Political theatres in the urban periphery: Medellín and the library-Parks Project

Abstract

The Library-Parks of Medellín are pivotal in this city's project of 'urban and social upgrading'. They consist of a combination of cultural programmes and generous surrounding and indoor spaces for public use, built with the intention to produce a new sense of community and citizenship by means of architecture and its appropriation. This fact opens a series of questions regarding the instrumental use of architecture within the frame of wider projects of urban transformations. In particular, these urban projects intended to transform areas that were hitherto peripheral in this city's economy, culture and politics. This paper intends to address how the Library-Parks Project materialises and produces ideologies of politics and culture in contexts of cultural, economic and political periphery.