Transformative Strategies
Asynchronous Session
Weaving Resilient Urban Fabric through Networked Satisfiers of Fundamental Human Needs: Alternative Methods for Mapping and Catalyzing Regenerative Spatio-social Networks
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session William Martin
Modern land planning tools, such as cadastral and zoning maps, reduce the complexity of multidimensional social and spatial networks to abstract, homogeneous administrative and market assets. These tools predominantly serve bureaucratic and capitalist interests, often sidelining the needs of those who live, maintain, and benefit from these systems. This reductionist approach restricts citizens' adaptive and innovative capacities to meet everyday human needs through negotiated spaces and practices, especially in the face of uncertainty and external disruptions. This research first contrasts the networked qualities of various archetypal urban fabrics in the United States, focusing on those that precede or challenge modern, Cartesian, and Euclidean land-use practices. Using a range of graph-theoretical methods, including Bill Hillier’s space syntax analysis and social network analysis, alongside qualitative social theory, particularly Manfred Max-Neef’s culturally grounded theory of fundamental human needs, the research proposes a framework for evaluating and comparing urban neighborhoods and localized contexts. Second, this study explores alternative mapping methods adapted from network science and ecological models. These approaches, supported by open-source spatial data and software, shift the focus from rigid categorical delineations to nested relational structures. The proposed methods aim to reveal vital, often hidden, aspects of local provisioning systems, offering a bottom-up approach to understanding and intervening in urban environments. The research aims to provide local stakeholders with approachable yet sophisticated conceptual and technical frameworks for practical, place-based, consensus-driven, bottom-up approaches to building localized and shared urban resilience and regenerative capacity.
MoDeRa-Ts: A Multidimensional and Collaborative Resilience Digital Platform for a Resilient Built Environment
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Paula Villagra, Oneska Peña Y Lillo
Developing cities includes the challenge of planning and designing a built environment resilient to hazards. However, Chilean coastal cities have been developed prioritizing changes in the urban form that promote real estate and tourism development, neglecting a resilient planning to tsunamis, i.e., planning to prepare, cope and adapt to hazards. To address this problem, MoDeRa-Ts evolved as an interactive digital platform aimed at promoting the integration of social, psychological, ecological, economic and institutional demands in the urban environment. Based on cluster analysis of 53 coastal cities, we selected 10 that vary in size and political-administrative-hierarchy to develop a resilience index by using 59 urban resilience indicators found in a systematic literature review. Data sources include open access databases, household surveys (N=2000) and 10 focus groups with municipality professionals. Indicators’ weight varies with respect to communities’ socio-economic needs (N=29 focus groups), and tsunami maps varies with respect to the local geographies. MoDeRa-Ts integrates this information in a ‘resilience simulator’ and an ‘adaptive resources visualizer map’. Municipality professionals evaluated MoDeRa-Ts as very good for usability and utility (>80% EFLA survey), while content analysis of the reports of MoDeRa-Ts suggest the integration of various resilience dimensions in urban planning and design, increasing the resilience index by 1 point in some cases. Indeed, municipalities propose changes that foster resilience by improving water management, the distribution and type of infrastructure, accessibility, and communication among stakeholders. MoDeRa-Ts is discussed as a digital tool to complement coastal municipalities’ decision-making process for building resilient urban environments (ANID-Fondecyt-1210540).
Featured Pathways to Inclusive Growth: Transformative Strategies for Sustainable Metropolitanization and Urbanization
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carolina Ditan
The rapid urbanization in the Philippines has posed significant challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. As cities expand, the need for inclusive growth becomes paramount to ensure that urbanization benefits all sectors of society. Inclusive growth emphasizes the importance of ensuring that the benefits of growth are shared by all segments of the population, particularly the marginalized and disadvantaged groups, and was considered critical for reducing poverty, enhancing social cohesion, and fostering long-term stability. This study utilized Sequential Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze pathways for achieving inclusive growth and sustainable urbanization in the Philippines. This research determined the key determinants and transformative strategies that can foster equitable urban development by integrating the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. The SEM analysis reveals several pathways through which urbanization can promote inclusive growth: employment and income distribution significantly impact urban development; access to education, healthcare, and housing is crucial for enhancing social inclusion and improving quality of life in urban areas; and investment in infrastructure, including transportation, utilities, and digital connectivity, supports economic growth and social inclusion. Achieving inclusive growth and sustainable urbanization in the Philippines requires a multifaceted approach that addresses the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of development. Integrated urban planning, participatory governance, inclusive housing policies, sustainable infrastructure development, and the creation of green and resilient cities are transformative strategies that can pave the way for a more equitable and sustainable urban future. By adopting these strategies, the Philippines can ensure that the benefits of urbanization are shared by all.
