People-to-People Connections between Japan and Latin America through Land Readjustment, the Mother of Urban Planning

2024.07.25
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- Yoshihara Shinichi Urban and Regional Development Group Infrastructure Management Department
A Japanese urban development method is contributing to solving urban problems in Colombia. I had the opportunity to come in contact with such an example. It was so impressive that I would like to share it with you in this blog.
Colombia, a country famous for its coffee production, is located in the northern part of South America. Medellín, its second largest city, had been a hotbed of drug trafficking since the 1970s and was called the most dangerous city in the world. The city is located along the Medellín River, which runs north-south through the Aburá Valley, and is flanked by small mountains to the east and west. While facing with many urban problems, the people of Medellín have made efforts to revitalize the city. As a result, Medellín is now known as a safe, cultural, and innovative city.
Photo: Medellín cityscape
In realizing such urban revitalization, the "land readjustment" is being used. Land readjustment is a method of rezoning land and building public facilities to create a favorable urban environment. In Japan, this method is referred to as the "mother of urban planning”. Mr. Nelson Valderrama of the Medellín City Planning Department says, "Colombian land readjustment was inspired by Japan”. Why does Japanese land readjustment have such an impact in faraway Colombia?
The first encounter between Colombia and Japan regarding land readjustment was 26 years ago in 1998, at a JICA training program held in Obihiro, Hokkaido. It was there that a group of talented young Colombian administrators learned about land readjustment from Japanese experts. Hidetsugu Kobayashi, a professor emeritus at Hokkaido University who played a central role as a lecturer, recalls, "We wanted to tell them about land readjustment in Japan and also learn from the participating countries.”
The training program for Colombians was held in Obihiro for five years, from 1998 to 2002. In 2003, the program expanded to include Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Parallel to the training in Japan, Japanese experts were sent to Colombia to provide technical guidance. "We brought together a group of like-minded people," recalls Yoji Kinoshita, who served as an expert in this series of collaborations. The in-depth exchanges between Japanese and Colombians, who understood each other, contributed to the development of professionals who will help land readjustment take root in Colombia.
Upon their return to Colombia, the trainees embarked on a land readjustment project that had not been proven in their home country at the time. Mr. Juan Carlos, a first-generation trainee, was involved in the redevelopment of a former factory site in Medellín, and he successfully "localized" the land readjustment concepts he had learned in Japan to fit into Colombia (Ciudad del Rio). Mr. Nelson Valderrama of the Medellín City Planning Department applied the land readjustment concept to improve a slum area and contributed to the improvement of the poor living environment (Juan Bobo). Many returned trainees, such as Maria Cristina in the capital city of Bogotá and Orlando Hernandez in Chia, a suburb of Bogotá, were active in realizing urban development projects that incorporated the idea of land readjustment throughout Colombia.
Juan Bobo, Medellín
Ciudad del Río, Medellín
The Colombian experience had much to offer to neighboring Latin American countries. Since 2010, we have moved the training venue to Colombia and started conducting "third-country training" for Latin American countries. As a result, the number of participants in 14 Latin American countries who have received training in Japan and Colombia has grown to approximately 300, and the Colombian experience learned from Japan has spread to the Latin American region.
In February 2024, the network of returning trainees that spread throughout Latin America was incorporated as the Latin American Association of Urban and Territorial Planners (ALPU) by a group of people led by Mr. Augusto Pinto. ALPU is now expanding its scope of activities toward the realization of sustainable cities while interacting with Japanese people. We believe that these efforts are outstandingly successful examples of "human resource development, nation building, and heart to heart relationship" in which they have taken ownership and developed the results of technical cooperation in regions beyond their national borders
Photo: Group photo of ALPU
In both Japan and Latin American countries, society and people's lives are changing day by day, and the urban environment must change accordingly. There will always be problems, and those problems in cities will never disappear.
I believe that the success of the transfer of land readjustment technology is not the end of cooperation with Latin American countries, including Colombia, but instead is only "the beginning". It would be wonderful if we could develop the "people-to-people ties" formed by land readjustment and think together about how we can create sustainable cities for the future, and through such efforts, energize both Japan and Latin American countries. I would like to work together with them toward such a bright future.
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