The transformation of Medellin ranks as one of the most remarkable urban redemption project in modern history. 25 years ago Medellin’s Santo Domingo, once one of the most dangerous "comunas" (slums) in the world, today it is a safe place where thousands of families live in peace. The government attributes the greatest impact to a policy that they call “social urbanism.” It boils down to this: the municipal government spends the biggest portion of its budget (85 per cent of $2.2-billion this year) on infrastructure and services for the poorest parts of the city. That spending includes the community programs, and also some truly imaginative public transportation solutions and startling pieces of modern architecture that have been erected in new breathing spaces forced into the once impenetrable hillside shantytowns.