Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion reflects on the policies, discourses, and politics of the Medellín Miracle, asking how these political processes could have been related to the dramatic decline in violence. It is argued that the distinctive elements of the Medellín Miracle, which distinguish social urbanism from other international models of urban development, are the political changes that accompanied these policies. The broader significance of the Medellín case is that, if epidemic violence is understood as a question of how power is attained, wielded, and maintained in a certain context, then changes in political processes are as much a factor in the reduction of violence as the iconic buildings and infrastructure projects that have come to symbolise the ‘miracle’.