Incorporating a resilience lens into the social and urban transformation of informal settlements: the participatory upgrading process in Villa 20, Buenos Aires (2016–2020)

Abstract

Based on the experiences of the socio-urban integration of Villa 20, this article suggests that upgrading processes are inherently complex and challenge traditional public policy implementation practices. The case presented demonstrates that, when complex urban problems are addressed through citizen participation, they contribute to improving urban governance, providing comprehensive responses, and may ensure the long-term sustainability of the introduced changes. Incorporating a climate resilience lens into the upgrading processes of informal settlements has not been a priority in government-led programmes to date. However, when these processes have at their core a deep participatory and collaborative approach, they offer a window of opportunity not only to transform government practices and policies, but also to influence urban designs, bring technological innovation, support alternative construction practices, and adopt a more sustainable and inclusive urban development pathway.

Exploring the links between the use of NbS, mindshifts and transformative urban coalitions to promote climate resilience within an ongoing reurbanization process. The case of Villa 20, Buenos Aires

“…In the implementation of participatory processes, a main challenge is how conflict is managed while respecting consensus and promoting strategies that strengthen the levels of participation in the decision-making process. It is within this participatory framework that transformative change can happen, and can both tension and strengthen the relationship process-project (Motta and Almansi, 2017;Almansi et al, 2020;Motta et al, 2021), generating more radical changes.…”

“…This has been done mostly by conventional means and using gray infrastructure. More recently, these programs have started to address environmental concerns in relation to waste collection, safe sites and disaster risk reduction (Almansi et al, 2020). However, programs and interventions tend to fail to incorporate climate change considerations and new frameworks that provide solutions involving strong environmental roots, such as Nature-based Solutions (NbS), Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) or Ecosystembased Adaptation (EbA).…”

“…There are still few studies on how informal settlement upgrading or re urbanization engages with climate change mitigation and adaptation (Collado and Wang, 2020). Seldom do programs in the region go a step beyond to provide for the needs these neighborhoods are experiencing today and will likely experience in the coming years in a context of climate change (Almansi et al, 2020). Not many programs aim for or result in providing integrated responses and the incorporation of climate resilience goals are usually complementary to the physical transformation of a neighborhood.…”

Assessing Sustainability Behavior and Environmental Performance of Urban Systems: A Systematic Review

“…A multicriteria analysis is broadly deployed to carry out sustainability assessment in decision-making or progress evaluation subsequent [11][12][13][14][15][16] to a selected sustainable development notion. The examination of methodological apprehensions in the architecture of multicriteria sustainability assessment shifts the interpretation from deterministic to probabilistic, thus leading to well-defined and integrated sustainability outcomes or decisions.…”

Excluded communities and participatory land-use planning: experience from informal Roma settlements in Serbia

“… 16 Almansi, F, J M Motta and J Hardoy (2020), “Incorporating a resilience lens into the social and urban transformation of informal settlements: the participatory upgrading process in Villa 20, Buenos Aires (2016–2020)”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 32, No 2, pages 407–428, available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247820935717; also Gwaleba, M J and U E Chigbu (2020), “Participation in property formation: insights from land-use planning in an informal urban settlement in Tanzania”, Land Use Policy Vol 92, Art 104482, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104482. …”