the access door, in a horizontal orientation, and must be sufficiently illuminated to facilitate its identification at night. The characters must be made with a minimum height of nine centimeters.[168]​.

The nomenclature of a real estate property is made up of three key parts: the main road, the plate and the accessory.

It corresponds to the public road where the main access to the building is located. This route facilitates the identification and numbering of the road network, which includes streets, corridors, diagonals, transversals and avenues, among others. It is broken down into seven components: type of road, number or common name of the main road, letter that accompanies the main nomenclature, secondary number that accompanies the main nomenclature, secondary letter that accompanies the main nomenclature or subsecondary number and quadrant or geographic sector.

Urban nomenclature

The urban nomenclature provides the relevant information that must be included in the address register and in the reference information. The identification, content and organization of this information are the basis for the comparison, search and subsequent location of access points on the road network.

By integrating all these elements, the urban nomenclature is formed, which would be structured as follows:

Nomenclature of the townships

The roads also differ in nomenclature according to their location, since being in the urban area of ​​the city, they are all governed by the same road name. But in the townships, having their urban capital separately, their nomenclature was their own, due to their distance from the urban area of ​​Medellín. With the new Territorial Planning Plan (POT), the idea is to integrate them into the road nomenclature of Medellín and the metropolitan area of ​​the Aburrá Valley (except the municipalities of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)" and Itagüí which have their own nomenclature system).

• - The urban area of ​​the district of Altavista "Altavista (Medellín)") did not require intervention, since its nomenclature has always been integrated with that of the city in the areas of the population centers San Pablo, Altavista, El Corazón and Aguas Frías, close to the Commune of Belén "Belén (Medellín)").

• - The other townships are being gradually integrated into the city's road system. The first was the township of San Cristóbal "San Cristóbal (Medellín)"), because the land of the urban area of ​​the expanding city in the Robledo area already reaches there. For example, the intersection of Calle 10 with Calle 10, in the main park, became Calle 62 with Carrera 130, and roads further up you can find Carrera 150, close to the Western Tunnel.

• - Years later, the turn corresponded to San Antonio de Prado "San Antonio de Prado (Medellín)"), located between Carrera 54, bordering the municipality of Itagüí and Carrera 90, and between Calles 34 Sur and 73 Sur, bordering the municipality of La Estrella "La Estrella (Antioquia)").

• - Currently the same is being done with the Santa Elena district, to the east of the city, where now the intersection of the main road with the one that leads to the El Tambo sector and Arví Park can be referenced as the intersection between 19th Street.

With this, the only township with its own nomenclature to date is that of San Sebastián de Palmitas "Palmitas (Medellín)").

Road nomenclature is not used on the sidewalks of each township, due to the lack of urban concentration.

Media

The city's telecommunications are represented from public telephones, through mobile telephone networks, wireless broadband networks, and navigation centers or Internet cafes, among others. The main company in this sector is Tigo "Tigo (Colombia)"), a subsidiary of Millicom; Also present are Claro "Claro (Colombia)") (from América Móvil) and Movistar "Movistar (Colombia)") (from Telefónica).

Six mobile telephone operators with national coverage operate in the city, of which three are mobile operators with a network: Claro "Claro (Colombia)"), Movistar "Movistar (Colombia)") and Tigo "Tigo (Colombia)"); The other three are virtual mobile operators: Uff Móvil, Virgin Mobile and ETB. The WOM company "WOM (Colombia)") is partly a virtual operator, but is currently deploying its own network.

In the city, several open terrestrial television channels are tuned: the local channels Telemedellín and Canal U "Canal U (Colombia)") and a regional channel (Teleantioquia), and the 5 national channels, the 3 private ones: Caracol Televisión, Canal RCN and Canal 1 "Canal 1 (Colombia)"), and the 2 public ones: Canal Institucional and Diseño Colombia).

In the city, AM and FM stations are established throughout the spectrum, both with local and national coverage, of which the majority are managed by Caracol Radio or RCN Radio, although there are other independent stations with wide coverage, such as Todelar and Super.

A regional newspaper circulates in Medellín and Antioquia: El Colombiano (Medellín's own), and also the national circulation El Tiempo "El Tiempo (Colombia)") and El Espectador "El Espectador (newspaper)"), and the newspapers Publimetro and ADN, which are free to circulate.

Nightlife

One of the most desired places in Medellín is its Zona Rosa known as the "golden mile", a sector located in El Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)") whose reference point is Parque Lleras. This park is quite busy as it houses, both on its perimeter and in its surroundings, numerous bars, cafes and restaurants. The Zona Rosa also includes Parque del Poblado and part of 10th Street.[178]​.

The Colombia neighborhood also has popular bars and clubs. Likewise, Las Palmas Avenue has established itself as a sector dedicated to nightlife, especially on weekends. Likewise, in the west of the city, on 33rd Street, numerous establishments have been established.[179]​ The epicenter of the so-called Fuchsia Zone (as opposed to the Pink Zone) is the Parque del Periodista, located in the center and where numerous urban tribes converge.[180]​.

Entre los principales artistas medellinenses figuran Fernando Botero, Rodrigo Arenas Betancur y Débora Arango. En música se destacan Juanes, J Balvin, Farina "Farina (cantante)"), Maluma, Karol G, Piso 21, Sebastián Yatra, Camilo Echeverry. También han surgido bandas como Estados Alterados, Bajo Tierra, Ekhymosis y Kraken "Kraken (banda)").

Los principales centros culturales de la urbe son el Museo de Antioquia y la plaza Botero. En la ciudad anualmente tiene lugar el Festival Internacional de Poesía, un evento de carácter cultural que se realiza desde 1991; es también destacada la Orquesta Infantil y Juvenil de Medellín. Además es la ciudad colombiana con mayor cantidad de esculturas en pie, y la gastronomía antioqueña es la más representativa de la región. Adicionalmente, el reguetón es una tendencia fuerte en la ciudad: existen más de 300 grupos conformados, se hacen más de 200 conciertos por año y hay varias discotecas dedicadas exclusivamente al género.[181]​[182]​.

Libraries

Medellín and the metropolitan area have a "Library Network", a set of libraries connected to each other that share resources, efforts, knowledge and experiences in order to improve the educational and cultural conditions of the communities they serve. The network is made up of 36 libraries, of which 24 correspond to Medellín.[183]​.

• - Pilot Public Library, founded in 1952 thanks to an agreement with UNESCO, is currently a department of the municipality of Medellín and serves 120,000 users per month. Among its heritage are the Antioquia Room, which has the most complete bibliographic collection in the department, and the Photographic Archive, which contains more than 1.5 million frames, covering from 1849 to the present day. It also keeps the personal archives of eminent writers such as Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Carlos Castro Saavedra, and the León de Greiff library, among others. Its video library has more than 7,000 titles.

• - EPM Library, inaugurated on June 2, 2005, is located in the center of the city, in front of Plaza Cisneros. It registers a daily average of about 1,700 users, 400 loans and 610 Internet service users. Science, industry, environment and technology are the Library's specialty areas.

• - Documentation Center of the Administrative Planning Department; It is located on the third floor of the mayor's office building, in the "Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt" administrative center,[184] also called "La Alpujarra". Its collections specialize in the areas of urban planning, Public Administration, and the area related to Medellín.

• - Presbítero José Luis Arroyave Library, inaugurated on December 31, 2006 and better known as “San Javier Library Park”, has 4000 m of built area.

• - Leon de Greiff Library, inaugurated on February 17, 2007, better known as “La Ladera Library Park”, has 4,200 m of built area.

• - Tomás Carrasquilla Library, inaugurated on March 10, 2007, better known as “La Quintana Library Park”, has 4,500 m of built area.

• - Biblioteca España, inaugurated on March 24, 2007, better known as “Santo Domingo Library Park”, has 2960 m of built area and a building in the shape of 3 rocks.

• - Central Library Universidad de Antioquia: the oldest and largest in Medellín and the one with the richest collections of books and magazines. With an area of ​​12,008 m, it has a catalog of 650,000 reference texts. And among its heritage it has the most complete collection on Antioquia in Colombia, from the century to date, and with archives of national newspapers from the middle of the century to today. It has an average of 5300 users per day.

• - Central Library of the National University of Colombia: the "Efe Gómez" Library of the National University has a building inaugurated in 1997 but currently remodeled, which centralized the libraries of the faculties of Agricultural Sciences, Sciences, Architecture and Human Sciences that were dispersed throughout the campus. In addition, there is also the library of the National Faculty of Mines, which is located in the Robledo core of the University to the west of the city.

• - Carlos Mauro Hoyos Library of the Council of Medellín: it was inaugurated in 1988; It is located in the Council building, in the "Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt" administrative center. Its collections specialize in the areas of Law, Political and Social Sciences, Public Administration, and the area related to Medellín.

• - Biblioteca Museo de Antioquia: located in the former headquarters of the museum and now called Casa del Museo (Experimental Wing of the Museum). It contains specialized art material. In addition, it has a collection of press articles and historical documents.

Also noteworthy are the central libraries of the private universities Pontificia Bolivariana and EAFIT, which maintain bibliographic material on different disciplines.

Museums

• - Museum of Antioquia. Founded in 1881, it is the most important in the city. It houses a collection of more than 5,000 pieces that include everything from archaeological material to contemporary art. Since 2000, the institution has had its headquarters in the old Municipal Palace of Medellín. The museum preserves a collection of 126 paintings by Fernando Botero and collections of 21 international artists, such as Antoni Tàpies, Roberto Matta and Rauschenberg. Along with them there are also eleven monumental murals by Pedro Nel Gómez, the work of the pioneer painter Francisco Antonio Cano and that of the artist Débora Arango, as well as the sculptures of Marco Tobón Mejía, among other works that are exponents of Antioquian art. The Sculpture Park also exhibits 23 sculptures by Botero, forming an open-air gallery with some of the master's most important works.[185]​.

• - Museum of Modern Art of Medellín (MAMM). It was founded in 1978 by a group of artists belonging to the so-called “urban generation” in order to awaken public interest in modern and contemporary art. Since its founding, there were no limitations for the field of arts, plastics, cinema, architecture, industrial design and criticism, among other contemporary artistic manifestations. It began operating on April 22, 1980 at its original headquarters in the Carlos E. Restrepo neighborhood; In 2009 it opened its new location in the old Talleres Robledo building and in 2010 it received nearly 208,000 visitors.[186] One of its greatest reasons of interest is the collection of almost all of the works of the Antioquian painter Débora Arango. Another of its attractions consists of the art-cinema screenings that it usually holds. It is also home to the International Video Biennial in September.

• - University Museum of the University of Antioquia. Created in 1942; It is located in the University City. The anthropology area exhibits a collection of 18,000 pieces of pre-Columbian ceramics, stone, shell, metal and textiles, the second richest in the country, and a complete ethnographic collection. The visual arts area comprises contemporary painting and sculpture, and includes 1,200 pieces by contemporary artists. The History area of ​​the University collects in a thousand pieces and documents the 200 years of existence of the University; and the natural sciences section exhibits 5,400 pieces, including embalmed native and exotic animals, study skins, minerals and fossils.

• - El Castillo Museum. Built in 1930 in medieval Gothic style and opened to the public in 1971; It has French-style gardens, an exhibition hall, a library and a concert hall for 250 people; It permanently exhibits porcelain and crystal objects, stained glass, music, sculpture, piano and ballet.

• - EPM Interactive Museum. It is part of the Pies Descalzos park environment. It receives 1000 visits daily, especially from students. It is an educational tour through 22 rooms distributed in four pavilions in which, with technological resources and in an entertaining manner, the physical principles of water, energy, gas and telecommunications are explained and interacted with. It is financed and administered by the Public Companies of Medellín.

Theaters

Medellín has more than 17 "Theater (architecture)" theaters for performing arts, in which around 50 groups perform, some with extensive experience and local and national recognition. They are distributed in more than twenty schools.

Some of the main theater facilities in the city are:.

• - Metropolitan Theater. It is the largest venue for cultural shows in the city. It was inaugurated in 1987; It has capacity for 1,634 spectators and is available to adapt the space, by mechanical means, to different acoustic and visual requirements. It has environments intended for schools and rehearsals; It is the headquarters of the Hétores Awards (event of the young audiovisuals of Medellín), the Medellín Polyphonic Studio and the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra.

• - Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater. One of the most traditional stages in the city; It was inaugurated on August 2, 1967, it has capacity for 923 spectators, it is the one that offers the best acoustics for musical and theatrical presentations, and it has an exhibition hall and dressing rooms. The Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater is the cultural center of downtown Medellín.

• - Teatro Lido. It began operating in 1945. It has capacity for 1,100 spectators and is located on the eastern side of Bolívar Park; offers a varied program throughout the year.

• - Teatro Universitario Universidad de Medellín. Opened in September 1985, it also offers a varied program throughout the year. It has capacity for 1,700 spectators and is located inside the university campus. It is the headquarters of the children's and youth symphony orchestra and the symphonic choirs of the Medellín music school network.

• - University Theater of the University of Antioquia. Located in the University City; It is integrated into the cultural extension programs of the University. It has capacity for 1500 people and has an Art Gallery for exhibitions. More than 220 activities are carried out each year, attended by nearly 138,000 people.

• - Carlos Vieco Open Air Theater. Located on the northern slope of Nutibara Hill; It has capacity for 3000 people comfortably seated. It offers all kinds of popular shows. Every year, in the month of June, it becomes the epicenter of the recitals of the International Poetry Festival. Live rock concerts are also frequent there.

Other theater organizations and facilities in the city are: Teatro Porfirio Barba Jacob, Teatro El Triángulo, El Firulete, Asociación Pequeno Teatro de Medellín, Teatro El Trueque, Teatro de Muñecas La Fanfarria, Teatro Popular de Medellín, Teatro Matacandelas,[189]​ La Casa del Teatro, Café Concerto Los Inquietos, Teatro Manicomio de Muñecos, Teatro de Seda Cultural Corporation, Teatro Barra del Silencio, Manicomio de Vargasvil, Beethoven Room, Institute of Fine Arts, Jesús Emilio Ramírez Planetarium "Planetarium (Medellín)").

Gastronomy

The city's gastronomy corresponds to that of Antioquia. Among the typical dishes, the tray paisa stands out, a main dish representative of the region "Paisa (Colombia)"), and the arepa paisa, which is usually eaten with accompaniments. It is common to accompany breakfast with chocolate, calentao (heated leftovers from the previous day) and parva, which is a traditional component of Antioquia gastronomy, made up of a variety of bakery items, among which the pandequeso, the bizcochuelo, the tambourine, the buñuelo, the pandebono and the bread stand out.

Traditions and folklore

The silleteros have been declared Cultural Heritage of Colombia.[190]​.

During the Colony, the mountain range passes were such that they made it difficult to use bulky pack animals (such as oxen, mules or horses) on the narrow roads, so it was necessary to transport the armes (and even the children) on the backs of the muleteers, in wooden apparatus loaded on the back called 'silletas', also the reason why those who used them were called 'silleteros'. Thanks to them, the exchange of products and the movement of travelers between distant places was possible. His skill consisted of supporting weight on his back for long days. Some travel chronicles from the end of the century describe caravans of silleteros advancing along mountain roads.

The silleta and the silletero were adapted to the modern times of the department and the country; In this way, in peasant homes the silleta persisted as a useful instrument to transport helpless or sick people, or to move products, and for the peasant of Santa Elena "Santa Elena (Medellín)") in particular, it was a resource that he used with ingenuity for the task of marketing his products in Medellín. The city became familiar with the silletero seller of flowers and vegetables, who toured the central streets and neighborhoods as a supplier commissioned by certain families. It was common to see them in the most recognized market squares, such as Cisneros or Flores, and in the atriums of churches, until they became colorful characters incorporated into the daily landscape of the city.

In 1957, a parade was organized, and from that moment, his figure grew until he became one of the cultural symbols of Medellín.[191][192]​.

Fashion

The city holds two fashion fairs throughout the year, the most important being Colombiamoda, which takes place for three days in the month of July. It is considered one of the most important fairs in the country and Latin America and has 24 years of experience.[193]​ The first fair that was held in Medellín was held in 1987 with the support of traditional textile companies in the city such as Coltejer, Fabricato and Tejicóndor. Despite the reception obtained that year and the following, the fair only had two versions. Inexmoda took the reins of fashion in Medellín and in 1989 the first version of Colombiamoda was made. In later years the fair was attended by renowned designers such as Óscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Badgley & Mischka, among others.[194]​.

Events

• - Flower Fair: it is the most representative event of the city. It takes place at the end of July until the beginning of August. The Fair, in addition to multiple other activities and festivities, has as its main focus the Silleteros Parade, a showy parade of enormous and artistic flower chairs carried on the backs by their own growers.

• - 2 Wheels Fair: this event is considered the most important in the motorcycle industry in Colombia and the second in importance for Latin America. It is held annually in the month of May for 4 days, during which it receives visitors from approximately 30 countries who see this fair as the perfect opportunity to do business and find out about the latest developments in the sector.

• - National Trova Festival"): it is held annually within the framework of the Flower Fair. Although the semi-finals and the final take place during the week of the Fair, this begins months before with the audition phases, in which anyone can register to participate, and the qualifying days, which bring together the best audition scores and the troubadours who enter in their own right. This is an event that you can attend for free and enjoy the Antioquian improvisation with family or friends.

• - International Poetry Festival: this is an annual congregation of poets from almost all over the world, who deliver their poems and readings to the public in a massive way in parks, auditoriums, popular neighborhoods and towns near Medellín. This event has been awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation of Sweden, and its objective is to fight for peace through poetic art.[195] The XVII Medellín International Poetry Festival was held between July 14 and 22, 2007, with the participation of more than 80 poets from around 55 nations.

• - International Tango Festival: popular annual celebration, an expression of the tango culture that Medellín adopted as its own. This is a legacy of the bard Carlos Gardel, who died in this city in a plane accident in 1935. Among the Festival's activities, La Tangovía stands out, where people take to the streets en masse to dance, listen to tango, milonga "Milonga (musical genre)").

• - International Jazz Festival "International Jazz Festival (Medellín)"): the Medellín Jazz Corporation and other entities in the city organize this already traditional festival annually in September, with the participation of world and national exponents of the genre. It takes place simultaneously in several places in the city, such as the open-air theater of the El Tesoro Shopping Center and the city's Café Teatro. The Jazz Festival has epitomized a renaissance of new-generation music in the city and attracts more and more renowned musicians and mass audiences.

• - : the festival was born from the idea of ​​creating a space for young people and musicians in the city to exhibit their music, since on previous occasions there were festivals that did not last, such as the Ancón Festival "Festival de Ancón (Colombia)") (1971 and 2004) and Rock a lo Paisa (2000). The festival has been an axis of support for new artists in the city to exhibit their work with adequate sound conditions.

Medellín is twinned with 35 cities around the world:.

• - Medellín Wikiproject.

• - Portal:Medellín. Content related to Medellín.

• - Portal:Colombia. Content related to Colombia.

• - People from Medellín.

• - Metropolitan area of ​​the Aburrá Valley.

• - List of mayors of Medellín.

• - List of skyscrapers in Medellín.

• - Chatty.

• - Archdiocese of Medellín.

• - Coat of Arms of Medellín.

• - Economy of Medellín.

• - Paisa Region "Paisa (Colombia)").

• - Assets of municipal cultural interest of Medellín.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia gallery about Medellín.

• - Wikisource contains the historical document Hymno de Medellín "s:Hymno de Antioquia (Colombia)").

• - Wikiviajes hosts travel guides to or about Medellín.

• - Wikinews has news related to Medellín.

• - Official page of the Mayor's Office of Medellín.

• - Telephone code for Medellín.

• - Medellín postal codes by neighborhoods. Archived February 9, 2019 at the Wayback Machine.

Contenido

El escudo, la bandera y el himno de la ciudad tienen el reconocimiento de símbolos oficiales del municipio de Medellín según el Decreto 151 del 20 de febrero de 2002,[21]​ y como emblemas de la ciudad forman parte de la imagen institucional de la administración municipal, por lo cual están presentes en los actos, eventos y medios oficiales en los que deban figurar por su carácter representativo.

Shield

The coat of arms of Medellín is the oldest emblem of the city; It has its origin in the granting of its use by King Charles II of Spain through the Royal Decree given in Madrid on March 31, 1678, and whose document says:

However, a more refined and structured description in heraldic language, although it is not official, would be:[22]​.

The coat of arms has been maintained over time since it was granted, with no more variations than aesthetic ones, since it is noteworthy that there are different stylistic versions between the Mayor's Office and the Municipal Council, and none of them aesthetically comply with heraldic norms.

Flag and anthem

The municipality adopted the flag of Antioquia, to which the city's shield was added to differentiate them. The flag is made up of two horizontal stripes of equal proportions, the upper one white and the lower green, and in the center between both stripes is the shield. The color white symbolizes purity, integrity, obedience, firmness and eloquence. Green represents hope, abundance, freedom and faith.

Likewise, Medellín adopted the anthem of Antioquia, in accordance with decree 151 of February 20, 2002, Article 10:[23]​.

First settlers

Around the 1500s, the Aburrá Valley was traveled by tribes of hunters and gatherers. When the Spanish conquerors arrived they found a large native population settled, which offered little resistance. They were aburraes, yamesíes, peques, ebejicos, noriscos and maníes who had been there since the century BC. C., according to approximations. They had corn and bean crops, raised curies and mute dogs, wove cotton blankets, traded salt ("Sal (condiment)"), and knew goldsmithing. Under Spanish rule they were distributed into encomiendas and displaced from their territories. Desertion, mistreatment, diseases and hard, intensive work on the land and in the mines decimated them in a few years.[24]​.

Spanish period

The valley where Medellín is located today was discovered on August 24, 1541, Saint Bartholomew's Day, by Jerónimo Luis Tejelo, a captain under the orders of Marshal Jorge Robledo "Jorge Robledo (conquistador)"), who founded Santa Fe de Antioquia that same year and is considered the conqueror of Antioquia. The valley was called Valle de Aburrá by the indigenous people who inhabited it and was called Valle de San Bartolomé or Los Alcázares by the Spanish. The indigenous people responded with bellicosity according to some chroniclers, a resistance that forced Tejelo to entrench himself for defense and to send an express to Marshal Robledo asking for help, with which they easily defeated the aborigines. This resistance was actually carried out by the indigenous people who lived in the Guayabal hamlet, since the others who occupied the valley preferred to flee or take their own lives.[25]​.

On January 15, 1574, Gaspar de Rodas requested from the Cabildo of the city of Antioquia a strip of land in the Aburrá Valley to found ranches and food ranches; However, the first property title was granted in 1580 to the bishop of Cartagena, the Spanish Juan Daza. In 1582, as governor, Gaspar de Rodas gave some of his lands to his son Alonso and Juan Rodríguez Angulo, but he kept an Indian encomienda for himself. On February 4, 1596, Rhodes gave the few indigenous people who were in the Aburrá Valley land titles for their farms and cement factories.[26]​.

On March 2, 1616, Francisco de Herrera Campuzano, of the Council of King Philip III, judge of the Royal Court of the New Kingdom of Granada and general visitor of the province of Antioquia, founded an Indian town, an indigenous reservation which he called San Lorenzo de Aburrá, where today El Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)" is located;[27]​ However, the gradual decrease in the number of indigenous people who inhabited the town He caused the lands to be assigned, little by little, to new owners, which led to their disappearance in 1685.

A large part of the population that settled in the valley was located on the banks of the Aná ravine, taking the name of Sitio de Aná, a space that emerged without a foundation and whose inhabitants increased little by little. Around the central square, the first church of walls and tiles was built, consecrated to the Virgin of Candelaria, and at 54 years of life it had barely 700 inhabitants of the 3,000 that populated the territory between Ancón de la Valeria (today Caldas "Caldas (Antioquia)") to the pastures of Barbosa "Barbosa (Antioquia)").[25]

Since 1670, the inhabitants asked the Royal Court to erect their population into a town, encountering resistance from Santa Fe de Antioquia. On March 20, 1671, the then governor of the province of Antioquia, Francisco de Montoya y Salazar, decreed the founding of the Villa, but the complaints of the residents of the city of Antioquia before the Royal Court led to the annulment of the erection of the Villa only eleven months later.

Finally, Queen Mariana of Austria, widow of Philip IV, on behalf of her son Charles II, granted the Royal Certificate of Foundation on November 22, 1674, and on November 2, 1675, the erection of the small town into a town by Miguel de Aguinaga y Mendigoitia was carried out, which was now renamed Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Medellín. On November 17, the first councilors took office and on November 20, the first meeting of the Town Council, Regiment and Justice took place.

A century later, in 1783, new streets were opened by order of Francisco Silvestre y Sánchez, who was governor of the province of Antioquia. In 1786, the Oidor Juan Antonio Mon y Velarde had the houses numbered, which were 242 with one floor and 29 with balconies, and marked the streets with the names of San Francisco, San Lorenzo, La Amargura (today Ayacucho Street), El Prado, among others.[25] He also dictated measures on sanitation, public education, improvement of commerce and administrative systems; It also provides the town with running water, creates agricultural colonies and stimulates mining. These progressive measures lift the spirits of the inhabitants and allow us to glimpse better times for the population and for the entire province.[2]​.

Already in the century and at the height of Independence, on August 21, 1813, after declaring the independence of the State of Antioquia, the Most Excellent President Dictator Juan del Corral established Medellín and Marinilla as a city, and recognized its inhabitants as free people, a privilege that until then, and with regard to the province, only Santa Fe de Antioquia and Rionegro "Rionegro (Antioquia)" had. In 1826 it was named capital of Antioquia, with 6,050 inhabitants that year.[2]​.

19th century

In the first years of the century, the city experienced slow development due, among other things, to the precarious communication routes with the rest of the country and abroad. From the intellectual, material and social point of view, the characteristics of a town of incipient civilization continued to be preserved. It was not until the period between 1830 and 1850 when the city began its gradual development.[25] Education took a transcendental leap in this period. During the colonial era and even at the beginning of the Republic, there were few schools and colleges, a situation that changed from the middle of the century, being notable during the government of Pedro Justo Berrío.[28]​.

At that time, the Medellín River lacked bridges that crossed it and the construction of one became necessary, since its waters were abundant, especially in winter, and rafts were required to cross it. The Colombia bridge was the first within the city's territory and was built with national aid offered by the then president Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera in 1846. The second bridge over the river was that of Guayaquil.[25]​.

In 1868, the transfer of the headquarters of the diocese from Santa Fe de Antioquia to Medellín was decreed, which allowed it to strengthen the religious institutions that existed at that time.[28]​ The construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral marked a milestone not only in the religious field but also from an architectural point of view.[29]​ Likewise, commerce was strengthened until it was consolidated as a financial activity. This is how the Banco de Antioquia emerged in Medellín in 1871, the Banco de Medellín in 1881, the Banco Popular in 1882 and the Banco del Comercio in 1896.[28]​.

20th century

The city's takeoff towards modernity coincided with an accelerated growth of its population, from 20,000 inhabitants in 1870 to 170,000 in 1938. The city consolidated itself as a center of trade in gold, coffee, real estate, mechanics, foundry, speculation and import of merchandise. This commercial vocation was complemented at the beginning of the century with an industrial one (textiles, soft drinks, cigarettes, footwear, among others), taking advantage of the presence of abundant water sources, advances in mobility and nearby markets.

At the same time that the first automobiles imported from the United States and France entered, important factories were created, particularly textile companies, such as the Compañía Colombiana de Tejidos Coltejer (1907), or the Hilados y Tejidos del Hato factory (Fabricato), which began operating in the 1920s and in less than two decades would consolidate itself as the second most important textile company, after Coltejer. Other important companies were created in these years such as the Colombian Tobacco Company (1919), the Lux Soda factory (1925) and in relation to the coffee industry, the founding of Café La Bastilla in 1922 stands out.

Starting in 1910, these industries became the main engine of urban growth, and created a first generation of industrial entrepreneurs and salaried workers. The city attracted immigrants from the countryside with aspirations of working in factories and warehouses. More prosperous immigrants also arrived, such as mining entrepreneurs, merchants, ranchers and young people from wealthy families, with the idea of ​​getting an education.

In the middle of the century, the city also began to develop modern architecture with the help of architects such as the Austrian Federico Blodek, who designed works such as the Suramericana, Fabricato (which was the tallest in the city) and Banco de Colombia office buildings. the settlements on the slopes, setting up an industrial zone in Guayabal, articulating the city around the river, building the Atanasio Girardot stadium and the “La Alpujarra” administrative center. Soon, the Pilot Plan was overwhelmed by the reality of a population that tripled in 20 years, going from 358,189 inhabitants in 1951 to 1,071,252 in 1973.

During this period, construction was very dynamic and farmers, who did not have access to housing credit, began to build on the slopes. Many old buildings in the center, and even from the beginning of the century, were demolished to make way for buildings that were used for offices and housing, including Coltejer, the symbol of the city. The textile sector was modernized in this period and the industrial vocation of the city was definitively consolidated.[33]​[34]​.

For the first time, after Antioquia had a rising economy for 150 years, in the 1970s the initial symptoms of what was the greatest economic and social crisis in its history appeared. Indicators of increased unemployment appear, and with it crime and general insecurity. Although the country as a whole faced a critical period in its economy between 1970 and 1980, this crisis had a special impact on Medellín, which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation.[35]​.

21st century

Until 2008 in the Paisa region, of which Medellín is a part, at least six of the main emerging gangs[38][39]​ operated from the remains of the paramilitary groups[40]​ that demobilized during the peace talks with the Colombian government in the period 2004-2006, such as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, Águilas Negras, the Oficina de Envigado, Los Urabeños, Los Rastrojos and Los Paisas "Los Paisas (Criminal Gang)"); the last four active as of 2015.

These criminal groups concentrate their operations in cities and small towns throughout the country, trying to control drug flows to the Atlantic Coast "Caribbean Region (Colombia)") and control illegal mining.[41]​ The drug trafficking routes move especially through the departments of Córdoba "Córdoba (Colombia)") and Sucre "Sucre (Colombia)") where they sell drugs to organizations that have better infrastructure. large and can move drugs internationally.[38]​.

The concern to stop the flows of urban violence has led to the presentation of social inclusion projects that include infrastructure such as park-libraries in conflictive urban areas, mass transportation systems such as the Metro, Metroplús and the Tram[42]​ and the participation of the private, official and institutional sectors to unify a city project, the proliferation of cultural and artistic events, the construction of libraries, parks and educational centers and the creation and renewal of public space.

Location

Medellín is located in the geographic center of the Aburrá Valley, on the central mountain range "Cordillera Central (Colombia)") of the Andes at the coordinates. The city has a total area of ​​328 km of which 110 km are urban land and 218 km are rural land.[43]​.

The Aburrá Valley has an extension of 1,152 km that is part of the Medellín River basin, the main river artery that crosses the region from south to north. The formation of the Aburrá Valley is the result of the geographical unit determined by the Medellín River basin and a series of tributaries that fall along its route. The Valley has an approximate length of 60 kilometers and a variable width. It is framed by an irregular and sloping topography, ranging between 1300 and (meters above sea level).

The mountain ranges that enclose it give rise to the formation of various microclimates, waterfalls, forests and sites of diverse landscape and ecological value.[44]​ The valley has an elongated shape and presents a widening in its middle part, which measures 10 kilometers and is where Medellín is located.[45]​ The Aburrá Valley is fully urbanized in its flat part, and very busy on its slopes.

Topographically, the city is an inclined plane that descends from 1800 to , however, the official height of the city is [46]​ at the confluence of the La Iguaná, Santa Elena and Medellín river streams, and rises to the El Romeral, Padre Amaya and Las Baldías mountain peaks.[46]​.

Within the urban landscape, the Nutibara and El Volador hills stand out, rising like green spots in the middle of the city. The plateaus and mountains that surround the valley surpass the The main heights in the territory of Medellín are: Alto Padre Amaya (), Alto Patio Bonito (), Alto Boquerón (), Alto Venteadero () and Alto Las Cruces (), among others.[47]​.

Hydrography

The Medellín River is the most important hydrographic flow of the city, it divides it into two parts and is its natural drainage. It is born at the top of San Miguel, in the municipality of Caldas "Caldas (Antioquia)"), at an altitude of (meters above sea level); It has an approximate extension of 100 km from its source to its mouth (where it converges with the Río Grande "Río Grande (Antioquia)") and gives birth to the Porce) and receives the waters of approximately 196 tributaries along its entire length.

Regarding the city's territory, it receives 57 direct tributaries and more than 700 second and third order streams, with 23 major streams, constituting a hydrographic network of considerable density.[45]​[46][48]​ The Santa Elena and La Iguaná streams, due to their flow and length of route, are the most important in the municipal territory. The La Iguaná ravine begins in the Las Baldías mountain range and the Santa Elena ravine begins on the Espíritu Santo Verde hill.[46]​ The first crosses the central-western area, while the second crosses the central-eastern area and is covered as it passes through the center of the city.

The major currents of the city in addition to these are from south to north: Doña María, La Aguacatala, La Jabalcona, La Volcana, La Presidenta, La Poblada, La Guayabala, Altavista, La Picacha, Ana Díaz, La Hueso, Malpaso, El Ahorcado, El Molino, La Quintana, La Bermejala, La Rosa, La Herrera, Cañada Negra and La Madera.

Climate

The latitude and altitude of the city result in an equatorial climate (Af), since every month is above 18 °C and 60 mm "Precipitation (meteorology)") of rain, although due to the altitude the temperatures are not high. The climate is temperate and humid, with an average temperature of 21.6 °C. The nickname "city of eternal spring" comes from the fame of a uniform climate throughout the year, with a few temperature variations between December and January and between June and July, the driest and warmest seasons of the year. However, there are significant differences in the climate of the city's neighborhoods.

The hottest neighborhoods are those located in the center of the city (La Candelaria "La Candelaria (Medellín)"), El Chagualo, San Benito, among others) and in the northern part of the banks of the Medellín River (La Toscana, Boyacá-Las Brisas "Castilla (Medellín)"), Moravia "Aranjuez (Medellín)"), Santa Cruz "Santa Cruz (Medellín)"), while the neighborhoods coldest are located in the high parts of the surrounding mountains (Altos del Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)"), San Lucas, La Sierra "Villa Hermosa (Medellín)"), 8 de Marzo "Buenos Aires (Medellín)"), Oriente "Manrique (Medellín)"), Santo Domingo Savio "Popular (Medellín)"), San José de la Cima, Carpinelo, Picacho "Doce de Octubre (Medellín)"), among others).

On sunny days at midday temperatures can reach up to 30 °C. However, in Medellín completely clear days are rare, a normal day in Medellín is partially cloudy with intervals of sun and shadow, which means that the rate of sunshine in Medellín is relatively low (about 5 or 6 hours of sun per day on average) compared to that of cities like Barranquilla (which has between 7 and 8 hours of sun per day on average). On a partly cloudy day the temperatures rise to 27 °C at noon and on rainy days it barely reaches 24 °C.

The temperature of Medellín is determined by the thermal floors that go from the páramo "Páramo (geomorphology)") (which is equivalent to 3 km of the territory), through the cold (192 km) until reaching the middle (185 km),[49]​ where the urban area is, which has a temperature that ranges between 12 °C and 30 °C.[50]​ The highest temperatures range between 27 °C and 31 °C,[50]​ with an absolute maximum of 33.2 °C, which was recorded in 1993 in the San Javier neighborhood, in the center-west of the city. The lowest ranges around 13 °C and 15 °C,[50]​ with an absolute minimum of 10 °C. The beginning and middle of the year are dry seasons, otherwise the climate is variable, rainy at times. The average annual precipitation "Precipitation (meteorology)") is moderate: 1656 mm,[50]​ and is not the same throughout the valley: it rains more to the south than to the north.[45]​.

Temperatures are constant throughout the year, in summer temperatures can rise above 30 °C, it rains more in autumn, there are rarely low temperatures in winter.

Due to its location between mountains, Medellín is a city of gentle and constant winds. The wind regime is determined by the dominant northeast trade winds and the warm air masses that rise from the lower valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers, with predominance of movement in the northern part of the valley, which causes the wind to blow in a north-south direction. Then there is more rain or more drought.[45]​.

Natural resources

As a result of the urban and demographic growth of the city, there has been a notable alteration of the fauna and flora within the Aburrá valley. With the contamination of the waters, almost all the aquatic fauna and flora of the river that runs through it and its tributaries disappeared. However, there are notable natural reserves within the city area that complement the entire ecological system of the Aburrá Valley. Medellín is among the group of the twenty most polluted cities in Latin America.[54]​.

As for minerals, in the towns of San Cristóbal and Altavista, west of the urban area, there are more than 30 open pit mines that extract clay-type construction materials.[55]​ Additionally, in the area known as Marmato-Titiribí there is potential for the exploitation of porphyries and veins with metals such as copper, gold and molybdenum. These zones are dispersed in the area of ​​the townships to the west of the urban area.[55]​[56]​.

Climate change and environmental crisis

Medellín and the Aburrá Valley suffer from the increasing volume of atmospheric pollution emissions, which has generated a decrease in air quality that is affecting the sustainability of the region, with serious implications for health, the environment, social well-being and economic development. This has been the result of several factors: on the one hand, the accelerated demographic growth resulting from the intensification of industrial production activities, and on the other hand the increase in motorized transportation and the provision of services with fossil fuels.[57]​.

Medellín no escapa a la tendencia colombiana de crecimiento de las áreas urbanas en detrimento de la población rural, este proceso de urbanización acelerado no se debe exclusivamente a la industrialización, ya que existen unas complejas razones políticas y sociales como la pobreza y la violencia: principalmente causadas por el conflicto armado que ha vivido Colombia, las cuales han motivado la migración del campo a la ciudad a lo largo del siglo , generando un crecimiento exponencial de la población en las zonas urbanas. Hoy en día el 58 % de la población de Antioquia habita en el área metropolitana. El 67 % de los habitantes de dicha área, corresponden a Medellín, de los cuales el 61,3 % nacieron en la ciudad, el 38,4 % en otro municipio y el 0,3 % son de otro país.[59]​.

De acuerdo con las cifras del último censo nacional (2005) realizado por el Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística -DANE-,[59]​[60]​ dio como resultado una población de 2 223 078 habitantes para Medellín y 3 312 165 personas para el área metropolitana conformada por otros 9 municipios, con proyecciones al 2014 de 2 541 123 y 3 731 447 respectivamente,[4]​ siendo esta la segunda aglomeración urbana de Colombia. Además, según el censo, la ciudad cuenta con una densidad poblacional de aprox. 5820 habitantes por kilómetro cuadrado. Solamente 130 031 habitantes se ubican en la zona rural de Medellín. El 46,7 % de la población son varones y el 53,3 % mujeres, y el promedio de personas por hogar es de 4.[59]​.

La ciudad cuenta con una tasa de analfabetismo del 6,8 % en la población mayor de 5 años de edad. Los servicios públicos tienen una cobertura del 98,8 % de viviendas con servicio de energía eléctrica, mientras que un 97,3 % tiene servicio de acueducto y un 91,0 % de comunicación telefónica.[59]​.

Actualmente la ciudad enfrenta una ola de migración de extranjeros derivada de su proyección internacional. Estadounidenses, alemanes, suecos y hasta coreanos han encontrado en Medellín un nuevo hogar. Además, se destaca la migración de venezolanos, debido a la crisis interna que vive el país vecino, la cual se estima a 2017 en 57 932 venezolanos viviendo en la entidad.[61]​.

Birth and mortality

In 2015, 95,335 births were registered in Medellín (48,858 boys and 56,497 girls).[62]​ Longevity in the city is 75 years, this being greater in women than in men.[63]​.

Deaths in 2015 were 15,430 (8,191 men and 7,236 women).[64]​.

In 2015, more than 99 women were murdered,[65]​ of which 88 died in crimes related to conflicts between gangs.[66]​ In 2010, the Medellín Mayor's Office recorded 182 homicides of children and adolescents (between 0 and 17 years old), while in every 100 victims of violent deaths, 9 were children or adolescents.[67]​.

However, the Medellín Ombudsman in its report on human rights in the city concluded that during 2012 there was a 28% reduction in homicides, 8% in domestic violence, and 7% in sexual violence.[68]​.

By 2017, a mortality rate of 19 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants was achieved.

Ethnography

The intercensal statistics provided by DANE are:.

Note 1: This value groups the responses to the question "None of the above" in the 2005 census and to the question "No ethnic group" in the 2018 census. This category includes ethnicities not registered by the government of Colombia, grouping together mestizo people, Caucasians "White (person)") and other ethnicities not recognized by DANE.[71]​.

Note 2: DANE initially provided this figure for the population in the city, although it later updated it to 2,427,129,[72]​[73]​ without extrapolating or indicating changes in the ethnic proportions of the city.

Migration

4% of Medellin households have international immigration experience, with the United States being the first preferred country (55.5%), followed by Spain (17%), and other countries (12.1%). But there are significant destination preferences towards Venezuela (5.5%), Peru, Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Canada, Bolivia, the United Kingdom and Australia.[59]​ The demand for a low-skilled workforce makes the search for job opportunities one of the main motivators for this migration; likewise, the desire for a better quality of life, the search for higher education offers or family reunification are also main reasons.[74]​.

39% of the population residing in the city was born in another region of the country, the majority being displaced by the internal armed conflict in Colombia, turning Medellín into a city of immigrants, coming mainly from Chocó and internally from other regions of Antioquia;[75]​ while 0.4% come from another nation.[59]​.

The political and social crisis in Venezuela caused the massive arrival of citizens of that country who, since 2017, have Medellín as their fifth favorite destination to settle. According to figures from Migración Colombia,[76]​ in August 2018, 41,128 Venezuelans resided in the capital of Antioquia, of which 23,000 did so legally. Many have found opportunities with informal jobs.

Medellín está regido por un sistema democrático basado en los procesos de descentralización administrativa generados a partir de la proclamación de la Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991. La ciudad es gobernada por el alcalde (poder ejecutivo) y el Concejo Municipal (poder legislativo).

El alcalde de Medellín es el jefe de Gobierno y de la administración municipal, representando legal, judicial y extrajudicialmente al municipio.[77]​ Es un cargo elegido por voto popular para un periodo de cuatro años.[77]​[78]​ Entre sus funciones principales está la administración de los recursos propios de la municipalidad, velar por el bienestar y los intereses de sus conciudadanos y representarlos ante el Gobierno Nacional, además de impulsar políticas locales para mejorar su calidad de vida, tales como programas de salud, vivienda, educación e infraestructura vial y mantener el orden público.[77]​.

El Concejo de Medellín es una corporación administrativa de elección popular, compuesta por 21 ediles de diferentes tendencias políticas, elegidos democráticamente para un período de cuatro años,[78]​ y cuyo funcionamiento tiene como eje rector la participación democrática de la comunidad.[79]​ El concejo es la entidad legislativa de la ciudad, emitiendo acuerdos de obligatorio cumplimiento en su jurisdicción territorial. Entre sus funciones está aprobar los proyectos de los alcaldes, elegir personero y contralor municipal y posesionarlos, dictar las normas orgánicas del presupuesto y expedir anualmente el presupuesto de rentas y gastos.[79]​.

Administrativamente la alcaldía de Medellín se divide en dos grupos: La administración central y las entidades descentralizadas. Se entiende por Administración Central, el conjunto de entidades que dependen directamente del alcalde. Estas entidades son denominadas Secretarías o Departamentos Administrativos. Las secretarías son unidades administrativas cuyo principal objetivo es la prestación de servicios a la comunidad o a la Administración Central. Los Departamentos Administrativos son unidades de carácter técnico. Para lo cual, la Alcaldía cuenta con 21 Secretarías, 2 Departamentos Administrativos y 23 entidades descentralizadas.[80]​.

administrative division

The municipal seat is divided into 6 zones, and these in turn are divided into communes, adding up to a total of 16.[81]​ The zones actually have no territorial value, and are only used to group the communes according to their location within the city. The communes are divided into neighborhoods and institutional areas. The city has 249 official neighborhoods and 20 institutional areas.[81] Institutional areas are sectors with some neighborhood characteristics, but their population is not permanent and lacks housing, for example university campuses. The rest of the municipal area is grouped into 5 townships, these in turn contain town centers and villages "Vereda (Colombia)"). The townships San Antonio de Prado and San Cristóbal are the most populated townships in Colombia, with more than thirty thousand inhabitants each.[82]​ As seen in the diagram, Medellín is structured following the flow of the river that crosses it, the Medellín River, which runs through it from south to north.

Each commune and township has a Local Administrative Board "Juntas Administradoras Locales (Colombia)") -JAL-, made up of no less than five nor more than nine members, elected by popular vote for a period of four years that must coincide with the period of the Municipal Council. or township and the investments made with public resources, in addition to what concerns the distribution of the global items assigned to them by the municipal budget and, in general, ensure compliance with its decisions, recommend the adoption of certain measures by the municipal authorities, and promote citizen participation.[77]​ In Medellín there is a zoning by strata throughout the city.[83]​[84]​ The 16 communes of Medellín, in their respective order, they are:[85]​.

1. • Popular "Popular (Medellín)"). In the 1960s the first settlements appeared. The urban layout follows a certain order in some sectors.[86]​.

2. • Santa Cruz "Santa Cruz (Medellín)"). The urban development of this commune began in the 1930s. Its formation was adapted to the conditions of the terrain and the criteria of those who at that time urbanized in a spontaneous and disorderly manner.[87]​.

3. • Manrique "Manrique (Medellín)"). Its formation began in 1940. Its growth and urban development is explained, among other reasons, by the industrial boom of 1930 and by the emigration of peasants after the Bogotazo in 1948.[88]​.

4. • Aranjuez "Aranjuez (Medellín)"). Its development began in 1919 and its formation was also influenced by the arrival of a tram in 1922. The University of Antioquia, Parque Norte&action=edit&redlink=1 "Parque Norte (Medellín) (not yet written)") and the botanical garden are not neighborhoods in themselves but belong to the commune.[89]​.

5. • Castilla "Castilla (Medellín)"). Its formation began to take shape in the 1930s and its settlement extended until the 60s.[90]​.

6. • Doce de Octubre "Doce de Octubre (Medellín)"). In the 1930s, slow settlement began in the El Picacho sector, a settlement characterized by dispersed homes that were accessed from the road to the Sea. Only in the 1950s did massive urbanization begin.[91]​.

7. • Robledo "Robledo (Medellín)"). Until 1938 it was the district of Medellín. In the 1950s, settlement began due to the city's expansion process. In this commune the El Volador hill is located.[92]​.

8. • Villa Hermosa "Villa Hermosa (Medellín)"). Its settlement process took off in the 1940s, following the trend that prevailed in the city at that time in which developers came to buy large plots of land and complete farms in places near the center, right where the mountains began to steepen.

9. • Buenos Aires "Buenos Aires (Medellín)"). The commune developed around the traditional 49th Street (Ayacucho).[93]​.

10. • La Candelaria "La Candelaria (Medellín)"). It is the center of the city. In this commune, multiple points of reference with city value stand out, ranging from religious centers to buildings of general interest.[94]​.

11. • Laureles - Stadium. Some of its streets and avenues have a radial layout, different from the rest of the city. Along with El Poblado, it is one of the areas where there is the greatest presence of homes classified as stratum 5 and 6 (highest socioeconomic class).[95]​.

12. • America. Its name was taken in honor of the 400 years of the discovery of America and it was a township of Medellín until 1938. Its urbanization process began with the construction of the Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores church and the opening of the highway to La América (today San Juan Avenue).[96]​.

13. • San Javier "San Javier (Medellín)"). It is one of the communities furthest from the city center. It has several problems of poverty, territorial disorganization, insecurity, among others. It has a Medellín metro station as well as a Metrocable line.

14. • El Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)"). It is the largest commune. Formerly it was an area made up of large farms with fruit and sugar cane crops; Some of these estates continue as an important spatial reference.[97] It is next to Laureles - Estadio, one of the areas where the wealthiest people in the city, the department and even the country live. It is an important economic zone.

15. • Guayabal "Guayabal (Medellín)"). In the decades of the 1930s and 40s, a construction dynamic was presented to meet the housing needs of the new settlers linked to the nascent industry. Process that was accompanied by the development of road infrastructure and services. This area was defined as the site for the location of the city's industry.[98]​.

16. • Belén "Belen (Medellín)"). With the construction of the Guayaquil bridge, the process of integration of this area with the rest of the city began.[99]​.

The 5 towns of Medellín, in no established order, are:

1. • Palmitas "Palmitas (Medellín)"). Located to the west of the Aburrá Valley and founded in 1742 with the name of San Sebastián de la Aldea. Later it would be known as Palmitas due to the wax palms that can be found in its territory.[100]​.

2. • San Cristóbal "San Cristóbal (Medellín)"). Founded in 1752. It emerged as a transit town between Santa Fe de Antioquia and Rionegro, two towns of importance during the colony.[101]​.

3. • Altavista "Altavista (Medellín)"). It arose from the activities generated around the bridle path that connected Medellín with the municipalities in the southwest of the department.[102]​.

4. • San Antonio de Prado "San Antonio de Prado (Medellín)"). Its development began in the colony. In 1903 it became a municipality, lasting only four years as such, later becoming a district of Medellín.[103]​.

5. • Santa Elena "Santa Elena (Medellín)"). It constituted a communication bridge between Medellín, the municipalities of eastern Antioquia, other places in the department and even the country. In 1987, it became a township of the city.[104]​.

Metropolitan area

The metropolitan area of ​​the Aburrá Valley is a political-administrative entity that sits along the entire length of the Aburrá Valley at an average altitude of (meters above sea level). The Area is made up of the 10 municipalities that sit in the valley. Envigado entered the metropolitan area after a popular consultation was held on July 10, 2016.[105]​[106]​.

It was the first metropolitan area created in Colombia in 1980, and it is the second most populated area in the country after the Capital District of Bogotá.[106]​ The total population, which adds the urban and rural population of the 10 municipalities, is 3,821,797 inhabitants. The main urban area of ​​the metropolitan area is located in the center of the valley and is made up of the four largest cities by number of inhabitants, Medellín, Bello "Bello (Antioquia)"), Itagüí and Envigado.

Health

The San Vicente de Paúl University Hospital, the Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital and the Santa María Cardiovascular Clinic are pioneers in "Transplant (medicine)") organ transplants, merits that have had national and international recognition.[107]​ In Medellín, milestones have been marked in the history of medicine in Colombia, such as the creation of the first valve laboratory and tissue bank, the first transplants of heart, lung, bone marrow, kidney, stem cells and intestine.[107]​ The first liver transplant in Latin America and worldwide, the first trachea and esophagus transplant, were performed.[107]​.

Likewise, the city has gained recognition as a destination in medical tourism, which has made health behave like an industrial sector, seeking opportunities for growth in profits; which implies taking into account exports of medical services as a strategy to increase the number of clients and to obtain higher operating margins. The district offers patients advantages over other countries with similar developments: in terms of cost-utility of treatment, waiting times and first-class hotels. In this way, medical tourism is increasingly consolidated; In the last 5 years, more than 4,000 foreigners have visited Medellín in search of relief.[107]​

In terms of infrastructure, the city has 12 hospitals, 43 clinics, 39 health centers and 5 health posts.[108]​[109]​ In addition to the private health service, the public health service is in charge of two local institutions, the Secretariat of Health and Metrosalud. In each area and commune of the city there is an official medical center. However, the demand for emergency services in public hospitals almost exceeds the supply, which is why, if a massive calamity were to occur, private services would have to be resorted to, a situation that is below international standards, which recommend maintaining a 20% extra supply of emergency beds over the normal functioning of the public hospital system to deal with possible cases of mass calamities. Some of the main hospital centers in the city are: San Vicente de Paúl University Hospital, Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital, Medellín General Hospital, Santa María Cardiovascular Clinic, Las Américas Clinic, El Rosario Clinic, Bolivarian University Clinic, Medellín Clinic"), León XIII Clinic, Las Vegas Clinic, Soma Clinic, Neurological Institute of Colombia Foundation among several others.

Education

The network of public schools and colleges for basic education and high school depends on the Ministry of Education. 78% of students study in public schools and colleges, while 22% study in the private sector.[110]​

Among the most outstanding public education institutions in the State exams (ICFES) are the Pascual Bravo Industrial Technical Institute, INEM José Félix de Restrepo Educational Institution, Santo Ángel Educational Institution, San Juan Bosco Educational Institution, Antioquia Training Center Educational Institution "CEFA", La Salle de Campoamor school, Liceo Municipal Concejo de Medellín, Cristo Rey Educational Institution and the Ana de Castrillón Educational Institution, among others.[110]​.

There are numerous private educational centers with a certified level such as the San José de La Salle school, the Jesús María community school, the Compañía de María La Enseñanza school, the Salesiano el Sufragio school, the Emaús parochial school, the San Ignacio de Loyola school, the Los Pinares gymnasium school, the Diego Echavarría Musical Institute, the Fontán school, the José María Córdoba military school, the Calasanz school, the Presentación school, the San Carlos de Lasalle Institute, the San José de las school. Vegas, Padre Manyanet school, Corazonista school, Sagrada Familia Aldea Pablo VI school, UPB school, Liceo Salazar y Herrera school and the Salesiano Pedro Justo Berrío Educational Institute. Many of these educational centers have a Bachelor-Technical degree.[111]​.

Medellín has 130,000 students in around 35 higher education institutions, both public and private. Some of the most prominent public universities[112]​ are the Jaime Isaza Cadavid Polytechnic, the University of Antioquia and the National University of Colombia, Medellín headquarters. Among the private ones are the EAFIT University, the Antioquia School of Engineers, the CES and the Pontificia Bolivariana University.

In Antioquia there are 511 registered research groups, 95% of which are located in Medellín, which is ranked as the second most representative city in Colombia in terms of research and development in terms of the number of works produced.[113]​.

Security

During the 1980s and 1990s, Medellín was notorious for high rates of violence, including high homicide rates. In 2002, the rate of violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants was 229; but, thanks to social and cultural programs against violence, in 2005 this figure was 66.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest figures in recent years. Also for 2002, the homicide rate was high: 183.3 per 100,000 inhabitants; This figure also decreased significantly, since in 2005 it went from 183.3 to 33.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2010, the gang war once again increased the homicide rate, taking it to 87.2 per 100,000 inhabitants; During that year, serious public order problems arose that motivated the national government to intervene on several occasions through security councils and an increase in public force;[114] This situation was caused by criminal gangs that disputed control of drug sales centers.

The data presented by the Municipal government contrasts with international studies. According to the Security, Justice and Peace ranking presented by the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice A.C, Medellín presented a rate of 38.06 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, placing it among the 50 most violent cities in the world, according to the same study.[115]​.

By 2014, 150 motorcycles, 160 patrol cars and 10 mobile CAI were delivered to the city police for a value of 16,490 million;[116]​ policies that caused the city to present the lowest homicide rate in 30 years, with 26.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants (lower than the average for Colombia). In 2015, according to the annual ranking of the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice of Mexico, the number was reduced to 19 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.[117]​[118]​.

Public services

They are run by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), which was created on August 6, 1955. The administrative council of Medellín, through agreement No. 58, merged the four independent entities that until then provided public services in the city (energy, aqueduct, sewage and telephones), into a single autonomous establishment. On November 18, 1955, the mayor's office regulated the existence of EPM; A week later, on November 25, the governor sanctioned the decree in which the statutes were issued, and its administrative life began in January 1956.

In 1989, the management and improvement of the environment was included as part of its statutes and the name of telephone service was changed to telecommunications. This service was spun off in 2007 to create the subsidiary UNE. In 1998, EPM was transformed into a State Industrial and Commercial Company and that is why today it is subject to the provisions of the commercial law for the exercise of its activities. It was chosen as the best company of the century in Colombia both for its performance in the field of public services, as well as for its solid national and international projection.[119]​.

Transport

The main gateway to Medellín for international and national travelers is the José María Córdova International Airport, located in the jurisdiction of the municipality of Rionegro "Rionegro (Antioquia)"), 35 kilometers from the city in an eastern direction. It was inaugurated in 1985 and later expanded its national dock with the construction of new ones.[120] Within the urban perimeter of the municipality of Medellín, to the southwest, the Olaya Herrera airport is located, which provides national and regional (departmental) flight services.

It is the first mass transportation system that was built in Colombia. It began operations on November 30, 1995 and since then has moved more than one billion passengers.[121] The metro crosses the metropolitan area from south to north, between the municipalities of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)") and La Estrella "La Estrella (Antioquia)"); It also extends from the city center to the west. The Metro combines a railway system with an aerial cable system called metrocable "Metrocable (Medellín)") (not to be confused with the cable car system, although they are similar), which has been used for the first time in the world in Medellín as permanent mass transportation. The Metro has several types of levels (ground level, elevated viaducts and overhead cables), and does not have underground sections. The Metro Network has a length of 33 km and includes 5 lines: line A (railway) with 19 stations, line B (railway) with 7 stations, line C (railway) with 11 stations, line L (cable) that connects the metropolitan area with the Arví natural park from the Santo Domingo Sabio station to the town of Santa Elena, line K and line J each with 3 stations (these last three are from the aerial cable system).

It is a light rail or tram line, made up of six stops and three stations: San Antonio, Miraflores and Oriente. Together with two new Metrocable lines, H and M, they connect the central-eastern neighborhoods with the city center. The tram runs along 49th Street (Ayacucho), it is 4.3 kilometers long and its entry into full operation occurred in November 2015.[122]​ Meanwhile, the entry of a Monorrail, or 'Small Metro' that crosses communes 1, 3, 8, 9 and 14 in the northeastern area of ​​the city is also planned.[123]​.

It is an articulated bus system for mass transportation. It is physically integrated with the Medellín Metro at the Hospital "Estación Hospital (Medellín)"), Industriales "Industriales (station)") and Cisneros stations; It also has a second pre-trunk line "Line 2 (Metroplús)", Aranjuez-Universidad de Medellín, which crosses the city center along Oriental Avenue "Avenida Oriental (Medellín)"). It has stations every 500 meters and the vehicles are joined by a joint that gives them mobility, with a capacity of 160 people each; They come equipped with three access doors, automatic transmission and pneumatic suspension. The Envigado to Itagüí pre-trunk is currently under construction. Although Metroplús is physically and fare-wise integrated with the Medellín Metro, it is actually a separate company, which has Medellín Metro itself among its shareholders (25.64% shareholding).[124]​.

Medellín es el segundo centro económico más importante de Colombia, después de Bogotá. La ciudad representa más del 8 % del PIB Nacional y en conjunto con el Valle de Aburrá aporta cerca del 11 % del mismo, siendo una de las regiones más productivas del país.[127]​.

Tiene un PIB per cápita para el 2014 (con PPA) de US$11 466[128]​ y una densidad empresarial de 25 empresas por cada 1000 habitantes, lo que la posiciona como la segunda más alta de Colombia tras la misma.[129]​ La industria representa el 43,6 % del producto interno bruto del Valle de Aburrá, los servicios el 39,7 % y el comercio el 7 %.[130]​ Los sectores industriales con mayor participación en el valor agregado generado en el área metropolitana son las empresas textiles, con 20 %; sustancias y productos químicos, con el 14,5 %; alimentos, con el 10 %, y bebidas con el 11 %.[130]​.

El 10 % restante comprende sectores como el metalmecánico, eléctrico y electrónico, entre otros.[130]​ La industria textil y de confecciones es hoy una de las grandes exportadoras de productos hacia los mercados internacionales; el desarrollo en estos sectores ha convertido a la ciudad en un centro de la moda latinoamericana. En las últimas tres décadas se ha venido registrando una diversificación de la estructura económica de la ciudad, con el desarrollo de otros subsectores, como el de bienes intermedios y bienes de capital.

En el sector del turismo, Medellín ha avanzado hasta convertirse en el tercer destino turístico para los visitantes extranjeros que visitan Colombia.[131]​ Entre 2005 y 2006, el número de extranjeros que tuvo como destino final Medellín creció un 33,4 %, al pasar de 71 213 a 95 026 visitantes.[131]​ A julio de 2007, ese número fue de 62 003, lo que representa un incremento de 20,7 % en relación con lo registrado en igual periodo de 2006.[131]​ Estos avances son principalmente generados por el turismo de negocios, ferias y convenciones, y por el turismo médico, gracias al excelente nivel de la medicina con que cuenta la ciudad, en particular en el ámbito de los trasplantes "Trasplante (medicina)") de órganos "Órgano (biología)").[132]​[133]​ La ciudad hace parte del sistema integral económico del departamento de Antioquia, el cual aporta el 15 % del PIB nacional.[81]​.

En la actualidad, Medellín es la principal ciudad exportadora de Colombia en tejido plano y punto, con un 53 % del total de las exportaciones en prendas terminadas a países como Estados Unidos, Venezuela, Ecuador, México, Costa Rica y la Comunidad Europea. La industria textil genera para la ciudad un 30 % del total del empleo, lo que equivale a 45 000 empleos directos y 135 000 indirectos.[134]​.

En Medellín están ubicadas las sedes de las compañías discográficas Discos Fuentes y Codiscos, cada una con estudios de grabación.

Cluster Community

With the growth of the economy and exports, several challenges arose for the industry of Antioquia and Medellín: diversify the export base, develop advanced human resources, improve internal conditions for foreign investment. Antioquia was the most exporting department in Colombia in 2007,[135]​ which is why nearly 500 new tariff positions were included in the export portfolio and the number of exporting companies went from 990 to 1,750 in the last five years.[135]​ A good proportion of these companies belong to the first Cluster Community of Colombia, created with the support of the Medellín Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia and the Mayor's Office of Medellín, and to which nearly 21,000 companies belong, with a share of 40% of total exports, 25% of the regional GDP and 40% of employment in the metropolitan area.[135]​.

Clusters are understood as a geographic concentration of companies and institutions that interact with each other and that in doing so create a business climate to improve their performance, competitiveness and profitability. The clusters that are already established are Electrical energy, Textile/Clothing, Design and Fashion, Construction, Business Tourism, Fairs and Conventions "Convention (meeting)").[136]​.

Unemployment and poverty

According to data published by the Mission for the Joining of Employment, Poverty and Inequality Series -MESEP- in November 2009, in Medellín and its metropolitan area the poverty rate in the period 2002-2008 was reduced by 22.5%, going from 49.7% to 38.5%. Likewise, the indigence rate decreased by 25.2%, going from 12.3% to 9.2%.[137] These results are in line with the greater coverage of basic services such as health, education and public services in the city. However, poverty and homelessness in Medellín and its metropolitan area continues to be above the average of the 13 main metropolitan areas of Colombia. In 2008, this average was 30.7% for poverty and 5.5% for indigence.[137]​.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate in Medellín has shown a decreasing trend. In 2000, unemployment in the city was at 17.7%, and according to DANE data, in Medellín and its metropolitan area unemployment in the June-August 2010 quarter was 14.3%,[138]​ although still above the national average, which for August 2010 was 11.2%.[138]​[139]​ DANE placed in its results In 2012, Medellín was named the most unequal city in Colombia, revealing that its Gini coefficient is 0.54 due to factors such as the poverty index, in relation to the total population, which is 22%.[140]​.

Tourism

Among the main destinations, the Antioquia Museum, the Botero square, the Pueblito Paisa, the Plaza Mayor International Convention and Exhibition Center, the Carabobo Pedestrian Passage, the Pies Descalzos park, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Basilica Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater, the Metropolitan Theater, the Oviedo Shopping Center, the Explora park, the botanical garden,[141]​ Lleras Park, the El Castillo Museum and more recently, Commune 13 "San Javier (Medellín)").

Regarding natural sites, the most popular are Cerro El Volador and Cerro Nutibara. A new natural space inaugurated a few years ago is the Arví regional park, which has an area close to 20,000 hectares, includes practically the entire territory of the district of Santa Elena "Santa Elena (Medellín)") and extends between the municipalities of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)"), Copacabana "Copacabana (Antioquia)"), Guarne and Envigado.

For its part, in December, the city is covered with thousands of colored bulbs, creating the Christmas lighting "Christmas Lighting (Medellín)"), considered by National Geographic to be one of the ten most beautiful in the world,[142]​ and which can be seen mainly in Parque Norte, near the botanical garden, on Avenida de la Playa and in the Medellín River Park, between Avenida 33 "Avenida 33 (Medellín)") and Avenida San Juan. "Avenida San Juan (Medellín)").

• - Paisa town.

• - Botero Square; In the background, the Museum of Antioquia.

• - Christmas lighting in Medellín.

• - Cisneros Square.

• - Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture.

• - View of Medellín from Pan de Azucar hill.

There are different sectors where the hotel offer is concentrated. The hotels in El Poblado have the capacity to accommodate 8,200 people. In the Laureles-Estadio area there are 73 hotels with accommodation capacity for 2,100 people and, in the city center, 34 hotels that have 1,400 beds at their disposal.[143]​.

In addition, Medellín offers visitors different accommodation options in traditional farms, country houses and family-type urban houses and boutique hotels.

En los inicios del siglo la ciudad ha vivido un proceso de intensa transformación urbanística que le ha conferido importantes reconocimientos nacionales e internacionales.[144]​ Dicha transformación se basa en el urbanismo social, una política pública consistente en otorgarle prioridad a los pobladores y territorios más pobres, así como a las víctimas de la violencia, mediante obras y programas que buscan reparar el herido tejido físico y social.[33]​ Un ejemplo de estas políticas son unas novedosas escaleras eléctricas instaladas en un barrio de la comuna 13,[145]​ zona que se caracteriza no solo por los problemas mencionados anteriormente, sino también por su ubicación en las laderas de montaña, lo que hace un tanto difícil la comunicación y la calidad de vida de esa parte de la población.

Current city configuration

In 1890, the city's municipal council issued an agreement by which it was ordered to draw up the plan for the future expansion of the city, which also regulated aspects such as the construction of buildings, the opening and paving of roads, the aqueduct, the sewer, and even the shape of the windows so that they did not obstruct the passage of passers-by. In a subsequent reform, the rectification and channeling of the Medellín River, which ran through the entire Aburrá Valley in a sinuous manner, was contemplated in order to gain land for the construction and growth of the city. This plan, called Medellín Futuro, could only be partially fulfilled, but it served to guide the advance of the city in the first half of the century.

Some important chronological dates in this stage were the following: in 1900, the Santa Elena ravine "Santa Elena (Medellín)") was consolidated as the center of the city and began to be laid out as an urban promenade. In 1905, a mule-drawn tram "Mule (animal)") was inaugurated. In 1914, the Antioquia Railway arrived in the city. In 1920, the layout of the tracks began. In 1921, electric trams began to operate. In 1928, the coverage of the Santa Elena ravine takes place. In 1931, the Olaya Herrera airport was built. In 1940, the canalization and rectification works of the Medellín River began. In 1941, the architect Pedro Nel Gómez was in charge of urban design of the Laureles sector. And, in 1945, the Nutibara hotel was built.[146][147]​.

Once the works were carried out on the river, and due to the urban expansion towards the west (the Otrabanda), at the end of the 1940s the need was seen to draw a new plan to organize the city. This is how the urban planners Paul L. Wiener and José L. Sert were in charge of projecting the Pilot Plan between 1948 and 1950, which suggested, among other things, the construction of various avenues and the design of a new government center. Due to this, such representative works in Medellín as Oriental Avenue, built in the seventies, and the La Alpujarra Administrative Center, in the eighties, although they were not directly contemplated in the Wiener and Sert Plan, can be considered to have been based on it.[146]​[147]​.

Between the years 1950 and 1980, the phenomenon of territorial invasion worsened, making it difficult to comply with the plans that tried to organize the growth of the city. The Pilot Plan was overwhelmed by the reality of a population that tripled in 20 years, going from 358,189 inhabitants in 1951 to 1,071,252 in 1973. Construction was very dynamic in that period and a good part of the city's slopes began to be occupied by inhabitants who, arriving from the countryside, did not have the possibility of accessing housing loans.

The textile sector was modernized in this period and the industrial vocation of the city was definitively consolidated.[24] Some important dates during this period were the following: in 1962, construction of the Atanasio Girardot Sports Unit began in the surroundings of the stadium; From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the Coltejer building was built, a complex of buildings that is still the most representative urban symbol of Medellín today. In 1980 the river road plan was built; In 1987 La Alpujarra was inaugurated. Starting in 1995, the Metro began to operate, a work that from an urban planning point of view has had detractors due to its elevated passage through the center of the city.[146]​[147]​.

Architecture

In 2013, Medellín won the Verónica Rudge Green Prize in urban design, awarded by Harvard University, due to the PUI Integral Urban project of the Northeastern area, designed and executed by the Urban Development Company.[148]​[149]​ Medellín retains little colonial and century urban planning memory. Although the Aburrá Valley was an active area in agriculture and livestock throughout the colonial period, its relative wealth was not expressed in outstanding civil and religious architecture as in Cartagena, Tunja, Popayán or Bogotá. This can be explained by the fact that the Town of Medellín was not a political-administrative center but rather a geographically isolated place whose elite invested little in the development of monumental architecture. The churches of Candelaria and Veracruz "Iglesia de la Veracruz (Medellín)") remain from the end of the colony, but with transformations.[150]

The architecture produced in Colombia between 1850 and 1930 is called "republican". The use of brick and the application of historical European styles were the main novelty. The German Enrique Haeusler was the author of the Guayaquil bridge (1879). But the French architect Carlos Carré was the main figure of the republican architecture of the century in Medellín; Carré arrived in the city in 1889, having been hired to design and build the new Episcopal cathedral and several commercial and residential buildings that were planned for different places in the city, especially in the new neighborhood of Guayaquil.

The Metropolitan Cathedral was completed in 1931; He also created the Vásquez and Carré buildings, which are located next to Plaza de Cisneros. The Medellín station of the Antioquia Railway was the work of Enrique Olarte, a work that allowed the definitive urban consolidation of the Guayaquil sector.

In the 1920s, republican architecture reached its culminating phase. From this period, the old Municipal Palace (now the Antioquia Museum) stands out in 1928, and the buildings of the National Palace "Palacio Nacional (Medellín)") and the Departmental Government Palace (today the Palace of Culture) between 1925 and 1928. These last two works were designed by the Belgian Agustín Goovaerts, both inspired by the Belgian modernist movement, in which he applied the Romanesque and neo-Gothic styles. respectively. Other works by Goovaerts were the church of the Sacred Heart "Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Medellín)") (Guayaquil sector), and the church of San Ignacio "Iglesia de San Ignacio (Medellín)"), among others. From the 1930s, some buildings in the Prado neighborhood "Prado (Medellín)") stand out, such as the Egyptian house and the current Prado Theater.[150]​.

The economic expansion of the State, industry, banking and population framed the appearance of skyscrapers. Being located in the historic-civic center of the city, the construction of skyscrapers for offices, commerce and housing brought with it the destruction of a good part of the already scarce ancient urban heritage of Medellín. Living in buildings in the center was then an analogous sign of prestige and social status. The Furatena buildings (1966) with its thirty floors and Coltabaco (1967), the latter located in Berrío park, inaugurated this trend.

Parks

One of the most important parks in the city is the "Central Park", which, although it is located in the municipal territory of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)"), is property of the municipality of Medellín.

With an area of ​​one million square meters, the "Central Park", on the north side of Medellín, is a large area intended for recreational, recreational and sports activities, as well as concerts, with a capacity for 100,000 attendees, and which can also be used for other types of concentrations, for example political or religious. Inside is located the Medellín Autodrome, a track for motor competitions measuring 300,000 square meters. The racetrack is designed to practice car, motorcycle and kart racing, but also cycling, skating and athletics, among other sports.

Other main traditional parks in the city are: Berrío Park, located in the heart of the city; the Bolívar Park "Parque de Bolívar (Medellín)"), located a little further north of the previous one and framed by the Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest building in the world built of fired brick; Other parks are located in more residential areas such as Belén Park, El Poblado Park or the Laureles Parks. The more recently built parks are more interactive, and have been welcomed by the inhabitants, since some are not only places for recreation but also allow learning through direct and personal experiences of visitors; Among them, the Pies Descalzos park, the Deseos park, the Explora park and the Bicentenario park stand out, the latter inaugurated on the occasion of the Bicentennial of Colombia.

Likewise, you can find recreational parks that have been open to the public for some time and have become references for the city; Among them, the following stand out: Parque Norte, Parque Juan Pablo II, the botanical garden, Cerro El Volador, Cerro Nutibara (at the top of which is Pueblito Paisa), and Parque Arví offers a unique theme for walkers, bird watchers and hikers. It is an exotic park worth exploring for locals and visitors.[155]​ The Santa Fe Zoo was founded in 1960 and as of 2020 houses nearly 1,000 animals from Asia, Africa and other places in America.[156]​.

• - Los Deseos Park.

• - Botanical Garden of Medellín.

• - Lleras Park.

• - Bolívar Park "Parque de Bolívar (Medellín)").

• - Berrío Park.

• - Plaza de San Antonio: built in 1994, it is the largest square in the center of Medellín: it is approximately 33,000 m. It is a place for citizen meetings and for the programming of public events. It has three monumental sculptures by Fernando Botero and another sculpture, El Portón de San Antonio, the work of Ronny Vayda. Generally, people call it San Antonio Park.

• - Plaza de Cisneros: located between the EPM Library and the . It has a forest of light poles, 24 meters high. There are 300 posts with 2,100 reflectors (seven per tower), and 170 floor lamps. These elements are mixed, in turn, with bamboo and water sources. It is a kind of artificial forest, with clear spaces for meetings and mass concentrations.

Land communication routes

The main land route of the city is the river road system, which crosses the entire Aburrá Valley from south to north on both sides of the Medellín River. This road is known as Autopista Sur on the western side of the river, and as Regional Avenue on the eastern side of the river. In the east of the city, the Eastern Tunnel, the longest in South America (8.2 km), connects it with the José María Córdova International Airport and in the west, the Western Tunnel (5 km), connects it with the colonial city of Santa Fe de Antioquia. Additionally, there are the "Medellín-Villeta Highway "Villeta (Cundinamarca)")-Bogotá" that goes directly to Calle 80 "Calle 80 (Bogotá)") to the northwest of Bogotá, the "Las Palmas Highway" and the old "Carretera al Mar" or National Route 25 "National Route 25 (Colombia)").

La nomenclatura en el distrito de Medellín está profundamente conectada con su estructura física, que se organiza en gran medida en un diseño de retícula, con vías numeradas de manera consecutiva. En este sistema, las vías que se orientan de norte a sur son clasificadas como calles, mientras que las que se extienden de oriente a occidente son conocidas como carreras. Además, en el paisaje urbano medellinense se encuentran otras denominaciones, como circulares, diagonales, transversales, entre otras; que se detallarán más adelante.

Para mejorar la localización de las personas dentro de la ciudad, se utiliza la nomenclatura urbana, que se entiende como el mecanismo de identificación de calles y propiedades que integran el área de una ciudad o población, mediante signos numéricos y alfanuméricos. Este sistema tiene como finalidad referenciar la ubicación de edificaciones y lotes en relación con las vías adyacentes, señalando sus accesos.[157]​ La nomenclatura se divide en dos categorías: nomenclatura vial y nomenclatura predial. En este apartado, se examinará la diferencia entre la nomenclatura vial, la nomenclatura domiciliaria y los componentes de esta última.

Road nomenclature

Road nomenclature refers to the way in which different roadways are designated. In various nations, this designation may be associated with names of historical figures, while in Colombia a sequential numbering system is used to identify streets and streets, such as: street 1, street 2, street 3; race 1, race 2 race 3, and so on. In addition to the alphanumeric identification of the roads, the possibility of assigning names that represent people, countries, cities, surnames or elements of the urban environment is contemplated.[157]​[158]​.

Typically, road crossings have two plates, located on two of the corner plots of each crossing, where each plate is placed directly on the top of the first floor or on the bottom of the second floor of the building. The owners of the building where these urban signage plates are installed are obliged to carry out continuous surveillance and maintenance. If they deteriorate, it will be your responsibility to restore them, and if they have been removed, they must be replaced in accordance with the specifications detailed in the Territorial Planning Plan.[159]​.

Below are the key terms that are relevant to roads in Medellín:.

It is the area, whether publicly or privately accessible, that is used for the movement of vehicles or people or both.

The road that gives main access to the property is made up of three parts: the category of the road, an alphanumeric identification and the corresponding geographic sector, in case the road belongs to one.

It is the space assigned to the movement of vehicles or individuals or both, which is located within private land and which is used exclusively.

This road is the one with the smallest numerical denomination that intersects with the main road and is used for the formulation of property nomenclature, which varies depending on the location of each property.

Property or home nomenclature

Municipal agreement number 253, enacted on December 1, 1934, allows the city of Medellín to adopt a general nomenclature plan that establishes the bases of the current nomenclature system. This agreement determines that the city's nomenclature will go from being descriptive to an exclusively numerical and sequential system. The 50 Palace race; and 50 Colombia Street) "Avenida Colombia (Medellín)"); are designated as the origins of the system, which will be used to define the domiciliary nomenclature of homes and establishments, «...it will be done in the following way: each door will have a plate that has two numbers separated by a hyphen and that indicate: the first, the number of the lowest-numbered street or race between the two that comprise it; and the second, the approximate distance in meters to the corner of the same street. The plates on the right side, following the numbering, will carry this distance in even numbers; and the plates on the left side, also following the numbering, will carry these distances in odd numbers».[160]​.

The city has a nomenclature that has been defined by agreement number 46 of 2006, called Territorial Planning Plan. This system allows identifying vehicular and pedestrian routes, as well as properties and buildings in an urban or rural grid.[161]​[160]​.

Each property is assigned a unique alphanumeric identifier.[162] This identifier is divided into two sections: the nomenclature of the main road and the home plate. The home plate includes two components: it begins with the type of generating road, followed by a number that can have up to three digits, which can be accompanied by an alphabetical appendix that does not exceed two letters, from A to HH.[163]​ An orientation is also included, which must be EAST for Races and SOUTH for Streets;[164]​[165]​[166]​ and the distance to the intersection. The first identifier is determined from the lowest denomination road that defines the block where the access to the property is located. The second identifier refers to the distance in meters between the corner formed by the intersection of the lower category road and the road that provides the main access to the property, adjusting to the corresponding odd or even number. If the property is located to the right of the street or road, it will be assigned an even number; If it is on the left, it will be assigned an odd number, following the direction of the numbering of the road axes.[167]​ The address plate is usually installed in a visible place, at the top of the access door, in a horizontal orientation, and must be sufficiently illuminated to facilitate its identification at night. The characters must be made with a minimum height of nine centimeters.[168]​.

The nomenclature of a real estate property is made up of three key parts: the main road, the plate and the accessory.

It corresponds to the public road where the main access to the building is located. This route facilitates the identification and numbering of the road network, which includes streets, corridors, diagonals, transversals and avenues, among others. It is broken down into seven components: type of road, number or common name of the main road, letter that accompanies the main nomenclature, secondary number that accompanies the main nomenclature, secondary letter that accompanies the main nomenclature or subsecondary number and quadrant or geographic sector.

Urban nomenclature

The urban nomenclature provides the relevant information that must be included in the address register and in the reference information. The identification, content and organization of this information are the basis for the comparison, search and subsequent location of access points on the road network.

By integrating all these elements, the urban nomenclature is formed, which would be structured as follows:

Nomenclature of the townships

The roads also differ in nomenclature according to their location, since being in the urban area of ​​the city, they are all governed by the same road name. But in the townships, having their urban capital separately, their nomenclature was their own, due to their distance from the urban area of ​​Medellín. With the new Territorial Planning Plan (POT), the idea is to integrate them into the road nomenclature of Medellín and the metropolitan area of ​​the Aburrá Valley (except the municipalities of Bello "Bello (Antioquia)" and Itagüí which have their own nomenclature system).

• - The urban area of ​​the district of Altavista "Altavista (Medellín)") did not require intervention, since its nomenclature has always been integrated with that of the city in the areas of the population centers San Pablo, Altavista, El Corazón and Aguas Frías, close to the Commune of Belén "Belén (Medellín)").

• - The other townships are being gradually integrated into the city's road system. The first was the township of San Cristóbal "San Cristóbal (Medellín)"), because the land of the urban area of ​​the expanding city in the Robledo area already reaches there. For example, the intersection of Calle 10 with Calle 10, in the main park, became Calle 62 with Carrera 130, and roads further up you can find Carrera 150, close to the Western Tunnel.

• - Years later, the turn corresponded to San Antonio de Prado "San Antonio de Prado (Medellín)"), located between Carrera 54, bordering the municipality of Itagüí and Carrera 90, and between Calles 34 Sur and 73 Sur, bordering the municipality of La Estrella "La Estrella (Antioquia)").

• - Currently the same is being done with the Santa Elena district, to the east of the city, where now the intersection of the main road with the one that leads to the El Tambo sector and Arví Park can be referenced as the intersection between 19th Street.

With this, the only township with its own nomenclature to date is that of San Sebastián de Palmitas "Palmitas (Medellín)").

Road nomenclature is not used on the sidewalks of each township, due to the lack of urban concentration.

Media

The city's telecommunications are represented from public telephones, through mobile telephone networks, wireless broadband networks, and navigation centers or Internet cafes, among others. The main company in this sector is Tigo "Tigo (Colombia)"), a subsidiary of Millicom; Also present are Claro "Claro (Colombia)") (from América Móvil) and Movistar "Movistar (Colombia)") (from Telefónica).

Six mobile telephone operators with national coverage operate in the city, of which three are mobile operators with a network: Claro "Claro (Colombia)"), Movistar "Movistar (Colombia)") and Tigo "Tigo (Colombia)"); The other three are virtual mobile operators: Uff Móvil, Virgin Mobile and ETB. The WOM company "WOM (Colombia)") is partly a virtual operator, but is currently deploying its own network.

In the city, several open terrestrial television channels are tuned: the local channels Telemedellín and Canal U "Canal U (Colombia)") and a regional channel (Teleantioquia), and the 5 national channels, the 3 private ones: Caracol Televisión, Canal RCN and Canal 1 "Canal 1 (Colombia)"), and the 2 public ones: Canal Institucional and Diseño Colombia).

In the city, AM and FM stations are established throughout the spectrum, both with local and national coverage, of which the majority are managed by Caracol Radio or RCN Radio, although there are other independent stations with wide coverage, such as Todelar and Super.

A regional newspaper circulates in Medellín and Antioquia: El Colombiano (Medellín's own), and also the national circulation El Tiempo "El Tiempo (Colombia)") and El Espectador "El Espectador (newspaper)"), and the newspapers Publimetro and ADN, which are free to circulate.

Nightlife

One of the most desired places in Medellín is its Zona Rosa known as the "golden mile", a sector located in El Poblado "El Poblado (Medellín)") whose reference point is Parque Lleras. This park is quite busy as it houses, both on its perimeter and in its surroundings, numerous bars, cafes and restaurants. The Zona Rosa also includes Parque del Poblado and part of 10th Street.[178]​.

The Colombia neighborhood also has popular bars and clubs. Likewise, Las Palmas Avenue has established itself as a sector dedicated to nightlife, especially on weekends. Likewise, in the west of the city, on 33rd Street, numerous establishments have been established.[179]​ The epicenter of the so-called Fuchsia Zone (as opposed to the Pink Zone) is the Parque del Periodista, located in the center and where numerous urban tribes converge.[180]​.

Entre los principales artistas medellinenses figuran Fernando Botero, Rodrigo Arenas Betancur y Débora Arango. En música se destacan Juanes, J Balvin, Farina "Farina (cantante)"), Maluma, Karol G, Piso 21, Sebastián Yatra, Camilo Echeverry. También han surgido bandas como Estados Alterados, Bajo Tierra, Ekhymosis y Kraken "Kraken (banda)").

Los principales centros culturales de la urbe son el Museo de Antioquia y la plaza Botero. En la ciudad anualmente tiene lugar el Festival Internacional de Poesía, un evento de carácter cultural que se realiza desde 1991; es también destacada la Orquesta Infantil y Juvenil de Medellín. Además es la ciudad colombiana con mayor cantidad de esculturas en pie, y la gastronomía antioqueña es la más representativa de la región. Adicionalmente, el reguetón es una tendencia fuerte en la ciudad: existen más de 300 grupos conformados, se hacen más de 200 conciertos por año y hay varias discotecas dedicadas exclusivamente al género.[181]​[182]​.

Libraries

Medellín and the metropolitan area have a "Library Network", a set of libraries connected to each other that share resources, efforts, knowledge and experiences in order to improve the educational and cultural conditions of the communities they serve. The network is made up of 36 libraries, of which 24 correspond to Medellín.[183]​.

• - Pilot Public Library, founded in 1952 thanks to an agreement with UNESCO, is currently a department of the municipality of Medellín and serves 120,000 users per month. Among its heritage are the Antioquia Room, which has the most complete bibliographic collection in the department, and the Photographic Archive, which contains more than 1.5 million frames, covering from 1849 to the present day. It also keeps the personal archives of eminent writers such as Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Carlos Castro Saavedra, and the León de Greiff library, among others. Its video library has more than 7,000 titles.

• - EPM Library, inaugurated on June 2, 2005, is located in the center of the city, in front of Plaza Cisneros. It registers a daily average of about 1,700 users, 400 loans and 610 Internet service users. Science, industry, environment and technology are the Library's specialty areas.

• - Documentation Center of the Administrative Planning Department; It is located on the third floor of the mayor's office building, in the "Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt" administrative center,[184] also called "La Alpujarra". Its collections specialize in the areas of urban planning, Public Administration, and the area related to Medellín.

• - Presbítero José Luis Arroyave Library, inaugurated on December 31, 2006 and better known as “San Javier Library Park”, has 4000 m of built area.

• - Leon de Greiff Library, inaugurated on February 17, 2007, better known as “La Ladera Library Park”, has 4,200 m of built area.

• - Tomás Carrasquilla Library, inaugurated on March 10, 2007, better known as “La Quintana Library Park”, has 4,500 m of built area.

• - Biblioteca España, inaugurated on March 24, 2007, better known as “Santo Domingo Library Park”, has 2960 m of built area and a building in the shape of 3 rocks.

• - Central Library Universidad de Antioquia: the oldest and largest in Medellín and the one with the richest collections of books and magazines. With an area of ​​12,008 m, it has a catalog of 650,000 reference texts. And among its heritage it has the most complete collection on Antioquia in Colombia, from the century to date, and with archives of national newspapers from the middle of the century to today. It has an average of 5300 users per day.

• - Central Library of the National University of Colombia: the "Efe Gómez" Library of the National University has a building inaugurated in 1997 but currently remodeled, which centralized the libraries of the faculties of Agricultural Sciences, Sciences, Architecture and Human Sciences that were dispersed throughout the campus. In addition, there is also the library of the National Faculty of Mines, which is located in the Robledo core of the University to the west of the city.

• - Carlos Mauro Hoyos Library of the Council of Medellín: it was inaugurated in 1988; It is located in the Council building, in the "Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt" administrative center. Its collections specialize in the areas of Law, Political and Social Sciences, Public Administration, and the area related to Medellín.

• - Biblioteca Museo de Antioquia: located in the former headquarters of the museum and now called Casa del Museo (Experimental Wing of the Museum). It contains specialized art material. In addition, it has a collection of press articles and historical documents.

Also noteworthy are the central libraries of the private universities Pontificia Bolivariana and EAFIT, which maintain bibliographic material on different disciplines.

Museums

• - Museum of Antioquia. Founded in 1881, it is the most important in the city. It houses a collection of more than 5,000 pieces that include everything from archaeological material to contemporary art. Since 2000, the institution has had its headquarters in the old Municipal Palace of Medellín. The museum preserves a collection of 126 paintings by Fernando Botero and collections of 21 international artists, such as Antoni Tàpies, Roberto Matta and Rauschenberg. Along with them there are also eleven monumental murals by Pedro Nel Gómez, the work of the pioneer painter Francisco Antonio Cano and that of the artist Débora Arango, as well as the sculptures of Marco Tobón Mejía, among other works that are exponents of Antioquian art. The Sculpture Park also exhibits 23 sculptures by Botero, forming an open-air gallery with some of the master's most important works.[185]​.

• - Museum of Modern Art of Medellín (MAMM). It was founded in 1978 by a group of artists belonging to the so-called “urban generation” in order to awaken public interest in modern and contemporary art. Since its founding, there were no limitations for the field of arts, plastics, cinema, architecture, industrial design and criticism, among other contemporary artistic manifestations. It began operating on April 22, 1980 at its original headquarters in the Carlos E. Restrepo neighborhood; In 2009 it opened its new location in the old Talleres Robledo building and in 2010 it received nearly 208,000 visitors.[186] One of its greatest reasons of interest is the collection of almost all of the works of the Antioquian painter Débora Arango. Another of its attractions consists of the art-cinema screenings that it usually holds. It is also home to the International Video Biennial in September.

• - University Museum of the University of Antioquia. Created in 1942; It is located in the University City. The anthropology area exhibits a collection of 18,000 pieces of pre-Columbian ceramics, stone, shell, metal and textiles, the second richest in the country, and a complete ethnographic collection. The visual arts area comprises contemporary painting and sculpture, and includes 1,200 pieces by contemporary artists. The History area of ​​the University collects in a thousand pieces and documents the 200 years of existence of the University; and the natural sciences section exhibits 5,400 pieces, including embalmed native and exotic animals, study skins, minerals and fossils.

• - El Castillo Museum. Built in 1930 in medieval Gothic style and opened to the public in 1971; It has French-style gardens, an exhibition hall, a library and a concert hall for 250 people; It permanently exhibits porcelain and crystal objects, stained glass, music, sculpture, piano and ballet.

• - EPM Interactive Museum. It is part of the Pies Descalzos park environment. It receives 1000 visits daily, especially from students. It is an educational tour through 22 rooms distributed in four pavilions in which, with technological resources and in an entertaining manner, the physical principles of water, energy, gas and telecommunications are explained and interacted with. It is financed and administered by the Public Companies of Medellín.

Theaters

Medellín has more than 17 "Theater (architecture)" theaters for performing arts, in which around 50 groups perform, some with extensive experience and local and national recognition. They are distributed in more than twenty schools.

Some of the main theater facilities in the city are:.

• - Metropolitan Theater. It is the largest venue for cultural shows in the city. It was inaugurated in 1987; It has capacity for 1,634 spectators and is available to adapt the space, by mechanical means, to different acoustic and visual requirements. It has environments intended for schools and rehearsals; It is the headquarters of the Hétores Awards (event of the young audiovisuals of Medellín), the Medellín Polyphonic Studio and the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra.

• - Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater. One of the most traditional stages in the city; It was inaugurated on August 2, 1967, it has capacity for 923 spectators, it is the one that offers the best acoustics for musical and theatrical presentations, and it has an exhibition hall and dressing rooms. The Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater is the cultural center of downtown Medellín.

• - Teatro Lido. It began operating in 1945. It has capacity for 1,100 spectators and is located on the eastern side of Bolívar Park; offers a varied program throughout the year.

• - Teatro Universitario Universidad de Medellín. Opened in September 1985, it also offers a varied program throughout the year. It has capacity for 1,700 spectators and is located inside the university campus. It is the headquarters of the children's and youth symphony orchestra and the symphonic choirs of the Medellín music school network.

• - University Theater of the University of Antioquia. Located in the University City; It is integrated into the cultural extension programs of the University. It has capacity for 1500 people and has an Art Gallery for exhibitions. More than 220 activities are carried out each year, attended by nearly 138,000 people.

• - Carlos Vieco Open Air Theater. Located on the northern slope of Nutibara Hill; It has capacity for 3000 people comfortably seated. It offers all kinds of popular shows. Every year, in the month of June, it becomes the epicenter of the recitals of the International Poetry Festival. Live rock concerts are also frequent there.

Other theater organizations and facilities in the city are: Teatro Porfirio Barba Jacob, Teatro El Triángulo, El Firulete, Asociación Pequeno Teatro de Medellín, Teatro El Trueque, Teatro de Muñecas La Fanfarria, Teatro Popular de Medellín, Teatro Matacandelas,[189]​ La Casa del Teatro, Café Concerto Los Inquietos, Teatro Manicomio de Muñecos, Teatro de Seda Cultural Corporation, Teatro Barra del Silencio, Manicomio de Vargasvil, Beethoven Room, Institute of Fine Arts, Jesús Emilio Ramírez Planetarium "Planetarium (Medellín)").

Gastronomy

The city's gastronomy corresponds to that of Antioquia. Among the typical dishes, the tray paisa stands out, a main dish representative of the region "Paisa (Colombia)"), and the arepa paisa, which is usually eaten with accompaniments. It is common to accompany breakfast with chocolate, calentao (heated leftovers from the previous day) and parva, which is a traditional component of Antioquia gastronomy, made up of a variety of bakery items, among which the pandequeso, the bizcochuelo, the tambourine, the buñuelo, the pandebono and the bread stand out.

Traditions and folklore

The silleteros have been declared Cultural Heritage of Colombia.[190]​.

During the Colony, the mountain range passes were such that they made it difficult to use bulky pack animals (such as oxen, mules or horses) on the narrow roads, so it was necessary to transport the armes (and even the children) on the backs of the muleteers, in wooden apparatus loaded on the back called 'silletas', also the reason why those who used them were called 'silleteros'. Thanks to them, the exchange of products and the movement of travelers between distant places was possible. His skill consisted of supporting weight on his back for long days. Some travel chronicles from the end of the century describe caravans of silleteros advancing along mountain roads.

The silleta and the silletero were adapted to the modern times of the department and the country; In this way, in peasant homes the silleta persisted as a useful instrument to transport helpless or sick people, or to move products, and for the peasant of Santa Elena "Santa Elena (Medellín)") in particular, it was a resource that he used with ingenuity for the task of marketing his products in Medellín. The city became familiar with the silletero seller of flowers and vegetables, who toured the central streets and neighborhoods as a supplier commissioned by certain families. It was common to see them in the most recognized market squares, such as Cisneros or Flores, and in the atriums of churches, until they became colorful characters incorporated into the daily landscape of the city.

In 1957, a parade was organized, and from that moment, his figure grew until he became one of the cultural symbols of Medellín.[191][192]​.

Fashion

The city holds two fashion fairs throughout the year, the most important being Colombiamoda, which takes place for three days in the month of July. It is considered one of the most important fairs in the country and Latin America and has 24 years of experience.[193]​ The first fair that was held in Medellín was held in 1987 with the support of traditional textile companies in the city such as Coltejer, Fabricato and Tejicóndor. Despite the reception obtained that year and the following, the fair only had two versions. Inexmoda took the reins of fashion in Medellín and in 1989 the first version of Colombiamoda was made. In later years the fair was attended by renowned designers such as Óscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Badgley & Mischka, among others.[194]​.

Events

• - Flower Fair: it is the most representative event of the city. It takes place at the end of July until the beginning of August. The Fair, in addition to multiple other activities and festivities, has as its main focus the Silleteros Parade, a showy parade of enormous and artistic flower chairs carried on the backs by their own growers.

• - 2 Wheels Fair: this event is considered the most important in the motorcycle industry in Colombia and the second in importance for Latin America. It is held annually in the month of May for 4 days, during which it receives visitors from approximately 30 countries who see this fair as the perfect opportunity to do business and find out about the latest developments in the sector.

• - National Trova Festival"): it is held annually within the framework of the Flower Fair. Although the semi-finals and the final take place during the week of the Fair, this begins months before with the audition phases, in which anyone can register to participate, and the qualifying days, which bring together the best audition scores and the troubadours who enter in their own right. This is an event that you can attend for free and enjoy the Antioquian improvisation with family or friends.

• - International Poetry Festival: this is an annual congregation of poets from almost all over the world, who deliver their poems and readings to the public in a massive way in parks, auditoriums, popular neighborhoods and towns near Medellín. This event has been awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation of Sweden, and its objective is to fight for peace through poetic art.[195] The XVII Medellín International Poetry Festival was held between July 14 and 22, 2007, with the participation of more than 80 poets from around 55 nations.

• - International Tango Festival: popular annual celebration, an expression of the tango culture that Medellín adopted as its own. This is a legacy of the bard Carlos Gardel, who died in this city in a plane accident in 1935. Among the Festival's activities, La Tangovía stands out, where people take to the streets en masse to dance, listen to tango, milonga "Milonga (musical genre)").

• - International Jazz Festival "International Jazz Festival (Medellín)"): the Medellín Jazz Corporation and other entities in the city organize this already traditional festival annually in September, with the participation of world and national exponents of the genre. It takes place simultaneously in several places in the city, such as the open-air theater of the El Tesoro Shopping Center and the city's Café Teatro. The Jazz Festival has epitomized a renaissance of new-generation music in the city and attracts more and more renowned musicians and mass audiences.

• - : the festival was born from the idea of ​​creating a space for young people and musicians in the city to exhibit their music, since on previous occasions there were festivals that did not last, such as the Ancón Festival "Festival de Ancón (Colombia)") (1971 and 2004) and Rock a lo Paisa (2000). The festival has been an axis of support for new artists in the city to exhibit their work with adequate sound conditions.

Medellín is twinned with 35 cities around the world:.

• - Medellín Wikiproject.

• - Portal:Medellín. Content related to Medellín.

• - Portal:Colombia. Content related to Colombia.

• - People from Medellín.

• - Metropolitan area of ​​the Aburrá Valley.

• - List of mayors of Medellín.

• - List of skyscrapers in Medellín.

• - Chatty.

• - Archdiocese of Medellín.

• - Coat of Arms of Medellín.

• - Economy of Medellín.

• - Paisa Region "Paisa (Colombia)").

• - Assets of municipal cultural interest of Medellín.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia gallery about Medellín.

• - Wikisource contains the historical document Hymno de Medellín "s:Hymno de Antioquia (Colombia)").

• - Wikiviajes hosts travel guides to or about Medellín.

• - Wikinews has news related to Medellín.

• - Official page of the Mayor's Office of Medellín.

• - Telephone code for Medellín.

• - Medellín postal codes by neighborhoods. Archived February 9, 2019 at the Wayback Machine.