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Medellin
Colombia's reinvented city of eternal spring
Nestled in a narrow green valley of the Andes, Medellin has transformed itself from a byword for cartel violence into one of Latin America's most admired urban success stories. Colombia's second city, home to some four million people in its metro region, enjoys a mild, flower-scented climate that earns it the name City of Eternal Spring. Cable cars climb from the valley floor to once-isolated hillside neighbourhoods, libraries rise in former slums, and a confident, innovative spirit has made the paisa capital a magnet for visitors and entrepreneurs alike.
The city fills the Aburra Valley in the Cordillera Central of the Andes, at roughly 1,495 metres above sea level, with the Medellin River running down its centre and steep slopes climbing on either side. The altitude tempers its tropical latitude into a remarkably stable, spring-like climate all year. As the valley floor filled, the metropolis spread up the surrounding hillsides, and an integrated network of metro trains, cable cars, and outdoor escalators now knits these vertiginous neighbourhoods into the city below.
Founded in 1616 and long a centre of gold mining and later textiles, Medellin grew into Colombia's industrial powerhouse. In the 1980s and early 1990s it became the base of Pablo Escobar's cartel and one of the most dangerous cities on earth. The turnaround since has been dramatic, driven by investment in transit, public space, and education in the poorest neighbourhoods, an approach often called social urbanism. Today Medellin is celebrated for design and innovation, though the legacy of its violent decades endures.