Medellin one of the best cities in Latin America to live in: study - Colombia Reports

Medellin one of the best cities in Latin America to live in: study

Colombia’s second largest city, Medellin, has been judged one of the best cities in Latin American to live in, according to a recent “Smart Cities” study conducted by the Spanish technology multinational Indra. 
The multinational company Indra rated 243 cities throughout 32 different countries based on public services, security, and sustainable development, and found Medellin to be one of two most choice Latin American cities.
According to these criteria, Indra touted Medellin and Santiago de Chile as the best cities in Latin America.
By contrast,the study found that other major Latin American cities such as Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), and Bogota (Colombia) scored below-average results in terms of public service efficiency.
The study also gathered proposals from citizen on the effectiveness of “e-government” campaigns to empower citizens to use technological tools to improve their public services, reported the Spanish EFE news wire. In terms of innovative use of electronic administration, Medellin gained an above-average score of 7.5 compared with a global average of 5.2. This despite the fact that the city of nearly 3.8 million inhabitants still does not have an interactive map that allows residents to plan transport routes in the city.
Indira has developed metro ticketing systems in cities throughout Latin America, implying a potential vested interest in the positive rankings for certain cities in which it has worked.

Medellin – an innovative city

In 2013, Medellin beat Tel Aviv and New York to be named Innovative City of the Year, in a competition sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and Citigroup.

MORE: Medellin named world’s most innovative city of 2012

While the city is healing the scars of a violent history, Medellin has used leadership and innovation to increase efficiency in public services to move towards becoming a hub of innovation, investment and entrepreneurism.
One of Medellin’s most commendable public service improvements was the construction of a gondola system, or MetroCable, which has helped hundreds of thousands of people avoid a lengthy and dangerous commute on winding, potholed roads that weave through gang territory. A two and a half hour commute was reduced to less than half an hour when the first MetroCable line (linea K) of this revolutionary transit system was inaugurated in August 2004.