Urban Development and the Panama Canal Zone - The Case of Fort Clayton

The construction of the Panama Canal at the beginning of the twentieth century created an enclave that ran parallel to the interoceanic waterway, controlled by the US government: the Canal Zone. This book aims to understand the implications that Panama Canal Zone urban planning had on human health, natural resources, and biodiversity through the study case of Fort Clayton, highlighting how the sanitary concerns shaped building regulations and the urban landscape of towns.

This book highlights the role of North American entomologists and health workers in developing control strategies for diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and how mosquito's ecology determined building regulations that shaped the image of the Canal Zone towns. On the other hand, the book determines the environmental assessment of Fort Clayton, determined by the two fundamental aspects that set on the environmental impact of an urban settlement. The first one is the suitability of the site's location. The second is the urban structure of the adopted city model and its impact on the connectivity of the surrounding forests during the twentieth century.

This text is aimed at both undergraduate and postgraduate students, architects, urban planners, historians, and environmental science professionals.

Graciela Arosemena Díaz, Ph.D., is currently research staff at the Centro Internacional de Estudios Políticos y Sociales (International Center of Political and Social Studies) and a member of the National Research System of Panama. She received her Master of Science degree in Urban Environment and Sustainability and a Doctoral degree in Architecture and the Environment from the Polytechnic University of Catalunya. She has been Associate Professor at the University of Panama. Her research interests focus on Urban Environment, Sustainable Urban planning, Cultural Landscape and Urban History.


Almyr Alba, M.Sci., is an architect and a historic preservation specialist, is currently Professor at the University of Panamá, in the School of Architecture. Her research, publications, and conservation practice have contributed to the conservation of several historic sites at Panama.  Alba received her Master of Science degrees from the University of Pennsylvania with emphasis in architectural conservation under the auspices of a Fulbright scholarship.

Maria Stapf, Sc.D., is currently a professor at the University of Panamá, in the Department of Botany, Universidad de Panama. She has been the botanical consultant in the National Forest and Carbon Inventory, within the framework of the Joint United Nations Program for the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation (UN-REDD), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and also has been a research assistant in Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. Stapf received her Doctor in Science-Botany-from Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil.