Dear all,

We are 4 students in Communication in IHECS Brussels School doing our final thesis. We would like to create a web documentary on Medellin in Colombia and its huge transformation these past few years and are therefore going there to meet cultural and political players during 5 weeks. To bring this project to life called “Du Cartel au Culturel” we need all the help we can get!

The project:

In 30 years, Medellin in Colombia went from one of the most dangerous cities in the world to receiving the price for “the most innovative city” in 2013 by the Urban Land institute. This is the result of many political decisions and citizen initiatives and although everything is not perfect yet, this city deserves our attention.

Indeed, you probably know Medellin for its drug cartel led by the notorious Pablo Escobar which brought violence and criminality into everyone’s home during the 80s. Lately, with the arrival of Sergio Fajardo, the new mayor of the city, they established new development plans including topics such as urbanisation, education, environment, health, mobility and culture to try to prevent violence and poverty instead of fighting it. Moreover, they strive to include the population in the decision processes.

The cultural sector of the city is flourishing (with the construction of new libraries, social projects in poor neighbourhoods, …) and we want to understand the importance of cultural projects in the restructuration of the city together with its urbanistic changes. Medellin is seen as a model for its urbanistic development but we want to dig deeper and know how the links are made between the politics and citizen initiatives; what are their motivations and which impact does it have on social and cultural prosperity? We want to give you a realistic point of view by meeting these cultural and political players.

For more information about the project you can visit our Facebook page where we post articles and links to understand how the city has changed:

https://www.facebook.com/ducartelauculturel/

Thank you in advance for showing interest in our project.

The team "Du Cartel au Culturel"

Du Cartel Au Culturel