Resilient flood management for Xochimilco, Mexico City

Abstract

Thanks to geologic, geographic and anthropogenic reasons, Mexico City is very vulnerable to flooding. Xochimilco, in the southern part of the city, has a rich historical and cultural heritage that is under direct threat of excess water. In the future, climate change can lead to more intense floods. Some elements are critical in Mexico’s history and unique, like the chinampas, a zone that attracts a lot of tourists. In the past, floods have had devastating effects on the poor district of Mexico – it is largely neglected and has low flood resilience. In this thesis, certain concepts are translated into criteria by which we can measure flood resilience of an urban area. Due to poor governance and limited water management, the waterworks are getting worse and water availability is dependent on external sources, and even then limited – leading to societal unrest. If a ‘do nothing’, or business as usual-strategy will be employed, the city will face a gigantic (social) catastrophe that is unprecedented in Latin-America, or western society for the sake of argument. Luckily, huge advances can me made resilience-wise. There is a wide range of measures and adaptations that can be considered on short, medium and long term. This requires a new, inclusive form of government with bottom-up influence from the population. The technical know-how and financial assets are available, but needs to be done fast – the proverbial clock is ticking.