Exciting Things Happening in Medellín

Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne paid a visit to Medellín after hearing the hype and is a convert.

He writes, "The city's commitment to public architecture, spearheaded by former mayor Sergio Fajardo, has - as advertised - produced a number of exquisitely designed libraries, schools and parks. Rising in some of Medellín's roughest neighborhoods, these projects are the capstones of a broader civic rebirth that has seen murder rates tumble nearly 90% from their highs of the early 1990s."

Hawthorne sees what's happening in Medellín as a unique blend of the two camps of current architectural trends, the experimental and the humanitarian.