Is urban-water sustainability possible? Concepts, implementation, and barriers to enhance Integrated Urban Water Management in Mexico City Fernanda García Alba Garciadiego Thesis submitted to the University College London (UCL) for the degree Doctor of Philosophy UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering December 2020 Declaration of Authorship …………………………………………………………………………………………… I, Fernanda García Alba Garciadiego confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Abstract Water scarcity and climate change events cause constraints in urban environments. Integrated Urban Water Management approaches have emerged to promote alternatives to urban water management and minimise such problems. These approaches have been facing reduced advances in been adopted. Literature has studied this phenomenon using Transition Theory. However, studies have barely focused on the cases when changes in the water systems are promoted by the actors of the existing dominant system (or incumbent-led transitions), while recognising the power and political dynamics in the developing world. This research addresses this gap by study two empirical projects in Mexico City that proposed a change in urban water management. A framework adapted from the Transition Theory was used to clarify power dynamics in the water system in Mexico City, especially the role of actors in maintaining practices or deliver power to sustainable alternatives, represented by urban experiments. Also, this research recognises that the water system in Mexico City had already suffered some adjustments responding to external pressures that led to the introduction of sustainable practices. However, more work in the system structure and other domains (such as transport and conservation or resource management) is needed to make a significant change and introduce integrated approaches properly. The main insights for this thesis are: (i) The recognition of the incumbents´ role in supporting alternative projects inconsistently as a response to regime´s external and internal pressures. (ii) Integrated approaches require a multi-regime integration. However, this is challenging due to the complexity of coordinating a large cohort of stakeholders that respond to reduce uncertainty and maintain diverse regimes´ visions, political-power structures and vested interest. (iii) Incumbents see multi-regime coordination as a risk, so they tend to compete and act in an antagonist manner to maintain resources and power, complicating socio-technical systems coordination. Finally, (iv) incumbent-led sustainable projects require a strict development design and evaluation fostering internal continuity, while external supervision is also required. Hence, the necessity of empowering external actors to the regime. The studied cases evidenced that sustainable projects represent another actor competing for resources, but struggles emerge in different scales and systems, recognising that a strict policy design from several domains is needed. Overall, this research shows that water management is difficult to modify due to the inherent complexity of the interconnected systems rather than a lack of will to change them. i Impact Statement This thesis recognises opportunities and limitations for adopting Integrated Urban Water Management, specifically in Mexico City. The key research contributions of this thesis are: Impacts on professional practice i. This research illustrates specific local issues that act as barriers to sustainable approaches in water management in Mexico City. These issues can be considered in the design of future initiatives, likewise the recognised problems of alternative projects. ii. This research recommends the implementation of policies that focus on supporting specific actions or short-term projects, while progressively supporting the introduction of long-term policies (i.e. comprehensive management plan). This should be accompanied by severe changes in the Mexican Policy towards creating a regional water management plan that aligns with other programmes and schemes from diverse socio-technical systems (i.e. transport). iii. Objectives alignment and networks creation between different incumbents from various agencies and socio-technical systems are as important as testing experiments or Integrated Urban Water Management approaches. Thereby, this research recommends the design of a different mechanism to implement alternative projects that divert from standard practices. Impacts on the research area iv. This research complements incumbent-led transition studies while recognising the importance of power dynamics in the Transition Management process. Additionally, the focus on incumbents in the transition processes contributes to the Inter-Regime Interaction literature. v. The thesis offers a theoretical framework for incumbent-led transitions and its adaptation for Mexico City case, representing a rich mixture of empirical and theoretical literature. Future research can use this framework and adapt it for particular circumstances. vi. The thesis highlights the need for the following research in Mexico City: (a) To recognise the interactions between different socio-technical systems, which can be used to update the policy in water management. (b) To distinguish new negotiation spaces and mechanisms that allow niche-innovation creation, recognising the need for different and suitable learning evaluation methods for different stakeholders. (c) To review the water transition within a multi-scalar approach, understanding sustainable trajectories and recognising that sustainability is achieved through modifying the water system as other socio-technical systems at different scales and dimensions. ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my father Pascual García Alba Iduñate “No me tienes que dar porque te quiera, pues aunque lo que espero no esperara, lo mismo que te quiero te quisiera.” Anonymous iii Acknowledgements I want to thank my mother Marcela Garciadiego Ojeda for being my greatest support at taking this venture and to maintaining her faith in me until the end. I know that without her encouragement, I would not be able to finish this thesis. I want to express gratitude to all my friends and family that care about me during one of the most challenging periods of my life: Santiago García-Alba, Mariana Luiselli, Julia Ventura, Yuritzi Castellanos, Iskra Vela and Ángel Barajas, especially to Hsiao-Yi Liu and Douglas Baker for the tremendous support they gave me all this time. Also, I want to recognise all the people that were my friends during my time at UCL Rui Sha, Manuela Irarrazabal, Usman Akeel, Alejandra Palma, Alessandra Coda, Palak Shukla, Miguel Casas, Alexandra Tsioulou, and Enrique López-Arroyo. A special thanks to what I can say was my family at UCL, Zeyu Yao, Oriana Landa, and Yekatherina Bobrova, for their generous support and for having the patience for explaining to me how to do research, and to Sofia Murillo for helping me every time I need it. I wish to acknowledge the stakeholders who participated in the interviews, and for transmitting their passion and love for two great places in Mexico City, especially to the three special people who gave me their time and showed me the magic of Los Dinamos and Xochimilco. Similarly, gratitude is due to UAM University that opened the door and let me attend the Seminar-Workshop of Chinampas and Cultural Landscapes Conservation in the City of Mexico during November 2016. Likewise, I want to thank Hemoreteca Nacional de Mexico (National Newspaper Library of Mexico) for their service and attention during my fieldwork. I am indebted to CONACYT for providing me with the funds which I was able to study at University College London and live in London, United Kingdom. Also, I thank Robert Bryas and his fantastic team for allowing me to work with them, learning more about water and helping me to extend my experience in England This acknowledgement will be incomplete without expressing appreciation to the people that gave me a few hours of their time but gave me incredible insights that made possible to complete this research. Lai Fong Chiu, Itzkuauhtli Zamora-Saenz, Ivan Ríos, Mónica Ramos-Mejía, Rachel Greer, Giorgia Silvestri, Nino Jordan and Katharina Hölscher. Furthermore, I want to thank my examiners Adriana Allen and Matias Ramirez and recognise Sarah Bell and Katie Hall to help me with my English, especially to Angela Cooper for her assistance despite the difficult times. iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 2 Urban Water Management and Transitions......................................................... 7 3 Study Methodology .......................................................................................... 26 4 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................... 49 5 Mexico City through the Multi-Level Perspective Lens ...................................... 73 6 Magdalena River Restoration Project .............................................................. 102 7 Project UNESCO-Xochimilco ........................................................................ 148 8 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 191 9 Conclusions and recommendations for future work ........................................