Why it looks like this

The city lies in a slot of the Andes: the Medellín River runs down the valley's middle with the metro line beside it, the flat floor carries the gridded centre and industrial districts, and the steep sides hold the comunas — self-built brick neighbourhoods climbing hundreds of metres.

Connecting those slopes changed the city's story. In 2004 Medellín opened the Metrocable, the first cable-car line integrated into a metro system for everyday commuting; more lines, outdoor escalators and hillside libraries followed, symbols of the city's turnaround.