Quito - 100 Resilient Cities

Quito’s Resilience Journey

The city of Quito released its Resilience Strategy on October 17, 2017. Explore the strategy here.

Quito’s Resilience Story

Quito’s resilience has been tested many times. The metropolitan district faces risk on a daily basis due to massive seismic movements, floods, and forest fires – in 2012 alone, 2,600 forest fires – were reported. In previous decades, the city has also faced earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The eruption of the Pichincha Volcano in 1999 forced the Quito airport to close — with major economic consequences. In 2011, nearly 144 landslides during the rainy season resulted in many deaths and damage to housing in the most vulnerable sectors of the city. The poor are also most at risk in the event of a high-magnitude earthquake, which would devastate the city’s irregular, unplanned settlements in steep-slope areas.

SHOCKS AND STRESSES

Aging Infrastructure
Drought
Earthquake
Economic Inequality
Environmental Degradation
Fire
Inadequate Public Transportation Systems
Landslide
Rainfall Flooding
Uncontrolled Urban Development
Volcanic Activity

Meet The Chief Resilience Officer

David Jacome is an architect with a degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador – Quito. He also holds a specialization in real estate management by the Tecnologico de Monterrey in addition to a master’s degree obtained at the TU Delft (Cum Laude), majoring in architectural engineering and technology in sustainable development. He was the leading student of the Dutch team that participated in the Solar Decathlon Europe Paris-2014, winning the first place in sustainability, among other awards. As Metropolitan Director of Urban Development and as a technical advisor at the Secretary of Planning, Habitat and Housing at the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito, he has been in charge of important strategic projects of land management and urban planning of the city, including the regulation that would enable the densification of certain parts of the city in compliance with minimum requirements of eco-efficiency. He is currently professor of undergraduate and master’s degree at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador-Quito.