The Colombian social communicator and politician speaks about public space in Medellín and the reasons behind its transformation. His favourite public space is walking through any city.

Shared Spaces recorded this conversation with Jorge Melguizo in May 2011 when he visited the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona to take part in the debate “Medellín-Barcelona: Dialogue between Two Urban Planning Models”. For Melguizo, “Public space is the place of equality, coexistence and meeting”.

This was the premise guiding the sweeping changes that occurred in the Colombian city of Medellín at the time when he was the City Council’s Secretary for Culture. In achieving this, he says, they tried to make public space a place that would bring together differences in defiance of the general atmosphere of negation and fear in the city, which was physically and socially fragmented.

As for his favourite public space, Melguizo says it is walking on the footpath of any street, especially wide streets with trees, plants and benches. He also mentions the street’s ability to let you “see people walking, walking and walking” as well as the quality of “being able simply to sit down and do nothing.”