Episode 17: The Gondolas of Medellin

Altered Mobillity

The story of the gondolas of Medellin, Columbia, is the history of Medellin itself. We explore how Medellin went from Spanish colonial mining town to industrial city and then, via building a robust public transportation system - and in particular the gondolas - Medellin transformed itself from a murder capital to a tourist-magnet destination. Medellin took a no-wrong-door, holistic approach to its many problems. In the process, the city built a responsive, but inexpensive, form of public infrastructure well suited to its mountainous, but urban, terrain.

Resources

Moment in Equity

Wealth Inequality by Country 2023 – https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/wealth-inequality-by-country

Adriaan Alsema, Colombia’s wealth gap bogging down economic growth and progress: World Bank, Columbia Reports (Oct. 28, 2021) – https://colombiareports.com/colombias-wealth-gap-bogging-down-economic-growth-and-progress-world-bank/

Geography and history of Medellin

Political Map of Columbia, nationsonline.org (Undated) – https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/colombia_map.htm#:~:text=About%20Colombia&text=It%20is%20bordered%20by%20Brazil,Cayman%20Islands%20(United%20Kingdom).

Medellin, Britannica (Updated Sept. 7, 2022) – https://www.britannica.com/place/Medellin-Colombia

Medellin FactFile, MedellinColumbia.co (Undated) – https://www.medellincolombia.co/general-information/medellin-factfile/

Brief History of Medellin, casacol (Undated) (author name as Patrick, with no other information) – https://en.casacol.co/2022/06/11/brief-history-of-medellin/

Kenneth Fletcher, Columbia Dispatch 9: The Story of Medellin, Smithsonian (Oct. 28, 2008) – https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/colombia-dispatch-9-the-story-of-medellin-88441797/

David Freedman, How Medellin, Columbia, Became the World’s Smartest City, Newsweek (Nov. 18, 2019) - https://www.newsweek.com/2019/11/22/medellin-colombia-worlds-smartest-city-1471521.html

Gondolas

Gondola, Cambridge Dictionary (Undated) (definition) – https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/gondola

Gondola, Online Etymology Dictionary (Undated) – https://www.etymonline.com/word/gondola#:~:text=gondola%20(n.),open%20railway%20cars%20by%201871.

Gondola (disambiguation), Wikipedia (Updated Feb. 20, 2023) (discussing less common transportation-related meanings of the word “gondola”) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondola_(disambiguation)

Frequently Asked Questions, Georgetown-Roslyn Gondola (Undated) – http://www.georgetownrosslyngondola.com/faqs

Gondolas of Medellin

Steven Dale, Medellin/Caracas, Part 1, The Gondola Project (Oct. 5, 2015) – https://www.gondolaproject.com/2015/10/05/medellincaracas-part-1/

Steven Dale, Medellin/Caracas, Part 2, The Gondola Project (Mar. 12, 2010) – https://www.gondolaproject.com/2010/03/12/medellincaracas-part-2/

Steven Dale, Medellin/Caracas, Part 3, The Gondola Project (Mar. 14, 2010) – https://www.gondolaproject.com/2010/03/14/medellincaracas-part-3/

Cable Cars as Urban Public Transport in Medellin, Seeds of Good Anthropocenes (Undated (seems like 2019) – https://goodanthropocenes.net/cable-cars-as-urban-public-transport-in-medellin/

Video: Medellin: Columbia’s Sustainable Transport Capital, Streetfilms (2012) – https://vimeo.com/39704761

Charles Parkinson, Medellin’s Strategy for Driving Down Crime: Add More Gondolas, The Future of Resilience (blog), Next City (Nov. 11, 2013) – https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/medellin-expands-the-transit-system-that-helped-tame-its-rampant-crime

Metrocable (Medellin), Wikipedia (Updated May 22, 2023) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrocable_(Medell%C3%ADn)

Venezuela: Avila National Park, parkswatch.org (March 2002) – http://parkswatch.org/parkprofiles/pdf/avnp_eng.pdf

Metrocables in Medellin, Columbia, Oxfam International (case study) (Jan. 2021) – https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621119/cs-metrocables-medellin-colombia-270121-en.pdf;jsessionid=68262E16B5AE71A0EF680FA5E085B1AF?sequence=1