Nature, Risks and Informality in Latin America

How do residents of informal settlements experience and respond to water-related risks? What forms of collective action and engagement with public authorities emerge in contexts where exposure to environmental risks is compounded by social and spatial inequalities?

This event will explore these questions through a capstone project entitled “Nature, Risks and Informality in Latin America: How informal settlement dwellers live with and mobilise against water-related risks — lessons from Mexico City and Asunción.”

Over the course of their research, four students from the Master in Urban Governance, Policy and Planning conducted comparative fieldwork in San Miguel Teotongo in Mexico City and Bañado Tacumbú and Bañado Sur in Asunción. Their study examines how residents experience and respond to water-related risks, as well as the different forms of collective engagement they develop with public authorities.

Jeanne Gounot, Jeanne Lussot, Anupama Suresh and Adrian Stein will present the findings of their fieldwork and reflect on the similarities and differences between the two contexts. Laurie Servières, the tutor of this capstone, will briefly introduce the student's project. 

The event will provide an opportunity to discuss the challenges of living with environmental risks in informal settlements, while examining the role of residents, public authorities and other actors in shaping responses to these risks.

Discussant: Elena Butti, Assistant Professor, Center for International Studies (CERI)

Moderator: Francesca Ferlicca, Rachel L. Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the Urban School

This capstone project is part of the Nature in the City project, funded by the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation.