The Purdue North Central Women’s Association’s International Friendship Group will present the program “Innovative Vertical Public Transportation That Transformed a City Located at the Andes Mountains” on Monday, Nov. 10 from noon to 1 P.M. in the PNC Library-Student-Faculty Building, Assembly Hall, Room 02. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Guests are welcome to bring a friend, grab a lunch and come to hear how the city of Medellin, Colombia, located in a narrow valley in the mountains with limited capacity of expansion and divided by a river, solved the problem of transportation by creating a mobility solution through an integrated system of unique and innovative services.
Martha Garcia-Saenz, PNC associate professor of Construction Engineering and Management Technology and a native of Medellin, will present a look at Medellin’s transportation system that includes metro cable cars - the only system of its kind used as a mass transit solution - with cabins gliding through the air to improve the quality of life of people living up on the mountains. It utilizes escalators that are no longer a shopping center convenience but an urban mobility strategy for residents living on steep mountains and public bikes to make a sustainable and silent contribution to an effective transport system.
Metro plus busses complement this network to move people to the metro stations. A tram will soon offer a new option for mobility and transport allowing people to move in a wide network of public transportation.
The city of Medellin, Colombia was the center or many battles between guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug dealers during the 1980s and ‘90s that isolated many sectors of the city called “Comunas.” Even the police were not willing to enter and many communities had difficulty surviving their isolation from the rest of the city. During the past 10 years, the program ‘Transforming Medellín: From Fear to Hope’ transformed the city, which last year won the title of “Innovative City of the Year,” competing against 200 cities, including New York and Tel Aviv.
The Purdue North Central Women's Association (PNCWA) was established on March 21, 2001, to serve the women of Purdue North Central as well as the women in our local communities. PNCWA offers a variety of social and educational activities for its members and the public.
The PNCWA International Friendship group gathers to share culture, traditions and friendship. Its purpose is to address issues of interest and concern, to promote an educational and cultural atmosphere and to develop an atmosphere of friendship, cooperation and camaraderie through its members and programs.
Further information can be obtained by contacting Garcia-Saenz at (219) 785-5522. Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Garcia-Saenz.