Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130

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Habitat International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint

Integrating resilience with urban sustainability in neglected

neighborhoods: Challenges and opportunities of transitioning to
decentralized water management in Mexico City
L. Chelleri a, *, T. Schuetze b, L. Salvati c
a
Gran Sasso Science Institute, GSSI Cities, Viale F. Crispi, 7, 67100, L'Aquila, Italy
b
Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Architecture, Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea
c
Council for Research in Agriculture e Unit of Climatology and Meteorology Applied to Agriculture (CRA-CMA), Via del Caravita 7a, I-00186 Rome, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The impacts of climate change and decreasing local resources are increasingly threatening the resilience
Received 25 August 2014 and sustainable management of urban areas and infrastructures worldwide. To cope with such threads
Received in revised form and vulnerabilities, urban sustainability and resilience oriented plans have been developed. Accordingly,
9 March 2015
policy makers need to learn how to properly integrate urban sustainability with urban resilience prin-
Accepted 27 March 2015
Available online
ciples and practices in the re-shaping of urban agendas. In order to highlight the future potential of
integrating transformative resilience principles into the general sustainability approach, this paper
provides a critical review of a recent and successful urban regeneration and development plan, the
Keywords:
Urban resilience
“Mexico City Green Plan”. This paper also discusses a feasibility study for urban redevelopment and
Urban sustainability transition towards resilience in Mexico City, in order to illustrate the necessity and potential of urban
Climate change adaptation resilience for the improvement of the life prospects of disadvantaged inhabitant groups. The Valle del
Neglected neighborhoods Chalco neighborhood in Mexico City is presented as an example, whereby resilient and sustainable urban
Decentralized water management transformation was achieved through an integrated and sustainable decentralized water management
Mexico City Green Plan and infrastructure plan. In practice, the terms ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Resilience’ can be exploited to justify
conventional, non-sustainable urban development practices. The results discussed in this paper
demonstrate the necessity of the integration of transformative resilience principles within sustainable
urban redevelopment and regeneration. The main findings are i) Policy makers underestimate the po-
tential of urban resilience in shaping more sustainable urban futures, since they only understand
resilience as the flipside of specific vulnerabilities, ii) The building of urban resilience within sustainable
urban transitions and redevelopment can effectively foster people empowerment, particularly in com-
bination with the decentralization of resources management systems, and iii) The main challenge for the
implementation and execution of transitions processes towards urban resilience and sustainability is the
elimination of political barriers.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction land-use changes, where recently expanded urban areas some-

times host almost 80% of the county's total population. Conse-
One of the most relevant factors in global dynamics, influencing quently, addressing emerging and increasing urban vulnerabilities
both environmental and climate change (hereafter CC), is the dra- is a key for the sustainability and resilience of the planet's urban
matic shift in urban living (Grimm et al., 2008). While in 1900 ur- habitat. This paper provides useful insights into the scientific dis-
ban dwellers comprised only 10% of the global population, they cussion on policies that foster the adaptation and transformation
currently exceed 50% of the global population (United Nations, capacities of urban environments (Romero Lankao & Qin, 2011),
2012). Developing countries are experiencing the most rapid exploring the nexus between urban sustainability and resilience in
overcoming emerging vulnerabilities. At the beginning of this
century, urban sustainability was mainly related to greening and
* Corresponding author. pollution reduction practices, and reduction strategies involving
E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Chelleri). resilience to risks. Recently, however, the emergence of urban

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.03.016
0197-3975/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130 123

resilience thinking (Elmqvist, 2014) and the launch of the Rock- Decentralized water management systems have been recog-
efeller City Resilience Framework have broadened the structure for nized by different authors as an internationally relevant (Parkinson
urban resilience. A new multidisciplinary and integrated under- & Tayler, 2003), economically and technically efficient (Suriyachan,
standing of urban resilience (Chelleri & Olazabal, 2012; Collier et al., Nitivattananon, & Amin, 2012), and possibly community driven
2013; Elmqvist, 2014) has been highlighted as follows. i) Resilience practice (Kyessi, 2005) that fosters urban sustainability (Sample &
in this context does not imply the normatively positive nature of Heaney, 2006; Wilderer, 2001). It has been also discussed that
‘resilience’ (Pizzo, 2015; Vale, 2013), because it can include a set of such transition proves to be challenging in developing countries
capacities that could increase the wellbeing of someone at the (Martinez, Escolero, & Wolf, 2011). However, the results of this
expense of someone else, implying trade-offs (Chelleri, Waters, paper clarify that the main barriers to the implementation of such
Olazabal, & Minucci, 2015). ii) There is a need to combine resil- transition are political, and not technical.
ience within sustainability objectives (Redman, 2014). This paper
stresses that today's practitioners and policy makers that need to
2. Methodology
deal with increasing urban problems need to properly understand
how to apply the integration of urban resilience and sustainability
Mexico City was selected as an internationally relevant case
(Pearson, Newton, & Roberts, 2014). This paper focuses on two
study to be discussed in this paper since, although CC affects urban
main points, which need to be addressed in order to integrate
environments worldwide, the most vulnerable situations are ex-
resilience and sustainability as follows. i) Resilience needs to be
pected to be found within metropolitan areas of developing
understood not merely as the flipside of vulnerability, but as a set of
countries (Carmin, Anguelovski, & Roberts, 2012). In fact, as sum-
principles that should be used for the reframing and transition of an
marized in the latest United Nations report on World Urbanization
existing system. ii) The definition of urban sustainability is an in-
Prospects, more than 450 urban areas worldwide (with a popula-
tegrated part of urban resilience and resilience oriented actions
tion of more than 1 million inhabitants per area), representing 1.4
need to be framed within sustainable development.
billion people, are exposed to at least one natural hazard per year,
Regarding the first point, different authors have recently
and most of these are located in developing countries (United
explored the differences between vulnerability and resilience
Nations, 2012). Therefore, water security and its sustainable man-
(Gallopín, 2006; Miller et al., 2010; Turner, 2010). These concepts
agement should be a top priority in the development agendas of
derive from different traditions in both methodology and applica-
cities, particularly in the global south.
tion. While the vulnerability approach (Adger, 2006) refers to the
This paper discusses different methodological applications. In
system's exposure to perturbations (so depending on time e place
the first part, quantitative and qualitative analyses provide the
variables) and its sensitivity and capacity to adapt perturbations,
framework and actions adopted within the Mexico City Green Plan
resilience by contrast reflects the system's ability to absorb distur-
(Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2007). This innovative plan for
bances, to reorganize and transform itself, learning from the expe-
building a sustainable Mexico City includes an integrated program
riences (Folke et al., 2010). Because the resilience approach focuses
composed of seven subprograms, among which are the Mexico City
on system properties and capacities toward evolutionary potential,
Climate Action Plan (MCCAP) and the Water Sustainable Manage-
notwithstanding the exposure to risks factors, resilience cannot be
ment Plan. We critically review these two strategies from the point
considered as merely the flipside of vulnerability (Gallopín, 2006). In
of view of sustainability and resilience, highlighting the limits of
this way, the key message of this first point is illustrated through the
the plans' actions. In the second part of the paper, a discussion is
case study discussed in this paper: if planning and policy makers
given that demonstrates the feasibility of a more sustainability and
wish to build resilient cities by fixing specific vulnerabilities, they
resilience integrated approach, through a people centered and
underestimate the potential of the resilience approach. Regarding
decentralized resources management transition. The proposal for
the second point, we build our notion of urban sustainability on “a
the urban renewal toward a decentralized water management
form of development that fosters adaptive and transformative ca-
principles transition for the neglected neighborhood called Valle de
pabilities, and creates opportunities to maintain equitable, long-
Chalco, in Mexico City, is discussed in the second part of the paper.
term prosperity and well-being in complex and interlinked social,
The starting basis for the exploratory research discussed in this
economic, and ecological systems” (Schewenius, McPhearson, &
paper was the strategic urban redevelopment plan for Valle de
Elmqvist, 2014: 441). Both sustainability and resilience approaches
Chalco, which uses decentralized water management (DWM) as a
can be over-simplified and prone to being ‘instrumentalized’ by
guiding design principle (Lopez, 2011).
policy makers into a set of normative core principles by main-
To address the decentralized rainwater and wastewater man-
streaming ‘business as usual’ practices (Lizarralde, Chmutina,
agement, water storage strategies were quantified using data pro-
Bosher, & Dainty, 2015; Pizzo, 2015). This paper therefore proposes
vided by Mexico National Water Commission (Spanish acronym:
transformative, long-term prosperity and wellbeing centered per-
CONAGUA). Rainfall, storm water runoff, and wastewater were
spectives of sustainability and resilience. There are already case
estimated for specific areas based on the same data. A land cover
studies in which people-centered approaches can boost sustain-
map, considered the basis for the calculation of roofs, sealed sur-
ability while improving social learning (Cero
n-Palma et al., 2013)
faces, and roads, was derived from Lopez (2011), together with data
and thus improving resilience. However, it has been pointed out, that
on population density, geology, and the existing urban water
poorer people usually lack adaptive and transformative capacities
infrastructure.
(Romero-Lankao et al., 2014). We thus contribute to such debate by
demonstrating the technical feasibility of building urban resilience
in a neglected neighborhood in Mexico City, using a people-centered 3. Results
approach while fostering a transition toward decentralized re-
sources management, and thus aligning resilience with the This section comprises three main parts. In the first and second
increasing overall urban sustainability. parts, we illustrate the vulnerabilities and challenges of Mexico City
The transition from centralized to decentralized infrastructures regarding the adaptation to climate change and water related is-
represents a key point in building resilience. It also represents a sues. A cross sector analysis of specific development plans for water
shift in the control and management of urban resources from a and climate executed by Mexico City between 2007 and 2013 is
central institution, to the people living in a district. reviewed. In the third part we present a feasibility study for an
124 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130

integrated urban renewal program, based on DWM principles, for the extracted and supplied groundwater (U. O. Spring, 2011). Ac-
the neglected district of Valle de Chalco in Mexico City. cording to the United Nations water stress classification, MCMA
could reach 226% of water overexploitation by 2030 (Morales
Novelo & Rodríguez Tapia, 2011).
3.1. Mexico City: approaching social and environmental Almost a third of the MCMA total population, about 6 million
vulnerabilities people are considered to live in areas that are vulnerable to
flooding. In fact, around 1 million inhabitants live in areas with a
After Tokyo and New Delhi, Mexico City is the third most high risk of landslides, and a further 5 million live without access to
populated city in the world (United Nations, 2012). With 18% of basic services. More than 59% of the urban population is below the
Mexico's population concentrated in its 4250 km2 area, the Mexico poverty line, with 22% of the population living in slums (Baker,
City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) generates a total of 35% of Mexico's 2012). Such conditions, combined with the unsustainable over-
gross domestic product. The MCMA grew constantly between 1950 exploitation of freshwater resources and ominous climate sce-
and 1990, until high rates of urban sprawl started to jeopardize the nario (Nanninga et al., 2012; U. O. Spring, 2011; Tortajada, 2006),
metropolitan area (Fig. 1). Resting on heavily saturated clay, the makes the structural re-organization toward more sustainable
MCMA is characterized by seismic activity risk. This has increased patterns of development one of the most urgent challenges for
the vulnerability of the city, due to sinking and increasing flooding Mexico City.
events. Although 59% of the total land area of Mexico City is pro-
tected, illegal slum development, logging, and fires threaten these
areas. Garbage generation increases at a rate of 5% a year, resulting 3.2. Sustainability and resilience in Mexico City's Green Plan
in clandestine landfill sites.
The urban water demand is 173% of the locally-available In response to the above mentioned urban vulnerabilities, the
renewable freshwater resources. As groundwater is used as the Mexico City Green Plan was launched in 2007. It involves a 15-year
primary freshwater source, the extraction results in declining integrated program, which aims at a more sustainable develop-
groundwater levels. The freshwater is distributed to the MCMA ment for Mexico City. Under its Development Program milestones,
through 910 km of a primary supply network, and 11,900 km of the Mexico City Green Plan represents one of the first examples in
distribution pipelines, delivering 62 m3/s in the year 2000 (Ú. O. Latin America of an integrated strategy for sustainable urban
Spring & Cohen, 2011; Tortajada, 2006). Of the water supplied by development and climate adaptation measures. With an invest-
pipelines to the consumers, 88% is chlorinated, and only about 60% ment of almost US$1 billion per year in its actions, the Mexico City
is suitable for human consumption. The poor water quality is Green Plan is built around several sub programs: land conservation,
caused by the poor condition of both the pipelines and the nature of public spaces, air pollution, waste management and recycling,

Fig. 1. Map of Mexico City Metropolitan Area, with indication of urbanized areas for different development periods.
 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130 125

water supply and sanitation, transportation, and mobility Lankao, 2006), results in a series of practices that tend to build a
(Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2007). After the first five years, sustainable water equilibrium based on decentralized structures for
77% of the Mexico City Green Plan objectives for 2012 were reached wastewater treatment (Otterpohl, Grottker, & Lange, 1997), the
(Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2012a). The Water Plan and the harvesting of storm water and rainwater (Boers & Benasher, 1982),
MCCAP, which are discussed subsequently, are integrated within and the reuse of purified water, both in urban (Zhang, Gersberg,
most of the Mexico City Green Plan framework. As most of Mexico Wilhelm, & Voigt, 2009) and agricultural (Sample & Heaney,
City's challenges revolve around unsustainable water metabolism, 2006) landscapes. The aim of such measures is the more sustain-
the two plans contribute to the mitigation and adaptation to water able use of precious freshwater resources, and in building a more
management related future challenges. resilient system, since any risk of damage is reduced by fragmen-
Mexico City was one of the first cities in Latin America to pro- tation into smaller structures (Parker & Tsur, 1997). At the same
mote a Climate Action Plan. The MCCAP program was launched in time, communities benefit most from DWM practices, since the
2008, with the aim of reducing the 4.4 million tons of CO2 equiv- power and responsibilities connected with the management of
alent emissions yearly in the first 5 years (representing 12% of the water are shifted from central institutions to communities and/or
city's annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions), within 26 mitiga- individual people (Massoud, Tarhini, & Nasr, 2009).
tion actions, divided into five sectors: energy, transportation, water, The decentralization process discussed above requires the
waste, and adaptation (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2008). The building of individual knowledge, entrepreneurship, and re-
almost 6 billion dollar budget is divided between mitigation and sponsibility (regarding the process of building, operating, and
adaptation actions (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2007). maintaining DWM systems). Education plays a key role in facili-
The main result of the first five years (2008e2012) was the tating such transformation, by raising awareness and sensitivity
reduction of 7.7 million tons of CO2 emissions, most of them coming regarding the value of water, and the urban water cycle and its
from the transport sector. The main issues addressed in the miti- integrated management. Within the following subsections of this
gation section of the water plan were the promotion and execution paper, a practical example of how to frame DWM practices within
of actions dealing with water saving and efficiency measures. Issues an urban renewal process is presented, by using the example of
addressed in the adaptation section of the water plan included development scenarios for the district of Valle de Chalco, in Mexico
measures such as the suppression of water pipeline leakages and City.
the environmental protection of ravines (Secretaría del Medio
Ambiente, 2012b). A program focused on Early Warning Systems 3.3.1. Steps and calculations for the transition to decentralized
was implemented using a hydro-meteorological monitoring and water management practices in Valle de Chalco
forecasting system for Mexico Valley, an epidemiological moni- The municipality of Valle de Chalco (VDC) was founded in 1994,
toring system, and a remote monitoring system for fire detection and lies on the old bed of Lake Chalco, which was drained in the
(Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2008). General adaptation actions nineteenth century. While previously devoted to agricultural pur-
of MCCAP were supported by an investment budget of 5% of the poses, VDC has witnessed a remarkable increase in the rate of ur-
total budget, while specific budgets were dedicated to mobility, banization in the last 30 years, reaching 406,521 inhabitants in
energy, and water and waste management (Secretaría del Medio 2010. Although in 1998 there was an extensive regularization
Ambiente, 2007). process, investing about 150 million dollars in building basic ser-
The aim of the program for sustainable water management is to vices and infrastructures, 4.5% of the 87,500 dwellings still have no
remedy the land subsidence of clay soils caused by groundwater access to water, 5.5% have no access to sanitation, and 4% have no
overexploitation, through five priority actions: groundwater access to electricity (Lopez, 2011). Furthermore, the unsustainable
recharge, saving of potable water, fixing of water pipeline leakages, pattern of metropolitan water management affects VDC signifi-
improvement of sewage water treatments and reuse of reclaimed cantly. The dwellings of poor inhabitants have been flooded twice
water, and the protection of land with high environmental value. in the last 2 years, caused by the rupture and discharge of waste-
Over a period of 5 years, actions were executed (Secretaría del water from the open-air sewage canal, ‘Acapol’ (Fig. 2). At the same
Medio Ambiente, 2012a) and integrated with other sectoral ac- time, fourteen regional wells, which extract groundwater for
tions from the Mexico City Green Plan. A water sustainability municipal freshwater supply, are responsible for the land subsi-
framework was built around the efficiency criteria for water use dence in VDC. The extracted water is used for the supply of other
and increasing the groundwater recharging process. municipalities in Mexico City. The water supplied to VDC also
A deeper analysis of the plan shows a trend toward centralized originates from groundwater, and is extracted by seven wells.
practices emerging as a key feature in the planning philosophy, Notwithstanding the dramatic challenges of this municipality,
contributing to a more sustainable use of water resources, but not the local conditions offer various opportunities for the sustainable
to a more resilient system. One practical evidence of this, is that the transition of the area, based on decentralization processes. The
only suspended program within the water sustainable manage- main potentials of VDC are the available open spaces outside and
ment plan was the “rainwater recollection and reuse” action. This inside the urbanized areas, the existence of small and medium
program was not carried out because of unexpected complexities in home-based enterprises (reflecting existing entrepreneurship),
its management (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, 2012a). The individual property ownership (90% of households hold tenure of
implementation of alternative measures for the management of their property), and social cohesion (which is important for
rainwater, storm water, and wastewater is discussed in the building capacities on the individual and communal level).
following section. The results demonstrate the feasibility, useful- Furthermore, the total yearly amount of available local renewable
ness, and environmental soundness of a transition from centralized freshwater resource in the form of rainfall exceeds the water de-
to decentralized infrastructures for water management. mand of VDC, and could therefore be used to design a self-sufficient
local water supply, if a DWM model would be applied.
3.3. Toward decentralized water management in Mexico City: the The decentralization of water systems should be the basis for
Valle de Chalco case sustainable freshwater supply and protection from water related
risks of VDC. The aim of the proposal is to create a guiding frame-
The decentralization of water management, far from referring to work, and explain the potential of the self-sufficiency, flexibility,
water privatization and management fragmentation (Wilder & and knowledge empowerment of local communities. The
126 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130

Fig. 2. Maps with the location of Valle de Chalco in MCMA and indications of regional and local groundwater well locations (left). Aerial views of VDC in 2010 during the dry season
(bottom right), the Acapol canal in a normal situation (middle right), and flooding (top right) of low lying areas.

introduction of an autonomous and sustainable water system for management are illustrated in Fig. 3. The calculation results are
VDC municipality is based on the proper and detailed analysis of used for informing urban renewal and transformation scenarios for
the district, existing plans and planning approaches, neighborhood VDC.
structures and their potential for re-organization. The analysis The necessary actions to be undertaken are: (i) diminishing
process is followed by scenario development, using DWM as a groundwater pumping, in order to reduce soil subsidence; (ii)
guiding model. In this regard, calculations for specific measures of removing the existing open-air wastewater canal ‘Acapol’, and (iii)
the decentralized rainwater, storm water, and wastewater disconnecting VDC from the metropolitan sewage system, for the
decentralized treatment of local waste waters. Both the removal of
the open-air canal and the disconnection from the metropolitan
sewage system are considered to be essential features of a new
neighborhood structure that features the extension of open green
spaces. Low lying urban areas, which are currently categorized as
high-risk zones (Fig. 3) could be transformed into natural reservoirs,
acting at the same time as buffers for possible flooding rainy periods,
and as recreational spaces (Lopez, 2011).
To create more space for water management and public use, the
relocation of people living in the neighborhoods most vulnerable to
flooding is suggested. Such relocation could take place over two
phases. The first, most urgent phase should be limited to areas that are
situated below the
12 m soil subsidence contour line of the total
vertical land deformation followed by New Chalco Lake. In the second
phase, people living within the high risk area should be relocated next
to, and east of, the previously mentioned flood risk zone (Lopez, 2011).
The relocation of the local population should take place within the
district, to avoid the deracination of the local population.

3.3.2. Rainwater infrastructures designed for Valle de Chalco

Rainwater is considered as a potential hazard in terms of flood
management and drainage conveyance. In the case of Mexico City,
rainfall exceeding 30 mm/h is considered a threshold for provoking
Fig. 3. Illustration of the flood risk zone and homes relocation strategy in VDC. landslides (Ú. O. Spring & Cohen, 2011). The harvesting of rainwater
 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130 127

and storm water plays an essential role in increasing the available more decentralized level, the construction of retention ditches on
sources for freshwater supply in arid regions and in adapting to every internal street and canals on every secondary street are
climate change (Amin, Alazba, & ElNesr, 2013; Sen, Al Alsheikh, Al- feasible options. At a less decentralized scale, synergetic measures
Turbak, Al-Bassam, & Al-Dakheel, 2013). At the same time, inten- could be created by means of multifunctional open peak storage
sive rainfalls can generate flash floods, which can bypass runoff areas. These could take the form of open multifunctional land-
water collection (Morales-Pinzon, Rieradevall, Gasol, & Gabarrell, scapes, which can function as reservoirs, where storm water runoff
2012). If decentralized storm water collection techniques are inte- water could be stored for cases of emergency and extreme pre-
grated with agricultural land uses, rural water availability and food cipitation events. Schematic illustrations of the proposed remod-
security can be improved (Garrido et al., 2011). In Mexico City, eling of different street typologies and a visionary map of VDC after
decentralized rainwater harvesting utilization and management in implementation of the proposed green and blue network, are
urban settlements can potentially reduce the use of drinking water provided in Fig. 4 (Lopez, 2011).
in an average household by up to 70% (Lopez, 2011).
DWM measures were used for the calculations of the VDC case to 4. Discussion: emerging complexities and policies
demonstrate the soundness of the proposed strategy. The average implications
yearly rainfall in VDC (about 640 mm) significantly exceeds the
minimum annual rainfall of 150e200 mm, which is the least required The previous sections critically reviewed the Mexico City Green
for effective rainwater harvesting. The average roof surface of a Plan strategies and built a proposal for people-centered and
building in VDC is 140 m2. 89,600 L of rainwater could potentially be decentralized resources management transition patterns for the
collected from such a roof. Considering the 87,500 roofs of houses of neglected district of Valle del Chalco.
VDC, the rainwater harvesting potential per year is approximately Notwithstanding the obvious challenges of limited coordination
7,840,000 m3 rainwater gross (net m3 ¼ 5,465,640, if a runoff reduc- and institutional cooperation (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente,
tion value of 0.697148 is taken into account). However, since the total 2012a), the review of Mexico City's Green Plan outlined that the
roof surface is only 47% of the total area, it can be assumed that almost reduction of 7.7 million tons of CO2 emissions from the transport
another 8 million m3 of rainwater will not be collected at the house- sector was the greatest achievement of the MCCAP which devoted
hold level, but will result in storm water runoff (Lopez, 2011). most of its attention to the mitigation measures. The adaptation
The role of rainwater harvesting for the provision of freshwater measures were mainly related to improving water saving measures,
supply can be easily understood by balancing the freshwater de- fixing of water supply pipeline leakages, the protection of green
mand with the rainwater harvesting potential. The total yearly spaces, and increased infiltration of storm water runoff. While the
water demand for the 406,521 inhabitants of VDC is between MCCAP is successful in promoting a higher efficiency in resources
22,257,025 m3 (considering a medium average water demand of use and mitigating emissions, the adaptation strategies fall short in
150 L/person/day), and 14,838,016 m3 (considering a minimal wa- the application of the resilience approach. Indeed, if resilience is
ter demand of 100 L/person/day). Accordingly, approximately 25%e framed as a set of solutions in order to reduce specific vulnerabil-
50% of the total freshwater demand of the district VDC (Lopez, ities, we underestimate its potential for re-framing a system
2011) could be accommodated by rainwater harvesting and utili- structure and capacities. Among all the implemented measures,
zation, at household level alone. By taking into account storm water only two were related to transformative resilience: the first mea-
management at the district level, and the implementation of sure involves the division of the drinkable water network into 336
measures to enhance the water use efficiency at the household micro-sectors (improved modularization of the physical network to
level, the realization of a water self-sufficient district is feasible. be more resilient to disruption), while the second measure refers to
the proposal to implement rainwater harvesting and utilization.
3.3.3. Green-blue infrastructures for decentralized storm water However, the corresponding program introducing rainwater har-
management in VDC vesting was finally suspended and was not implemented because of
The current practice of rainwater management in VDC consists unexpected management complexity. As reported by (U. O. Spring,
of the collection and combined discharge of rain and storm water 2011), the conventional urban management and engineering
together with sewage. During the rainy season, the district of VDC perspective is sometimes insufficient to deal with water manage-
suffers from flooding, because the drainage system is unable to ment complexity. Indeed, the shift from centralized to decentral-
cope with the amount of storm water accumulating in the area. The ized water management practices not only implies the introduction
main goals of decentralized measures are to reduce storm water of new technologies, but also entails a new urban management and
runoff by retention and to increase the water evaporation rate in water culture. The integration of hard and soft engineering mea-
the urban environment, to restore a water balance that is closer to a sures, the restoration of green infrastructures embedded within the
natural environment. The available existing unpaved streets and urban fabrics, educational programs, and new regulations for urban
public urban spaces could be restructured, and designated to areas services and resources supply and provision are needed. The pro-
in which nature orientated storm water retention and purification posal presented in the previous results section underlined the need
systems could be installed. for such an integrated approach.
In order to avoid flooding, in the case of extreme precipitation, The DWM proposal for Valle de Chalco is feasible to cope suc-
which occurs statistically only with a frequency of once in 100 cessfully with flood risks and seasonal droughts, by the appropriate
years, or even less, a so-called peak storage capacity needs to be collection, treatment, storage, and use of both rainwater and storm
created for the rainwater that accumulates in the designated urban water. Such a strategy may contribute to determine a new sus-
areas. The storage capacity for a precipitation event with a fre- tainable water equilibrium, within resilient functioning in-
quency of once in 100 years needs to be able to cope with a daily frastructures because: i) the sustainability paradigm of such
rainfall of 79 mm. For the VDC district, this rainfall is similar to a decentralized measures lies in creating people awareness regarding
total net runoff of 525,986 m3/day (Lopez, 2011) from urban surface the vulnerability and value of water resources since individuals are
areas, without taking into consideration the peak runoff from roof directly involved in its management and ii) in terms of the resil-
surfaces. ience approach, a decentralized system facilitates shared re-
The previously described peak precipitation events can be sponsibilities, individual control of resource distribution, and
adapted using two complementary measures. At the smaller and reduced physical vulnerabilities to hazards of the modular and
128 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130

Fig. 4. Map of the new proposed infrastructure, illustrating the designated flooding areas for the situation after extreme precipitation events.

decentralized infrastructure. However, some critical reflections means empowering the people. In the framework of such transition
about the challenges of operationalizing such a transition, from accompanied by education and training programs inhabitants learn
centralized to decentralized water systems, can be formulated. how to design, manage, and maintain the new decentralized
First, although rainwater harvesting represents a useful and smart infrastructure systems, becoming responsible for, and have partial
way to differentiate the provision of freshwater, the possible control over, the management of the most essential resource. Thus,
pollution of such recollected water is a critical concern, which the transition from centralized to decentralized infrastructures
needs to be addressed in the design of rainwater harvesting use and reflects a political issue related to a shift in responsibilities and the
management systems (Meera & Ahammed, 2006). Appropriate control of resource flows. Beyond that, it has been herewith illus-
operation and maintenance practices are critical to ensure an trated that the transition from centralized to decentralized water
adequate water quality (Domenech, Han, & Sauri, 2012; Lye, 2009). management structures is technically feasible, and can contribute
Therefore, citizens should participate in the planning, design, to both sustainable and resilience oriented urban re-development.
construction, and maintenance of new decentralized water infra-
structure and management systems, initiated, hosted and sup-
ported by technicians, non-government organizations (NGOs), and 5. Conclusions: policies recommendations in building steps
local communities. In Valle de Chalco, the NGO ‘Isla Urbana’ is toward transforming deprived neighborhoods to become
already involved in such grassroots developments, promoting pilot more sustainable and resilient
installations and the support of local people (Lopez, 2011).
A second concern is related to water price policies. The price for After reviewing the Mexico City Green Plan, this paper proposed
water supply and sewage management in Mexico City is very low, an integrated feasibility study for transitioning the deprived
compared with other cities worldwide. In addition, a great deal of neighborhood of Valle del Chalco toward a more sustainable and
illegal and unpaid freshwater is provided by the public network resilient future due to the application of decentralized water
within the metropolitan area. The costs of DWM systems are management principles. The Mexico City Green Plan is here
therefore a barrier to their acceptance by citizens. Individual people considered a remarkable and successful plan in promoting sus-
are generally not aware of the potential decreasing risks and tainability by emissions reduction and resources efficiency to in-
vulnerability, and concomitant increase in safety, in the shift from crease targets. However, citing Vale, “Resilience can only remain
centralized to more DWM systems. useful as a concept and as progressive practice if it is explicitly
Finally, a third concern about the possible implementation of associated with the need to improve the life prospects of disad-
DWM solutions is related to power, responsibility, and equity is- vantaged groups” (Vale, 2013) p. 191. Therefore, we proposed a set
sues. Transitioning towards water resources decentralization of spatial re-configuration and new decentralized infrastructures
(as management practices) in order to re-frame the centralized
 L. Chelleri et al. / Habitat International 48 (2015) 122e130 129

resources management in Valle del Chalco, a deprived neighbor- Lizarralde, G., Chmutina, K., Bosher, L., & Dainty, A. (2015). Sustainability and
resilience in the built environment: the challenges of establishing a turquoise
hood of Mexico City. After having demonstrated the technical
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raised in order to tackle real management problems of the transi- Lopez, A. (2011). From threat to opportunity. Spatial strategies integrating urban and
tion of such a deprived neighborhood. The decentralization process water dynamics towards a sustainable redevelopment model for informal settle-
ments in Mexico City's periphery (Technology in Sustainable Development
requires the development of individual knowledge, entrepreneur- Specialization). Delft: TU Delft.
ship and responsibility (regarding the process of building, oper- Lye, D. J. (2009). Rooftop runoff as a source of contamination: a review. Science of
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j.scitotenv.2009.07.011.
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raising awareness and developing the appropriate skills related to semiarid environments-quantitative scenario analysis at the area of San Luis
water recycling and the maintenance of the infrastructures in order Potosi, Mexico. Water Resources Management, 25(1), 239e263. http://dx.doi.org/
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time, a proper water price policy should be undertaken in order to wastewater treatment and management: applicability in developing countries.
promote such user-driven management of water (higher taxes on Journal of Environmental Management, 90(1), 652e659. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.07.001.
fresh-water provisioning and depuration, while incentives for the Meera, V., & Ahammed, M. M. (2006). Water quality of rooftop rainwater harvesting
water saving tanks and decentralized infrastructures should be set systems: a review. Journal of Water Supply Research and Technology-Aqua, 55(4),
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Miller, F., Osbahr, H., Boyd, E., Thomalla, F., Bharwani, S., Ziervogel, G., et al. (2010).
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Resilience and vulnerability: complementary or conflicting concepts. Ecology
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As discussed by Martinez et al., the transition toward the Morales Novelo, J. A., & Rodríguez Tapia, L. (2011). The growth of water demand in
decentralized management of resources proves to be challenging in Mexico City and the over-exploitation of its aquifers. In U. O. Spring (Ed.), Water
resources in Mexico. A critical introduction (pp. 395e406). Springer.
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