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Guatemala City · page 2

From Wikipedia, «Guatemala City», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too.

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Zone One is the Historic Center (Centro Histórico), lying in the very heart of the city, the location of many important historic buildings, including the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura (National Palace of Culture), the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Congress, the Casa Presidencial (Presidential House), the National Library, and Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Plaza, old Central Park).64 Efforts to revitalize this important part of the city have been undertaken by the municipal government.65

Beside the parks, the city offers a portfolio of entertainment in the region, focused on the so-called Zona Viva and the Calzada Roosevelt, as well as Cuatro Grados Norte.66 Casino activity is considerable, with several located in different parts of the Zona Viva.67 The area around the East market is being redeveloped.68 Within the financial district are the tallest buildings in the country, including: Club Premier, Tinttorento, Atlantis building, Atrium, Tikal Futura, Building of Finances, Towers Building Batteries, Torres Botticelli, Tadeus, building of the INTECAP, Royal Towers, Towers Geminis, Industrial Bank towers, Holiday Inn Hotel, Premier of the Americas, among many others to be used for offices, apartments, etc. Also included are projects such as Zona Pradera and Interamerica's World Financial Center.69

One of the most outstanding mayors was the engineer Martin Prado Vélez, who took over in 1949, and ruled the city during the reformist presidents Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, although he was not a member of the ruling party at the time and was elected due his well-known capabilities.70 Of cobanero origin, married with Marta Cobos, he studied at the University of San Carlos; under his tenure, among other modernist works of the city, infrastructure projects included El Incienso bridge, the construction of the Roosevelt Avenue, the main road axis from East to West of the city, the town hall building, and numerous road works which meant the widening of the colonial city, its order in the cardinal points and the generation of a ring road with the first cloverleaf interchange in the city.[21]71

In an attempt to control the rapid growth of the city, the municipal government (Municipalidad de Guatemala), headed by longtime Mayor Álvaro Arzú, has implemented a plan to focus growth along important arterial roads and apply Transit-oriented development (TOD) characteristics.72 This plan, denominated POT (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial), aims to allow taller building structures of mixed uses to be built next to large arterial roads, and gradually decline in height and density moving away from such.73 It is also worth mentioning, that due to the airport being in the south of the city, height limits based on aeronautical considerations have been applied to the construction code.74 This limits the maximum height for a building, at 60 m in Zone 10, up to 95 m in Zone 1.[19]75

Climate

As it is in the tropics, Guatemala City has a tropical savannah climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a more temperate humid subtropical climate (Cwa/Cwb) due to its relatively high altitude.[7]76 Guatemala City is generally very warm, almost springlike, throughout the year.77

It occasionally gets hot during the dry season, although not as hot and humid as other cities in Central America at sea level.78 The hottest month is April.79 The rainy season extends from May to October, coinciding with the tropical storm and hurricane season in the western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, while the dry season extends from November to April.80 The city can at times be windy, which also leads to lower ambient temperatures.81

The city's average annual temperature ranges are 22–28 C during the day and 12–17 C at night; its average relative humidity is 82% in the morning and 58% in the evening; and its average dew point is 16 C.[22]82

Volcanic activity

Four stratovolcanoes are visible from the city, two of them active.83 The nearest and most active is Pacaya, which at times erupts a considerable amount of ash.[23]84 These volcanoes lie to the south of the Valle de la Ermita, providing a natural barrier between Guatemala City and the Pacific lowlands that define the southern regions of Guatemala.85 Agua, Fuego, Pacaya, and Acatenango comprise a line of 33 stratovolcanoes that stretches across the breadth of Guatemala, from the Salvadorian border to the Mexican border.86

Earthquakes

See also: 1902 Guatemala earthquake, 1917 Guatemala earthquake, 1976 Guatemala earthquake

Lying on the Ring of Fire, the Guatemalan highlands and the Valle de la Ermita are frequently shaken by large earthquakes.87 The last large tremor to hit the Guatemala City region occurred in the 1976, on the Motagua Fault, a left-lateral strike-slip fault that forms the boundary between the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate.88 The 1976 event registered 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale.89 Smaller, less severe tremors are frequently felt in Guatemala City and environs.90

Mudslides

Torrential downpours, similar to the more famous monsoons, occur frequently in the Valle de la Ermita during the rainy season, leading to flash floods that sometimes inundate the city.91 Due to these heavy rainfalls, some of the slums perched on the steep edges of the canyons that criss-cross the Valle de la Ermita are washed away and buried under mudslides, as in October 2005.[24]92 Tropical waves, tropical storms and hurricanes sometimes strike the Guatemalan highlands, which also bring torrential rains to the Guatemala City region and trigger these deadly mudslides.93

Piping pseudokarst

In February 2007, a very large, deep circular hole with vertical walls opened in northeastern Guatemala City (14°39′2″N 90°29′25″W), killing five people.94 This sinkhole, which is classified by geologists as either a "piping feature" or "piping pseudokarst", was 100 m deep, and apparently was created by fluid from a sewer eroding the loose volcanic ash, limestone, and other pyroclastic deposits that underlie Guatemala City.[25][26]95 As a result, one thousand people were evacuated from the area.[27]96 This piping feature has since been mitigated by City Hall by providing proper maintenance to the sewerage collection system,[28] and plans to develop the site have been proposed.97 However, critics believe municipal authorities have neglected needed maintenance on the city's aging sewerage system, and have speculated that more dangerous piping features are likely to develop unless action is taken.[29]98

Three years later, the 2010 Guatemala City sinkhole arose. [32]99

Demographics

It is estimated that the population of Guatemala City urban area is about 3 million.[33][34][35]100 The growth of the city's population has been robust, abetted by the mass migration of Guatemalans from the rural hinterlands to the largest and most vibrant regional economy in Guatemala.[36]101 Among inhabitants of Guatemala City, those of Spanish and Mestizo descent are the most numerous.[36]102 Guatemala City also has sizable indigenous populations, divided among the 23 distinct Mayan groups present in Guatemala.103 The numerous Mayan languages are now spoken in certain quarters of Guatemala City, making the city a linguistically rich area.104 Foreigners and foreign immigrants comprise the final distinct group of Guatemala City inhabitants, representing a very small minority among the city's denizens.[36]105

Due to mass migration from impoverished rural districts wracked with political instability, Guatemala City's population has exploded since the 1970s, severely straining the existing bureaucratic and physical infrastructure of the city.106 As a result, chronic traffic congestion, shortages of safe potable water in some areas of the city, and a sudden and prolonged surge in crime have become perennial problems.107 The infrastructure, although continuing to grow and improve in some areas,[37] is lagging in relation to the increasing population of rural migrants, who tend to be poorer.[38]108

Communications

Guatemala City is headquarters to many communications and telecom companies, among them Tigo, Claro-Telgua, and Movistar-Telefónica.109 These companies also offer cable television, internet services and telephone access.110 Due to Guatemala City's large and concentrated consumer base in comparison to the rest of the country, these telecom and communications companies provide most of their services and offerings within the confines of the city.111 There are also seven local television channels, in addition to numerous international channels.112 The international channels range from children's programming, like Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, to more adult offerings, such as E! and HBO.113 While international programming is dominated by entertainment from the United States, domestic programming is dominated by shows from Mexico.114 Due to its small and relatively income-restricted domestic market, Guatemala City produces very little in the way of its own programming outside of local news and sports.115

Economy and finance

Guatemala City, as the capital, is home to Guatemala's central bank, from which Guatemala's monetary and fiscal policies are formulated and promulgated.116 Guatemala City is also headquarters to numerous regional private banks, among them CitiBank, Banco Agromercantil, Banco Promerica, Banco Industrial, Banco GyT Continental, Banco de Antigua, Banco Reformador, Banrural, Grupo Financiero de Occidente, BAC Credomatic, and Banco Internacional.117

Places of interest by zones

Guatemala City is divided into 22 zones in accordance with the urban layout plan designed by Raúl Aguilar Batres.118 Each zone has its own streets and avenues, facilitating navigation within the city.119 Zones are numbered 1 through 25.120 However, numbers 20, 22 and 23 have not been designated to zones, thus these zones do not exist within the city proper.[19]121

Transportation

  • Renovated and expanded, La Aurora International Airport lies to the south of the city center.139 La Aurora serves as Guatemala's principal air hub.140
  • Public transport is provided by buses and supplemented by a BRT system.141 The three main highways that bisect and serve Guatemala start in the city (CA9 Transoceanic Highway – Puerto San Jose to Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla –, CA1 Panamerican Highway – from the Mexican border to Salvadorian border – and to Peten).142 Construction of freeways and underpasses by the municipal government, the implementation of reversible lanes during peak rush-hour traffic, as well as the establishment of the Department of Metropolitan Transit Police (PMT), has helped improve traffic flow in the city.143 Despite these municipal efforts, the Guatemala City metropolitan area still faces growing traffic congestion.144
  • A BRT (bus rapid transit) system called Transmetro, consisting of special-purpose lanes for high-capacity buses, began operating in 2007, and aimed to improve traffic flow in the city through the implementation of an efficient mass transit system.145 The system consists of five lines.146 It is expected to be expanded around 10 lines, with some over-capacity expected lines being considered for Light Metro or Heavy Metro.147

Traditional buses are now required to discharge passengers at transfer stations at the city's edge to board the Transmetro.148 This is being implemented as new Transmetro lines become established.149 In conjunction with the new mass transit implementation in the city, there is also a prepaid bus card system called Transurbano that is being implemented in the metro area to limit cash handling for the transportation system.150 A new fleet of buses tailored for this system has been purchased from a Brazilian firm.151

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