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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/green-corridors-medellin-colombia-urban-heat/>
"It’s mid-afternoon along Medellín’s Avenida Oriental, a traffic-clogged road
that scythes through the heart of the second largest Colombian city, and
Nicolas Pineda is crouched down on his haunches as cars zoom by on both sides.
Wrapped up in heavy duty workwear and armed with a machete, Pineda is weeding a
thick strip of tree-lined greenery running between the lanes. He hacks at a
patch of dead, browning bush and then pulls up a rogue, zig zag-shaped shrub
beside his foot.
“Es bien bonita,” grins the 54-year-old, evidently pleased with his handiwork.
“It’s very clean. That’s what I like to see: a clean, green city.”
Pineda has helped to sow and maintain hundreds of thousands of trees and plants
across Medellín as part of a people-led scheme to fight back against extreme
heat through a network of “Green Corridors” across the city.
In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed
so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its
cool.
Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to
a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to
significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads
and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much
longer than green infrastructure.
“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar
Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built.
There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became
obvious that had to change.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
