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Building Urban Resilience and Knowledge Co-Production in The Environmental Science and Policy 99 (2019) 37–47 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Science and Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envsci Building urban resilience and knowledge co-production in the face of weather hazards: flash floods in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (Mexico) T ⁎ Ismael Aguilar-Barajasa, , Nicholas P. Sistob, Aldo I. Ramirezc, Víctor Magaña-Ruedad a Departamento de Economia and Centro del Agua para America Latina y el Caribe, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico b CISE (Centro de Investigaciones Socioeconómicas), Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila, Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico c Departamento de Tecnologias Sostenibles y Civil and Centro del Agua para América Latina y el Caribe, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico d Instituto de Geografia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: In 2010, flash floods triggered by Hurricane Alex caused fifteen fatalities in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area urban resilience (MMA). In contrast, an estimated 225 people died in the 1988 Hurricane Gilbert disaster and reputedly, over knowledge co-production 5,000 in the historical flood of 1909. The magnitude of hurricane-related impacts thus appears to be decreasing, fl oods indicating higher resilience to this hazard. This paper analyses the process of building resilience to flash floods in Monterrey the MMA over the last several decades. Knowledge co-production plays a significant role in that process, par- Mexico ticularly through the Nuevo Leon State Reconstruction Council, the multi-institutional, public-private-civil group of stakeholders established to guide and coordinate reconstruction efforts following the Hurricane Alex disaster. Findings reveal a complex, protracted and incremental resilience building process, conditioned by the nature of the hazard (infrequent but liable to cause significant damages) and contingent upon the city’s socioeconomic and institutional local context. This local context is embedded in a highly fragmented national water governance architecture that lacks inter-institutional co-ordination and has limited the city’s adaptive responses. Despite definite gains in building resilience, the city faces challenges notably in terms of the conservation and continuing development of knowledge co-produced in the aftermath of disasters. 1. Introduction urban resilience and knowledge co-production (in brief, the process by which multifaceted knowledge for tackling complex problems is colla- Urban population growth - 6.5 billion people will live in urban areas boratively constructed by stakeholders). Knowledge co-production by 2050 (UN, 2014) - and concomitant social, economic, environmental likewise is not a simple concept and is open to different interpretations and political pressures, pose major challenges for the management of and normative prescriptions (Muñoz-Erickson et al. 2017). increasingly larger and more complex urban systems (Editorial note, The link between knowledge co-production and urban resilience has Environ. Sci. Policy, 2016). A key challenge is to foster resilience, de- not been fully appreciated in the resilience literature, or the actual fined (at a minimum) as the ability of an urban system to maintain or practice of building resilience. This paper proposes to shed some light rapidly return to desired functions in the face of a disturbance. Cities on the varied ways this link is key to building urban resilience. To this face a variety of hazards of consequence within and beyond their own end, the paper offers an in-depth analysis of an actual case of building boundaries, for example floods that damage their infrastructure but also urban resilience and knowledge co-production in the face of hurricane affect the wider economy (Pant et al., 2018). This is in part why induced flooding, a hazard that triggers a specific type of disaster: in- building urban resilience is arguably of vital necessity (Sharifi and frequent (once in a generation), rapid onset, impossible to forecast at Yamagata, 2014). more than a few days’ notice, and liable to cause significant damage to Urban resilience as a concept is amenable to different disciplinary life, property and infrastructure. Specifically, the paper analyzes how perspectives and may be applied to a variety of distinct hazards or the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) - Mexico’s third most popu- groups of hazards (Meerow et al., 2016). Building resilience, however, lous urban area - has built up resilience to flash floods over time, ultimately requires designing and implementing solutions on the basis through a thick and detailed description of the different historical, of available knowledge. This introduces a close connection between political and economic dimensions of resilience building and ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (I. Aguilar-Barajas). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.05.021 Received 19 August 2018; Received in revised form 19 May 2019; Accepted 23 May 2019 1462-9011/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. I. Aguilar-Barajas, et al. Environmental Science and Policy 99 (2019) 37–47 knowledge co-production in that city over the past several decades. The storms, e.g. Ingrid in 2013) do occur (Fig. 2). These downpours in- evidence reveals a complex resilience building process: protracted, in- variably overwhelm the city’s storm drainage system and cause loca- cremental, contingent on the city’s internal context as well the external lized, short duration problems particularly to transit. context in which the city is embedded, and conditioned by the nature of The MMA’s distance from the nearest coast (about 200 km) protects the hazard and stakeholder’s perception of the risk it poses. Moreover, it from the direct onslaught of hurricanes, but its location at the foot of knowledge co-production shows its own complexities. In particular, the Sierra Madre Oriental range exposes it to a significant flash flood there is no guarantee that knowledge co-produced can be sustained, as hazard. Powerful hurricane remnants from the Gulf of Mexico occa- it depends crucially on local social capital as well as the wider national sionally reach the region and discharge large amounts of precipitation governance architecture. within a short period of time over critical catchment areas in the From this case study, three key messages emerge. First, for me- mountains high above the city. Three to four times per century, these tropolises like Monterrey that contribute significantly to their national events result in sudden and profuse surface flows notably in the Santa economy, increasing their urban resilience to floods clearly is a matter Catarina River (Fig. 2), the MMA’s principal watercourse which crosses of national interest. Second, the case of the MMA illustrates that in- the whole urban area west to east. creasing urban resilience is an achievable goal; moreover, the process is comprehensible although its complex nature precludes simple ex- 2.3. Major flooding events: a brief historical summary planations (and hence, easy replication elsewhere). Third, beyond the five basic questions of resilience for whom, what, when, where and why Monterrey has a long history of flood-related disasters since its (Meerow et al., 2016) lie three major ones, which are often not dealt foundation over 400 years ago. The great flood of 1909 remains the with in the literature or in practice: how, at what cost and who finances. worst catastrophe in the city’s history: the Santa Catarina River burst its How is resilience achieved? For example, what is the appropriate banks and an estimated 5,000 people lost their lives (Graham, 1911). In combination of hard infrastructure (e.g. flood control dams) and soft 1938, floods curtailed transit across large swathes of the city (El Por- infrastructure (e.g. land use regulations)? How do we make sure venir, 29 August 1938). Hurricane Beulah in 1967 caused flooding but knowledge co-produced in a resilience building process is sustained relatively minor damages. With Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, the Santa over time? How do we equip stakeholders with a proper understanding Catarina River again broke its banks and attained its highest-ever re- of risk, so that they come to perceive both the costs (flood damages) and corded flow (CONAGUA, 2018). An estimated 225 lives were lost and benefits (water supply) of hurricanes? Finally, how much should be the flood caused severe damages to bridges, roads and other infra- spent on resilience and who pays? Answers to the last question must structure, disrupting transit not just locally but regionally (Bitrán, involve all levels of government and society, including the private 2001; OECD, 2013b, Benavides and Lozano, 2013). Structures built on sector. the river’s margins (mostly private homes) and on the river bed itself The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the (recreational and commercial outfits) were swept away, revealing loose study area and the flood hazard it faces. Section 3 presents the con- land use regulations and enforcement (Chávez Gutiérrez, 1995; Salazar, ceptual framework and the methodologies employed. Section 4 and 2008; de León Gómez, 2009). Section 5 respectively address urban resilience up to and following the Hurricane Alex in 2010, one of the strongest storms to ever impact most recent 2010 flash flood disaster. Section 6 contains conclusions, Nuevo León and the MMA, generated torrential rains in the city. The with the major lessons learned and the way forward. river reached its second highest recorded flow (CONAGUA, 2018)- Fig. 3 provides a view of the Santa Catarina River on the day of the 2. The city, the region and the hazard event. Damages - although not as severe as the previous Gilbert disaster - significantly affected the MMA (Sisto and Ramírez-Orozco, 2015) and 2.1. The city and the San Juan River Basin resonated widely in Mexico given the city’s weight in the national economy (OECD, 2013b). 15 people lost their lives, more than 12 The Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) congregates 12 munici- thousand were rescued or evacuated and over 68 thousand households palities including Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo León.
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