What exactly is happening in Casco Viejo? Why is it becoming so popular?
The Spanish laid out this area in the 1500s; they were great urbanists. It has been transforming ever since, through booms and busts, but always on top of a very human-oriented layout at a world crossroads. By the early 2000s, the rest of the city had grown into a glitzy place, but there was a distinct segment of society that needed something different. They were the pioneers who were attracted to a place that had texture, human scale and a growing sense of community. For such people, a neighbourhood like this meets profound needs. For some, it serves a need to connect with their history, for others to be a part of something new and for many others it is a place where they can be themselves without being judged. The scale of such neighbourhoods enables them to form a community for all the reasons Jane Jacobs (journalist and author who made an influence on urban studies) points out. So really, it’s the classic story of most urban revitalisation. It’s very exciting to be a part of, which is why it tends to work so well.
What is the role of your company?
We are real-estate developers. We build hotels, condos, offices and affordable housing, but we take an ultra-long-term approach, so that leads us to some interesting places. The sustainability mandate signifies that we’ve had to get very philosophical about what it means to be responsible to our capital while also being responsible to our community.
We had to learn how to do a wide variety of projects because you can’t really impose your idea on a historic building; it’s the building that tells you what it wants to be.
I suppose an office tower can be designed on Excel then turned into architecture when the right piece of land is found, but that’s not the way it works in adaptive reuse. It’s a much more iterative process than traditional real estate development and the first iteration was served up long ago.
Was Casco Viejo’s revitalisation led by the government or the private sector?
I would say that for the most part it is an organic process that has its roots in an architectural preservation movement here. Decades before Conservatorio was formed, people fought hard to preserve the buildings, restore monuments and urge the government to put legal frameworks in place.
photo : Spencer Lowell
If it wasn’t for them fighting for their heritage, there would have been nothing left. Jane Jacobs said, “New uses require old buildings.” So, counter-intuitively, it is the people who protect the past that open up possibilities for the future. Rather than see it as a public sector versus private sector question, I see it more as a question of culture and commerce, with culture coming first, creating a platform for commerce and the two reinforcing each other in an upward spiral.
What are the best things that have come out of this revitalisation?
The obvious advantages are the jobs generated and economic activity, but I’d like to believe that what’s most important is that it’s an example of a ‘highly-desirable-while-remaining-socioeconomically-diverse’ neighbourhood. You have some of the wealthiest and poorest living in very close proximity here, which is unusual in this part of the world. Because of that, and the way people are responding to walking and consuming culture, the neighbourhood’s impact on the rest of the city in the coming years will be significant. I think we’ll have a more walkable, diverse, culturally vibrant city in general because Casco is showing us how much people like it.
Will this diversity last?
That’s the big challenge. It won’t be as diverse as it could have been or should have been, but there is still a long way to go, so we have to keep working at it. The culture-commerce dynamic is so powerful that once it gets rolling it attracts lots of new people and capital, displacing existing people and culture. So, unless a community consciously decides that inclusion is a high priority early on, a great degree of displacement and cultural homogeneity are inevitable. But it is hard to get the discussion of gentrification going early on when government and even residents themselves are more worried about generating employment, economic activity and reducing crime. Here we had UNESCO to stimulate that discussion fairly early on, which helped.
Ultimately, to have any chance of a comprehensive end result I think that inclusiveness has to be baked into the business plan of companies operating in the urban revitalisation arena. They have to be committed to the area long term so that they have an incentive to curb the long-term problems that come with cultural homogenization and displacement. If an investor only plans to be in a neighbourhood for five years, it’s hard for him to see the benefits of maintaining independent retail or of building affordable housing. But it’s pretty easy to see how over a 20-year period a neighbourhood that turns into an outdoor mall and discotheque loses its specialness and cultural relevance. Investors understanding the trade-off between short-term gains and long-term economic sustainability are critical. If you can get investors to buy into that concept, urban revitalisation has the potential to be a real force for social justice. And that is where it gets extremely interesting.
Does this potential exist only in Panama?
No. Around Latin America such enormous pricing deltas exist between deteriorated urban cores and the more established areas around them. We believe it is possible to use the rising tide of urban revitalization to float a lot of boats. Where there is much value to be created, there is a lot of value to be shared.
We are in a region that is urbanising extremely quickly, despite many social challenges. That combination means that healthy, vibrant cities are national imperatives, which can’t happen if their downtowns are not healthy.
The problem is that the conventional model of urban revitalization is not inclusive. So, we find ourselves focused on the challenge of finding a model that gives us the economic, social and cultural benefits of urban revitalisation with minimum social and cultural negatives.
This requires a slightly different way of thinking, but we believe it’s possible.
When you talk about a model, do you mean a business model, a policy model or something else?
A business model. We are a relatively small private company, so we don’t have much ability to influence policy. But we are working with other developers and academics to evolve the business model. The good thing about successful business models is that they go viral quickly.
You mention Jane Jacobs. Does she inspire you?
We joke that our standard operating procedure for just about everything is to ask, “What would Jane do if she also had a responsibility to capital?” The irony for us is that she is known as an urban theorist, but she was just as much, if not more of, an economist. Were she alive today, I think she would be running a triple bottom line real estate development company. Her economic theories centered on the importance of cities to national growth, which she connected to the importance of healthy neighbourhoods for city growth. That ability to see problems holistically and practically, through the lens of humans, their urban habitats and everything they interconnect with is inspiring and informative to us.
Which of her thoughts have proved to be an inspiration for Conservatorio?
We started our company with the idea that we had to try to understand and contain our own negative impacts on the urban eco-system where we operate. That translated into a simple policy of building one affordable apartment for every high-end apartment, preferring independent retail and donating a lot of space and company time to community programmes, particularly those that are along what we call the ‘ladder to equity’: things that eventually lead to ownership of a home or business in the community.
What lessons would you say are critical for a company that wants to try sustainable urban revitalisation?
Try to get to a scale where your company can get a meaningful footprint as quickly as possible, and make sure your capital is set up to be long term. Investment time horizons are probably the most critical factor in allowing for sustainable decision making, if you are too small your decisions might not have much impact.
The other factor is getting a good understanding of community development theory and practice. The process of going from dialogue to trust to a shared vision at the community level is vital. It’s more than community engagement or corporate social responsibility. It’s about co-creation and shared value.
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