TY - JOUR
T1 - Expressions of collective grievance as a feedback in multi-actor adaptation to water risks in Mexico City
AU - Eakin, Hallie
AU - Shelton, Rebecca
AU - Baeza, Andrés
AU - Bojórquez-Tapia, Luis A.
AU - Flores, Shalae
AU - Parajuli, Jagadish
AU - Grave, Ileana
AU - Estrada Barón, Alejandra
AU - Hernández, Bertha
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon the work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 1414052, CNH: The Dynamics of Multi-Scalar Adaptation in Megacities (PI H. Eakin) and the Inter-American Institute (IAI) for Global Change CNR3108 (PI L. Bojórquez-Tapia). Acknowledgements
Funding Information:
The authors appreciate the constructive comments on the draft manuscript provided by two anonymous reviewers. Grave also acknowledges fellowship support, PAPIIT IV100118. Flores received fieldwork support from the Urban Resilience to ExtremeWeather-Related Events Sustainability Research Network funded by the National Science Foundation (1444755). The authors appreciate the time and considerable openness of the interviewees who participated in this research, and the support of A. Martinez and B. Tellman in the collection and coding of the qualitative data.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Effective adaptation assumes a feedback between the experience or anticipation of harm, and the actions of those individuals whose decisions and actions are necessary to reduce that harm. In urban areas, citizens often expect support from the public sector to facilitate their adaptation efforts and to protect them from exposure. This expectation—grounded in notions of the social contract between citizens and the state—presumes efficient feedback between public sector actors and residents concerning vulnerable states and adaptation needs. Through a case study of Mexico City, we analyze the role of social mobilization, specifically, neighborhood protests associated with water scarcity, as an informal means for a vulnerable population to communicate its needs to those actors with the mandate and capacity to alter risk exposure. On the basis of the findings from the case study, we propose a simple framework to begin a more systematic process of analyzing the expression of grievances as a feedback among actors involved in urban adaptation. We argue that by making visible these expressions as an informal mechanism of feedback between risk exposure, impact, decision-making, and the biophysical environment, we can reveal a potentially important lever on system change: one that highlights existing asymmetries in power, equity, and rights in urban adaptation.
AB - Effective adaptation assumes a feedback between the experience or anticipation of harm, and the actions of those individuals whose decisions and actions are necessary to reduce that harm. In urban areas, citizens often expect support from the public sector to facilitate their adaptation efforts and to protect them from exposure. This expectation—grounded in notions of the social contract between citizens and the state—presumes efficient feedback between public sector actors and residents concerning vulnerable states and adaptation needs. Through a case study of Mexico City, we analyze the role of social mobilization, specifically, neighborhood protests associated with water scarcity, as an informal means for a vulnerable population to communicate its needs to those actors with the mandate and capacity to alter risk exposure. On the basis of the findings from the case study, we propose a simple framework to begin a more systematic process of analyzing the expression of grievances as a feedback among actors involved in urban adaptation. We argue that by making visible these expressions as an informal mechanism of feedback between risk exposure, impact, decision-making, and the biophysical environment, we can reveal a potentially important lever on system change: one that highlights existing asymmetries in power, equity, and rights in urban adaptation.
KW - Adaptation
KW - Conflict
KW - Governance
KW - Mexico City
KW - Social contracts
KW - Water insecurity
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U2 - 10.1007/s10113-020-01588-8
DO - 10.1007/s10113-020-01588-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079143233
SN - 1436-3798
VL - 20
JO - Regional Environmental Change
JF - Regional Environmental Change
IS - 1
M1 - 17
ER -