Urban planners believe public escalators will transform lives in violent shanty town of Medellin.

A violent shanty town in Colombia is the site of an unusual experiment in urban planning.

The soon-to-be-inaugurated public escalators in Medellin are aiming to transform lives in a high-risk, low-income neighbourhood.

Urban planners hope the stairs will not only spare the residents a 400m tiring climb, but also help to break the vicious cycle of social exclusion and physical isolation that plague the area, by offering the residents a safe alternative.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman reports from Medellin.