Street Pie Chart: Visualizing Data on Waste in Panama City by Jose Duarte Quitian

Context: When Trash Becomes Part of the Landscape

In Panama City, waste management poses a daily challenge. While the landfill known as "Patacón" concentrates the majority of the city's waste, the streets are filled with “pataconcitos,” as Panamanians call the piles of trash in public spaces. This reality creates a landscape so common that the problem goes unnoticed: the everyday becomes invisible. How do we get citizens to reflect on this issue when data seems to get lost among mountains of waste?

The Intervention: Data in Public Spaces

From EasyDataViz and UNDP Panama, we designed an intervention that transformed data into a tangible and accessible experience for citizens. Our goal was to democratize information about waste and spark informed conversations in public spaces.
To achieve this, we created an itinerant device called the "Data Cart," inspired by the carts of street vendors, a cultural symbol emblematic of Panama's streets. This interactive device featured vibrant Caribbean colors, hand-drawn typography, and the familiar aesthetic of the carts, inviting people to approach and participate.

Data for Reflection: Play as a Tool for Change

Through playful dynamics, we asked simple yet revealing questions:
- What percentage of the waste generated in the city ends up in the Patacón landfill?
- How much of the trash we produce could be recycled?
The intention was not to measure how much people knew, but to use data as a catalyst for reflection. The game allowed citizens to understand, in an accessible way, the impact of their daily decisions on waste.

Results: Sparking conversations with data

The Data Cart not only allowed us to gather emotions and opinions from citizens about the trash problem but also achieved something even more important: it brought the issue of waste out of the shadows of the everyday landscape and into the center of public conversation.
Data became a common language that allowed more people to become aware of the importance of their role in waste management. Because the first step toward any transformation is an informed and participatory conversation based on data.