Metropolitan Green Belt - Medellín

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The Green Belt is an urban planning mechanism through which a circumferential area of parks and nature reserves is created around the city of Medellin in order to limit the growth of the city and promote a denser urban development that promotes the protection of nature and biodiversity surrounding the city. In addition, the intervention aims to make the city more resilient to climate change. The Metropolitan Green Belt is one of the urban planning strategies included in the Medellín Land Use Plan (POT) 2014-2027.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Urban planning mechanisms

Challenges addressed

Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Landslide risk
Air quality
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Green Belt was conceived as a territorial management tool to address a series of ecological and land use challenges, such as protecting watersheds and forests that are key to the region's biodiversity, controlling the effects of climate change, and reducing the risk of landslides. Green Belt areas will be declared nature reserves. The Green Belt also aims to provide citizens with new green spaces for recreation, education and community gatherings. The objectives of this intervention are: 1. address sprawl and decrease disasters (Greenbelt areas will be declared nature reserves); 2. increase energy efficiency and reduce the number of disasters (Greenbelt areas will be declared nature reserves). 2. Increase the city's energy efficiency through the implementation of solar panels in the park. 3. Retain carbon emissions (climate change mitigation through a forest carbon sequestration project, Más Bosques para Medellín, which operates within the voluntary carbon market). 4. Provide citizens with new spaces for recreation, education, sports, and community gatherings. 5. Deliver an environmental education program that promotes green practices that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Within the Green Belt project, pre-existing ecosystems are protected and urban parks are created. The Green Belt keeps the city within a more limited space, with the goal of protecting green areas around Medellín so that the city can be more resilient to climate change.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Green areas for water management

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Inclusivity

Multifunctional NBS support

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Municipal Government

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The municipal mayor is responsible for coordinating the timely formulation of the draft Land Management Plan (POT). This project is then coordinated with the different sectors, institutions and authorities of the city, including the citizens represented by the Territorial Planning Council, to obtain a final document. Once the agreement with all institutions and citizens has been reached, the POT document is submitted to the municipal council, which has 90 days to discuss, make modifications and approve the POT.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Civil society consultation through e.g. workshops, surveys, etc.

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The implementation of the Green Belt intervention has been guided by the municipal government.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Budget:

1 000 000€ - 5 000 000€

Details about instrument financing:

The budget for the Green Belt is defined in the Land Use Plan. Throughout the research for this case study, it was not possible to identify the specific budget for the intervention.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

The Medellín City Council and the Public Policy Observatory of the Medellín City Council (OPPCM) follow up on goals and projects related to the POT every 4 years. In 2016 they published a report dedicated to the Green Belt. This research did not find more recent reports.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

In 2016, The Council of Medellin and The Public Policy Observatory of the Council of Medellin, published a report about the Green Belt in which it is mentioned that the project achieved the recovery of two hills and the construction of five ecoparks, 3 environmental classrooms, 30 hectares of ecological restoration and 31,000 square meters of agro-ecological community gardens. The project emphasizes the importance of generating quality public space, which is why 206,305 square meters of public space were built on this rural urban edge.

Success factors and lessons learned:

In the process of planning and construction of the Green Belt, the importance of generating capacities and investing resources in issues such as the relocation of thousands of inhabitants living on unstable land or on the Green Belt infrastructure site can be found as a lesson learned. According to the Public Policy Observatory of the Medellín City Council (OPPCM), it is important to increase the capacity of the local government to manage this type of resettlement processes from a human rights approach. The OPPCM report expresses the need for more public security forces on the outer limits of the city, given that criminal gangs often control the territory of informal settlements.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

https://www.medellin.gov.co/irj/portal/medellin?NavigationTarget=contenido/9261-Que-es-el-POT https://una.city/nbs/medellin/green-belt-medellin https://www.medellin.gov.co/irj/go/km/docs/pccdesign/SubportaldelCiudadano_2/PlandeDesarrollo_0_17/ProgramasyProyectos/Shared%20Content/Documentos/2014/POT/RevistaPOT2014.pdf http://oppcm.concejodemedellin.gov.co/es/node/963

Further documents

Documents:

JARDIN-CIRCUNVALAR-MEDELLIN-1.jpg

Photos

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