Manizales has a network of seven Eco Parks -300 Ha-, a wide diversity of birds and abundant water sources that allow us to live in a natural environment. A regular trip in the city takes 25 minutes, in an urban infrastructure that is constantly being renovated to be more citizen-friendly.
The 2030 Vision for Manizales in terms of SDGs, establishes a desired scenario for the city in the following terms: Manizales by 2030 will be a territory where life expectations can come true. Each individual person and communities will have opportunities to develop, transform the world and enjoy a good quality of life. A diverse, strong and solid social fabric will be the platform on which the city bets aimed at consolidate the equitable appropriation of well-being plan, execute and evaluate.
Sustainability Challenges
The municipality is aware that to achieve this vision, we still must overcome some important challenges.
- Affordable Housing
In housing are concentrated the challenges that a family may have in terms of poverty, employment, and access to public services like health and education. In Manizales, 16.3% of households were in housing deficit condition in 2018, 3.8% had quantitative deficit (structural problems that can only be solved with a new house) and 12.5% qualitative deficit (shortcomings that can be resolved by improving conditions in their actual house). Something additional that draws attention are the marked differences between the urban and rural sectors from the municipality. While 13.3% of households in the urban sector have some type of deficit housing, 67.4% of households in the sector rural are in this condition. The municipality acknowledges that housing is probably the biggest articulator of the promises of SDGs, when we imagine the importance of the territory, the most important space for a family it’s their home.
- Inclusive Sustainable Transport
Cities, towns, and regions have important challenges to encourage sustainable transport, active, and inclusive. Manizales is a city that moves by air: its public transportation system has two aerial tramway lines and a third under construction. It also counts with a bike sharing system that promotes active mobility. However, the average daily trips in public transport has decreased in the last decade at a rate of 2% annually. This should turn on alarms in the city, because the passengers who have stopped using public transport in the last decade have possibly replaced it with other private means of transport, much less sustainable. Manizales is hosting the World Bike Forum (WBF) in 2022.
- A dynamic business ecosystem
We are home to about 20,000 companies and SMEs and are among the leading cities in Colombia in the Competitiveness of Cities Index. This index highlights Manizales’ strengths in higher education, innovation, environmental sustainability, ICT adoption, and labor market. On the other hand, for competitiveness to be a development anchor in Manizales, it is necessary that the city overcomes the challenges it has in the financial system (associated with the coverage of financial establishments and financial inclusion), health, diversification, environment for business and basic education.
To face these challenges and achieve the 2030 Vision, the Municipality of Manizales has developed the Manizales Strategic Plan 2030 (Plan Estratégico Manizales 2030 in Spanish). This plan highlights the importance of evidence-based action and the empowerment of vulnerable communities. It has been developed through participatory approaches, with more than 25 workshops, with the aim of not only having a vision but a strategy to achieve it, together with some tools and projects to advance this work. Manizales accepts the challenge!
Manizales en clave ODS
