Colombie
Area: La Iguana, Medellin, Colombia
Problem
La Iguaná micro-basin in Medellín faces complex environmental and socio-spatial challenges due to informal settlements by displaced populations seeking safety and better opportunities. These settlements—characterized by precarious housing, high poverty, and limited services—have led to deforestation, poor waste and water management, and conflicts over land and water use. Climate change has worsened rainfall patterns, increasing landslides and floods, especially in areas near the riverbed that are vulnerable and unsuitably occupied.
General objective
The Colombian Living Lab aims to co-design and implement regenerative infrastructure strategies that respond to the environmental risks and informal housing conditions in La Iguaná. By building on past diagnoses and leveraging existing stakeholder networks, the Lab will focus on the participatory development of nature-based and context-specific solutions for resilient land, water, and housing management. It will promote sustainable co-implementation practices and long-term community capacity for transformative change.
Team info
The Living Lab will be led by Colombia’s, Canada’s, and Switzerland’s research team members. The already-established network by ITM with local stakeholders, including representatives from environmental, municipal and regional agencies, local leaders and associations, and the local utility company (EPM), will be leveraged to undertake the participatory and knowledge processes.
Professors
Engineering and Materials
- Harlem Acevedo
- Guillaume Habert
- Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon
- Diego Ramirez Cardona
Social Sciences
- Liliana Patricia Restrepo Medina
Local collaborators - Research
Specialist in environmental management and environment and development. Head of the department of environmental and construction sciences at ITM. Director of the road ecology and green infrastructure program (PECIV ITM).
Specialist in hydraulic resources engineering. Assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Construction Sciences at ITM. Experience in consulting in hydrology, climatology and climate change, with emphasis on modelling and assessment of hydroclimatic changes.
Master’s in environmental engineering and a PhD candidate in complex thinking. Adjunct professor in the department of environmental and construction sciences, faculty of exact and applied sciences at ITM. Experience in consulting in hydrology and hydrogeology, watershed planning and management, and water quality monitoring and treatment.
Master´s in materials and processes, and a PhD in Geosciences. Adjunct professor in the department of environmental and construction sciences, faculty of exact and applied sciences at ITM. Experience in soil and subsoil studies using geophysical, geochemical, and data science methods.
Physicist and full professor in the faculty of exact and applied sciences at ITM. He has experience in soil and subsoil studies using geophysical methods and data science. Worked on building spatial models using classical interpolation methods and machine learning algorithms for studying hydrocarbon deposits, groundwater, and rock parameter estimation.
Adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental and Construction Sciences at ITM. His research areas are seismic risk and seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry buildings.
Specialist in earth and environmental sciences. Adjunct professor in the Department of environmental and construction sciences at ITM. Consulting experience in engineering, geotechnics, and environmental projects.
Biologist Master's in forests and environment and a Ph.D. in ecology and conservation. Adjunct professor at ITM, assigned to the department of environmental and construction sciences.
Architect, specialist in construction management and Master in bioclimatic architecture. Adjunct professor in the department of environmental and construction sciences at ITM. Professional experience in architectural design, project coordination, and bioclimatic consulting.
Local collaborators - Community
Community leader and member of the environmental committee of the Community and Jurisdictional Council of Commune 7.
Executive director at the Cuenca Verde Foundation
Community leader and member of the peace and human rights committee of the Community Action Board of the Commune 7
Leader of education programs and good environmental practices of the Municipal Department of Environment
Community group coordinator at the Community Action Board of the El Uvito rural community
Head of the Water Conservation Unit at the municipal utility company – EPM
Project manager at the UNESCO Chair of Sustainability and coordinator of the Alliance for Sustainable Construction in the Aburrá Valley