International Case Studies of Smart Cities: Medellin, Colombia

This case study is one of ten international case studies developed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in association with the Korean Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), for the cities of Anyang, Medellin, Namyangju, Orlando, Pangyo, Rio de Janeiro, Santander, Singapore, Songdo, and Tel Aviv. At the IDB, the Competitiveness and Innovation Division (CTI), the Fiscal and Municipal Management Division (FMM), and the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI) coordinated the study. This project was part of technical cooperation ME-T1254, financed by the Knowledge Partnership Korean Fund for Technology and Innovation of the Republic of Korea. At KRIHS, the National Infrastructure Research Division coordinated the project and the Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC) provided the funding. Medellin launched a series of strategies to become smart city. They are oriented to the citizen, through a series of services that improve their quality of life as they develop capacity and organizational structure in the entities that control mobility, the environment, and safety. In addition, these initiatives have created mechanisms to communicate and interact with citizens in order to promote continuous improvement of smart services.