Co-producing urban resilience to climate change: innovation for integrated risk management

 

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An online event, oriented towards a knowledge dialogue hosted by the Centre for Contemporary Latin American Studies (CCLAS) at the University of Edinburgh (UK), The Urban Institute (TUI) at Heriot-Watt University (UK) and the National Polytechnical Institute (Mexico) 

 

 

Aim of the event

 

In the context of improving integration in risk management, innovation, or innovative approaches, can be defined as revolutionary, efficient, or novel strategies that are introduced and accepted by a societal system (Salter & Alexy, 2013). In particular, Guerriero & Penning-Rowsell (2020) have suggested five interrelated ‘avenues of innovation’ in risk management: 

 

• structural and non-structural measures, or interventions; 

• the use of information technologies (e.g., remote sensing data acquisition, weather radar for forecasting, mathematical hydraulic modelling, etc);

• governance and politics (e.g., devolution, state and private-sector suppliers, community engagement, etc);

• resources, such as skills and capabilities;

• framing and communication (e.g., social media).

 

Adopting such a broad understanding of innovation in risk management recognises smart and technological solutions as one approach to bring about innovation and risk reduction for vulnerable communities, but also acknowledges that successful risk management is maximised when several of these avenues of innovation are integrated, as we have explored in our research.

 

Our aim in hosting this online event was to share our findings and experiences in relation to inclusive ‘Smart City’ solutions in Mexico City, and widen the discussion around innovation in risk management to capture other potential intervention areas that acknowledge the various means and multiple scales for action and impact. Working both at the macro-scale and the local scale provides, along with knowledge of community-based successful best practices, opportunities for interaction and negotiation, seeking agreement between sectors and developing strategies to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability based on stakeholder co-responsibility. 

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Therefore, with the aim to exploring the challenges and opportunities in relation to innovative approaches to improving integration in risk management, researchers and practitioners were invited to participate in our event. Participants offered perspectives relating to the five ‘avenues of innovation’ described above (Guerriero & Penning-Rowsell, 2020), which structured the event. Contributions were invited that consider successful examples of innovative solutions to risk management driven by community-, third sector-, market-, and state-based approaches, as well as contributions reflecting on inclusivity in risk management, including traditionally excluded groups, and the evaluation of innovative approaches in driving concrete progress in risk and vulnerability reduction.

 

Background and rationale

 

Our ESRC-CONACYT-funded project: “Developing co-created ‘smart-city’ socutions for managed adaptation and monitoring of hydro-meteorological climate change-related risk in Mexico”

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The rapid growth of cities in the Global South over the last decades has led to an increase in vulnerable communities in low-income, informal and unregulated settlements, frequently on land exposed to risks that are increasing with climate change, such as flooding, landslides and water scarcity. There is an urgent need to increase the resilience of such communities. In addition, as urban areas have expanded, levels of vulnerability, socio-spatial segregation and inequality have been aggravated in parallel with an increasing demand for housing, public space, services and sustainable mobility options. In this context, the importance of risk management is increasingly recognised, with a call for approaches that consider not only the exposure of the area where these risks are assessed but also the adaptation capacity of community groups. Recent research demonstrates that vulnerable urban communities in highly densified urban areas have struggled to adapt to climate change-related risks in sustainable, affordable and appropriate ways. Our ESRC-CONACYT-funded research in Mexico City is exploring the capacity for co-produced actions between different stakeholders, based on complex information-sharing that integrates feedback-rich systems across multiple actors to improve conditions and reduce risks in areas affected by chronic flash flooding during the rainy season.

 

Recently developed approaches to reducing vulnerability include land use planning, good construction practices, early warning systems, community preparedness and awareness campaigns, pooling and transferring risk, and physical protection barriers (Nadim & Lacasse, 2008). However, these approaches can be challenging to implement in low-income and informal settlements due to complex socio-economic, political and institutional processes. In addition, local authorities tend to focus on issues affecting vulnerable communities in isolation, attempting to resolve infrastructure, resources or health problems, but with a lack of integration of these strategies with human resources, and economic and environmental capacity (Ibarrarán, et al. 2014). To respond to the urgent need to build resilience in low-income and informal urban communities, our research has explored and tested innovative, co-created strategies to manage risks and increase resilience at the household and neighbourhood levels, aimed towards reducing vulnerability and increasing collaboration across stakeholders. To make progress towards more integrated risk management strategies and systems, so-called ‘Smart City’ approaches and technologies may offer an integrative perspective, harnessing the potential for collaborative solutions involving city and local governments and technology contractors. However, these technological solutions often tend to prioritise top-down actions, which do not necessarily take into account the needs of, or benefits for, people living in low-income and informal communities. Our research has demonstrated that inclusive Smart City initiatives should therefore avoid imposing technological solutions on vulnerable communities, and rather focus on long-term sustainable processes of risk mitigation that incorporate public participation and redefine active citizenship (Garcia Ferrari et al., 2021). Smart City approaches should be implemented through engaging communities and organisations in a constructive ‘dialogue of knowledges’, to explore tangible, context-appropriate solutions.

To achieve impact, the identification and implementation of solutions to tackle climate change-related challenges should therefore take an integrated approach aimed at empowering communities in monitoring their land, understanding potential strategies for risk mitigation and reducing poverty. Our research has explored actions that consider the differences in perception of risk among stakeholders (from community to state) and opportunities for different types of knowledge (formal/informal, technical/social) to interact in defining risk and risk-mitigation strategies (Smith et al., 2020). Solutions aimed at building resilience could draw from 'Smart City' strategies through implementing an interactive dialogue between community members, government institutions, NGOs, private businesses and other stakeholders. Such solutions can be developed throughout different stages of risk reduction (i.e., risk analysis, prevention, preparedness, financing, relief, recovery, and reconstruction), with each stage presenting an opportunity for community participation and collaboration (McCallum et al., 2016; Tonmoy et al., 2020). 

 

With a critical perspective and from a collaborative approach, 'Smart City' strategies might bring innovative solutions that engage with communities, academics, technology contractors and local authorities in settlements affected by climate change-related impacts. Through a range of action-research projects in cities of the Global South (e.g., Mexico City and Puebla in Mexico; Medellin in Colombia, Amman in Jordan), our research has explored innovative, context-specific and co-created strategies for managing risk and increasing resilience, which are able to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable. 

 

 

Workshop summary and outcomes

 

1. Presentations

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• Prof Soledad Garcia Ferrari, University of Edinburgh, UK: “Co-producing urban resilience to climate change: innovation for integrated risk management”

 

• Dr Milton Montejano Castillo & Dr Luis Cruz Ramírez, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico: “Development of co-created technological solutions for the management of hydrometeorological risks associated with climate change in Mexico”

 

• Prof Tomás Chiñas Santiago, Basin Committee of the Los Perros River, Oaxaca, Mexico: “Experiences generated in the prevention of disasters in the Los Perros River sub-basin”

 

• Dr Ksenia Chmutina, Loughborough University, UK: “Resilience to risk, or resilient risk?”

 

• Dr Carolina Garcia Londoño, Inform@Risk project, Colombia: “Inform@Risk: Towards a safer territory”

 

• Dr Alfredo Stein, University of Manchester, UK: “Asset planning for climate change adaptation in popular neighbourhoods: linking local participatory processes with artificial intelligence technologies”

 

• Prof Harry Smith, Heriot-Watt University, UK: “Innovation through co-produced landslide risk monitoring: ​Experiences in Medellin (Colombia) and Sao Paulo (Brazil)”

 

• Mr Carlos Velásquez, Community Leader and Researcher, Comuna 8, Medellín, Colombia: “Resilience in the urban fringe of Medellin: integrated disaster risk co-management program”

 

 

2. Synthesis

 

The workshop aimed to question the meaning of innovation in integrated risk management, from the point of view of the five ‘avenues of innovation’ proposed by Guerriero and Penning-Rowsell (2020). The choice of this critical approach stemmed from a number of recent research projects focussing on how so-called ‘innovative, smart-city technological solutions’ can be harnessed and co-produced to reduce risk and address local needs in vulnerable urban communities. These projects have sought to identify opportunities to make risk management more inclusive and reduce inequalities, with a perspective of co-responsibility between different stakeholders who want to reduce the impacts of hazards related to climate change in the built environment.

 

On Day 1, the workshop featured a number of presentations of experiences with respect to participatory approaches to risk management in Latin America, including flooding and landslides. Participants contributed to an interactive whiteboard exercise where elements relevant to the five avenues of innovation were identified in the presented case studies. The following table presents the findings from this whiteboard, which include interventions from participants.

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