Hyper-development, Waste, and Uneven Urban Spaces in Panama City Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Natasha Kimberly Sadoff, B.S. Graduate Program in Geography The Ohio State University 2015 Thesis Committee: Kendra Mc Sweeny, Advisor Ed Malecki Becky Mansfield Copyright by Natasha K. Sadoff 2015 Abstract Panama City is experiencing unprecedented urban development, particular in terms of elite real estate and finance, growth associated with the widening of the canal, and illicit activities such as money laundering. Not surprisingly, this hyper-growth is exacerbating environmental hazards whose costs are unevenly borne by residents. A case in point is the 2013 Cerro Patacón Landfill fire and subsequent air quality crisis. Cerro Patacón is a landfill just outside the city where regional waste is delivered and stored. In March 2013, a portion of the landfill caught on fire, releasing harmful toxins into the air for nearly two weeks. While sooty air engulfed the entire city, it was poor residents who experienced the greatest impacts of the fire in terms of respiratory and other health conditions. State response to the fire has not been to address the fundamental question of waste management or uneven exposure to waste-related hazards. Rather, the Panamanian government—with international support —is promoting a neoliberal response and emphasizing that when air quality in the city is poor, residents can ‘choose’ to modify their behaviors to avoid health risks. In my thesis, I use political ecology and social metabolism to conceptualize the city, waste, and development as interdependent and foundationally co-constituting. Using evidence from ethnographic field work, landscape analysis, participant observation and other secondary data analysis, I argue that Cerro Patacón and its population are externalized and vilified by city officials, contributing to and promoting the naturalization of an unproblematic growth model that denies government accountability, wrongly ii blames certain populations, and justifies social exclusion. However resistance – coordinated or diffuse – is either nonexistent or largely hidden. I argue that hyper-growth and neoliberal governance have permeated Panama City’s social metabolism and produce expressly neoliberal subjects, resulting in Panamanians internalizing and accepting what one would otherwise see as injustice. iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my family. iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank my advisor, Kendra McSweeney, and my committee members, Becky Mansfield and Ed Malecki, for their support and academic assistance in the preparation of this thesis. I would also like to thank my family, friends, and colleagues in the Department of Geography for their support and encouragement. The Center for Latin American Studies, the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, and the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University provided financial support, for which I am very grateful. I appreciate the helpful comments given by the IRB. I also am thankful to my employer, Battelle, for providing tuition reimbursement for my studies, allowing me to engage in this work. Finally, I wish to thank my collaborators in Panama at the University of Panama and Guna Nega for their help in providing me a glimpse of their lives and city. v Vita 2003................................................................New Albany High School 2007................................................................B.S. Environmental Studies, University of Vermont 2009 to present ...............................................Researcher, Health and Analytics, Battelle Fields of Study Major Field: Geography vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction and Conceptual Framework ................................................................. 1 1.2 Methods and Evolving Research Questions .............................................................. 4 1.3 Study Objectives and Thesis Structure ..................................................................... 7 Chapter 2: The Political Ecology of Panama City and its Waste ..................................... 10 2.1 Urban Political Ecology .......................................................................................... 11 2.2 Panama City as a Cyborg Place of Flows ............................................................... 13 2.2.1 Social Metabolism ........................................................................................... 14 2.2.2 The Historical Underpinnings of Panama City’s Social Metabolism .............. 16 2.2.3 Global, Hybrid, Cyborg Cities ......................................................................... 23 2.3 Landfills as an Expression of Uneven, Hyper Growth ........................................... 29 vii 2.3.1 Waste in Panama City and Cerro Patacón ....................................................... 30 2.3.2 The Fire ............................................................................................................ 43 2.3.3 Political Ecology of Waste and Landfills ........................................................ 46 Chapter 3: The Logic of Externalization in Panama City ................................................. 50 3.1 Political Ecological Assumptions ........................................................................... 50 3.1 Unpacking the Logic: Neoliberal Governance Strategies ....................................... 53 3.1.1 Targeting Individuals and “Others” ................................................................. 53 3.1.2 Technocratic Solutions..................................................................................... 60 3.1.3 Non-metabolic Dualisms ................................................................................. 65 Chapter 4: A Different Discourse? Resistance and Subjectivities .................................... 72 4.1 Alternative Discourses ............................................................................................ 72 4.1.1 Contesting the Discourse of Externalization…................................................ 73 4.1.2 Through Neoliberal Means .............................................................................. 76 4.2 Resistance ............................................................................................................... 78 4.2.1 Panamanians as Neoliberal Subjects ................................................................ 79 Chapter 5: Conclusion: Social Metabolism and Subjectivities for an Urban Political Ecology in Context ........................................................................................................... 84 5.1 Review of Main Arguments .................................................................................... 84 5.2 Outstanding Questions ............................................................................................ 86 5.3 Theoretical Implications and Contributions of the Study ....................................... 89 viii References ......................................................................................................................... 94 Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview Questions, in English and Spanish .................. 99 ix List of Figures Figure 1. Panama City’s downtown .................................................................................... 3 Figure 2. The President visits the Canal. .......................................................................... 18 Figure 3. The Canal Authority building. ........................................................................... 19 Figure 4. The Metro de Panama. ....................................................................................... 23 Figure 5. Government celebrates modernization. ............................................................. 24 Figure 6. The Panama Canal expansion. ........................................................................... 25 Figure 7. Albrook Mall in Panama City............................................................................ 26 Figure 8. Growing Markets ............................................................................................... 27 Figure 9. Map of Panama City .......................................................................................... 31 Figure 10. Cerro Patacón organization. ............................................................................ 32 Figure 11. Contaminated river near Cerro Patacón .........................................................