Daylighting an Urban Creek: A Latin American Utopia? The case of La Playa Urban Ecological Corridor. Medellín, Colombia.

“Daylighting” waterways (also known as stream restoring) is a concept
that has been gaining popularity in the United States and Europe
over the last three decades but in Latin America less so. There is
significant evidence of daylighting projects of creeks within cities,
which have represented important contributions to the improvement of
environmental quality of life in their urban surroundings. Santa Elena
Creek has an important historical value for Medellín’s community that
is not recognised by younger generations who do not even know of
its existence. Santa Elena Creek runs under La Playa Avenue, one of
the most traditional avenues in the historical center of Medellín. In the
1930s, with the growth of the city and rapid population increase, a
process of covering the creek with paving began, in order to remove
the creek from the core of the city. It was considered an obstacle in the
urban development of Medellín. Today the creek remains buried under
La Playa Avenue, representing a lost sense of cultural and historical
identity.
Addressing daylighting urban creek projects presents technical, legal and
economic challenges. This project is based on a theoretical framework,
as well as on case studies provided in relevant literature sources, most
of them research reports from governmental organisations. A design
approach is developed based on the results of the analysis and the
theoretical approach taken from foreign experiences and adapted to the
Latin American urban context