La Chorrera
La Chorrera absorbs Panama City's residential overflow as agriculture transitions to suburban development, functioning as commuter satellite.
La Chorrera functions as Panama City's western satellite, the district absorbing residential growth that the capital's limited land area cannot accommodate. The proximity to Panama City creates commuter patterns where employment occurs elsewhere while housing costs determine where workers live—the suburban function that metropolitan expansion produces.
The area's agricultural hinterland transitions toward urbanization as population pressure converts farmland to housing developments. This land-use change follows patterns visible worldwide, the peri-urban zone between city and countryside becoming neither, agriculture displaced before alternative employment fully materializes.
Whether La Chorrera develops distinct economic identity—or whether the district functions permanently as bedroom community for Panama City—depends on whether commercial and industrial investment follows residential growth. The infrastructure investments including Panama City's Metro extension may reshape accessibility patterns that currently define the area's subordinate relationship to the capital.