TITLE:
An Integrative Collaborative Project Approach to Climate-Change Resilience and Urban/Regional Sustainability for the Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Hydrological Region
AUTHORS:
Timothy J. Downs, Morgan Ruelle, Nigel Brissett, Ravi Hanumantha, Marisa Mazari-Hiriart, Rob Krueger, Edward R. Carr
KEYWORDS:
Climate-Change Resilience, Sustainable Development, Urban, Regional, Mexico City
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Civil Engineering,
Vol.12 No.1,
March
31,
2022
ABSTRACT: In a
rapidly urbanizing world, the social, economic, and ecological complexities of
cities require conceptual and operational innovations to enhance climate
resilience and sustainability. We describe our Integrative Collaborative Project
(ICP) approach to co-create climate resilience in the Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala
Hydrological Region (MLCHR). In recent years, it has suffered from frequent natural disasters, and
under climate change scenarios, the intensity and frequency of extreme events,
including severe floods, droughts, heat waves and landslides are expected to
increase. ICPs are framed as socio-technical capacity building enterprises,
with networks operating at multiple scales.
The approach differs from other integrative efforts, which tend to be top-down
with scant civil society co-ownership, and focus on limited aspects like
indicators/assessment, or institutional capacity building. We reimagine all
operational stages, from creative thinking, through ethos and concept, assessment,
planning, project design, implementation and management, and monitoring and
evaluation. The design of ICPs is informed by six integrative domains: 1)
project ethos, concept, and framing; 2) sectors, topics, and issues; 3) spatial
and temporal scales; 4) stakeholder interests, relationships and capacities; 5)
knowledge types, models and methods; and 6) socio-technical capacities and
networks. Empirically, the approach is based on participatory development
practices, pilot project work tackling sustainable water and sanitation in
Mexico, and a synthesis of rich experiential knowledge spanning 20 years. The
theoretical basis considers a pragmatic knowledge frame, socio-technical
transitions literature, and education for social transformation. We describe
forward-looking operational details of the Pilot ICP for the Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Hydrological Region,
with our three-university partnership as catalyst,
and a new breed of socio-technical enterprise organization as a key partner, engaging stakeholders at municipal and
regional scales.