CRP 395/CRP 689: Sustainable Panama

Winter Session: January 3-21, 2006
Panama, Central America

Course

CRP 395/CRP 689 Sustainable Panama: An interdisciplinary workshop course on the future of the Panama Canal metropolitan landscape

This four-credit course, offered during Winter Session (Jan. 3-21, 2006) in Panama, features:

• A field-based learning experience
• Hands-on study of urbanization and conservation of the Panama Canal region
• Lectures and tours by Cornell professors and local experts
• Student charrettes and presentations
• A symposium sponsored by the World Monuments Fund

Course subjects will include:

• Planning for biodiversity and natural-cultural heritage
• Housing and urban design
• Tourism and economic development
• Sustainable building and landscape design
• Water and forest ecology
• Land use and infrastructure

The cost for this three-week, four-credit course is $3,340. This includes tuition, fees, and housing for the program but does not include transportation to and from Panama. MRP students may fulfill their workshop requirement with this course; URS student may fulfill their design requirement.

Faculty includes Professor Roger Trancik, Professor Joseph Yavitt, and Visiting Lecturer Kurt Dillon.

For more information, read the syllabus below and contact the program staff:
Roger Trancik (Program Director): e-mail
Joseph Yavitt: e-mail
Kurt Dillion: e-mail

Syllabus

• Description
• Background
• Course location/facilities
• Pedagogy
• Preliminary course schedule
• Documenting the Panama Canal metropolitan region
• Guest speakers (preliminary)
• Course reference material
• Institutional support

Description

Sustainable Panama will offer students a unique field-based, research-oriented learning experience in a dynamic, developing Latin American culture historically tied to world maritime commerce.

The three-week course, to be held in Panama City during Winter Session (Jan. 3-21, 2006), will address issues concerning urbanization and conservation of the Panama Canal metropolitan landscape.

Interdisciplinary teams of students and faculty will work in collaboration with community and institutional stakeholders on specific design projects to conserve valuable resources within the framework of sustainable development for the region.

The approach will examine the interconnectedness of development and conservation initiatives at multiple scales. A charrette (intensive workshop) format will be introduced to facilitate the pedagogy, aimed at problem solving and visioning alternative futures.

Subjects to be studied will include biodiversity and natural-cultural heritage, housing and urban design, tourism, sustainable building design and landscape planning, and projects involving water, land use, infrastructure and energy, and renewable resources. These topics will shape the interdisciplinary content of the course and its research activities, aimed at upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.

Instruction will be conducted in English.

Background

Panama, a country of diverse racial and ethnic groups, tropical landscapes, and indigenous settlements, faces major threats to its widely known biodiversity, history and environmental heritage.

The Panama Canal, situated at the physical center of the Republic of Panama, is fifty miles in length, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. The strategic geography of this region has provided a critical link between the oceans, dating from the Spanish trade routes of the 1500s to the canal built and managed by the U.S. from 1903-1999. Development pressure sparked by an exuberant economy, desire for urban expansion, and tourism is the new reality in Panama.

The World Monuments Fund recently placed the entire 650-square-mile area on its 2004-06 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites, signaling growing international concern for the protection of Panama's unique natural and cultural heritage in the canal region.

The World Monuments Fund's narrative for Panama states,

"The canal cuts through a region of colonial ruins, planned towns and parks, sweeping vistas, and dense tropical jungles. Since repatriation from U.S. control, the region has undergone a process of integration with surrounding urban areas. The resulting rapid physical change—evidenced by large infrastructure projects, the construction of new transportation hubs, the expansion of the ports, and real estate sales and concessions—has resulted in the destruction of landscapes, forests, historic buildings, and public amenities. Development pressures, combined with the privatization of real estate and the lack of an adequate regulatory framework, pose significant short- and long-term threats to the site."

Course location/facilities

The course will be hosted by Dr. Rodrigo Tarté and the Panama Center for Sustainable Development (CIDES) at the Cuidad del Saber (City of Knowledge).

The Center is prominently located in the former U.S. Fort Clayton compound adjacent to the canal, fifteen minutes from downtown Panama City.

A newly renovated three-hundred acre campus at the City of Knowledge will provide housing, classrooms, computer labs, and open space/recreation facilities for the use of Cornell and other students and faculty engaged in the course. The City of Knowledge is a non-profit international education center for interdisciplinary programs in environment and technology supporting a transnational network of public, private and non-governmental organizations.

Pedagogy

The Sustainable Panama course will emphasize hands-on learning. Critical sites will be identified in the canal region and interdisciplinary teams of students and faculty will work in collaboration with Panamanian instructors and stakeholders on timely projects. Charrette techniques could range from the most basic to high tech (i.e. butcher paper, markers, and push pins, to computer visualization, GIS modeling, and video conferencing). Lectures and site tours support the action learning and research components of Sustainable Panama.

Preliminary course schedule

The course will be structured around five main activities:

1. Immersion into the Panamanian environment

   Days 1-7: lectures, readings, meetings and site visits:

   • Day 1:
     • Introduction to the course (Trancik, staff)
     • Lectures on urbanization, the canal, natural resources, and sustainability (Tarté, Castro, Uribe)
     • Panama City tours to: Miraflores Locks, Ancon Hill, Amador, Casco Antiguo, Panama Viejo (Colonial city center and World Heritage sites); walking tour with Ariel Espino, director of the Oficina del Casco Viejo, Ministry of the Presidency
   • Day 2:
     • Incorporation and transformation of the Panama Canal Area I: planning, engineering, and architectural histories (Tejeira, Uribe)
     • Panama City tours to: Howard (former U.S. Air base), Veracruz, and Arraijan (meeting with local community leaders and Alvaro Uribe at informal housing settlements)
   • Day 3:
     • Incorporation and transformation of the Panama Canal Area II: canal modernization programs, watershed management, social movements and biodiversity (Guardia, Gandásegui, Gómez)
     • Lecture (Dillon) on Frank Gehry's Museum of Biodiversity (under construction)
   • Day 4:
     • City of Colón: Port developments, Galeta Marine Research Station (STRI)
     • Downtown: Meetings with port operators, STRI researchers, community activists, and city officials
     • Spend night in community-run hostel in San Lorenzo National Park (Achiote)
   • Day 5:
     • Meeting with Achiote community leaders, park administrators, and NGO (CEASPA)
     • Tour community agro-forestry projects and park buffer zone
     • Afternoon at San Lorenzo and Portobelo UNESCO World Heritage sites with WMF consultant Almyr Alba
     • Return to Panama City
   • Day 6:
     • Barro Colorado Research Station (STRI)
     • Gamboa townsite
     • Soberania National Park
   • Day 7:
     • Roundtable: "The Panama Canal Area as a 'mixed' World Heritage Site: A means towards integrated cultural and natural resource conservation" (UNESCO, WMF, INAC, ANAM, IPAT, ACP, University of Panama, NGO's, CIDES, CdS, community organizations)
2. Project documentation and analysis (Days 8-10). Class to be divided into groups for project work (re: activities 2-4).
3. Participatory charrettes involving Panamanian stakeholders (Days 11-12)
4. Synthesis and development of recommendations (Days 13-14)
5. Symposium: presentations and exchange of ideas/visions with roundtable participants, stakeholders, students, and faculty (Day 15)

Documenting the Panama Canal metropolitan region

• Compile a series of maps and supporting information detailing historical and existing patterns of:
  1. Landscape (natural and urbanized)
  2. Biodiversity
  3. Land use
  4. Water system
  5. Land ownership
  6. Income distribution
  7. Circulation/transport systems
• Identify areas of:
  1. Environmental sensitivity and ecological value
  2. Contamination/public safety risks
  3. Proposed development, specifying land use/ownership
  4. Proposed transportation facilities
  5. Cultural value/potential conservation
  6. Potential redevelopment/civic improvement
• Cross-reference geographic information with key related social agents (public and private sector, community organizations, ngo's etc.)
• Organize information in a database (Web site) to serve as a tool for further interdisciplinary development in Panama and at Cornell

Guest speakers (preliminary)

• Rodrigo Tarté (PhD., Plant Science, Cornell; Academic Director, CdS; Director, CIDES)
• Guillermo Castro (PhD., History, University of Santiago, Cuba; CdS, CELA)
• Alvaro Uribe (Diplome, Urban Planning, University of Paris; University of Panama Faculty of Architecture)
• Ariel Espino (PhD., Anthropology, Rice University; Oficina del Casco Viejo-Ministry of the Presidency)
• Eduardo Tejeira (PhD., Architectural History, University of Heidelberg; University of Panama Faculty of Architecture)
• Jorge de la Guardia (B.Sc., Civil Engineering, Cornell; Panama Canal Authority)
• Marco Gandásegui (PhD., Sociology, SUNY Binghamton; CELA, University of Panama Faculty of Humanities)
• Nélida Gómez (PhD., Biology, Technical University of Braunschweig; STRI)
• Charlotte Elton (PhD., Economics, University of London; CEASPA)
• Julio Escobar (PhD., Computer Science, MIT; National Secretariat for Science and Technology-SENACYT, Museum of Biodiversity)
• Ruben Blades (J.D., Law, Harvard; Minister of Tourism)
• Norma Barbacci (MSc., Historic Preservation, Columbia; World Monuments Fund)
• Patrick Dillon (M. Arch., Rice University; EnSitu)
• Community leaders and activists from Panama City, Colón, and the Canal Area

Course reference material

• McCullough, David. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977).
• Lindsay Poland, John. Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama. Duke University Press. 2003.
• Frenkel, Stephen. "Geographical Representations of the 'Other': The Landscape of the Panama Canal Zone." Journal of Historical Geography, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2002) 85-99.
• Condit, Richard et. al. "The Status of the Panama Canal Watershed and its Biodiversity at the Beginning of the 21st Century." Bioscience, Vol. 51, No. 5 (2001) 389-398.
• Sutter, Paul. " 'Pulling the Teeth of the Tropics': Environment, Disease, and the U.S. Sanitary Program in Panama, 1904-1914." Unpublished draft. 1997.

Institutional support

• City of Knowledge (CdS)
• International Center for Sustainable Development (CIDES)
• National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT)
• University of Panama School of Architecture
• Ministry of the Presidency
• Ministry of Housing (MIVI)
• Panama Canal Authority (ACP)
• National Institute of Culture (INAC)
• National Tourism Institute (IPAT)
• National Environmental Authority (ANAM)
• Center for Latin American Studies (CELA)
• Panama Center for Research and Social Action (CEASPA)
• Fundación Amador (Museum of Biodiversity)
• World Monuments Fund (WMF)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)