Regional Spaces Supporting Cities: The International Context of the Central Antioquia Park

Abstract

Written by members of Fundación Con Vida, this article presents the Central Antioquia Park (PCA) Regional System of Protected Areas as a strategy for mitigating the ecological footprint of the Aburrá Valley metropolitan area. The authors describe Colombia's regulatory framework for urban environmental protection and present the PCA's historical evolution from the Green Belt of the 1980s to its current configuration, which spans 50 municipalities and nearly 900,000 hectares. The text presents international experiences in managing urban support territories, including green belts in London, Beijing, and Vitoria-Gasteiz, and Urban Biosphere Reserves in Argentina, New York, and Brazil.