Resilient informal settlements facing climate change: vulnerability and adaptive co-production

Keywords: Informal Settlements, Urban Vulnerability, Urban Resilience, Indicators, Climate Change
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The objective of the research is to propose indicators and identify strategies that allow a deep understanding of the socio-urban capacities of informal settlements in Latin America to resiliently face the challenges of climate change. In the first stage, the characteristics of the urban-social morphology of three informal settlements in Panama are analyzed using participant observation methods and data collection obtained in surveys carried out for the provision of housing and habitat. In the second stage, a systematic review of the academic and gray literature is proposed to contemplate the main tools of resilience in urban spaces.

Informal settlements are a recurring phenomenon throughout the Latin American region and they have been widely studied. However, there is a gap in the literature and in urban policies on the vulnerability of these settlements to climate change, and more specifically on which indicators and strategies can help to promote their resilience.

However, progress has been made in the construction of different infrastructure projects to improve the habitat to which the residents of the settlements themselves have actively contributed. The social capital present in them, their knowledge and capacities are identified as a little-explored source of knowledge. Currently, I am identifying the indicators and variables provided by the academic and gray literature to measure resilience to climate change in informal settlements. Subsequently, the action research fieldwork will allow validation, elimination and/or expansion of these indicators thanks to the co-production of knowledge with the main actors of the case studies.