On 20th November I visited Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona#smartcityexpo.

For about 6 hours I was walking between projects, enterprises, public administration, etc…but the one I enjoyed the most  was Medellin´s City Stand.

Medellin has gone from having a high rate of crime and unemployment to receiving the award as the most innovative city, the city continues to work to remain in that position, and to be at the forefront of global trends in innovation.

Medellin is a global example of urban and social transformation, thanks to the educational programs, culture and urban space  for its inhabitants. The city is working to create quality jobs and improve wellbeing for all.

How?

By the Social innovation, defined as the development and implementation of new

Ideas (products, services and models) to meet social needs, create new social relationships and deliver better results.  It serves as a response to the social demands that affect the process of social interaction, addressing improvement human welfare.

These social innovations improve the capacity for people to take action. They are based on creative citizens, civil society, local communities or companies. They are an opportunity for the public sector and the markets, so that products and services meet the individual and collective aspirations.

Some key points:

-Information processing: An approach to city problems in order to undestand the causes and determine the appropriate actions to solve those issues.

-Open innovation ecosystem made up of multiple stakeholders from around the world.

-Space for thinking on knowledge generation as a contribution  in “cities for life”.

-Successful experiences database.

-Virtual programs related to these topics, like in the appstore,  we can find apps related to city topics.

 

Strategy?

The center of Medellin, will have in February´15 the plattform “citiesforlive” in production that will propose “Plans” (basic strategic guidelines) aimed at solving the problems of requesting cities.

They want to share what they believe as a commitment to life. A social, political and moral objective on which they  have been working, based on the principles of  good governance  and participate society, working together, innovatively, to insure the governance conditions necessary for development, for the validity of the public, for social justice and general transformations required by the new urbanism.

 

Just wonderful, congratulations!

 

Youtube      MEDELLIN BEFORE AND AFTER

 

In Grisverd, sustainable urban furniture wue are working the project “Transmitting knowledge across generations”, this exemple can help us to create urban elements that promote this values.