Carlos Cadena-Gaitán Ph.D.
Professor, researcher, art+ivist
"An astonishing inspiration for leaders around the world on how to mobilize people, create change in your local community and see the international effects".
—Sustainia/DNV-GL 2015 Future Sustainability Leader Award
Carlos Cadena-Gaitán Ph.D.
A multi-award winning sustainability expert, former Transport Commissioner of Medellín, Colombia; full-member of the State of Antioquia Scientific Committee for the Climate Crisis; former consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and UN-Habitat; PhD alumnus of UNU-MERIT and program alumnus of Reinhardt College, the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (GSU), and the Harvard Kennedy School; regular media contributor in national press and TV on urban sustainability, transport and innovation.
Carlos is an Associate Professor (EAFIT University - Colombia), multiple NGO founder and proven fundraiser with partners at Oxford University among others; passionate about cycling, the arts and achieving real-world impact through world-class research. He is co-founder of various civil society initiatives, including Low Carbon City foundation, La Ciudad Verde citizens´collective, and Humanese.co arts and culture center.
Carlos currently serves as the Regional Studies Association (RSA) Ambassador to Colombia.
Research
Dr. Cadena-Gaitán's research interests include the Medellín urban transformation, inclusive innovation, urban transport, resilience, education for sustainable development, measurement of SDG's, and the role of governance in interaction with these areas.
He has been granted fellowships by the Maison des Sciences de l´Homme (Paris), participated within the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)-supported global programme "PEAK Urban" (UK), and co-led a Urban Studies Foundation (USF) International Seminar Series.
Recent publications:
Cadena-Gaitan, C; Ospina-Montoya, L; Solar, A; Cardona, A; Florez, M (2024). Social Appropriation of Knowledge on Climate Change: The Experience of Climate Expeditions. Bitácora Urbano\Territorial. doi:10.15446/bitacora
Álvarez-Vanegas, A., Cadena-Gaitan, C., Ramani, S.V. (2024). Education for Sustainability in Colombia: How to get out of the public goods trap?. UNU-MERIT Policy Brief Series. Maastricht. The Netherlands.
Salehi et. al. In: ICLEI. Local Governments for Sustainability. Policy Brief - Digitalization: A Game Changer for Local Governments & Communities Enhancing Capacities to Deploy Transformative Solutions. Presented at COP28. Bonn, 2023
Cadena-Gaitan, C; Ospina-Sierra, E; Florez-Munoz, M; Castellanos-Ramelli, P Índice de movilidad con base en la capacidad de soporte: Una herramienta aliada de la sostenibilidad urbana (2023). Editorial EAFIT. Medellin. DOI: 10.17230/9789587208764lr0
Cadena-Gaitan, C. Medellín, Colombia: from social challenges to urban innovations (2023). In Colville-Andersen, M (editor) . 45 Urban Ideas for Ukraine - and every other city in the world" CANActions. Kyiv
Cadena-Gaitán, C, Álvarez-Vanegas, A, Flórez-Muñoz, M (2021). Rapid Deployment of Transport Infrastructure and Urban Social Injustice: The Case of Medellín, Colombia. En: Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Urban Inequalities. Volume 4: Policy and Planning Edited by Pierre Filion, Brian Doucet and Rianne van Melik. Bristol University Press. ISBN: 978-1529219043.
Cadena-Gaitán, C & Ospina-Sierra, E (2019). Perspectivas de la movilidad urbana en Colombia, 2018-2050. En: Gehring & Pérez (Eds.) Colombia en su ruta, recorriendo el camino hacia 2050, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung 2019. pp. 181-202.
Echeverri, A & Cadena-Gaitán, C (2019). Strategies for Sustainable Communities: Landscape-Based Landslide Risk Alleviation in Medellín, Technology|Architecture + Design, 3:1, 42-44, DOI: 10.1080/24751448.2019.1571798 2
Mejía-Dugand, S., Cadena-Gaitán, C., Hjelm, O. (2019). Segregated lanes in a segregated society - A case study of Medellín, Colombia. In: Ferbrache, F. (ed.). Developing Bus Rapid Transit - The value of BRT in urban spaces. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 234-248.
O’Donovan, G., & Cadena-Gaitán, C. (2018). Air pollution and diabetes: it’s time to get active! In The Lancet Planetary Health (Vol. 2, Issue 7). Elsevier BV
Awards and performances
Public speaking
Carlos is a frequent guest and contributor to public debates around the case of Medellín, transport, air quality, grassroots movements, artivism and urban challenges in the context of the climate crisis.
Science Communication
Carlos believes in leveraging research to generate local transformation. His work has been featured locally and internationally. He also contributes frequently with academic op-eds aimed at a non-expert public.
Dr. Cadena-Gaitán participates regularly as one of the lecturers for the Science Reporting Workshops (Reach & Turn ‘R&T”) offered globally by UNU-MERIT.
All Videos
What am I passionate about?
I'm a teacher and an activist.
I'm passionate about research, about understanding our world; how different people and regions can collaborate in order to learn from each other.
But equally passionate about translating research to the wider world, to make a positive difference to people's lives, especially the most vulnerable. People who struggle to breathe because of air pollution; people who struggle to cycle to work because of ineffective governments; people —like any of us— who lack a fair and helping hand to fulfill their potential.
What have I accomplished?
I was born (1983) and raised in Medellín, Colombia.
My quest for understanding our world has taken me to the United States, France, Finland, Hungary, Slovenia and The Netherlands, where I have lived and studied. After obtaining my Ph.D. at the University of Maastricht/United Nations University UNU-MERIT (The Netherlands) in 2014, I returned to Colombia; based in Medellín.
Due to my public service accomplishments (as Transport Secretary for the City of Medellín), I was selected as one of the 21 Heroes 2021, by the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI), based in Germany.
Due to my research+action initiatives, I was granted the 2015 "Future Sustainability Leader" Prize by the Danish Think-Tank Sustainia and the Norwegian organization DNV-GL. I was also nominated to the "Inspired Leadership Award" by The Performance Theatre (TPT) in London (2016), and have received various local awards in Colombia. When I am not working I enjoy yoga, cycling, scuba diving, tennis, and exploring the arts.
Who do I collaborate with?
I like to collaborate with creative and conscious human beings all over the globe.
Currently, I serve as Associate Professor at EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia. Previously, I served as the Transport Secretary for the city of Medellín, Colombia; as the Academic Coordinator at the Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies -urbam- at EAFIT University, where I coordinated the Master's in Urban and Environmental Processes, as well as various internal research projects; and as Manager of the iconic cultural institution in downtown Medellín: the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theatre.
I also participate as a team member within the Inclusive Innovation - i30 research initiative; a consortium including Newcastle University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Oslo and Third Life Economics. I have previously served as a researcher within the "PEAK Urban" project; a 4-year multinational project led by Oxford University, through which we collaborate with researchers from Cape Town University, Peking University and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.
Some of my other collaborations include:
1- Humanese: Co-founder. An arts resource center for co-creation, recreation and evolution. Host for the yearly "Sensorial Pop-up" #SENSE. www.humanese.co
2- La Ciudad Verde: Co-founder. Activist think-do thank that promotes sustainable cities through citizen participation and creativity. La Ciudad Verde uses social media and art as a tool to share academic knowledge on sustainability with citizens. With more than 100.000 followers on social media, it has active presence in 7 cities across 3 countries in Latin America. @LaCiudadVerde
3- Low Carbon City: Co-founder. Global platform to reduce carbon emissions via citizen participation. Organizers of the yearly Low Carbon City Forum. @LowCarbon_City
4- World Bike Forum: Director for the 4th version of the event (2015), which gathered 7000 people in Medellín and transformed urban cycling paradigms in Colombia. @worldbikeforum
