In 2004, the local government of Medellin (Colombia) introduced a new public policy aimed at alleviating the key socio-spatial problems that have existed in the city: social urbanism. Although this policy was designed to promote spatial justice by rupturing the traditional dynamic in which the living conditions of the inhabitants of Medellin's different sectors have been strongly defined by their respective geographical location within the city -for which it has been widely lauded- it has gained an increasingly ambiguous character. Precisely thanks to its promotional value, the social urbanism model has gradually become a centrepiece of the neoliberal city branding strategy through which the local government and linked actors have attempted to improve Medellin's global competitiveness position after its violent past. This study analyses the forms in which this remarkable phenomenon of confluence between two policies that at first sight would generally be interpreted as incompatible has impacted on the promotion of spatial justice in the city in the period between 2004 and 2016.
van der Velde, L. (2017). Spatial Justice or Global Competitiveness? Social Urbanism and City branding in Medellin (2004-2016). Journal Studies of Public Policy, 3(2), 64–89. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-6296.2017.47761
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