ABSTRACT
This narrative chapter describes the author’s inspirational tour of Medellín, Colombia—once the “murder capital of the world”—which was transformed through the multidisciplinary collaboration of planners, designers, politicians, professors, and gang members. Inequality and violent crime were reduced through the smart integration of technology, environmental design, and needs of the people living in this complex system. This approach exemplifies human systems engineering. The author encourages researchers and practitioners to adopt a problem-centric perspective, consider human systems on a large scale, and remember that no single discipline can solve these systemic problems alone.
