My cities & My comparisons

Hello friends, I hope you are well. I am pleased to be active again sharing with you more content with the intention that it will be useful. This publication is an introduction for the next ones to come where I will present specific places in Colombia where I am currently located.

From this publication I will allocate a special contribution of 20%, distributed in 10% for @aplusd and 10% for @storiesoferne. This is without any double intention, it is just my desire to support the community that has supported me and that recently their administrator and friend went through difficult times because of the typhoon Rai that hit the island of Cebu last December.

Well friends, going into my content for this occasion I start by saying that there are places that are more than spaces to live and I say this because recently I was inquiring about the planning of the so-called Garden Cities. I could not help but meditate on my luck or rather, my blessing to live first in my hometown Maracay, called the Garden City of Venezuela and now in Colombia in the cities of Bucaramanga known as the City of Parks and finally in the city of Medellin, known as the City of Eternal Spring.

Certainly the original idea of Garden City proposed by Ebenezer Howard in the late nineteenth century is an urban model that favored the quiet and mostly natural life where agricultural areas would abound with its pleasant rural aspect away from the industrial periphery. This urban model is not fully complied with in Medellin, Bucaramanga and Maracay, but the inhabitants still enjoy them and have managed to maintain the ecological title that accompanies them because they are large cities that are recognized for their attempt to organize public, commercial, residential, governmental, recreational and natural areas. Above all they reach a high position for their economic importance thanks to their industrial development, which is undeniable and now that I am living in Medellin, I see that it is a city of much progress, more than Bucaramanga and my remembered Maracay, which is not far behind in importance, although it has the shadow of the national government dominated by Chavism.

While I am in my delectation, now that I am in Medellin I realize that no one knows what he has until he loses it. From here, I value and recognize more the virtues of Maracay, so every day I take advantage of it not only to work, but also to contemplate every detail of the day from its dawn, which stimulates me to be more productive here in Colombia.

Medellín

This viewpoint allows me to see almost all of Medellín, while I am in Robledo Santa María on a work day.

Enjoying the bridges and pedestrian walkways I keep thinking about the influence of some urban architects who have contributed truly remarkable ideas for urban and ecological development such as Josep Lluís Sert, Paul Wiener and Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier in the world. On this occasion I mention them as a reference in the planning of the modern Medellín that began in the last century with the different projects that proposed the balanced development of a major city.

Bucaramanga

Before my arrival in Medellin I lived in Bucaramanga, capital of Santander, and I was able to take this shot while appreciating the view from a pedestrian bridge.

I see on the horizon the city surrounded by trees and mountains under a sky that also reminds me of areas of my Maracay. With its many hills and nature it is not hard to believe that Bucaramanga is known as the City of Parks, because that is what I saw everywhere. What's more, records mention more than 70 parks in a city where progress is evident. I see its buildings and the many living spaces that make it up under a cool climate similar to that of my Maracay.

Maracay

Speaking of Maracay, it is located in the middle of a privileged valley with a cool climate. Although the temperature of Maracay has changed and is now warmer, it is still privileged by its location between the high green mountains of the Cordillera de la Costa, sharing limits with the wide Tacarigua Lake better known as Lake Valencia that can be seen in the distance in these photos that I keep from my adolescence during a climb to the Cerro Hotel Maracay, very visited by the Maracayeros.

Garden City of Venezuela

The influence of some urban architects has contributed truly remarkable ideas for urban and ecological development in the world, such as Raul Villanueva, Venezuelan pride with high national and international recognition. Such is the case of the transformation of my hometown Maracay in Venezuela, which I take the opportunity to remember for its intimate spaces of exalted beauty thanks to nature mixed with the modernity of a city of colonial inspiration.

All these spaces that I have shown you are the work of the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva, a renowned and outstanding Venezuelan urban planner. But he did not work alone; Guinand Sandoz and Luis Malaussena also deserve credit, among other outstanding Venezuelan architects who were part of the team in charge of the transformation of Maracay in the 1930s, under the concept of the Garden City, precisely to beautify and highlight nature at the time, turning it into a national icon.

My remembered Maracay is not far behind in importance, even though it has the shadow of the national government dominated by chavismo.

My cities & My comparisons

I am clear that my three cities, Maracay, Bucarahan and Medellín,lost part of the original essence of the urban planning that has been destined to them since the last century. But not completely, because although they are very evolved and congested cities, they still offer natural spaces in and around them, with certain divisions that demarcate the areas for each function. Just look at the avenues, shopping malls, housing complexes, government offices, parks and other natural areas as well as the establishment of the relocation of spaces that give these cities a better appearance.

About Maracay and Medellin, both cities are in the middle of a valley and this other similarity makes me feel favored. Medellin is in the so-called Aburra Valley in Antioquia in northwestern Colombia and the other, my dear Maracay in the wide Valleys of Aragua in north central Venezuela.

To close, now that I am in Medellin I compare it better with Maracay and both are cities that have developed under similar urban projects and that is why I admire them. And being in Medellin makes me feel close to my hometown.