The La Independencia neighborhood in Medellin, Colombia sprawls up a hillside, leaving the inhabitants to walk up to 10 flights of stairs every day. An ambitious development program is considering building an outdoor network of escalators.
Alex Hutchinson writes that the pedestrian infrastructure of La Independencia is "unsafe, unpleasant, and a grueling experience for users."
Medellin's Empresa de Desarollo Urbano (EDU), or Urban Development Corporation, is proposing to build an extensive system of escalators throughout the community. The EDU is also responsible for building Medellin's new urban gondola system, or "metrocable":
The metrocable is seen as a success for creating economic opportunities and improved mobility for Medellin's isolated and disadvantaged populations.
Here is video of an outdoor escalator system in Hong Kong that could be comparable to the one proposed for Medellin:
Thanks to Jeffrey Riecke
FULL STORY: Climbing 164 Stairs in Medellin, Colombia
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
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