Growth Management, Samboronden, Ecuador

Abstract

The Canton of Samborondon, over the past nine months, has undertaken a planning process to determine the course of growth over the next 25 - 35 years in this rapidly growing Canton adjacent to Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil. With growth in the Canton expected to triple in this period (from about 60,000 to 180,000 persons), and with significant changes occurring in land and construction costs, demographics and the broadening market for new development, the already high stress on existing Canton infrastructure and services, and on the rich rice growing areas of the Canton and the traditional culture it supports, will become even more critical. Wishing to create a plan for orderly growth and provision of services with the participation of landowners, citizens and public officials, the Canton has produced this strategic framework for growth that can be used to guide land use policies, capital investments, and development ordinances. This plan was prepared with the assistance of The Georgia Tech College of Architecture in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and the School of Architecture at the Universidad Especialidades Espiritu Santo (UEES), in Samborondon. In the fall of 2003 faculty and students from the UEES collected, mapped and analyzed relevant data with the assistance of both landowners and Canton officials. This work is presented in a separate document, and is available in the canton City Hall. During the spring of 2004 a series of planning workshops with Canton officials and stakeholders were held to facilitate a consensus on the main elements of the plan and the means to implement it. This also included a weeklong series of intensive sessions with planning and architecture students from Georgia Tech and UEES to help formulate and visualize the impact of growth in the Canton. It is our hope that the recommended policies contained in the plan will be adopted by the Canton and become the guide for future growth in the Canton to the benefit of its land and its people. Mayor Coco With Ana Maria Leon, Project Director, UEES Randal Roark, Project Director, Georgia Tech