Toward negotiated mitigation of landslide risks in informal settlements: reflections from a pilot experience in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

Urbanization continues to drive informal settlement growth on land exposed to hazards such as landslides, increasing risk among low-income populations. Though technical and social ways of managing landslide risk are known, in developing countries these measures are often difficult to implement because of complex social, economic, political, and institutional reasons. We present the findings from a pilot research project in Medellín, Colombia, which aimed to explore the scope for, and acceptability of, landslide risk-reducing strategies for informal settlements from the community and state perspectives; understand the barriers to landslide riskreducing strategies; and identify politically and practically viable approaches to such strategies within a wider and more complex context of social and physical risk in the area. Focusing on the latter objective, we compare two forms of community-local government spaces for negotiation that were used during the project (a Cabildo Abierto and a joint local government-community Working Group), applying Fung's "democratic cube" to their analysis. This helps understand their different nature, but also raises questions about the ability of Fung's model to address governance arrangements related to so-called informal settlements in the Global South, and the need to revisit this model drawing on context-sensitive approaches and insights on informal governance arrangements from the growing literature on service coproduction. The key conclusions highlight the importance of overcoming the state-community stand-off over land occupation rights in Medellín, which is also found in self-built neighborhoods worldwide, by reorienting the problem away from conventional longterm land use planning issues toward issues of safety in the short and medium term, together with an incremental approach, in opening up opportunities to develop wider negotiated mitigation of landslide risk at a more strategic level involving both community and local government.

Adaptation strategies for people: mitigating climate-change-related risks in low-income and informal urban communities through co-production

“…The co-production of knowledge to identify relevant solutions at the local level has been identified as key for sustainable community development processes and must be implemented through a grassroots approach (Ekanayake 1990). Further, this element strengthens the opportunity for a 'dialogue of knowledges', in which community knowledge takes a significant role in the negotiation of mitigation strategies, and different types of experience are strengthened and complemented (Smith et al 2020a). (iii) Power: Vulnerable groups must be empowered to influence decision-making at the local level, using community knowledge to respond to risks, assuming an active and participatory role in risk assessment, mitigation planning, capacity building, and monitoring (Pandey & Okazaki, n.d.).…”

“…Addressing, minimising, monitoring, and adapting to risks also encounters challenges related to differences in the perception of risk among stakeholders (for example, between informal urban communities and public sector institutions), as well as a lack of effective options for communicating formal, informal, professional, and lay knowledge on how to mitigate and adapt to risk, in addition to a lack of clarity on the responsibilities and roles of stakeholders (Etkin & Ho 2007). Addressing these challenges in relation to climate change requires an integrated approach aimed at empowering informal urban communities in observing their environment, understanding potential strategies for risk management, and leveraging their knowledge to implement suitable adaptation strategies that respond to the specific economic, social, urban, and environmental patterns (Smith et al 2020a), and thus contribute to moving beyond resilience towards adaptive transformation (Pelling 2011).…”

“…Within this alternative approach, the co-production of risk management can be achieved through the implementation of a 'dialogue of knowledges' between diverse stakeholders in a specific territory, by creating a space for knowledge exchange and conflict resolution to allow negotiated agreements and solutions to be reached (e.g., Garcia Ferrari et al 2021, Smith et al 2020a, 2020b. This dialogue entails placing local knowledge on a level platform with technical and scientific knowledge, allowing actors such as community representatives, government institutions, NGOs, the private sector, and academia to collaborate and co-design strategies for risk management that are culturally and technically appropriate and accepted, and therefore sustainable.…”

Seeking sustainable pathways for land use in Latin America

“…Latin America, as in many other parts of the world, is rapidly becoming urban; most of the population today lives in cities. In this context, urbanization continues to drive informal settlement growth on land exposed to hazards (Smith et al 2020). Medellín (Colombia) is a relevant example for exploring landslide riskreducing strategies for informal settlements from the community and state perspectives, and for understanding the main barriers and identifying viable approaches.…”

“…Medellín (Colombia) is a relevant example for exploring landslide riskreducing strategies for informal settlements from the community and state perspectives, and for understanding the main barriers and identifying viable approaches. Smith et al (2020) compare two configurations of community-local government for negotiation (Cabildo Abierto and local government-community Working Group). Their main results highlight the relevance of overcoming the state-community stand-off over land occupation rights, by reframing the problem away from conventional longterm land use planning issues toward issues of safety in the short and medium term (involving both community and local government).…”