Interdisciplinarity on site : Exploring the urban interventions ‘Unidades de Vida Articulada’ in Medellín

In Medellin, Colombia, architectural interventions beneath the umbrella of social urbanism have been central in efforts to reduce violence and improve socio-economic conditions. This includes the development of public spaces combined with community centres called ‘Unidades de Vida Articulada’ (UVAs) on the sites of the city’s water towers. The story of how the UVAs was developed enables citizens to read themselves into the overarching narrative of Medellin’s journey to a city of stability and increasing equity and social cohesion. The architecture of the UVAs, with its generous programming, high material and aesthetic quality, substantiate this. We contribute to the development of an architectural anthropology by reflecting on how we developed our understanding of the UVAs by allowing our epistemological and methodological positions as architect and anthropologist to interact and merge during joint fieldwork. We argue that a crucial resource for developing an architectural anthropology is that both disciplines are committed to a relational epistemology, where what is known about a place or a society cannot be separated from the relationships with the people and places through which they have generated this knowledge. Hence, a great potential for developing architectural anthropology lies in working together in the field.