Longitudinal resilience building in self-help settlements: Achieving transformations to unlock adaptations

Abstract

Building resilience in marginal urban areas of the Global South is an urgent task figuring at the top of global development agendas. Resilience has been critiqued as an instrument to maintain structural conditions that reproduce the vulnerability of marginal urban dwellers. An alternative resilience agenda, focusing on the transformation of flawed institutional practices, promises to revert the root causes of vulnerability. However, empirical evidence of transformations to inform theory and practice is still required, particularly in vulnerable urban settings of the Global South. This paper addresses this gap by presenting the historical case of Neza, a self-help settlement in the metropolitan area of Mexico City where the longitudinal engagement of its residents (1953–1984) was key in addressing institutional and environmental threats. The paper looks into the actions of Neza residents in forwarding transformations to unlock adaptations. Semi-structured interviews to participants of historical actions (collected in 2015–2016) are thematically analysed through the theoretical lenses of social capital and socioecological resilience. Results suggest that the long-term engagement of residents of self-help settlements is key for resilience building and can be explained through scaling up social ties and strategies, from street-level solidarity in emergency response, to settlement-wide deliberation, political engagement, and building social pressure; each being instrumental in opening up spaces of negotiation with the state to achieve transformations and adaptations. Addressing environmental threats in marginal settlements of the Global South requires fixing institutional flaws. This is a responsibility that cannot be taken by residents alone, state action is necessary for resilience building.