ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a critical account of the latest phase of the so-called 'Medellín model' of urban regeneration. Medellín is the symbol and the material manifestation of a successful story of a contemporary urban renaissance overcoming violence and inequality through the effective and strategic use of spatial interventions in some of the most vulnerable informal territories of the city. Foucault's governmentality renders an account of how the life of populations is managed and controlled in contemporary social and political regimes. Analysing strategic urban projects and informality through the lens of governmentality allows understanding life-administering power dedicated to inciting, reinforcing, monitoring and optimizing the forces under its control. Medellín became a global paradigmatic model of urban renaissance after a deep crisis caused by deindustrialization, narco-trafficking and extreme urban violence. Medellín is shaped by its historically entrenched urban segregation, poverty and inequality.
