The efficient governance of sport management: The sui-generis case study of INDER (Medellin – Colombia): top-down and Bottom-up design of viable and efficient structures for sport management based on grassroots initiatives, co-design and co-management.

Abstract

Medellin is well known internationally for its turbulent and violent past since the early 80s to the middle 90’s due to the incidence and operation of drug cartels, placing the city as one of the most violent in the world. Surprisingly, since the mid-90s a radical change in the behaviour of the city and its international ranking and perception started to happen due to the adoption and effective implementation of an urban model based in principles of sustainability (sustainable cities as described in the late 90s) and the host of the Pan-American Games for which the city council provided resources to develop cutting edge sport infrastructure. Since then, the city administration has been coherent with the master plan of sustainability and sport as mechanism of inclusiveness and citizenship making unique this city in the national context. Participative design and decision making processes where implemented since the beginning of this strategy, ending with the implementation and development of the present infrastructure comprising 13 top-end multipurpose sport facilities distributed in a ring around the city; which design was made via co-design practices with the local communities and which administration – yet centralized by the INDER – incorporates big-data analysis allowing users to enjoy free of charge any sport facility in the city; while providing key information to coaches and administrators for the early identification of talent unfolding the respective supportive activities. The result of this master plan and design is evident in terms of medals (world championships and Olympic events: BMX, Weightlifting, Cycling, and Skating, among others). The VSM is used in this case study to understand the structural characteristic that provided this management design with resilience, coherence and stability over the last decade making it a global referent for sport management in developing countries