By Javier Garduño, Lead, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Over the past five months, R-Cities has been working hand in hand with the Monterrey Resilience Office (Municipal Planning Institute – IMPLANC) and the Monterrey Municipal Government in developing the city’s resilience strategy.
To enable us on this journey, we must first learn the opinions of key stakeholders, including academics, specialists, public officials, representatives of civil associations and residents of communities highly exposed to risks.
Earlier this month we traveled to Monterrey to better understand the shocks and stresses the city is facing, how they affect the different sectors, and what actions the city and its stakeholders are already taking to face their challenges. The experience has been eye-opening and has provided us with three important lessons.
Engaging and including all stakeholders is vital to the resilience strategy process.
Monterrey understands this well. The private, public, social and academic sectors have long collaborated to maximize the economic development of the city, but in the past years, this has also taken new dimensions as a response to prepare the city for a changing climate, and its effects, including extreme draughts, and to ensure the well-being and inclusion of all its inhabitants.
As part of our trip, we conducted in-depth interviews with public officials, academics, and specialists to validate the impacts and tensions compromising the resilience of the city. This included interviews with Juan Ignacio Barragán Villarreal, Director General of Services of Water and Drainage of Monterrey, Martha Montemayor Viceminister of Territorial Planning and Public Space of the State of Nuevo Leon, Fernando Fernández, Director of Civil Protection of Monterrey, Eduardo Aguilar, Councilor of the Municipality of San Pedro Garza García, Eugenio Montiel Amoroso, Director of Metropolitan Development of Monterrey and the Housing Institute (FOMERREY), Laura de los Santos Director of Citizen Participation of the Municipality of Monterrey, Oscar Mendoza from the College of Architects of Nuevo León, Elfide Mariela Rivas researcher at Tec de Monterrey, Sheila Quintana from the Arroyo Vivo Project, and Julia Neira from the Purísima – Alameda District.
We also participated in a presentation about the strategic urban centrality model of the municipality of Monterrey at the TEC District, a university-led revitalization project by the university Tecnológico de Monterrey (Tec) that has piloted new design, policy, and finance standards in district-scale transformation.
Cities don’t have to start creating solutions from zero.
Local authorities, sectors, and communities are already working on initiatives to help them face their most pressing challenges.
For example, through focus group discussions, we have identified community-led actions that are already allowing communities to build resilience. Talking to women from the San Ángel neighborhood, a disadvantaged community, we learned that the community has been carrying out various community-led activities to improve the resilience of their neighborhood.
In the Solidaridad community, we spoke to residents from neighborhoods in northern Monterrey regarding the challenges of the city in terms of access to transportation, water, and solid waste management. There, we learnt learned about successful initiatives that have boosted the community’s engagement in city planning, such as participatory budgeting and the creation of Neighborhood Boards.
Accompanied by Mayor Luis Donaldo Colosio, we visited Fundidora Park, where we joined a study tour of the “Puente Verde” project, which connects this park with the España Park as part of the Green Corridors strategy. The strategy aims to renovate and rehabilitate green spaces and infrastructure so that people have safe and accessible places of recreation where they can live together, move around, play sports and enjoy culture and nature and cool down when extreme heat hits.
These actions will inform and shape the resilience strategy, and at the same time, the process will enable the city to scale and adapt these actions into solutions that can be implemented across the metropolis.
Leverage the experience and knowledge of your networks.
Monterrey, as one of the newest members of the Resilient Cities Network, worked together with us to connect with cities from across the globe.
In our Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Convening that took place at the end of last year in Mexico City, Edgar Olaiz, Chief Resilience Officer, and Leon Staines, Deputy Chief Resilience Officer, joined resilience officers and leaders from across the region to exchange and work together to find pathways to co-create a more resilient future for the region.
During our recent trip, R-Cities and Monterrey’s resilience office facilitated an exchange session around urban strategic planning during the International Forum “Challenges of 21st Century Cities,”, where fellow member city Boston (US), and Austin (US) and Bordeaux (France) shared their experiences.
Maintaining these exchanges will become even more crucial as we embark on the development of the Preliminary Resilience Assessment as well as the definition of key pillars and objectives of the strategy.
In conclusion, the experience in Monterrey has taught us valuable lessons in the process of developing a resilience strategy. Engaging and including all stakeholders, from the private and public sectors to civil society and academia, is vital to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive approach. By listening to the voices of different communities and sectors, we gain a deeper understanding of the challenges they face and can work together to find innovative solutions.
Lastly, we recognize the importance of centering the perspectives of marginalized and vulnerable groups. Understanding their unique challenges and incorporating their voices into the decision-making process is essential for creating effective and equitable resilience strategies. By prioritizing inclusivity and addressing the needs of all residents, we can build a more resilient and sustainable city for everyone.
Together, these lessons will guide our ongoing work in Monterrey as we continue to develop the resilience strategy. We are committed to fostering collaboration, embracing diverse perspectives, and empowering communities to build a more resilient and prosperous future.
