Strengthening community-based adaptation for urban transformation: managing flood risk in informal settlements in Cape Town

Fox, Ashley; Ziervogel, Gina; Scheba, Suraya

doi:10.1080/13549839.2021.1923000

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Such subjective aspects can complement preexisting data on the physical strain of water stress that affects community well-being and climate adaptation. For example, challenges with flood management persist as informal settlements face increasing storms without the necessary infrastructure such as stormwater drains and other services to combat weather extremes (Fox et al 2022). These challenges become more severe in a context where 8.8% of Capetonians still do not have access to basic sanitation, and those who do have access experience challenges with the delivery of these services (Statistics South Africa, City of Cape Town, living conditions: https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=1021&id=cityof-cape-town-municipality).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voicing resilience through subjective well-being: community perspectives on responding to water stressors and COVID-19

Humphreys¹,

Enqvist²

2022

E&S

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Interactions among social inequalities, environmental stressors, and shocks are illustrated through communities' subjective experiences of water-related challenges and responses to crises. This situation is perhaps most visible in the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on marginalized communities where climate change and systemic inequities are already threatening access to water and sanitation. It is critical to integrate dimensions related to well-being into research about vulnerable communities' capacities and strategies for coping and adapting to such crises. Here, we investigate water-related risks to health and well-being using a subjectivity lens, a particularly useful tool for understanding community-level resilience to lesser-known stressors and crisis impacts. To inform this study, we used households' self-reported water issues in Cape Town, South Africa's low-income areas from before the pandemic, in addition to community responses during the pandemic. The findings show how inadequate access to water and sanitation affects people's health and well-being, both directly by exposure to wastewater and impaired hygiene, and indirectly by creating stress and social conflict, and undermining subsistence gardening and medical self-care. However, our study also illustrates how grassroots-led responses to the COVID-19 crisis address these vulnerabilities and identify priorities for managing water to support well-being. The results demonstrate two ways that subjective perceptions of well-being can help to promote resilience: first, by identifying stressors that undermine community well-being and adaptive capacity; and second, by voicing community experiences that can help to guide crisis responses and initiatives critical for adapting to social-ecological shocks. The results have important implications for enabling transformative change that aligns efforts to address issues linked to poverty and inequality with those seeking to respond to environmental emergencies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voicing resilience through subjective well-being: community perspectives on responding to water stressors and COVID-19

Humphreys¹,

Enqvist²

2022

E&S

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“…Wright et al, 2014) urban environments (e.g. Fox et al, 2021), health (e.g. Bardosh et al, 2017), and particular population groups, for example children (Mitchell and Borchard, 2014).…”

Section: Community-based Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development geography II: Community-based adaptation and locally-led adaptation

Vincent

2023

Progress in Human Geography

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In this report, I review the concept of community-based adaptation, showing how it morphed from a participatory development-informed approach centred around agency and empowerment to one which is often externally driven, focusing on a spatial, rather than social, definition of community. I then highlight how locally-led adaptation is attempting to re-focus attention on agency, whilst also managing a conceptualisation of ‘local’ that is not limited to the community-level. Since the concept of locally-led adaptation is emerging, it is critical to learn from participatory development and the critiques of community-based adaptation to ensure that it is not also diluted from its intentions.

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“…Recent studies have analyzed community-based adaptation strategies in African cities, for example in Cape Town (South Africa) (Fox et al, 2021), Windhoek (Namibia) (Wijesinghe and Thorn, 2021), and Mombasa (Kenya) (Suleiman Haji, 2021). These studies show the need for better involvement of the civil society in project development and governance to ensure sustainable and inclusive processes and outcomes.…”

Section: Scaling Up Nbs With Niche Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-building trust in urban nature: Learning from participatory design and construction of Nature-Based Solutions in informal settlements in East Africa

Diep

Mulligan²,

Oloo³

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Cities

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While the amount of research on NBS is growing rapidly, there is a lack of evidence on community experiences of NBS design and implementation, particularly from low-income and informal settlements of African cities. This article adds new empirical evidence in this space through grounded analysis of NBS “niche” projects co-developed by intermediary organizations and communities in five sites across three settlements in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Findings are organized around four established NBS knowledge gaps: (1) NBS-society relations; (2) Design; (3) Implementation; (4) Effectiveness. We find that across the five studied sites, residents' perceptions and valuation of urban nature has changed through processes of co-design and co-implementation, enabling community ownership of projects, and hence playing a crucial role in NBS effectiveness over time. The integration of gray components into green infrastructure to create hybrid systems has proven necessary to meet physical constraints and communities' urgent needs such as flood mitigation. However, maintenance responsibilities and cost burdens are persisting issues that highlight the complex reality of NBS development in informal settlements. The cases highlight key considerations for actors involved in NBS development to support the replication, scaling up and institutionalization of NBS. These include the need to: (i) develop forms of engagement that align with co-production values; (ii) capture communities' own valuation of and motivations with NBS development for integration into design; (iii) elaborate technical guidance for hybrid green-gray infrastructure systems that can be constructed with communities; and (iv) help define and establish structures for maintenance responsibilities (especially governmental vs. civil society) that will enhance the environmental stewardship of public spaces.

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Strengthening community-based adaptation for urban transformation: managing flood risk in informal settlements in Cape Town

Cited by 16 publications

References 36 publications

Voicing resilience through subjective well-being: community perspectives on responding to water stressors and COVID-19

Voicing resilience through subjective well-being: community perspectives on responding to water stressors and COVID-19

Development geography II: Community-based adaptation and locally-led adaptation

Co-building trust in urban nature: Learning from participatory design and construction of Nature-Based Solutions in informal settlements in East Africa

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