Project Summary

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This project will influence local urban infrastructure policy in Medellín, Colombia, by contributing to the development of a NbS Manual to support implementation of Medellin’s Renaturalisation Plan. The project supports a shift from grey infrastructure solutions both in our action-research with communities and in local policy in Medellin, to multi-functional NbS that address several issues simultaneously (e.g. flood/landslide risk, water quality, biodiversity and public amenity), thus expanding our impact. The project objectives are to: 

1. Draft a proposed table of contents for the SbN technical manual for Medellín, which contributes to Medellin’s Renaturalisation Plan WP2.

2. Supplement the documentation for incorporating SbN into public and private projects with a community-focused approach, contributing to Medellin’s Renaturalisation Plan WP5.

3. Develop a methodological guidelines for the incorporation of SbN into the PAALs and PDLs of the District of Medellín, using Comuna 8 as a pilot and contributing to Medellin’s Renaturalisation Plan WP24.

4. Synthesise lessons from implementation of NbS community-led interventions that have been piloted in the north-east urban-rural edge (BURNOR) of Medellin, as an input for objectives 1-3. 

5. Increase the impact of community-based initiatives on urban infrastructure policymaking and implementation at municipal and metropolitan levels, and disseminate this impact nationwide in Colombia and internationally, by facilitating community involvement in events and supporting the replication and upscaling of community-based NbS. 

6. Lead the conversation on community-based NbS among other Latin American countries beyond Colombia.