LIBRARY-PARK SPAIN, MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA

The words who were used to describe the city of Medellin were: Drug trafficking and violence. The words that describe Medellin in the present are transformation, optimism, modernization, coexistence, education, and culture. The words who will describe Medellin’s in the future are an opportunity, incorporation, and equity. During 2013, the city of Medellin received the award of the Most Innovative City in the World, given by the Urban Land Institute.

The principal keys for Medellin’s transformation were:

• During 2004-2007, an independent Civic movement integrated by scholars, NGO professionals, businessmen and community organization leaders, started a project of citizen commitment.

• The community chose the continuation of this project for the years of 2008-2011.

• The principal political result: the public trust recovery: The government, their rulers, and politics on the public projects.

• Transparent management of resources: the corruption is the principal tax the poor people are paying.

• Integral intervention with the maximum quality of territories and problems: The State arrives with development tools, where before the State was inexistent, where the ones who took the State domain were the: guerrillas, paramilitary, drug trafficking, criminals, and politicians.

• The public education and culture, key tools for the city and society development, as inclusion and equity elements: 40% of the municipal budget goes to public education and 5% to culture.

According to the Medellin’s government, the interventions built between 2004-2015 were:

• Library-Park Spain

• Library-Park La Ladera

• Library-Park Piloto (Preliminary project)

• Library-Park Belén

• Library-Park San Javier

During 2004-2007, the investment was of 28 million euros (an average of 5.6 million of euros each one. More than 80,000 users each week between the 5 existent Library-Parks. They are open during the whole year except on December 25th and January 1st.

Library-Parks general characteristics:

• Built on low index human development areas

• Parks-public space (an average of 12,000m² each one)

• 18,000 books in each one (a goal of 25,000 in 4 years)

• 210 computers in each one (90 of them are tablets), broadband and Wi-Fi connections

• Exhibition halls

• "Mi Barrio" halls for social work

• Centers for Business Development

• Playhouses (play centers for children under 10 years)

• Auditoriums (between 144 and 380 chairs)

• Music school with an average of 250 students.

• Theaters with adequate scenarios.

• Necessary equipment for the inclusion of people with different capacities, especially the blind people.

Focusing specifically on the 5500m² Library-Park Santo Domingo Spain, designed and built by the Colombian Giancarlo Mazzanti. The total cost of this project was US$15.152. It was built in 2007. It was a result of a public contest made by the Medellin’s Municipality and the urban development enterprise (EDU).

Urban environment

During the 1980’s and 1990’s, the neighborhood of Santo Domingo used to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Medellin, it was totally under control by the drug dealing gangs and urban guerrilla, making the neighborhood inaccessible to the inhabitants and to the rest of the population, moreover the public transportation was inefficient.

Afterward, a metro cable and library were part of a strategy oriented towards increasing the mobility in previously inaccessible areas and providing services to troubled communities. Neither the architect Giancarlo Mazzanti nor the Mayor’s office was willing to comment on the case, and various public officials similarly declined to put forward a fixed date for when construction will be finished.

On the other hand, the three seven-year-old buildings have been covered up since April 2013 due to structural problems. Reportedly, construction did not adhere to architectural plans. Further problems arose with landslides in April and August of 2013, causing local governing bodies to cover the three buildings in the black material while repairs are made.Studies were done by the Administrative Department of Disaster Risk Management (DAGRD), the Urban Development Enterprise (EDU) have stated that work will have to be done in order to make the building safe, plans that potentially include removing all of the top levels of slate tiles to amend structural weaknesses.

According to engineer Jospeg Farbiarz, “The facade does not meet the statutory requirements to withstand wind loads, and is not fully waterproof, reported El Colombiano newspaper. When Colombia Reports spoke to the librarians and those working within the shrouded library, it learned that the original time-frame for the repairs was six months. One year later, and they still haven’t heard what the plans are, much less seen any significant progress.

Changing a community

Medellin’s so-called "library parks" were the initiative of ex-Mayor Sergio Fajardo, who came to power on a social platform that included the construction of libraries in various high-risk areas for violence across the city.

It has to be noticed, that in order to get positive results, the projects were developed under several stages in which a commitment between the Medellin’s government and the community were made, and it is still in process. It took more than ten years to see positive results. Overall the Municipality of Medellin follow the next guideline: