Table of Letters 4 Strategy Pillars 56 Contents Executive Summary 10 To foster a better quality of life based on more Urban Resilience 1.1 Integrating and modernizing water coordination and 12 integrated mobility. 3.3 61 management instruments and ecosystems 125 100 Resilient Cities Program 1.1.1. Design and implementation of the non-motorized mobility 15 3.3.1. Land Use Plan (POT) for the District of Panama Master Plan for Panama City. 126 62 3.3.2. Comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of development 1.1.2. Strategic Plan for the ordering of informal transport Tools and Methodology 64 options around wetlands 18 1.1.3. New policy for carpooling in neighborhoods 128 65 3.3.3. Monitoring of the status of ecosystems in wetlands and 1.1.4. Network of preferential lanes for exclusive use of public the quality of water in basins of the metropolitan area transport 130 City Context 19 66 3.3.4. Municipal Waste Management Plan 1.1.5. Heavy vehicle traffic control 132 Migrations: Cultures in a Melting Pot 24 69 1.1.6. Metrocable in San Miguelito and Panama 70 The City in Figures 32 Development of the Resilience Strategy 4.1 Local leadership of risk management in the city 137 37 1.2 Enhance human capital so as to improve access to Methodological Process of Panama’s Strategy 38 job opportunities 72 4.1.1. Municipal multi-department system of geographic information 138 1.2.1. Pilot Program for municipal charter schools 73 Shocks and Stresses 4.1.2. Certificate of Prior Disclosures 46 1.2.2. STEAM (activities involving science, technology, 140 4.1.3. Structural assessment: training and construction for engineering, arts and mathematics) Program 74 vulnerable areas 142 Panama’s Resilience Strategy 1.2.3. Panama, a Destination for Natural and Sustainable Tourism 76 52 4.1.4. Municipal Comprehensive Contingency Plan 144 1.2.4. Training exchange programs for nationals and foreigners 78 Resilient Panama City Vision 4.1.5. Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction Program 53 1.2.5. Plan intended to strengthen fishing and agricultural 146 4.1.6. Multi-Department Technical Board of Works & How to Read the Resilience Strategy 54 markets for the benefit of community suppliers 79 Infrastructures 150 2.1 To drive integration of communities through a broader and better social infrastructure 83 To create safety for residents upon understanding 4.2 their vulnerabilities. 153 2.1.1. Action Plan for an integrated city 94 4.2.1. Communication and Education Program for Disaster Risk 2.1.2. Women’s centers 96 2.1.3. Municipal healthcare centers 98 Reduction 154 4.2.2. Early Alert Program for the boroughs of the Metropolitan Area 156 2.2 To connect the population through a new basic infrastructure 99 5.1 To strengthen management by streamlining both 2.2.1. Municipal Corporation of Basic Utilities 100 processes and resources 161 2.2.2. Tactic Urban Planning in downtown neighborhoods 101 2.2.3. Accessibility Program in neighborhoods 103 5.1.1. How are we doing Panama? 162 2.2.4. Implementation of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for 5.1.2. Bidding processes based on more and better opportunities 164 the Historic District (San Felipe Neighborhood) 105 5.1.3. Collecting 110% for Panama 165 5.1.4. Strengthening our capabilities to implement better management 166 3.1 To rethink the infrastructure that will protect us from 5.1.5. Plan for joint management of projects with the Central effects of climate change 109 Government 168 5.1.6. Municipal Property Registry Office 169 5.1.7. United Municipalities 170 3.1.1. Green-Blue Micro-Infrastructure Program 110 3.1.2. Coastline System of Open Spaces 112 To foster participation in order to have more co- 3.1.3. Map of vulnerabilities and risks in the basin of 5.2 responsible residents 171 Tocumen River 114 3.1.4. Resilient urban Juan Diaz Basin 116 5.2.1. Alliance for civic security 3.1.5. Integrated risk Atlas: Hydraulic models of 172 5.2.2. Let’s watch out for human rights 173 municipal hydrographic basins 118 Following Steps To effectively communicate the value of water as a 174 3.2 Abbreviations and Acronyms resource and that of the ecosystems protecting us 121 176 Acknowledgements 3.2.1. Communication and education plan on water, ecosystems 178 Bibliography 182 and biodiversity 122 RESILIENT PANAMA Panama City will soon be reaching its 500th an- Our city has always been oriented towards inter- We thus set out in this journey with the optimism niversary since its foundation. It will be a special national trade, for its identity is diverse and built and joy that characterizes our people, with the date for us to commemorate and come back to- upon the successive waves of immigrants. A city assurance that there’s no goal impossible to ac- gether to our past, while thinking about the future with many contradictions, where we feel Caribbe- complish when we work together to achieve it. we wish for our city. an from the cultural point of view, despite being We are the small country that nowadays is suc- geographically located on the Pacific littoral. A cessfully managing the Canal, at the service of One year earlier, we set a countdown to this city that has boomed vigorously, without taking world trade. We are the country with one of the historic date, with a presentation of Panama’s enough time for its planning. These factors have most vibrant economies in Latin America. We are Resilience Strategy, imbued with a comprehen- all given rise to an extraordinary, heterogeneous the oldest city founded by the Europeans in the sive, long-term vision. It has been a titanic effort, city, rich in nuances and with its own strengths Pacific littoral of the Continent, the only Central which wouldn’t have been possible without the and weaknesses, as well as structural problems American nation to enter the Network of 100 Re- support and timely advice of the 100 Resilient that do have a solution, but which do require a lot silient Cities and the very first one in the region to José Isabel Blandón Cities Program of the Rockefeller Foundation. of attention. be declared by the UNESCO as Creative City. MAYOR OF DISTRICT OF PANAMA Today, rather than a phase coming to an end, it’s We are embarking on this new challenge that we the beginning of a new chapter, full of challenges are now undertaking with full awareness of its im- and opportunities for this capital District of our portance and the firm conviction of pursuing the beautiful country, Panama. strategy outlined in each and every one of its in- Being both diverse and global, tegral items. In 2016, when we received the great news of Pan- Panama city aspires to be more ama’s acceptance within the program, and thus sustainable, more human and more being the only city in Central America to be a part of it, I expressed that, for this local Govern- resilient. ment, it was a great honor but, above all, a huge challenge. A challenge that we have undertaken with great responsibility and enthusiasm. I wish to recognize the efforts made by our Resilience Division and by all the teams in the Mayor’s Of- The making of this Resilience Strategy has given fice taking part in the making of this Strategy, as us the opportunity to develop an inward-looking well as thank all the other governmental and pri- perspective. To evaluate ourselves both as citizens vate players, including the citizens who did their and as a city as a whole. To admit our defects and bit to help in the creation of such Strategy. feel proud of our virtues. The current situation has been ideal for us to define the concept of re- This Strategy is intended to serve as a guideline silience and how we will apply it “in the Panama- for any relevant course of action. It is not intended nian way”, but benefiting us from the experience to be a lifeless document to be shelved in a hidden of the other cities in the Network. drawer, but it aims to serve as a living guideline bound to spark debate and encourage the launch- Panama recognizes itself as a diverse and global ing of specific measures, with such actions having city aspiring to be more sustainable, more human a diverse approach, as in access to opportunities and more resilient. We have identified our major for citizens, the needs for infrastructure connect- risks as well as the main lines of action to tack- ing the citizens in the neighborhoods, our ecosys- le and prevent them, and always get back on our tems, and our preparedness for risks and liabilities feet, no matter how hard the circumstances we we all have in building this city. might have to face may be. 4 5 RESILIENT PANAMA Resilient Panama, however, is trying to set Pan- Many of those beaches enjoyed by our own un- ama City at the forefront of the urban resilience cles and grandparents have been disappearing. practice. This strategy reflects the amazing prog- Both land fills and concrete belts have become ress that the city has achieved in understanding commonplace, while at the same time we ignore its natural assets and vulnerabilities, as well as our rivers and wetlands, which today, as we can how opportunities keep cropping up to develop see, are largely used as deposits of liquid and solid its strengths and adaptability. waste materials.