Contenido - universidad santo tomas de bucaramanga

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Revista M
Volumen 10 No 1
Enero-Junio 2013
ISSN 1692-5114
Contenido
Portada:
Anillo verde y Parque Agüil en Aguachica,
Colombia. Imagen suministrada por
Carlos Andrés Zuleta y Daniel Reinaldo Urbina
Editorial
Directivos
Rector Seccional Universidad Santo Tomás
Fray Faustino Corchuelo Alfaro, O.P.
Vicerrector Académico
Fray Guillermo León Villa Hincapié, O.P.
Vicerrector Administrativo-Financiero
Fray José Rodrigo Arias Duque, O.P.
Decano División de Ingenierías y Arquitectura
Fray Fernando Cajicá Gamboa, O.P.
Decana Facultad de Arquitectura
Arquitecta Claudia Patricia Uribe R.
Editor
Liliana Rueda Cáceres, arquitecta Mgs.
Editores invitados
Angela Colucci, Politécnico de Milán, Italia
Marcella Samakovlija, Politécnico de Milán, Italia
Carlos Gómez Arciniegas, Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia
Comité Científico
Fabio Restrepo Hernández, arquitecto Ph D
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Resilience and urban-territorial systems. Approaches comparison.
Resiliencia y sistemas urbano-territoriales.
Comparación de puntos de vista
Andrés Satizábal Villegas, arquitecto Mg Ph D (c)
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, Colombia
Comité Editorial
Jorge Alberto Galindo Díaz, arquitecto PhD
Profesor asociado Universidad Nacional, Manizalez, Colombia
Verónica Mercedes Zagare, arquitecta Mgs, Ph D (C)
Instituto Superior de Urbanismo, Territorio y Ambiente
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jemay Mosquera Téllez, arquitecto Ph D
Profesor asociado Universidad de Pamplona
Pamplona, Colombia
Carlos Humberto Gómez Arciniegas, arquitecto Ph D
Profesor Investigador Universidad Santo Tomás
Bucaramanga, Colombia
Néstor José Rueda Gómez, Historiador Ph D
Liliana Rueda Cáceres, arquitecta Mgs
Corrección ortográfica y de estilo
Ciro Rozo Gauta
Camilo Andrés González Garzón
Ruth Marcela Díaz G., arquitecta Ph D
Departamento de Idiomas
Universidad Santo Tomás
Licenciada en Idiomas Laura Cristina Dueñas Angulo
Ruth Marcela Díaz G., arquitecta Ph D
Facultad de Arquitectura
Director Departamento de Publicaciones
Luz Marina Manrique Cáceres
4-17
Angela Colucci .............
La planificación de las áreas verdes periurbanas a través de la salvaguarda
y recuperación de enclaves de valor ecológico y paisajístico bajo riesgo.
El caso de la ciudad de Aguachica (Colombia)
The planning of periurban green areas throughout the safeguarding and
recovery of ecological and scenic value sites at risk. The case of the city of
Aguachica (Colombia)
Carlos Humberto Gómez Arciniegas, Daniel Reinaldo Urbina Rojas,
18-39
Carlos Andrés Zuleta Torrado…........
Fernando Gaja i Díaz, arquitecto Ph D
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, España
Michele Paradiso, doctor arquitecto
Universidad de los estudios de Florencia, Italia
2-3
Angela Colucci, Marcella Samakovlija, Carlos Gómez Arciniegas..............…
Dealing with the risk of natural hazards through networks of planners
– The case of Klimafit
Tratar el riesgo relativo a los desastres naturales a través de redes de
planificación - el caso de Klimafit
40-51
Gérard Hutter ..........
Territorial risk and vulnerability: planning tools at municipal scale.
Riesgo y la vulnerabilidad territorial:
herramientas de planificación a nivel municipal
Marcella Samakovlija.........
Floodings and social vulnerability:
their spacial equivalence in the city of Curitiba, Brazil.
Las inundaciones y la vulnerabilidad social: su espacio
de equivalencia en la ciudad de Curitiba, Brasil.
52-63
64-81
Clovis Ultramari, Beatriz Hummell........
Prevención de la malaria mediante estrategias medioambientales
y técnicas tradicionales aplicadas a la arquitectura
Malaria prevention through environmental strategies and traditional
techniques applied to architecture
82-91
Alejandro Ordóñez Ortiz ........
Diseño y Diagramación
Diseñador gráfico
Olga Lucía Solano Avellaneda
Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia
E-mail: [email protected]
Tels: 6800801 Exts: 2500 – 2240 – 2241
REVISTA INDEXADA PUBLINDEX
CATEGORIA C
Revista M es una publicación de la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga. Con edición continua
desde el año 2003, nace con el objetivo de proyectar en el escenario académico, el pensamiento y las acciones del quehacer profesional
del oficio del arquitecto y de sus profesiones afines, mediante la publicación de resultados del ejercicio investigativo, analítico, crítico y
propositivo de este quehacer. Revista M está dirigida a un público conformado por profesionales y estudiantes del área de la arquitectura
y, el urbanismo y la planificación urbana y regional. Los artículos publicados son de responsabilidad exclusiva de sus autores, que han
autorizado previamente su publicación en este medio, así como garantizado el carácter inédito de los mismos.
EDITORIAL
Ante la reciente innovación disciplinaria relacionada con la gestión de riesgos territoriales
-la cual a partir de enfoques primordialmente disciplinarios y sectoriales que han demostrado una incapacidad para comprender la complejidad del territorio y las relaciones
entre los diferentes sistemas que lo componen - el debate disciplinario ha desarrollado
en los últimos años propuestas complejas que podrían integrar los aspectos de la gestión
sostenible de los riesgos territoriales en los instrumentos de planificación. Con base en
estos planteamientos innovadores, a partir de 2007, dentro de la AESOP (Association of
European School of Planning) se fundó el Grupo Temático “Resielince and Risk Mitigation
Strategies”, formado por académicos, planificadores y técnicos que se ocupan de riesgo a
nivel internacional, tanto en Europa como en otros continentes. El grupo temático “tiene
el objetivo general de fomentar el debate, la coordinación de la educación, la investigación,
las políticas y prácticas sobre estrategias de resilencia y mitigación de riesgos, así como la
adaptación para un desarrollo territorial sostenible en Europa” (http://www.aesop-planning.
eu/blogs/en_GB/resilience-and-risks-mitigation-strategies).
Con el Departamento de Arquitectura y Urbanismo (ahora DAStU, Departamento de
Arquitectura y Estudios Urbanos) del Politécnico de Milán, se han desarrollado iniciativas
para profundizar en algunos temas y áreas de trabajo:
¿Cómo ha cambiado el concepto de riesgo, de natural a fuertemente antrópico
(ambiental, climático, unido a nuevas tecnologías, socio-económico y demás) y cuál
puede ser la contribución de la planificación del territorio para su mitigación y gestión
La institucionalización de la investigación sobre los riesgos y la gestión de la información en las áreas de desarrollo
La conceptualización de los términos “peligrosidad”, “vulnerabilidad”, “riesgo”,
“resilencia”, “mitigación”, “ayuda”, “rehabilitación” vistos por los planificadores - las
divergencias y convergencias de los términos con la terminología utilizada en otros
campos científicos y profesionales relacionados con la gestión de riesgos
Modelos y métodos de evaluación de la vulnerabilidad y la resilencia
Los métodos de identificación de los riesgos en los diferentes niveles de planificación
para la mitigación
Participación y comunicación de riesgos - la gestión de riesgos y la planificación, la
forma como cambian
REVISTA M VOL. 10 No.1. ENERO-JUNIO 2013 • FACULTAD DE ARQUITECTURA • UNIVERSIDAD SANTO TOMÁS COLOMBIA
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Indicadores y estándares relacionados con la resilencia en la ordenación del territorio
Los fondos internacionales para la investigación y para la reconstrucción en situaciones
de emergencia.
Los artículos de este edición de la Revista M, fruto de una proficua sinergia entre el Departamento de Arquitectura y Estudios Urbanos (DAStU) del Politécnico de Milán (Italia)
y la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga (Colombia),
se ocupan de distintos aspectos relacionados con el tema del riesgo en la planificación.
Así bien, se discute sobre diversos enfoques metodológicos para el tema de la resilencia y
cómo éstos pueden contribuir al proceso de innovación de la disciplina de la planificación
del territorio mediante aspectos estrechamente relacionados con el riesgo (Colucci); se
introduce en el tema de las modalidades de gestión de las decisiones, ilustradas a través
del caso de un grupo de planificadores de la Región de Dresden (Hutter); se propone un
método para la gestión de riesgos territoriales a nivel municipal (Samakovlija) y al mismo
tiempo se ilustra cómo el diseño arquitectónico puede ayudar a mitigar el riesgo, en este
caso se habla de la salubridad (Ordoñez Ortiz). A todos estos enfoques se suma la premisa
que riesgo a menudo significa reconstrucción, o sea, la observación de la ciudad, de sus
aspectos de vulnerabilidad social y la forma en que se vuelve a reconstruir en la fase posterior al desastre (Ultramari y Hummel) y finalmente, una contribución evidencia cómo el
término riesgo puede ser sinónimo de la pérdida de la biodiversidad de un lugar (Gómez,
Zuleta, Urbina). En síntesis, una serie de artículos provenientes de autores de diferentes
nacionalidades donde en modo sucinto pero conciso llevan al lector nuevamente a pensar
en la cuestión del conocimiento del territorio, de sus relativos riesgos y de las relaciones
entre los diferentes sistemas que lo componen las cuales son la base para un planificador
o un arquitecto que propende por el diseño de entornos más seguros.
Ángela Colucci, Politécnico de Milán, Italia
Marcella Samakovlija, Politécnico de Milán, Italia
Carlos Gómez Arciniegas, Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia
Editores Invitados
3
RESILIENCE AND URBAN-TERRITORIAL
SYSTEMS. APPROACHES COMPARISON
Angela Colucci*
Politécnico de Milán, Italia
Recibido: 21 octubre 2013
Aprobado: 01 abril 2013
Schematic summary from families of literature
on Resilience. Figure elaborated by Revista M
from author’s information.
*
M. Architect, Ph.D. in planning. Researcher and professor. Adjunct Professor
at Politecnico di Milano – Italy (courses
of urbanism, and urban design). Since
2008 she is a member of the Resilience
and Risks mitigation strategies thematic
group of AESOP (Co-Responsible and
Coordinator of the Research action
domain). She took part, as research staff
or partner, to various research projects
on the sustainable risk management and
on landscape planning. She is a senior
partner of the cooperate company
since the 2004 worked a large number
of planning and strategic environmental
assessment, consulting for local and
regional administrations in the planning,
environmental and landscape aspects.
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Since the end of the last century, with a significant increase over the last few years, resilience has featured as key concept in many technical, political papers and documents,
and appears in many researches. In this paper we present a summary of the literature
approaches comparison (initial survey stage of the research) with the aims to identify and
understand the approaches to resilience developed; identify which aspects and what resilience strategies these approaches share and propose. The aim is to understand whether
the proposed concept of resilience, or rather strategies, constitute progress and contribute
to innovation in the areas of urban planning and design in relation to risk mitigation. The
first results presented will underline:
• The shared resilience strategies and the common concepts taken form the resilience
approach and used for the urban systems strategies management/visions;
• The methodological and planning instruments used for the integration of resilience
inside the planning process;
• The innovation aspects developed by the different authors and experiences that could
enrich risk mitigation polices.
KEYWORDS
Resilience, Risks prevention, Risk mitigation, Urban/territorial systems.
REVISTA M VOL. 10 No.1. ENERO-JUNIO 2013 • FACULTAD DE ARQUITECTURA • UNIVERSIDAD SANTO TOMÁS COLOMBIA - PP 4-17
RESILIENCIA Y SISTEMAS URBANOTERRITORIALES. COMPARACIÓN DE ENFOQUES
Dibujo esquemático de literatura sobre grupos
de Resiliencia. Elaborado por Revista M a partir
de información del autor.
RESUMEN
Desde finales del siglo pasado, con un aumento significativo en los últimos años, se ha
caracterizado a la resiliencia, como un concepto clave dentro de documentos políticos y
técnicos y aparece en numerosas investigaciones. En este artículo se presenta un resumen
de los diferentes enfoques existentes (primera etapa de la investigación) con el objetivo
de identificar y comprender los métodos de la resiliencia desarrollada e identificar qué
aspectos y que estrategias de resiliencia proponen y aportan estos enfoques. El objetivo
es comprender si el concepto propuesto de resiliencia, u otras estrategias, constituyen
un avance y contribuyen a la innovación en el ámbito de la planificación urbana y diseño
en relación con la mitigación del riesgo. Los primeros resultados presentados destacarán:
• Las estrategias de resiliencia propuestas y los conceptos comunes a los diferentes
puntos de vista en relación con la capacidad de resiliencia utilizados dentro de estrategias / visiones de gestión en los sistemas urbanos.
• Las herramientas de programación y metodología utilizadas para la integración de la
resiliencia en procesos de planificación.
• Los aspectos de innovación desarrollados por diferentes autores y experiencias que
puedan enriquecer las políticas para mitigar el riesgo.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Resiliencia, Prevención de riesgos, Mitigación de riesgos, Sistemas urbanos/territoriales.
ADOPTING RESILIENCE1
The concept of resilience, and the term itself, is used in many disciplines (from engineering to
the natural sciences, psychology and sociology) with meanings that are not always the same.
In the discipline of ecology, from which the agreed term used here is taken (and which, in
a nutshell, epitomises the capacity of a system to adapt itself in response to the action of a
force, achieving a state of equilibrium different from the one it originally had), resilience has
been defined and explained in different way, and has evolved in line with the innovations
that have occurred in that discipline (White, 2011).
Generally speaking, we have seen this concept become widespread in recent years, often
used as a key concept in many documents and books, at conferences and on websites.
More recently, resilience has been used also when shaping development strategies for
cities, and defining alternative development models for urban systems, local communities
or social-ecological systems on a considerably bigger scale.
The concept of ecological resilience, as it relates to the development of territorial systems,
was officially introduced into international politics and the European Union in 2005 when
the document Resilience and Sustainable Development: Building Adaptive Capacity in a World
of Transformations2 was first presented.
The on-going research presented here focuses on the concept of resilience with regard to
the development of regions, cities and local communities.
While not claiming to be complete, in terms of the widespread disciplinary and political/
social interest, this paper presents a summary of the first stage of the work carried out,
and consists in a comparison of the wide-ranging literature published on the concept of
resilience and cities (and/or resilience and regional systems).
The research, in relation to which this paper presents a summary of the initial survey stage,
has three main aims:
1) Understanding the approaches to resilience developed so far, and identifying which
aspects (concepts, strategies and so on) of these approaches are shared (or not
shared);
2) Understanding which strategies are being proposed for resilient regions, cities or
social-ecological systems (and pointing out the shared strategies);
3) Understanding whether the resilience strategies proposed involve innovations in
urban and regional development disciplinary fields.
1
2
A paper published on the Journal TEMA (by Angela Colucci in 2012, see bibliography) presents the research and the whole
literature approaches, this paper focuses on the Risk approach to resilience and on the main results of the literature comparison.
Building Adaptive Capacity in a World of Transformations (Background paper to WSSD) is a technical-scientific paper in
support of the Swedish Government’s Environmental and Scientific Advisory Council during the World Summit on Sustainable
Development
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The research aim is to comprehend whether the concept of resilience, or rather, whether
the strategies of resilience proposed constitute progress and contribute to innovation in
the areas of urban planning and design.
Three main families of literature have been identified from the recent literature promoting
resilience as a key strategy. For each of these families the aim of the research – at this early
stage – was to understand which particular concept and which aspects of resilience are
used, which resilience strategies are proposed, how the term ‘city’ is defined and interpreted and, consequently, which are the key concepts related to strategies for resilient cities.
How can resilience be defined?
The concept of resilience has two main definitions involving different visions and approaches
with regard to the concept of stability (Holling and Gunderson, 2002). The most common
established definition may be called ‘engineering resilience’: in physics (and engineering), the
resilience of a material is the property that enables it to resume its original shape after being
deformed. This definition recalls the concepts of control, consistency and predictability.
The second definition, ‘ecosystem resilience’ is based on the concepts of persistence,
change/unpredictability, adaptability and variability, emphasising conditions that are far from
aequilibrium. Resilience is the property of complex systems to react to stress phenomena
by activating response and adaptation strategies in order to restore the mechanisms by
which they function. Resilient systems under stress react by regenerating themselves while
maintaining the functionality and recognisability of the systems. Thus, resilience does not
imply the restoration to an initial state, but the restoration of functionality through change
and adaptation.
In ecology, resilience derives from functional strengthening through the various levels and
hierarchies and from functional overlap between the levels. The vulnerability of the systems
gradually increases as the sources of regeneration (diversity, redundancy, functional overlap
and so on) and functional diversity are reduced.
This article refers to the concept of ecosystem resilience, and all the papers and documents
consulted refer to this agreed notion of resilience.
THE LITERATURE: FAMILIES AND APPROACHES
Since the end of the last century, and with a significant increase over the last few years,
resilience as a key concept has featured in many technical and political papers and documents, and in a great deal of research that has been undertaken. The paper focuses on the
texts that combine resilience with strategies, processes and models for the development
of cities, communities and regions.
It is possible to identify three main families within the literature (to which can be added
best practices, documents of intent and a large number of websites as research platforms,
sharing of experience, networks of best practices and so on):
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a) Resilience and territorial risks: resilience is used as a key concept for the innovation
of territorial risk mitigation/management strategies (with the integration between
the risk mitigation goals and the regional quality goals).
b) Resilience and sustainability: the concept of resilience is used as a way to gain the
sustainability of the development of social-ecological systems.
c) Resilience and adaptation: the resilience is used as the key concept to the adaptation
strategies with regard to climate change, natural resources reduction and the quality
of local communities.
Assigning the contributions of the different authors to one of these three families has
inevitably been forced in some cases. As we shall see, many concepts and strategies are
common and shared, and, while the family of origin can still be identified, there is often
intertwining and overlapping.
A synthesis of main characteristics of the families of “Resilience and sustainability” and
“Resilience and adaptation” are below underlined (Table 1). This paper focuses on the
family of “Resilience and Risk” aspects.
Table 1: A synthesis of main characteristics of the families of “Resilience and sustainability”
and “Resilience and adaptation”. Source: Elaborated by the author.
It is possible to relate the first group of authors at The Resilience Alliance3, a
multidisciplinary network of researchers promoting regional and local development processes based on resilience. The family of texts is undoubtedly very
large, and includes such authors as Carl Folke, Lance Gunderson, CS Buzz
Holling, Elinor Ostrom, Johan Colding, Fikret Berkes, and numerous others.
Resilience is used as a key concept to achieve sustainable development. While
accepting the definition of sustainability as a given, the debate on the different
routes (ways) to ensuring sustainable development is certainly more complex.
The approach to complex systems and resilience is part of this debate.
The common distinguishing features of a huge and complex range of authors,
research and experiments, are:
RESILIENCE AND
SUSTAINABILITY
a sizeable theoretical output integrated with their application in different
contexts (creation of theoretical models and their application );
the central role of, and sharing of all experiences, texts and research on, the
ecosystem (ecological) approach, and its integration with the social dimension;
a large scientific output (theoretical, methodological – modelling – and
application) concerning the sustainable management of natural resources in
which the sustainable management of natural resources is integrated with the
social aspects of local communities (for example, there are many studies and
experiments carried out on the management of fishery resources, and the
local communities connected with these, in the Nordic countries of Europe);
considerable attention to the development of local communities and regions in
crisis (integrating their ecological and social dimensions as a means to ensure
development for even the poorest communities).
3. The Resilience Alliance is a research organisation comprised of scientists and practitioners from many disciplines who collaborate to explore the dynamics of social ecological systems. The body of knowledge developed by the RA, encompasses
key concepts of resilience, adaptability and transformability and provides a foundation for sustainable development policy
and practice, http://www.resalliance.org/.
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THE CITY
MODEL
The Urban Resilience program4 is a research project started in 2007. In order
to understand the mechanisms of resilience, the urban system is the results
of the inter-relations between the metabolic flows (that support the urban
functions, human well-being and quality of life), governance networks (the
ability of societies to learn to adapt and organise themselves), the social dynamics (of people as citizens, community members, service users, consumers of
products and all the networks of relationships that support interrelationships
between communities and social populations), and the built environment (that
is formed from physical and spatial elements, but also, and above all, from
the relationships and the interconnections between them).
The amount of literature and documents related to climate change adaptation
strategies and peak oil is enormous, including with regard to the relevance
of the issue. It is possible to identify two main groups: there are a number of
texts on the resilience of urban areas or regions (such as those by Stephen
Coyle or texts by authors such as Peter Newman, Peter Beatley, Heather
Boyer) and the initiatives of English Transition Cities (texts of Rob Hopkins
and Shaun Chamberlin).
RESILIENCE AND
ADAPTATION
One aspect common to these texts is that of using resilience as a key for
coping with the important changes taking place, and for building adaptation
strategies for climate change, the lack of – and fall-off in – natural resources
(particularly oil), and energy crises.
In terms of using and referring to the concepts specifically related to resilience,
the works focussing on cities and adaptation (e.g. Newman) do not expand
upon theoretical references and/or close examination of the properties or
principles of ecosystem resilience.
In the works related to Transition Cities, numerous concepts related to
ecosystem resilience and properties are explicitly mentioned: diversity and
redundancy, modularity and hierarchies/organisation and feedback processes.
These principles are the basis for constructing processes, strategies and actions
for resilient communities.
A general objective shared by these authors is the development of an action
plans to make in the neighbourhoods, community or region more environmentally and economically healthy, habitable and resilient.
THE CITY MODEL
This group of authors (such as Coyle, Newman, Beatley and Boyer, for
example), by greatly simplifying the models devised in the texts, separate
out the built environment and other issues connected with networks or
‘supporting systems’.
For example, Coyle proposes a model of the city (or urban system) consisting
of the built environment and supporting systems. The built environment consists of the physical structures and organisation patterns of buildings, blocks,
neighbourhoods, villages, towns, cities and regions. The supporting systems
are: Transportation, Energy, Water, Natural environment, Food production,
Agriculture, Solid waste, Economics.
RESILIENCE AND RISK
In the most innovative research and best practices aimed at the mitigation of territorial
risks, the concept of resilience has assumed a central role in the construction of strategies
that include within the objectives of reducing risks and hazards a plurality of goals aimed
at territorial quality345.
4 CSIRO, Australia; Arizona State University, USA; Stockholm University, Sweden; Urban Resilience Research Prospectus
3 Coordinatore Brian Walker Science Program Director and Chair; Board of Members The Resilience Alliance, February 2007.
4
5 See, for example, the many contributions relating to the research project on the sustainable development of the U.S. territories bordering the Gulf of Mexico, presented at the Venice Biennale, collected in the work by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan
M. Wachter, Eds, 2006: Rebuilding Urban Places After Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina, University of Pennsylvania
Press, Philadelphia; the best practices and researches devised by Pelling on the resilience of cities and urban systems.
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The concept of resilience in territorial risk management has now been established, certainly
in scientific debate. Since that the topic of resilience has long been debated, there are
also significant theoretical focal points in terms of interpretation, such as the relationship
between resilience and vulnerability. As underlined Pelling the idea of resiliency suggest a
proactive stance towards risks. It has been discussed within ecological theory, system analysis
and disaster studies (Pelling, 2003 p.7)
The concept of resilience was initially associated with (and opposed to) the concept of vulnerability: resilience was employed as the opposite of vulnerability and resilience strategies
were therefore aimed at reducing the vulnerability of systems with regard to territorial risks.
Subsequently, in the context of the scientific debate, resilience was associated with a wider
vision and not just related to the reduction of vulnerability. From this point of view, the
approach to resilience includes dynamic aspects (increasing the resilience of a system over
time including theories of adaptation, not only at the time of reaction to disasters), aspects
of scale and management of complex systems (reduction of the causes and determinants of
hazards and phenomena that increase the severity of disastrous events), socio-economic
aspects (including both organisational and social aspects) (White, 2010).
The conceptualisation of resilience in academia has been fuzzy and contested, and some
lucidity is needed to understand this relatively new theoretical construct in relation to water
and spatial planning. In recent texts, the study of resilience, while related to the issue of
territorial risks (clear configuration of the aim) includes more general objectives: a more
resilient system with regard to territorial risks is and must be, in general, an urban-territorial
system characterised by higher overall environmental and social quality.
CONCEPTS OF ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE
The concept of resilience used by many authors is that of ecosystem resilience. Resilience
is understood as the capacity and ability, after a disaster, to emerge from stalemate in a
condition that is not necessarily the same as the initial pre-existing condition. The capacity
of a region to be resilient largely depends on the organisation and relationships that existed
before the event: the more flexible the system, the quicker will be recovery to normality
from the perspective of improvement and awareness.
If a community chooses to go on living despite the risk, then growth must be directed
towards creating resilient cities capable of responding to the effects of a disaster. This
type of approach, namely being aware of and cooperating with nature and not against it,
can simultaneously achieve the goals of conservation and exploitation of natural resources
without reducing the opportunities for growth (Burby, 1998).
The integrated use of appropriate management tools and regional planning is needed to
achieve a vision of resilient cities, reducing the intensity of growth in hazardous areas: by
reducing the need to distort and obstruct natural processes, we will be able to reduce both
the economic the social costs of vulnerable cities.
RESILIENCE STRATEGIES
In the construction of strategies for territorial resilience against risks, there are many concepts characteristic of ecosystem resilience that are used as key principles:
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• The homeostasis principle: systems are maintained by feedbacks between component
parts which signal changes and enable learning. Resilience enhanced when feedbacks
are transmitted effectively
• The omnivory principle: external shocks are mitigated by diversifying resource requirement and their means of delivery. Failures to source or distribute a resource
can then be compensated for by alternatives.
• The high flux principle. The faster the movement of responses through a system the
more resources will be available at any given to help cope with perturbation.
• The flatness principle. Overly hierarchical systems are less flexible and hence less able
to cope with surprise and adjust behaviour. Top-heavy system will be less resilient
• The buffering principle: a system which has a capacity in excess of its need can draw
on this capacity in times of need, and so is more resilient.
• The redundancy principle: a degree of overlapping function in a system permits to
system to change by allowing vital functions to continue while formerly redundant
elements take on new function. (Pelling 2003, p. 8).
Other authors (as Watson and Adams, 2011) identifythe agenda of resilient design that can
be expressed by three key principles: multiple scales of impact, collaborative design and
innovation in design, technology, and policy.
These strategies/principles are also contained in official documents of many bodies (as
NOOA, FEMA and ONU agencies) set up to protect populations against risks: for example,
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has identified checklists for resilient
cities/regions (related to flood plain management) or the document from the National
Science and Technology Council Committee (Grand Challenges for disaster Reduction 2005,
report for the White House office for science and technology) which contains actions to
be implemented towards resilient systems.
The concepts common to different authors for a risk-resilient system are: diffusion and
diversity (redundant and diverse city), the rapid responses properties (efficient and strong
city), the redundancy circuit (feedback and smart city); the storage capacity and the scale/
hierarchy connection (independent, collaborative and adaptable city).
RESILIENT CITY MODEL
In general, the structure of the urban and regional systems proposed by the authors of this
family is derived from the established methodologies and models of risk analysis and management. The local systems are broken down into subsystems and components (analysis
by component: social, environmental, etc.) and into the relational components that exist
between the subsystems (relational analysis: interactions between subsystems).
A set of characteristic of a “resilient city” is defined in the UNISDR report on “Making
Cities Resilient” (UNISDR, Making Cities Resilient campaignReport 2012). Based on the
Campaign, the report defines a resilient city as one where:
•
Disasters are minimized because the population lives in homes and communities
with organized services and infrastructure that adhere to sensible building codes.
11
• An inclusive, competent and accountable local government is concerned about sustainable urbanization and that commits the necessary resources to develop capacities
to manage and organize itself before, during and after a natural hazard event.
• The local authorities and the population understand their risks and develop a shared,
local information base on disaster losses, hazards and risks, including who is exposed
and who is vulnerable.
• People are empowered to participate, decide and plan their city together with local
authorities and value local and indigenous knowledge, capacities and resources.
• Steps are taken to anticipate and mitigate the impact of disasters, incorporating monitoring and early warning technologies to protect infrastructure, community assets
and individuals, including their homes and possessions, cultural heritage, environmental
and economic capital, and is able to minimize physical and social losses arising from
extreme weather events, earthquakes or other natural or human- induced hazards.
• There is an ability to respond, implement immediate recovery strategies and quickly
restore basic services to resume social, institutional and economic activity after such
an event.
• An understanding exists that most of the above is also central to building resilience
to adverse environmental changes, including climate change, in addition to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
INITIAL CONCLUSIONS
The table 2 shows a summarised comparison from this initial analysis of the literature on
cities and resilience. In particular, the main disciplinary backgrounds, the scales or spatial
dimensions under consideration (neighbourhoods, regions, cities, etc.), the models of
urban systems and the main concepts of ecosystem resilience referred to in the texts are
specified for each family.
Table 2. Families of literature: comparison synthesis. Source: Elaborated by the author.
Disciplinary
backgrounds
Resilience definition
Resilience and
sustainability
Resilience and adaptation
Resilience
and risks
Natural sciences, biology,
ecology, economy and social and political sciences
Planning, architecture, natural
science, sociology
Engineering, building
architecture, planning,
social science
‘R. as the capacity to lead
to a continued existence by
incorporating change’
Planner
approach
Transition cities
No definition
of R.
R. as the ability
of complex system to absorb
the stress using
adaptation strategies
- Theoretical / theoretical
modelling
Research and
experiences
Focus (scales
and places)
- Development of local
communities and regional
development
- Models / strategies applied to city
/ urban and metropolitan
- Management of natural
resources (linked to development of local community / regional development)
- Development of neighbourhoods
and local communities
R. as the capacity and
ability, after a disaster,
to emerge from stalemate in a condition
that is not necessarily
the same as the initial
pre-existing condition
- Regional development
- Urban contexts
- Projects focused on
specific phenomena
12
Planner
approach
- Social-ecological systems
Cities model
(components)
- Urban areas is the result of the interaction of
four system (that have
the same relevance): metabolic flows, governance
networks, social dynamics,
built environment.
- Feeding diversity for reorganization and renewal
Resilience concepts used as
key strategies
- Interconnection between
temporal and spatial scales
varying
- Recognition of the slow
variables
Cities system
composed by
the build environment
(center of the
model) supported by the supporting systems
(Transportation,
Energy, Water,
Natural environment, Food
production,
agriculture, Solid waste, Economic)
Planner
approach
No strong relation between
resilience concepts and the
strategies developed
- Compact strong feedback
Transition cities
Community
process of
changing
(not structured
models)
- diversity
- modularity
- local based
- feedback
- small
Resilience strategies (innovation for planning)
- Feeding diversity for reorganisation and renewal
- Combining different types
and systems of knowledge
and create opportunities
for self-organization
- Adaptability, flexibility
and innovation based on
feedback
- Memory
- Buffering
- Core protection
- Diffusion
- Rapid responses
- Redundancy circuit
- Storage capacity
- Wa s t e n u t r i e n t
recovery self-help
- Knowledge and communities
- Learning to live with uncertainty and change
- City component physical, social and organizational
Transition cities
- Adaptability, flexibility and
innovation
- Life is full of surprises
- Cities/regional models
are based on traditional
risk analysis methods
No innovation
strictly related
to the resilience
Newman proposes, strategies
related to: Renewable Energy City, Carbon
Neutral City,
Distributed city,
Photosynthetic City, EcoEfficient City,
Place-Based
City, Sustainable
Transport City.
- Diversity (and
creative redundancy)
- Redundancy & diversity
- Modularity
(organisational
networks / and
governance)
- Efficiency & Strong
(with the capacity to
withstand events/external attacks of various
kinds)
- Local-based
- Small
- Balance between environmental, social
and economic
resources, and
the type of development and
their levels of
consumption
and use
- Independency &
connections (ability to
mutually support one
other)
- Adaptability
- Ability to learn from
experience
- Collaboration(multiple
opportunities and incentives)
With regard to the concepts used, we are proposing a schematic summary which attributes the key concepts used by the authors of the three families researched. The scheme
highlights where the key concepts are innovative in the field of planning and urban design
and where these concepts can be found in the literature or are already in use.
13
The most innovative aspects and concepts shared and underlined by the three families are:
• A strong link between physical, social and organisational elements;
• Strong relevance of local community and relevance to the social aspects;
• Focus and role of ecosystem services;
• Strong innovation in terms of the process;
• Relevance of the concept of process dynamics (and therefore of flexibility with respect
to the dynamism of processes).
Figure 1: Schematic summary: strategic concepts,
belonging and sharing (The scheme highlights
(darker colour) where the key concepts are
innovative in the field of urban planning/design
and where these concepts can be already found
or are already in use in the urban planning/design
literature). Source: elaborated by the author.
Within the context of local governance processes, the concept of resilience affords possibilities and opportunities. Certainly the concept of resilience in itself contains significant
possibilities, especially in the construction of scenarios and visions shared with local
communities from a positive and optimistic perspective (Hopkins, Pelling). Issues such as
the protection of environmental and ecosystem performance or the prevention of local
risks can be translated not only into guidelines for constraints and safeguards, but as active
construction projects for resilient territorial systems and communities.
Integrating the concepts of resilience into forward thinking capabilities for plans and programmes. Many benefits are derived from the efficient functioning of ecosystems, and,
therefore, considering the services and benefits that derive from ecosystems as an integral
part of the system of services and functions of local systems.
14
The following are the shared key strategies for resilient regions and cities.
• (Diversity and) redundancy: A resilient world promotes diversity in all its aspects
and biological, landscape, social and economic forms. Diversity is a major source
in terms of the options for our future. At the same time, if diversity implies the
differentiation into elements and components, redundancy implies multiplicity of
functions. Redundancy can also be approached through the principles of subsidiarity,
understood as the interrelationship and repetition of a number of decision-making
mechanisms including at the local scale. A resilient world has institutions that include
some redundancy in the institutional structures and a degree of overlap between
public and private in respect of access to ownership.
• Recognition of slow variables: A resilient world must have policies focused on
controlling threshold-related variables. By focusing on the slow variables that give
shape to social-ecological systems and on the thresholds that remain , we have a
better ability to manage the resilience of the system.
• Adaptability, flexibility and innovation: A resilient world places the focus on
learning, experimentation and the development of local rules, and embraces changes.
One approach to resilience is to encourage new developments and innovations. In
general, we aim for solutions to avoid change rather than find innovative solutions
that mutate or assist the changes.
• Knowledge and communities: a resilient world fosters social networks and flexible leadership. The resilience of social-ecological systems is closely connected with
people’s capacity to respond jointly and effectively to changes and disturbances.
• Interconnection between spatial scales and time variables: the issue of interconnection between different spatial scales and dimensions of time is certainly complex,
and widely discussed in the field of urban planning and design. Studies on complex
systems, however, tell us that in a resilient system, not everything is interconnected
and dependent. There are relatively independent parts. The notion of over‑interconnection, especially at intermediate hierarchical levels of hierarchy implies that
once one part suffers stress, this shock reverberates throughout the whole system.
• Solid strong feedback: The feedback processes allow us to perceive the thresholds
before crossing them. A resilient world has strong feedback (but not too strong). In
this case there are very many references to the flexibility of decision-making processes
and construction plan processes (Steiner but a great many others).
RESILIENCE: OPEN QUESTIONS
The concept of resilience must be understood for the opportunities that generates in terms
of responses to the critical phenomena characterising the processes of design / planning of
urban and territorial systems. the resilience should not be construed as a “way of salvation”
or as a “solution” to all problems (Hopkins, White and others).
If we assume as “consolidated” the definition of ecosystem resilience, the concept of
resilience in relation to urban-territorial complex systems (or socio-ecosystems) is not
consolidated at all (as the concept of resilience in relation to the governance/management
of cities and territories).
15
There is, in fact, a widespread tendency to associate and/or to overlay the concept of
“resilience” to the “resilient territory/city”. This overlay gives rise to some confusion.
Resilience is a property of ecosystems that are characterized by numerous and complex
properties and therefore can also be more or less resilient. The use “resilient city” in itself,
as the only defining aspect or all-inclusive, involves the risk of reducing the opportunities
and potential offered from taking on an approach to resilience and complexity that characterizes the resilience ecosystem.
Propose a “plan / project” of “city / territory resilient” could against with some principles of
the resilience: the distance from stability, continuous dynamic tension towards adaptation
and innovation, characteristics that make “not planed” a “status of resilient systems” in itself.
An open question is whether “resilience” could be planned: it follows from the foregoing
considerations that it is not possible to design or plan a territory or a city resilient in itself,
but it is certainly important and necessary to include in the processes of transformation/
development of urban-territorial systems solutions that can enhance the properties of
urban and territorial systems that make them potentially more resilient.
REFERENCES
AAVV (2002) Resilience and Sustainable Development: Building Adaptive Capacity in a World
of Transformations (Background paper to WSSD). Scientific Background Paper on Resilience
for the process of The World Summit on Sustainable Development on behalf of The Environmental Advisory Council to the Swedish Government of April 16, 2002.
Berkes, F., J. Colding, C. Folke, eds (2003). Navigating Social-Ecological Systems: Building
Resilience for Complexity and Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Burby, R. J., ed. (1998). Cooperating with Nature: Confronting Natural Hazards with Land use
Planning for Sustainable Communities. Joseph Henry Press, Washington, D.C.
Campanella, T.J.; Berke, P.R. (2006). “Planning for postdisaster resiliency”, in Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 604.
Chamberlin, S. (2009). The Transition Timeline for a local, resilient future. Green Books Ldt.,
Devon UK.
Colucci, A.(2012). Towards resilient cities. Comparing approaches/strategies, in TeMA, n
5 (2)
Colucci, A.(2012). Le città resilienti: approcci e strategie, Polo Interregionale di Eccellenza
Jean Monnet, Pavia (sito www.jeanmonnet-pv.it)
Coyle, S., ed. (2011).Sustainable and resilient communities. A comprehensive Action Plan for
Towns, Cities and Regions. Hoboken: John Wiley & Songs Inc..
Folke, C., Colding, J. and Berkes,F. (2003). “Synthesis: building resilience and adaptive capaciy
in social-ecological systems”, in Folke C., Colding J. and Berkes F., eds (2003) Navigating
Social-Ecological Systems, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
16
Gunderson, L., Holling, C.S, Lance, H. (2002). “Resilience and Adaptive Cycles”, in Gunderson, L., Holling, C.S., eds (2002) Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and
natural systems, Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Gunderson, L., Holling, C.S., eds (2002). Panarchy: understanding transformations in human
and natural systems, Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Gunderson, L., Pritchard, L. Jr., eds (2002). Resilience and the behaviour of large-scale systems.
Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Janssen, M., ed. (2003). Complexity and Ecosystem Management. Edward Elgar Publishers,
Northampton.
Hopkins, R. (2008). The Transition Handbook. From oil dependency to local resilience. Green
Books Ldt., Devon UK.
Low, B., Ostrom E., Simon C., Wilson J. (2003). “Redundancy and Diversity: do they influence optimal management?” in Folke C., Colding J. and Berkes F. eds (2003) Navigating
Social-Ecological Systems, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Ostrom, E. (2005). Understanding Institutional Diversity. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Newman, P, Beatley, P., Boyer, H. (2005). The Resilient city. How modern cities recover from
disaster. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Pelling, M. (2003). The vulnerability of cities. Natural disasters and social resilience. Earthscan,
London.
Steiner, F., Sipes, J., Faga, B., and Yaro, R. (2007). Mapping for Sustainable Resilience in the
Gulf Coast of the United States. PLANUM web site, Publication date: September 2007
(http://www.planum.net/topics/themesonline.html)
UN/ISDR (2004). Living With Risk: A Global Review of Disaster Reduction Initiatives. Vol. I&II.
United Nations, New York.
Vale, L. J., Campanella, T. J. (2005).The resilient city: how modern cities recover from disaster.
Oxford University Press, New York.
Walker, B.H., Salt, D. (2006). Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a
Changing World. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Watson, D., Adams, M. (2011). Design for flooding. Architecture, landscape and urban design
for resilience to climate change. John Wilwey & Songs Inc., Hoboken.
White, A. (2010). Water and the city. Risk, Resilience and planning for a sustainable future,
Routledge, Abingdon.
17
PLANIFICACIÓN DE LAS ÁREAS VERDES
PERIURBANAS A TRAVÉS DE LA SALVAGUARDA
Y RECUPERACIÓN DE ENCLAVES DE VALOR
ECOLÓGICO Y PAISAJÍSTICO BAJO RIESGO. EL CASO
DE LA CIUDAD DE AGUACHICA (COLOMBIA)*
Carlos Humberto Gómez Arciniegas, Arquitecto, MSc. Phd.**
Daniel Reinaldo Urbina Rojas, Arquitecto***
Carlos Andrés Zuleta Torrado, Arquitecto****
Recibido: 29 enero 2013
Paisaje Aguachica desde el Bosque del Agüil
Fuente: Archivo de los autores
RESUMEN
*
Artículo desarrollado a partir del
proyecto de grado en modalidad de
investigación: La articulación del bosque del Agüil dentro de un corredor
ecológico periurbano para Aguachica
(Cesar), incluido dentro de la Línea de
Investigación: Planificación y Gestión
del Territorio de la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Santo Tomás,
Bucaramanga, Colombia.
** Arquitecto egresado de la Universidad
Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga (Colombia) con MSc de la Lancaster University
(Inglaterra) y PhD del Politécnico di
Milano (Italia). Actualmente se de-
Con el paso del tiempo y el avance de la tecnología, las ciudades crecen de manera abrupta, consumen indiscriminadamente áreas que aún poseen las características necesarias para contribuir a
su desarrollo sostenible. Este trabajo de investigación parte de un interés particular por las áreas
periurbanas de las ciudades, territorios que se han visto afectados por el fenómeno de la expansión urbana descontrolada y que ha arrojado como balance poco alentador la disminución o incluso
desaparición de las áreas verdes de margen, escenarios fundamentales para la protección
del medio ambiente, de la biodiversidad y el mejoramiento del paisaje urbano. En consecuencia, el presente trabajo toma como punto de partida la preocupación por rescatar los márgenes
de la ciudad de Aguachica (Departamento del Cesar), con la finalidad de brindarle al municipio una
respuesta de múltiple valencia a las situaciones de riesgo que comprometen el verde urbano y
los espacios naturales de este territorio. Entra en juego, como eslabón fundamental de la investigación el “Bosque del Agüil”, una joya ecológica localizada en el perímetro municipal y que posee
indiscutiblemente las características necesarias para funcionar como primer elemento constitutivo de
una serie de polos verdes que entrarían a hacer parte imprescindible de un corredor ecológico que
abrace toda la ciudad. Se busca, por tanto, alcanzar este objetivo mediante el desarrollo de cuatro
fases que ven un inicio con una lectura del territorio, prosigue con un análisis y diagnóstico de la
situación existente, la cual una vez confrontada con una serie de tipologías y normativas identificadas
en diferentes ámbitos, cimentarán la formulación de unos lineamientos estratégicos de planificación que permitan postular un corredor verde que bien podría rodear el municipio de Aguachica.
En consecuencia, el Bosque del Agüil participaría como polo inicial y laboratorio experimental
destinado a una nueva cultura de la planificación de las áreas verdes periurbanas bajo riesgo,
merecedoras de su rescate por la importancia de su biodiversidad y por ser parte indivisible y
necesaria de un hábitat ideal para vivir.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Enclaves, Ecológico, Corredor, Paisaje urbano, Periurbano
THE PLANNING OF PERIURBAN GREEN AREAS
THROUGHOUT THE SAFEGUARDING AND
RECOVERY OF ECOLOGICAL AND SCENIC
VALUE SITES AT RISK. THE CASE OF THE CITY OF
AGUACHICA (COLOMBIA)
Bosque La Libertad
Fuente: Archivo de los autores
ABSTRACT
With the passage of time and advancement of technology, cities grow abruptly, indiscriminately consume areas still possess the necessary characteristics to contribute to sustainable development. This
research of particular interest in periurban areas of cities, territories that have been affected by the
phenomenon of urban sprawl and has thrown as bleak balance the decrease or even disappearance
of the green areas of margin, basic scenarios for environmental protection, biodiversity
and improvement of the urban landscape . Thus, this paper takes as its starting point the concern to rescue the city margins Aguachica (Department of Cesar), in order to give the municipality a
multiple response valence risk situations involving the urban green and natural areas of this
territory. Comes into play, as a fundamental link of the investigation “the Agüil Forest” (Bosque del
Agüil), an ecological jewel city located on the urban fringes which arguably has the features
needed to run as the first element of a series of green poles that would come to be part must of an
ecological corridor that embraces the entire city. The aim is therefore to achieve this through the
development of four phases which are the beginning with a reading of the territory , continues with
an analysis and diagnosis of the existing situation, which once confronted with a series of typologies
and regulations identified in different areas will cement the formulation of a strategic planning
guidelines that allow postulate a green corridor that could well encircle the city of Aguachica and in
which the Agüil Forest be an initial pole and participate as experimental laboratory, aimed at a new
cultural planning culture of periurban green areas at risk which deserve to be rescued by
the importance of biodiversity and to be indivisible and necessary part of an ideal habitat to live.
KEYWORDS
Urbanlandscape, Peri-urban, Ecological corridor.
sempeña como docente investigador de
la Universidad Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga y es el director del proyecto de
creación de la Maestría en Ordenamiento
Territorial MOT de la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Santo Tomás de
Bucaramanga.
*** Arquitecto egresado de la Universidad
Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga (Colombia)
****Arquitecto egresado de la Universidad
Santo Tomás de Bucaramanga (Colombia)
[email protected]
[email protected]
INTRODUCCIÓN
El crecimiento demográfico, la despoblación del sector rural, los desequilibrios socioeconómicos y la expansión urbana son fenómenos que se han convertido en un común
denominador para la mayoría de las ciudades. Las causas y los efectos inherentes a estos
problemas son de diversa índole, afectan el escenario habitado, el paisaje natural y, de una
u otra forma, involucran al elemento humano, principal escultor de estos escenarios. Entre estas situaciones negativas, fruto del acelerado proceso de urbanización que afrontan
muchas ciudades colombianas, sobresale el déficit de espacio público y en particular el
de áreas verdes. En efecto, las ciudades se ven inmersas en la constante “lava volcánica”
de la expansión urbana que no da cabida a espacios aptos para el desarrollo de actividades
al aire libre, sean activas o pasivas, o simplemente para un simple pero necesario contacto
del hombre con la naturaleza.
Paradójicamente, el hombre parece preocuparse más por el hecho de transformar los
espacios verdes en un “territorio de cemento” que por los efectos que esta tendencia
implica: sobrepoblación, polución descontrolada, sobrecalentamiento climático, problemáticas sociales y caos infraestructurales, entre otros. En fin, un panorama incierto que invita
a reflexionar cuán vital es para el desarrollo de una ciudad y de la sociedad que la habita,
la inclusión de espacios naturales que funcionen como pulmones, micro climas, o áreas
de alivio entre el tráfico y los edificios cotidianos. Escenarios propicios para alcanzar este
ideal son las áreas periurbanas, zonas al margen de las ciudades que esbozan un tercer
territorio, punto de contacto entre lo rural y lo urbano, una frontera que puede y debe
ser utilizada para detener el crecimiento descontrolado de las ciudades y proporcionar
espacios naturales para toda la población.
En razón de lo expuesto, se puede entrever el punto de partida de la presente investigación
y los elementos concomitantes que coadyuvaron a la selección y definición final del
tema de investigación, vislumbrado previamente a partir de reflexiones que llevaban a
comparar casos de éxito en ámbito nacional e internacional con la realidad de un territorio seleccionado por un interés personal de los autores: Los márgenes periurbanos de
Aguachica, ciudad ubicada en la región Caribe de Colombia, al sur del Departamento
del Cesar, entre la cordillera oriental y el Valle del Río Magdalena, a una distancia de 301
km de Valledupar, la capital de dicho Departamento (ver Figura 1).
Figura 1. Ubicación de Aguachica, Departamento
del Cesar. Fuente: Google Earth
20
Así bien, para consolidar el problema de investigación se realizó un acercamiento al
territorio con el fin estudiar sus problemáticas y potencialidades para vislumbrar un posible
aporte investigativo que respondiese a la problemática ambiental que actualmente afronta
la ciudad. De esta manera, se identifican problemáticas relacionadas con un alto déficit
de verde urbano y con el deterioro del verde aún presente en los márgenes de la ciudad,
áreas con diferentes características e interesantes particularidades. Sobresale entre ellas el
parque denominado Bosque de El Agüil, situado en el margen oriental del casco urbano
y el cual es en realidad un bosque periurbano dotado de una gran biodiversidad, donde
surgen pequeñas corrientes de agua de gran pureza que se deslizan por algunos sectores
de la ciudad compacta pero donde, lamentablemente, se contaminan y se deterioran.
También se identifican otros problemas como la intoxicación de las cuencas urbanas en
detrimento de la salud de la población, de la flora y de la fauna vernácula. Más adelante, se
pudo determinar, mediante sucesivas visitas de campo y la información proporcionada por
los entes administrativos de Aguachica y el departamento del Cesar, cómo el crecimiento
descontrolado de la ciudad no solamente ha impactado negativamente el área de El Agüil,
sino que ha incidido sobre la mayor parte del territorio periurbano, afectado en gran parte
por el deseo de urbanizar, formal o clandestinamente estos espacios vitales para el desarrollo
sostenible de la ciudad. Se detectan situaciones análogas en la casi totalidad del “marco
periurbano” de la ciudad: un paisaje subyugado por la entronización irracional, deteriorado
ambiental, paisajísticamente y afligido por problemas de salubridad.
Por consiguiente, se opta por tomar el Bosque del Agüil como estudio de caso piloto y
punto de partida para la lectura del territorio, gracias a sus características y a su posición
estratégica que, confrontadas con el déficit de verde urbano y los problemas emergentes
del territorio periurbano, cimentaron la formulación de los objetivos. En términos metodológicos, se acude a un estudio de tipo exploratorio y descriptivo aplicado sobre el
territorio que sustenta el diagnóstico y posteriormente la verificación de las hipótesis y los
eventuales resultados de la investigación. Así pues, se propone un método de investigación
articulado en cuatro fases, que incluyen la observación, la deducción y el análisis, todo
ello con respeto del rigor de la investigación para establecer una secuencia lógica dirigida
de mayor conocimiento sobre el tema en cuestión(Méndez, 2002).
La primera parte de la investigación se enfocó en la lectura del territorio, particularmente
en la zona periurbana para identificar la disponibilidad de verde urbano y después concentrarse en el Bosque de El Agüil como estudio primario de caso. Se continuó con el análisis
y diagnóstico de los resultados obtenidos en la primera fase donde se procura, mediante
el uso de herramientas de planificación, determinar la potencialidad y debilidades del territorio para esbozar inicialmente las primeras estrategias, susceptibles de aplicación. Luego
se realizó el estudio de caso o confrontación tipológica, con el fin de tener evidencia
de proyectos con características similares en otros contextos y observar qué afectaciones
tuvieron estos y sobre la sociedad y qué tan viable sería la realización de una campaña de
estas magnitudes en Aguachica. La fase final vela por retroalimentar la información, contrastar y verificar las hipótesis para generar los lineamientos proyectuales necesarios para la
realización del corredor ecológico en Aguachica, tomando como polo generador el Bosque
de El Agüil para, de esta manera, potenciar sus cualidades naturales para contrarrestar el
desarrollo descontrolado de la ciudad y suplir sus necesidades de espacio público mediante
la implementación de espacios con cualidades similares.
21
MENOSCABO DEL VERDE PERIURBANO EN AGUACHICA
La carrera del hombre hacia los nuevos desarrollos residenciales ha contribuido negativamente a la desaparición de las áreas verdes de margen en las ciudades, espacios con gran
potencial para el esparcimiento de la población y la integración con la naturaleza. Todo esto
se ha perdido con los años y la “evolución del hombre”. En consecuencia, muchas ciudades
se ven abatidas por grandes edificios y gigantes avenidas, rogando así por áreas libres destinadas al ocio y al esparcimiento. Este es el caso del casco urbano de Aguachica que cuenta
con considerables zonas de expansión urbana con amplios márgenes periurbanos de zonas
verdes que han servido durante muchos años como límite entre el suelo urbano y el rural.
Desafortunadamente, con el crecimiento acelerado de la ciudad estas zonas se han visto
afectadas por una actividad constructiva abusiva o poco planificada que pretende “devorarlas” y reducirlas hasta el punto de llegar al borde de la desaparición. Entre las debilidades
sobresale la ausencia de zonas verdes y espacios destinados al ocio o al esparcimiento de
la ciudadanía, problemática verificable al contrastar la realidad de la ciudad con estudios
llevados adelante por organizaciones internacionales sobre el espacio público óptimo deseable por habitante en cada ciudad. Así bien, a partir del analisis de investigaciones hechas
por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) se identifica un estándar mínimo de 10m2
por habitante contra un estándar óptimo de 15m2 por habitante1.
Tabla 1. Confrontación de la disponibilidad de zonas verdes por habitante en Aguachica con otras ciudades.
CIUDAD
M2 POR HABITANTE
Curitiba
52
Ámsterdam
27,5
New York
23,1
Singapur
17
OMS Óptimo
15
Seúl
14,7
Madrid
14
OMS Mínimo
10
Barcelona
5,6
Bogotá D.C
4,9
Valledupar
4
Bucaramanga
4
Aguachica
1,55
Fuente: Elaboración de los autores con base en indicadores suministrados por la OMS.
Estos indicadores, aplicados a un gran número de ciudades en el mundo y comparados
con las actuales condiciones de la ciudad de Aguachica, en términos de espacio publico,
permiten determinar a priori la situación existente e iniciar a intuir una problemática común
a todo el casco urbano: el déficit de zonas verdes (ver Tabla 1).En síntesis, Aguachica se ve
agobiada por una serie de problemas emergentes del territorio que van en detrimento del
medio ambiente y, por consiguiente, afectan directamente a la sociedad. Es evidente la
ausencia de concientización en la ciudadanía pero también es notable el escaso
1
Organización Mundial de la salud. Indicadores de verde urbano por habitante en el planeta. http://www.who.int/es/, [consultado en 21 de marzo de 2012]
22
apoyo de los organismos y estamentos de gestión, los cuales demuestran un interés
casi nulo por estas zonas: no hay evidencia de inversiones ni de mecanismos de protección para estos espacios tan vitales para el desarrollo de la sostenibilidad de la ciudad. Por
tales razones, en la investigación se toma como estudio de caso piloto el Bosque de El
Agüil, ejemplo claro de la problemática enfrentada: un parque periurbano que cuenta con
notables atributos topográficos y naturales, pero que con el paso del tiempo y el auge de
la construcción pasó de ser un terreno de 72 hectáreas, a 7 hectáreas (menos del 10%
de lo que era antes). Este espacio natural, además de brindarle al municipio de Aguachica
un pulmón verde es un espacio con múltiples cualidades tanto para el esparcimiento,
la diversión sana, y la integración social y con la naturaleza. En fin, esta investigación se
propone fundamentar la consolidación del Bosque El Agüil como polo inicial para
la articulación y desarrollo de un corredor ecológico que rodee el casco urbano de
Aguachica y de esta forma le proporcione una serie de focos ecológicos y turísticos tanto
para la ciudad como para la región y el Departamento del Cesar.
MÁRGENES PERIURBANOS EN EL MUNICIPIO DE
AGUACHICA
La situación de los márgenes urbanos de Aguachica está directamente ligada a la conformación del trazado urbano de la ciudad, sustancialmente marcado por manzanas regulares
y ordenadas a partir de la Calle 5, principal eje articulador de la ciudad que va de oriente
a occidente y la cual conecta directamente con la Vía Interdepartamental del Caribe. A
partir de ésta espina dorsal, se desarrolla la mayor parte de actividad comercial de la
ciudad y además se empieza a expandir irregularmente la ciudad en todas las direcciones,
esfumándose el comercio con el uso residencial, caracterizado por viviendas unifamiliares,
en su mayoría de uno o dos pisos. A esto se suman los equipamientos institucionales y las
escasas zonas dedicadas al verde urbano (ver Figura 2).
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Figura 2. Usos del suelo urbano
Fuente: Elaboración de los autores
Más allá del trazado urbano están los márgenes de la ciudad de Aguachica, afectados y/o
determinados por características físicas impuestas por la topografía, la cual marca cierta
regularidad en los costados oriental, occidental y sur pero definitivamente muy cambiante
al norte, zona en la cual se alcanza una altitud máxima que ronda los 215 msnm, donde se
localiza un suelo más propicio para el crecimiento de vegetación y la formación de bosques
y hábitats para las especies animales. La Figura 3 permite vislumbrar el análisis del margen
norte, estudio aplicado a todas las áreas periurbanas de la ciudad. El verde oscuro evidencia
las zonas boscosas con alta arborización mientras las áreas en marrón muestran los terrenos dedicados a una incipiente actividad agrícola, agresiva con el suelo y poco planificada.
Figura 3. Caracterización del margen norte del casco urbano de Aguachica. Fuente: Elaboración de los autores.
Específicamente, la zona norte, está caracterizada por el gran espacio boscoso que de
forma axial demarca la frontera entre la urbe y las actividades agropecuarias en zonas
rurales, el denominado Bosque de El Agüil, una joya natural de 7 hectáreas que se localiza
al norte del municipio. Esta zona es un claro ejemplo de lo que sucede en el territorio
periurbano de Aguachica, se ha deteriorado a causa de los malos manejos y en este momento sus habitantes tienen problemas de salud, de infraestructura, de seguridad, entre
otros (ver Figura 4).
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Figura 4. El territorio del Parque de El Agüil. Fuente: Elaboración de los autores.
En lo que corresponde a la zona sur se puede determinar áreas de expansión altamente
demarcadas, como también espacios invadidos por vivienda informal que afectan el paisaje
periurbano. Por estos motivos los espacios de borde urbano empiezan a mermar, debido
a la apropiación de terrenos por parte de la población de manera ilegal, que están destinados para otros usos, pero no hay respeto por las leyes. La zona oriental tiene como
único y mayor impacto la Troncal del Caribe, vía que conecta el interior del país con la
costa Caribe que se convierte en un margen y condiciona el crecimiento del municipio,
la mayoría de los asentamientos humanos están ubicados sobre el costado occidental con
respecto a la calzada.
Las actividades económicas realizadas en esta zona están relacionadas con vehículos,
transportes, hoteles, restaurantes y demás. El único espacio de proyección para vivienda
está ubicado en el sector sur de esta zona, esta decisión se tomó con el ánimo de legalizar
las viviendas informales que ya estaban asentadas en este lugar. Sobre este margen se
encuentra la mayor problemática en cuanto a invasión y apropiación de zonas boscosas,
protección de las micro cuencas del municipio y más específicamente sobre el caño El
Cristo. Se esperaba un plan de reubicación a raíz de la ampliación de la troncal, pero hasta
el momento no se ha desarrollado.
Por último, la zona occidental cuenta con fincas de producción agropecuaria dentro de
su margen, pero se ha visto altamente afectada por el desarrollo informal de la ciudad y se
encuentran muchas viviendas y tugurios que generan barrios ilegales y por su alto grado de
segregación, pareciesen conformar parte de otro municipio. Esta situación es una cadena
de problemas que va a afectar, poco a poco, a la ciudad ya que no es sólo un sector el
perjudicado, es toda la margen periurbana; es incesante el crecimiento de las masas hacia
las áreas libres con que cuenta el municipio en la periferia e insaciable su necesidad por
construir y apropiarse de terrenos que no les pertenecen.
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PROBLEMÁTICAS Y POTENCIALIDADES DE LOS MÁRGENES
PERIURBANOS DE AGUACHICA
A partir de la lectura del territorio y el diagnóstico de los márgenes de la ciudad se vislumbraron algunas áreas de importancia ecosistémica que se localizan en el norte, sur oeste y
sur del municipio. Estas zonas son el Bosque de El Agüil, el Bosque la Libertad y el Bosque
el Potosí, todas de gran valor por poseer los elementos necesarios para pensar a una inminente preservación y rescate de la biodiversidad allí presente que se ha visto altamente
afectada por la falta de conciencia social y respeto por el medio ambiente.
Así bien, estos enclaves pueden constituirse como núcleos verdes que pueden ser entrelazados para consolidar paulatinamente un corredor ecológico periurbano. La viabilidad
de las conexiones a partir de las visitas de campo permitió establecer las determinantes
que afectan las rutas más viables en su planteamiento. La Figura 5 evidencia las posibles
conexiones entre los enclaves ecológicos y su grado de viabilidad: la línea punteada en
verde oscuro marca los senderos más factibles y la naranja la más inviable o con mayor
dificultad de conexión.
Figura 5. Enclaves ecológicos y zonas de conflicto. Fuente: Elaborado por los autores.
Del diagnóstico realizado salen a luz otras áreas con conflicto en los usos de la tierra,
y por consiguiente, afectadas por una fuerte problemática ambiental. Se trata de
terrenos donde se invaden las franjas de protección de los cuerpos de agua, se violentan
26
los enclaves ecológicos y se compromete la identidad ambiental del municipio. Sin duda,
un problema que atenta contra el paisaje del territorio del municipio de Aguachica que
aún cuenta con algunas fortalezas que ayudarían a una potencial integración de las zonas
verdes, naturales y creadas por el hombre, las cuales simultáneamente proporcionarían
un lugar atractivo para la recreación y el deporte, contemplación y ambientalismo para
otorgarle reconocimiento nacional e internacional en campos como la ecología, arquitectura y urbanismo. Sin embargo, estas fortalezas se ven opacadas por la amenaza constante
de la desaparición de las áreas de protección ambiental y espacios verdes de uso público,
producto de las debilidades no tratadas por las administraciones y desatendidas por la población, aumentado de manera exponencial el déficit de zonas verdes, problema que para
este caso particular la administración pública no soluciona y, por el contrario, contribuye
a agudizarlo al destinar ejidos para nuevos desarrollos o simplemente ignorar las secuelas
de aspectos negativos como los altos índices de invasión o la aparición de construcciones
con afectaciones legales que son actualmente usadas para otros fines como usos de comercio, vivienda informal y problemas no resueltos por las entidades gubernamentales y
tolerados por la sociedad.
En síntesis, un buen número de problemas emergentes identificados y analizados a través
de la investigación con el método de causa y efecto permitió visualizar las debilidades, amenazas y otros. Se trata de factores negativos que inciden en esta problemática, la mayoría
concernientes al verde urbano, zonas de protección y/o enclaves ecológicos afectados
por altos índices de contaminación, desinterés de la población, incompatibilidades en los
usos del suelo, falta de planificación y gestión de las administraciones públicas y entidades
ambientales.
Los aspectos negativos condensados en la matriz están divididos en dos ámbitos, los fenómenos exógenos o externos y los endógenos o internos, acciones puntuales que impiden el
buen estado y funcionamiento de las áreas verdes, además de la interacción con la población
y el territorio o entorno inmediato en el que se encuentran. Las estrategias barajadas a
partir de la identificación de los factores internos o externos de manera positiva y negativa
hacen parte de la relación entre cada una de ellas, que serán vitales para la concretización
de los lineamientos estratégicos que articulen un corredor ecológico donde el bosque de
El Agüil tendrá un rol protagónico.
ESTUDIOS DE CASO (BESTPRACTICES) COMO BASE DE LA
PLANIFICACIÓN DE LAS ÁREAS VERDES PERIURBANAS EN
AGUACHICA
En esta fase de la investigación se observaron, analizaron y determinaron las variantes determinantes de un corredor ecológico, tomado como principio el análisis de cuatro casos
internacionales con el fin de encontrar elementos de juicio y bases proyectuales para el
desarrollo de un proyecto que permita salvaguardar y reactivar el verde periurbano del
municipio de Aguachica. La investigación dirige entonces su mirada hacia la ciudad de Milán
(Italia) donde se ubican dos experiencias exitosas relacionadas con el verde periurbano con
una fuerte presión por la ciudad compacta. El primero es el Parco Nord Milano (Parque
Norte de Milán), un gran parque metropolitano ubicado en la periferia norte de Milán,
clasificado como parque regional pues se extiende entre las ciudades de Milán, Bresso,
Milanino Cusano, Cormano, Cinisello Balsamo y Sesto San Giovanni. El Parque cuenta
actualmente con cerca de 620 hectáreas de tierra que se conservan en las zonas boscosas,
praderas, hileras de arbustos, setos y lugares de pequeños estanques. 27
Este proyecto es un ejemplo claro de lo que se puede realizar cuando los entes gubernamentales toman una propuesta con claros enfoques que propenden por un desarrollo
urbano sostenible y se enfocan en cumplirla. Cabe anotar que aunque este parque no es
considerado como una reserva natural, no obstante sus amplias zonas verdes, es catalogado
como un parque regional pues involucra varios municipios que han cedido su gestión a un
ente único, denominado Parco Nord Milano, porta estandarte de ideales de lo que pareciese
una sociedad única y que contribuye al avance urbanístico de la provincia. Este desarrollo
de unos intereses comunes a nivel provincial en Milán, se refleja aún más con el caso del
Parco Agricolo Sud Milano (Parque Agrícola del Sur de Milán). Abarca 61 municipios
de todo el sector sur de la Provincia de Milán, con 47.000 hectáreas dentro de sus territorios. La idea de la implementación de este parque surge en 1993 con el Plan Territorial de
Coordinación del Parque, un instrumento de planificación guía para el desarrollo del mismo.
Este estudio de caso es de particular interés para la investigación por el modelo de conexión
de amplios campos de actividades agrícolas que se entretejen con el tejido urbano de los
diferentes municipios, modelo que se puede evocar cuando se traen sobre la mesa las zonas
de actividades de cultivos y pastoreo que en Aguachica empiezan a gravitar alrededor de
la malla urbana y que invitan al planificador a preservar la conexión entre medio ambiente
urbano y la agricultura periurbana, así como el fomento del desarrollo comercial y turístico
del municipio. Aguachica se ha caracterizado a través de los años por el desarrollo del sector
agrícola y agropecuario, con producciones de arroz y labores dedicadas al ganado que son
reconocidas a nivel nacional, tanto así que el municipio cuenta con unos de los mejores y
más modernos frigoríficos en Latinoamérica.
Sucesivamente, se identifica un proyecto de características interesantes y que demuestra
poseer elementos análogos al territorio de Aguachica. Se trata del Anillo Verde Vitoria
Gasteiz ubicado en el País Vasco, España. Vitoria Gasteiz, capital de la provincia de Álava,
forma parte de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco y es una ciudad de tamaño medio con
aproximadamente 220.000 habitantes. Su casco urbano compacto, con áreas residenciales
e industriales bien delimitadas pero que ejercen una fuerte presión sobre los márgenes de
la ciudad y los enclaves y áreas verdes fragmentadas allí presentes. Por tanto, el anillo es el
resultado de un “ambicioso plan de restauración y recuperación ambiental de la periferia
de la ciudad que persigue fundamentalmente recuperar el valor ecológico y social de este
espacio a través de la creación de un continuo natural alrededor de la ciudad articulado
por diversos enclaves de alto valor ecológico y paisajístico”, objetivo del Ayuntamiento de
Vittoria Gasteiz que bien podría trasladarse o ser adoptado por la Alcaldía de Aguachica.
Finalmente, se trae a colación el anillo verde vertebrador del sistema de espacios libres,
situado en la ciudad Zaragoza, España. Este anillo verde se concibe por el Ayuntamiento
de Zaragoza “no como algo cerrado en sí mismo, sino como una red capaz de articular
los distintos espacios verdes de la ciudad, y con la vocación de desarrollar sub-anillos y
ramificaciones”. En efecto, una estrategia que se basa en el díseño de “sub anillos” que se
insertan en la estructura del anillo verde principal capaz de articular los grandes sistemas
verdes fluviales y diversos espacios verdes de ese entorno, integrando además los espacios
periurbanos con los urbanos.
Los ejes principales para el desarrollo del anillo parten de las cuencas hidrográficas que
suplen a la ciudad como el río Ebro, y el río Gallego. En el análisis sobre el cinturón verde
de Zaragoza se resalta la particularización sobre la zona norte del cinturón, fundamentados
en la existencia de dos cuencas hídricas que marcan las pautas del proyecto, muy similar
28
a los nacimientos de agua que atraviesan el municipio de Aguachica y proporcionan los
fundamentos para el desarrollo del corredor ecológico.
HACIA LA ARTICULACIÓN DEL BOSQUE DE EL AGÜIL EN UN
CORREDOR ECOLÓGICO PERIURBANO
Con base en las situaciones y experiencias identificadas en los anteriores procesos de la
investigación se identifican algunas preguntas específicas, latentes desde el momento en
que se formularon las hipótesis, pero que ahora son evidentemente explícitas: ¿Cómo
implementar un proceso adecuado dirigido a la consolidación de un corredor ecológico
periurbano para Aguachica en el cual el Bosque de El Agüil juegue un papel preponderante?
Esta pregunta ofrece mucho que pensar y plantea más interrogantes sobre el futuro de
este proceso: se requiere de un plan específico para implementar un corredor ecológico, o
¿Es más viable encontrarle un espacio al corredor ecológico en los planes municipales con
políticas periurbanas? ¿Se requiere apoyar la producción de bienes y servicios al interior
del corredor, destinados a la comunidad de Aguachica? o ¿es mejor pensar en un apoyo a
la diversificación de las actividades actualmente existentes en los territorios periurbanos a
cambio de una oferta de “servicios semi-rurales” a la ciudad?
En síntesis, una serie de interrogantes a los cuales se puede dar respuesta después del
proceso de investigación, basado en una cuidadosa lectura del territorio y una praxis fundamental para el proceso de planificación: el acercamiento a la población. De las encuestas
realizadas se pudo conocer la opinión de un alto porcentaje de residentes de la periferia
y ciudadanos que viven en el casco urbano, especialmente cerca de las zonas verdes afectadas ambientalmente. Las preguntas se enfocaron a conocer el concepto de la población
sobre la actualidad del municipio, la calidad de sus espacios verdes, sus necesidades y sus
fortalezas. Se abarcó 4 grupos etéreos: de 10 a 20 años, de 20 a 40, de 40 a 60 y de 60 en
adelante. La idea era abarcar todos los rangos de edades que tuvieran la conciencia necesaria
para reconocer y resaltar los problemas que padece actualmente el municipio, y de esta
manera justificar nuestra propuesta a sabiendas de que el problema es notorio para todos.
Los resultados obtenidos fueron: el 72% de la población entre 10 y 20 años considera que
Aguachica no cuenta con las zonas verdes necesarias, y el 92% de los mismos considera
que debería contar con más parques en su periferia. También cabe resaltar producto de
las encuestas, que el 46% de la población de 20 a 40 años considera agradable transitar o
caminar por el bosque de El Agüil, lo cual indica que es necesario fomentar este tipo de
actividades dándole la importancia y el manejo adecuado al Bosque para que este porcentaje
de población aumente. Nos adentramos en el mundo de lo probable, pero siempre pensando
en hacer suposiciones fiables que lleven a investigar el futuro de la campaña periurbana en
los centros urbanos de Colombia con características similares al de Aguachica.
Básicamente, se trata de desarrollar algunas consideraciones de diseño en un proceso que
intenta adaptar, e incluso mezclar, las mejores metodologías identificadas a largo de la investigación con la realidad territorial de Aguachica, todo con el objetivo de sentar las bases para
un mejoramiento concreto y preservación de las áreas periurbanas de la ciudad e inclusive
de los centros urbanos de Colombia. Para ello, esta parte conclusiva de la investigación se
desarrolla a través de cuatro supuestos principales que resaltan algunas cuestiones clave
para el posible desarrollo de métodos de intervención en las áreas periurbanas del territorio
estudiado. El primero parte de la consolidación de un Corredor Ecológico Periurbano
para Aguachica que desde este momento será referenciado con la sigla CEPA.
29
Articulación del CEPA desde el bosque de El Agüil como punto de
partida
Este lineamiento demanda como punto de partida la individuación de un área ambientalmente frágil, a fin de reconocerla como eventual polo generador de desarrollo ambiental,
en este caso el Bosque de El Agüil, sección del territorio periurbano de Aguachica en el cual
intervenciones de carácter antrópico han desencadenado alteraciones del ecosistema que
pueden ser irreversibles. Se pasa entonces a buscar una percepción extensa del territorio,
para reconocer las áreas adyacentes inmediatas y proceder a una amplia escala de análisis
territorial. (ver Figura 6 ).
Sin duda, las características físicas del Bosque de El Agüil, sus fortalezas y también sus
puntos débiles, lo invisten como el escenario piloto del CEPA, a su vez, obligan a encontrar
respuestas oportunas siempre pensando en el mantenimiento de una conexión consolidada
entre la ciudad y el área rural a través de un área boscosa, con innumerable biodiversidad,
fuertemente relacionada con el territorio urbano y al servicio de la ciudadanía, teniendo
en cuenta que este polo será el inicio de un corredor que conectara diferentes enclaves
ecológicos presentes en Aguachica los cuales repercutirán en términos de calidad de
vida, o sea, un nuevo verde urbano tan importante como otras necesidades: transporte,
vivienda y demás.
Figura 6. El Bosque del Agüil como punto de partida del CEPA. Fuente: Elaboración de los autores.
30
Articulación de enclaves ecológicos (EE), zonas de conflicto (ZC)
y primera conformación del Corredor Ecológico Periurbano de
Aguachica (CEPA)
Se toma como fundamento inicial los resultados obtenidos en la lectura del Territorio y
posteriormente en el apartado dedicado al análisis y diagnóstico, con el fin de determinar
las características primordiales del territorio periurbano, sus debilidades y potencialidades.
Es, entonces, cuando se identifican otras zonas periurbanas con características no necesariamente idénticas al Bosque de El Agüil pero si con valores ambientales susceptibles de ser
protegidos o revitalizados. Estas zonas asumirán el calificativo de Enclaves Ecológicos (EE)
y Zonas de Conflicto (ZC), poseedores de una serie de particularidades que las pueden
constituir en polos periurbanos de desarrollo ambiental. Estas son el Bosque de El Agüil,
el Bosque de la Libertad, el Parque el Potosí, acogidas en la categoría de Enclaves Ecológicos (EE) y los barrios Veinte de Enero y Villa Country así como las Plantas de tratamiento
Jerusalem y Puerto Mosquito que se engloban en las Zonas de Conflicto (ZC) las cuales
se registran en la Figura 5.
Figura 7. Zonas específicas: enclaves ecológicos y zonas de conflicto. Fuente: Elaborado por los autores.
De esta manera, se establecen una serie de nodos que se integrarán eventualmente a un
corredor verde mediante tratamientos adecuados para tal fin igualmente. Las cualidades y
potencialidades de los terrenos involucrados deberán propiciar la redefinición, consolidación
o adecuación de los usos allí presentes y las conexiones alrededor del casco urbano. Es en
este momento que se vislumbra el primer esbozo del Corredor Ecológico Periurbano (CEP), sustentado en precedentes análisis para así delinear, una eventual, pero viable
31
franja conectiva entre los componentes de las zonas específicas que permitirá un oportuno
espacio de transición entre la ciudad y el territorio rural. (ver Figura 8)
Figura 8. Primera conformación del corredor ecológico periurbano de Aguachica (CEPA) Fuente: Elaborado por los autores
Particularización de las intervenciones en los enclaves y el
corredor ecológico
El objetivo de este lineamiento es sentar las bases para la definición de eventuales estrategias
o actuaciones específicas que a su vez deberán ser aplicadas según la normativa que tendrán
a bien establecer los planificadores y los legisladores que velarán por la aplicación concreta
de las medidas previstas. Este aspecto será ampliado en el lineamiento referido al manejo
del territorio periurbano desde la gestión y la interinstitucionalidad. Se sugiere
a través de la fabricación de una malla ortogonal, que divida el territorio de acuerdo a su
ubicación geográfica por secciones o cuadrantes que permitan la caracterización de cada
una de estas zonas. Cada cuadrante o sección, individualiza las características morfológicas
y territoriales de manera particular para a su vez ser tuteladas o intervenidas a través de
instrumentos de planificación que permitan establecer normativas o intervenciones a nivel
de detalle. (Ver Figura 9).
Se trata de delinear los escenarios donde se especificarán en detalle usos permitidos, límites a la actividad constructiva, prohibiciones, expropiaciones, traslados y otras actividades
dirigidas a la protección del territorio periurbano. Esta gama de acciones, actividades o
estrategias son simplemente la respuesta lógica a la declaración del espacio periurbano
como bien de interés público inherente a la aprobación del Corredor Ecológico
32
Periurbano. Basados en estos dictámenes se podría entrar en una dimensión más profunda
de la particularización que lleva a consideraciones específicas de diversa índole a tener
en cuenta para el desarrollo del corredor ecológico, tales como disposiciones puntuales
para la protección de la fauna y la flora para las cuales se requiere un trabajo interdisciplinario. Seguidamente, se tienen en cuenta los perfiles externos e internos del
corredor ecológico, o sea, el diseño especifico del corredor mediante la utilización de
materiales amigables con el medio ambiente y la inclusión de zonas boscosas entrelazadas
con los cultivos, la generación de zonas de protección para la biodiversidad, la generación
de una barrera natural (setos verdes) para mermar el crecimiento abrupto de la ciudad y
estrategias para la protección de los caños presentes en el territorio, con el fin de poder
rescatar este recurso hídrico, vital para el desarrollo de la población.
Figura 9. Cuadrantes y Plan Particularizador C-5l. Fuente: Elaborado por los autores.
En el caso de las áreas colindantes con el territorio rural de Aguachica, es pertinente la
inclusión de un modelo más específico para la protección de éstas, ya que es aquí donde
la investigación trae a luz la importancia de la Agricultura Periurbana (AP) ampliamente
evidenciada en el caso del Parco Agricolo Sud Milano (PASM). Se tiene en cuenta además
la implementación de “estructuras de cruce” como Pasafaunas, Ecoductos y Greenways dentro del CEPA pues es oportuno, por ejemplo, actuar sobre algunos puntos
de conflicto identificados sobre las vías. Estas estructuras ofrecen alternativas para la
continuidad de la masa forestal viable, funcional y sostenible, de gran éxito en situaciones
como la del proyecto Espacio Natural y Reserva de la Biosfera de Doñana (Andalucía, España),
también estudiados en la investigación.
33
Desde la protección de los enclaves ecológicos hasta la
multifuncionalidad
Se aborda aquí una estrategia dirigida a la inclusión de los enclaves ecológicos en función
de la vivencia y relación con los habitantes desde una perspectiva protectora de la biodiversidad y el alto valor paisajístico en el territorio que generan estos espacios por su
función estética. A esto se agregan las múltiples funciones que los espacios verdes ofrecen al territorio y en especial a los habitantes, en campos como la producción, la salud,
la educación ambiental y cultural, el ambientalismo, la protección de áreas sensibles y la
integración social-recreativa. Relacionado el proyecto con actividades fuera de su función
primaria, estudiadas en proyectos similares como el Parco Nord Milano, referenciado en
Confrontación Normativa y Tipológica, se puede sugerir:
• La recreación en áreas cercanas a equipamientos deportivos, en el caso de las áreas
de borde contiguas al Polideportivo y el estadio Francisco Ramos Pereira.
• La posible implementación de áreas destinadas a la expansión urbana dentro del
corredor ecológico, que compacten el desarrollo del casco urbano hacia el futuro.
• El uso del suelo para la producción y turismo agrícola puede ser eventualmente
aplicable a las áreas anexas al CEPA de manera externa con respecto al municipio,
especialmente en las proximidades al barrio IDEMA y la vía al corregimiento de
Puerto Mosquito.
Manejo del territorio periurbano desde la gestión y la
interinstitucionalidad
La protección y disfrute de los enclaves ecológicos de Aguachica, establecida como el
resultado del manejo u ordenamiento del territorio que comprende las áreas de borde
urbano, así como la transición a los espacios rurales y todas las dinámicas que confluyen
en el ámbito supramunicipal, dependerá de la inclusión de políticas y estrategias que
lleven a cabo acciones que generen un uso responsable pero productivo del suelo. De
esta manera se busca erradicar del territorio las actividades perjudiciales para las áreas
periurbanas que han profundizado las problemáticas del espacio público, manejo ambiental,
recreación, normatividad, y contaminación identificadas durante la ejecución de la Lectura
del Territorio, posteriormente puntualizadas en el Análisis y Diagnóstico. Estos inducen a la
importancia y pertinencia del trabajo articulado de las instituciones con competencia dentro
del municipio, a que contribuyan a la conservación, protección y promoción de las áreas
verdes, así como la constante actualización de los datos que conciernen al conocimiento,
análisis y diagnóstico de los enclaves ecológicos. El manejo y gestión por parte de las entidades municipales de cada división administrativa, estructurada con base en la planificación
(técnicas e instrumentos) y gestión (políticas y estrategias) del territorio, permite la posible
inclusión de las siguientes estrategias:
• La eventual creación de una entidad de planificación y gestión para las áreas
rurales y de borde urbano en los municipios que conforman el Valle del Magdalena,
y la posterior presentación de un Plan de manejo u ordenamiento de las áreas rurales
a escala supramunicipal (PORS) que vele, proteja y planifique el crecimiento de los
municipios, así como la regulación de actividades agropecuarias en áreas rurales.
34
• La caracterización y clasificación de los espacios de borde urbano según su
valor paisajístico, potencialidades, conflictos y la relación directa con el espacio urbano o rural que posean, como método de planificación del territorio para establecer
métodos de intervención homogenizados o particularizados según el caso.
• La Implementación de un Plan de Manejo Ambiental (PAM) dirigido a la protección de las zonas de biodiversidad, pues este instrumento de gestión favorecería a
la regulación y control del crecimiento urbano, evitaría la invasión de los enclaves
ecológicos y las incompatibilidades en el uso de sus suelos, ya que esto contribuye a
la destrucción del ecosistema en el municipio. Es urgente tomar medidas sobre esta
problemática que agobia los enclaves ecológicos, afecta sus potencialidades y agrava
sus debilidades. A razón de esto se incita a proponer el PAM, que de manera simultánea actuaria como agente propiciador para consolidar la conectividad de los citados
enclaves, como estrategia de protección y salvaguarda de los espacios periurbanos
y las zonas de alta biodiversidad que colaboran a suplir el déficit de zonas verdes del
municipio (Ver Anexo A).
• El proceso investigativo sugiere el óptimo tratamiento de los residuos por parte
de la empresa de servicios públicos EMPOAGUACHICA, en coordinación con la
administración municipal y demás entidades competentes, para la posible reubicación
de las plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales, identificadas en la Lectura del Territorio, ya que se localizan en sectores demasiado próximos al casco urbano, sobre las
zonas Noroccidental y Suroccidental del municipio, influenciando en la calidad de vida
de los habitantes de los barrios aledaños. También es pertinente sugerir una mejor
disposición y métodos de tratamiento de los residuos sólidos en zonas más alejadas
a la cabecera municipal, con el apoyo y colaboración de la comunidad a través del
Plan de Gestión Integral de Residuos de Aguachica (PGIRA).
• El corredor ecológico como un potencial espacio de vivencia y protección, respaldado
en la formulación de Políticas y Campañas por parte de entidades como CORPOCESAR y el Instituto municipal de recreación y deporte (IMDREC) que actualmente no
cumplen un papel protagónico en el impulso del uso controlado de los espacios
verdes, a través de los equipamientos planteados para el aprovechamiento y cuidado
de los mismos.
• La funcionalidad e integración del corredor ecológico en relación con el territorio y
la población deriva de la oportuna y beneficiosa creación de la CORPORACIÓN
PARA LA DEFENSA DEL CORREDOR ECOLÓGICO DE AGUACHICA (CDCEA)
como organismo protector y articulador del desarrollo armónico de este espacio
verde. Tomados como referencia los estudios de caso como el Parco Nord Milano,
ParcoAgricolo Sud de Milano y el cinturón verde de Vitoria Gasteiz enunciados en la
Confrontación Tipológica, en los que se incorporan organismos para el cuidado, la preservación y bienestar de los mismos, desde la culturización de la población mediante
el uso de normas y medidas preventivas que contribuyen a la armónica relación de la
sociedad y la naturaleza. Paralelamente la población debe contribuir en las decisiones
de CDCEA dentro del proceso participativo y su obligación de defender los intereses
del municipio.
• La posible instauración de los instrumentos de gestión para la protección de
los enclaves y mejora del paisaje periurbano anteriormente enunciados, esperan
concretizarse a través de la legalización de predios incluidos en el corredor ecológico, la reglamentación de las actividades, usos y materiales amigables, coherentes
con la función de estos espacios y vigilar el cumplimiento de la normativa por parte
35
de las administraciones públicas o entidades privadas encargadas del mantenimiento
de CEPA, para promover la conservación, protección y promoción de las áreas con
biodiversidad y espacio público.
La gestión participativa para el desarrollo sostenible del CEPA
La gestión participativa tiene como finalidad la contribución en la toma de decisiones sobre
el corredor ecológico por parte de la población local. De manera tal que el desarrollo y
el funcionamiento activo del CEPA está directamente relacionado con las decisiones y las
interacciones de la población de Aguachica.
Durante todo el proceso de investigación, se pudo contar con la participación activa de la
población, un ejemplo claro se refleja en el muestreo poblacional. Como se pudo determinar que el 63% de la población piensa que la intervención del gobierno sobre los
espacios verdes es deficiente, y el 95,57% está de acuerdo con la propuestas para la
intervención de las mismas. Esto permite sugerir que la interacción de la sociedad con el
desarrollo del CEPA, sería completamente aprobada y apoyada. Esto propiciaría además
la articulación de campañas de turismo al impulsar los atractivos ecológicos del
municipio con la finalidad de transformar al municipio de Aguachica en un lugar turístico
a nivel nacional, presentándolo como un foco de biodiversidad ecológica, educación, y
diversión para todo tipo de personas.
En lo específico, se podrían implementar actividades como excursiones, observación y
fotografía de la fauna local, senderismo, ciclo montañismo, agroturismo y trailrunning que
a su vez van de la mano con el proceso dirigido a fortalecer la educación ambiental
y cultural en pro del respeto y cuidado de la biodiversidad. Esta propuesta implica
programar actividades de culturización y enseñanza sobre la protección de las zonas verdes
y la biodiversidad local, para que se les brinde el uso adecuado:
• Apoyo a proyectos de investigación y desarrollo de carácter ambiental en niveles
académicos.
• Fomentar recorridos por el corredor ecológico con el fin de dar a conocer el entorno
inmediato, y de esta manera generar el sentimiento de apropiación.
• Campañas de protección y cuidado ecológico en las escuelas, colegios y universidades
locales.
• Pancartas informativas a nivel municipal sobre las cualidades y potencialidades del
corredor ecológico como enclave natural.
Finalmente, se identifica como elemento clave para el desarrollo y sostenibilidad del CEPA
la vinculación de la empresa privada para la generación de empleo a través del mantenimiento de las zonas verdes, o sea, incluir empresas tales como la Asociación de Ingenieros
y Arquitectos (AIA) que se encarga de contribuir a la construcción de paisaje urbano, el
CEBU, directamente relacionado con la producción agropecuaria y el desarrollo de las
actividades en el ámbito rural y de igual manera, las empresas asociadas a la promoción
del turismo como es el caso de VIVETOUR S.A.
36
CONCLUSIONES
Durante el desarrollo de las fases metodológicas que acompañaron el proceso de investigación se identificaron diferentes aspectos que sirvieron como referencia para establecer
la viabilidad de un corredor ecológico periurbano en el municipio de Aguachica, susceptible de consolidarse a partir de la conexión de las zonas forestales, áreas de protección
ambiental, parques recreativos así como a través de algunas áreas de conflicto con ciertas
particularidades. Sin duda alguna, el papel y la participación del Bosque de El Agüil en este
proceso fue decisivo por su envestidura como polo articulador y punto de partida para
establecer la conectividad de áreas similares a él o con elementos afines en términos de
potencialidad para consolidarlas y convertirlas en enclaves ecológicos.
Es así que la investigación detecta estos enclaves como núcleos capaces de propiciar un
desarrollo paisajístico, ambiental y territorial en la zona periurbana del municipio, mediante
instrumentos que potencien y exploren sus características y cualidades naturales. Así bien,
la conexión e integración de las áreas de biodiversidad a través de un corredor verde
formaría un ideal espacio de transición e integración entre el espacio rural y lo urbano al
conformar un paisaje armónico logrado gracias a estrategias de protección y revitalización
de las áreas de margen que bien podría revertir en la sostenibilidad de las zonas forestales,
las de protección ambiental y los parques recreacionales.
De alto aporte a los problemas medio ambientales de la periferia sería también la inclusión de espacios conflictivos o problemáticos con el proceso de planificación del espacio
periurbano. Paralelamente, el proceso de búsqueda hacia la integración de los enclaves
ecológicos que conformarían el potencial corredor ecológico, permitió entrever la viabilidad
y el gran impacto positivo que éste podría generar en las dinámicas urbanas de la ciudad
de Aguachica. De igual forma, la investigación develó la importancia de establecer una
conjunción férrea entre varios elementos, agentes y actores relacionados con el territorio
de Aguachica, en especial con las áreas de borde urbano. Aparece además la trascendencia
del trabajo ambiental y la reciprocidad de la comunidad hacia estos espacios, partes vitales
de un engranaje necesario para el desarrollo del corredor ecológico y la visualización del
municipio con una perspectiva de territorio sostenible y productivo.
En términos de sostenibilidad y productividad del uso del suelo, la conformación del corredor
ecológico en el territorio de borde urbano requiere, sin duda alguna, de la articulación de
oportunos procesos de gestión y participación de las administraciones públicas y la población.
Asimismo, el proceso investigativo, sugiere la participación activa de la empresa privada
en la conformación y mantenimiento de las zonas de conectividad y enclaves ecológicos.
Se trata claramente de una estrategia que requiere del acompañamiento y participación
de la población, factor imprescindible para regularizar el desarrollo óptimo de las áreas de
expansión urbana y que, a su vez, solventen las necesidades de áreas verdes en Aguachica
y del impulso turístico para generar nuevos ingresos económicos en el municipio. Sólo de
esta forma, sin duda, podría generar un impacto positivo, viable y sostenible que revertiría
en una nueva actitud por parte de la población con relación a los temas ambientales y, a su
vez, motivar la inclusión de este tipo de proyectos en la agenda de administración pública.
Sin embargo, la investigación y específicamente la verificación de la hipótesis, todas estas
referidas implícitamente a lo largo de estas conclusiones, ponen sobre la mesa el grave
problema de las escasas técnicas e instrumentos de planificación así como de los planes
y políticas de gestión del territorio. Al respecto es clara la inconsistencia en los mecanis-
37
mos de control sobre el poder decisional y ejecutivo de la entidades administrativas del
municipio así como la negligencia administrativa de los llamados a ser los “operadores del
territorio” en el municipio de Aguachica. Se pone aquí en resalto, un problema de fondo que
requiere, en cualquier caso, de posteriores estudios de profundización pues es indiscutible
que sin una nueva clase dirigente, capacitada y con alto interés por el bien común, estos
problemas continuarán agravándose y podrían poner en peligro el desarrollo sostenible
del territorio en Aguachica.
REFERENCIAS
ALCALDÍA DEL MUNICIPIO DE AGUACHICA. (2010). Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial
Municipio de Aguachica. Documento en aprobación. Colombia.
ALCALDÍA DEL MUNICIPIO DE AGUACHICA. (2012). Plan de Desarrollo Municipal de
Aguachica. Colombia.
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vitoria-gasteiz.org/we001> [consultado en 4 de mayo de 2012]
Busi, R. (2002). Greenway nella pianificazione urbana e territoriale. Bresica: Sintesieditrice.
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EL CORREO.COM. Los seis parques naturales de Vitoria, en: <http://info.elcorreo.com/
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Gómez Orea, D. (2007). Ordenación territorial. Madrid: Ediciones Mundi-prensa, 2007.
Gómez Piñeiro, J. (1987). Análisis geográfico, ordenación del territorio y medio ambiente.
Donostia: Ingeba.
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julio de 2012]
Massiris, Á. (2006). Políticas latinoamericanas de ordenamiento territorial: Realidad y Desafíos. Tunja: Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia.
Mata, R.,Tarroja, A. (2006). El paisaje y la gestión del territorio: Criterios Paisajísticos en la
Ordenación del Territorio y el Urbanismo. Barcelona: Diputació Xarxa municipios.
Méndez, A. C. A. (2003). Metodología: Diseño y desarrollo del proceso de investigación.
Bogotá: McGrawhill.
MINISTERIO DE AGRICULTURA, ALIMENTACIÓN Y MEDIO AMBIENTE DE ESPAÑA,
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Noticias UN, en:<http://www.agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co> [consultado en 28 de
febrero de 2012]
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en 15 de junio de 2012]
39
DEALING WITH THE RISK OF NATURAL
HAZARDS THROUGH NETWORKS OF PLANNERS
– THE CASE OF KLIMAFIT*
Dr Gérard Hutter**
Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), Dresden/Germany.
Recibido: 27 febrero 2013
Three Forms of Network Governance. Source:
elaborated by the author, based on Raab &
Kenis, 2009.
*
This paper is based on research about
two goal-oriented networks in the
Dresden region: Firstly, there is the
project network “Entwicklung und Erprobung eines Integrierten Regionalen
Klimaanpassungsprogramms für die
Modellregion Dresden (REGKLAM)”
(www.regklam.de). The project network
REGKLAM is financed by the “Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
(BMBF)” within the program of KLIMZUG (www.klimzug.de). The program
KLIMZUG focuses on adaptation to
the consequences of climate change in
cities and regions. The BMBF supports
seven regions in Germany within this
program. Secondly, there is the project
network “Raumentwicklungsstrategie
zum Klimawandel durch Untersuchungen
zur Wirksamkeit des Regionalplanes
und Integration informeller Instrumente
(KLIMAfit)” (www.rpv-elbtalosterz.de).
The “Bundesministerium für Verkehr,
ABSTRACT
Networks and networking are important for dealing with the risk of natural hazards. However, up to now, it is an open question which types of networks contribute to planning and risk
management under certain circumstances. The paper focuses on the type of a goal-oriented
network. It uses evidence from a case study about a network of planners, mainly regional
planners, in the Dresden region in Germany. The distinction between goal orientation and
goal directedness is used to show the following: goal directedness of networks involves
intensive and continuous processes of sense making (Weick, 1995) to specify the network
goal. The governance form of a lead organization network facilitates goal specification.
KEYWORDS
Flood risk management, Goal-directed network, Heterogeneity, Network governance
form, Network size, Regional planning, Soil erosion
TRATAR EL RIESGO RELATIVO A LOS DESASTRES
NATURALES A TRAVÉS DE REDES DE
PLANIFICACIÓN - EL CASO DE KLIMAFIT
T h e p l a n n i n g r e g i o n “O b e r e s E l b t a l
Osterzgebirge” and two project-relevant ILEregions (Note: the planning region consists of
the “Landkreis Meißen”, the City of Dresden,
and the “Landkreis Sächsische SchweizOsterzgebirge”). Source: elaborated by the
author.
RESUMEN
Redes y networking son importantes para hacer frente a los riesgos asociados a los peligros
naturales. Sin embargo, hasta ahora, aún es una pregunta abierta en cuanto a qué tipos de
redes contribuyen a la planificación y gestión del riesgo en determinadas circunstancias. El
artículo se centra en un tipo de red con objetivos. Utiliza los resultados de un estudio de
caso de una red de diseñadores planificadores, principalmente planificadores regionales, en
la región de Dresden, Alemania. La distinción entre la meta a seguir y aquello que orienta
esta meta (la directriz) se utiliza para demostrar lo siguiente: las directrices de las redes
involucran un proceso continuo e intenso de construcción de sentido (Weick, 1995) que
determina el objetivo de la red. La gestión y dirección de una red organizacional en forma
de gobernanza, facilita la definición de los objetivos.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Gestión del riesgo de inundación, Red de metas orientadas, Heterogeneidad, Red de
gobernanza, Tamaño de la red, Planificación regional, Erosión del suelo
Bau und Stadtentwicklung (BMVBS)”
and the “Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadtund Raumforschung (BBSR)” support
KLIMAfit within the “Modellvorhaben
der Raumordnung (MORO): Raumentwicklungsstrategien zum Klimawandel
(KLIMA MORO)”, (www.klimamoro.
de). In the first phase of KLIMA MORO,
eight regions were participating while
seven regions are supported in the
second phase.
** Dr Gérard Hutter works as a project
manager and senior researcher at the
Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban
and Regional Development (IOER),
Dresden/Germany. He has just completed two empirical and practiceoriented projects on planning for
climate change adaptation in the Dresden region. Further research areas
are: strategic planning, governance
networks and network management,
flood risk management, resilience.
[email protected]
INTRODUCTION
In principle, dealing with the risk of natural hazards involves an ambitious agenda that covers,
for instance, issues of knowledge creation and integration, of strategy development, and
financial resources, as well as of participation and governance. Actors of various societal
spheres are important for dealing with natural hazards (e.g. actors from local communities,
the political sphere, administration, research organizations). No wonder then that both
practitioners and researchers highlight the relevance of networks and managing networks
for connecting people and organizations (Kuhlicke et al., 2012). However, up to now, it is
an open question which types of networks (e. g., Diller 2002, Powell & Grodal 2005, Klijn
2008, Raab & Kenis, 2009) contribute to dealing with the risk of natural hazards under
certain circumstances. This paper starts with the assumption that networks and network
management are not inherently “good” and effective. The conditions under which certain
types of networks contribute to planning for reducing the risk of natural hazards need to
be specified and explained.
To do this to a certain extent, the paper focuses on goal-oriented networks (Provan & Kenis
2007, 231, use the term “goal-directed network”, see also Kilduff & Tsai, 2003). The paper
adopts a network management perspective that pays ample attention to the structural
features of networks and processes of network management (Klijn 2008, see Sørensen
Torfing 2009, for a more macro-oriented perspective on networks). The paper argues that
the specifics of goal orientation of network actors are crucial variables in understanding
and explaining the effectiveness of networks (Vlaar et al. 2006, Provan & Kenis, 2007).
Networks are important to connect actors from various societal spheres and institutional
levels of planning. Given that actors are significantly influenced by conditions in these spheres
(e.g. formal institutional constraints, informal ways of solving problems), it is necessary to
demonstrate that network actors actually work together in the direction of a goal at the network
level (Huxham & Vangen, 2005). Goal-orientation of networks does not necessarily imply
and lead to the goal-directedness of decisions and actions of network members. Goaldirectedness of decisions and actions is a specific achievement. Against this background,
the paper asks the following question: How do planners create goal-directedness in networks
that aim to reduce the risk of natural hazards?
The paper explores this question based on a case study about a goal-oriented network of
planners, mainly regional planners, in the Dresden region in Germany (Hutter, 2012). The
network deals with the challenge of adapting to climate change in the region of Dresden. The
network addresses issues of dealing with natural hazards in the context of climate change
adaptation. The author of the paper was intensively involved in establishing the network
and in network management, especially with regard to issues of long-term planning. The
paper is an attempt to reflect on these experiences and to propose some generalizations
about the case (Yin, 2009). In the future, the findings of the paper may feed into more
theory-oriented approaches to network development (based, for instance, on the work
of Borgatti and colleagues, Jones et al. 1997, Borgatti & Foster 2003, Borgatti & Halgin,
2011). The following section presents the concept to structure the case study. Then, the
case of a goal-oriented network of planners is introduced. The paper ends with conclusions
for research and practice.
42
THE CONCEPT OF A GOAL-ORIENTED NETWORK
In its most general form, the term “network” refers to a set of nodes and a set of ties
that connect the nodes to some extent (in the social sciences, nodes are called network
actors). This general notion is used in various scientific disciplines and policy contexts.
The paper mainly refers to the literature about network relations between organizations
(inter-organizational network, see Borgatti & Foster 2003, Provan & Kenis 2007, Klijn
2008, Raab & Kenis, 2009). The relevance of networks of organizations in the context of
dealing with natural hazards cannot be overestimated, especially when organizations seek
to develop innovative solutions at the boundaries of knowledge (Powell & Grodal 2005,
Van de Ven, 2007).
Core features of a goal-directed network: It is important to distinguish between different types
of networks (Diller 2002, Kilduff & Tsai 2003, Powell & Grodal 2005, Wiechmann 2008,
Raab & Kenis, 2009). This paper uses the concept of a goal-oriented network to address
issues of network management in the context of dealing with natural hazards. This concept
has the following core features:
• Goal orientation at the network level: A network of organizations declares to realize
a goal that is communicated to external organizations as the desired joint output of
network actors in the future. The rationale to establish a network is based on the
belief that new ties between organizations are necessary to realize the goal. The
paper focuses on a type of network with an initial goal statement that needs some
specification to be instructive for interpretations, decisions and actions of network
actors. Goal-oriented networks refer to multiple levels of social relations (the group,
the organization, the network, see Knight 2002, Huxham & Vangen 2005, Raab &
Kenis, 2009).
• Collaboration between network actors: In general, networks can combine collaborative
with competitive relations (Powell, 1990). A goal-oriented network in particular is
based on the belief that collaboration between network actors will lead to the realization of the network goal (Huxham & Vangen 2005, Ansell & Gash, 2007).
• Formal and informal processes of network management: A goal-oriented network
shows some formalization of interaction between the network actors (Ansell &
Gash, 2007). The term “formalization” refers to both processes of agreeing on and
codifying formal structures, procedures, and so forth, and the output of this process
in terms of network-specific documents (Vlaar et al., 2006). Of course, informal
processes of communication are also relevant for goal-oriented networks (Ring &
Van de Ven, 1994).
Provan and Kenis (2007) speak of “goal-directed networks”. We prefer the term “goaloriented” because it is the main question of this paper how (and to what extent) networks
of organizations develop goal directedness.
Goal-oriented networks are characterized by a complex set of structural features, network
processes, and outputs. There is no “grand theory” that covers all these aspects of goaloriented networks (e. g., Provan & Sydow, 2008). We argue that goal orientation in the
context of dealing with natural hazards is significantly influenced by four kinds of variables:
1) processes of making sense of the network purpose to change goal orientation into
goal directedness, 2) network size, 3) composition of network actors, and 4) network
governance form.
43
From goal orientation to goal directedness: The distinction between goal orientation and goal
directedness is crucial to understand this paper. Goal orientation means that network actors
are aware of being involved in a network that declares to realize a goal at the network
level. Goal orientation is, as mentioned above, the rationale to establish the network.
However, this does not necessarily imply that the “official” goal statement is actually of
high relevance for interpretations, decisions and actions of network actors. A network
goal statement may only be the “façade” of a network to justify its existence in the face of
powerful external actors, like organizations that provide resources to the network. Behind
this “façade”, network actors may follow their own agendas that are only loosely coupled
to the network goal, if at all (Meyer & Rowan 1977, Scott, 2008). Goal orientation is a
core network feature, whereas goal directedness may vary with regard to, among others,
the willingness, capabilities, and resources of actors to make sense of a network goal.
Goal directedness means that an initial network goal statement is the content of intensive
and continuous processes of interpretations, decisions and actions of network actors. It
encompasses at least the following two processes:
• Specification: The paper considers networks with initial goal declarations that are quite
abstract and/or ambiguous. Goal directedness is a process that specifies the content of
the goal statement and how network actors interpret the statement. “Goal-directed
network trajectories develop around specific goals that members share.” (Kilduff &
Tsai 2003, 89, italics added) Healey (2009, 449) uses the similar, but more ambiguous
term of “framing selectively” to argue that goal-directedness “involves a selective
focus. It offers a way through the morass of issues, ideas, claims and arguments to
identify one or more concepts, images and/or principles which are both meaningful
and give direction.”
• Implementation: Network actors interested in goal directedness are also concerned
about delivering in a more formal way what the network promised to deliver at the
outset of establishing the network. Implementation means demonstrating through
documented evidence that an initial goal statement has actually been realized in terms
of specific network outputs, whatever the content and (argumentative) quality of
these products may be.
We assume that making sense of the network goal through some specification and implementation is necessary for network effectiveness and external legitimacy (Provan & Kenis,
2007). This assumption is in line with an interpretative approach to understanding and
explaining networks and organizations (Aldrich & Ruef, 2006, 43-46). An interpretative
approach sees goal orientation and goal directedness, especially in case of networks with
high or modest heterogeneity (Eden & Huxham 2001, Huxham & Vangen, 2005), as unstable
social processes “constantly at risk of dissolution” (Aldrich & Ruef, 2006, 45). Network
actors face the challenge of continuously making sense of the network goal (Weick 1995,
Vlaar et al., 2006). This social process is influenced, among others, by the network size,
the composition of actors, and especially the network governance form.
Network size: The term “size” may refer to various features of a goal-oriented network. A
network may increase its size due to the entry of new network members. Size is measured
by counting the network actors. A network may grow also because of new ties between
network members that were previously unconnected. Size is measured by counting the
ties between network actors. This paper primarily refers to the former understanding of
network size. It is assumed that network size is influenced by, among other factors, funding
conditions for the establishment of goal-oriented networks. Network size is also influenced
by the willingness of actors to participate in a network based on voluntary, perhaps more
informal resource contributions. Furthermore, network research has shown that existing
network relations significantly influence the emergence of new networks (Gulati et al., 2002).
Why is network size important for network management? Firstly, network size can have
an influence on the degree of formalization of interactions between network members.
Large networks are more involved in formalization than small networks. However, there
a complex causal relations between network size and management that will be explored
in the case study. Secondly, network size influences what network actors and external actors expect from a network as appropriate output. To put it simple: Large networks tend
to evoke high expectations about the contribution of a network to dealing with natural
hazards. Actors in small networks may have the impression that they are forced to be
pragmatic about what is expected from the network right from the outset of networking.
Heterogeneity: The meanings of the term “heterogeneity” may also vary. Here, the term
refers to differences between network actors that are strongly influenced by formal and
informal institutional conditions of these actors. The term “institution” covers not only
regulatory institutional constraints, but also normative and cognitive-cultural institutions
that are important to understand why an actor interprets, decides and acts like he or she
does (Scott 2008). Hence, the meaning of the term “network heterogeneity” is much
broader than the heterogeneity of actors. Heterogeneity depends on complex conditions
(see Ansell & Gash 2007 for trying to provide a summary), for instance, the history of
network relations and processes of agenda setting in regions (Wiechmann, 2008). Sandström and Carlsson (2008) argue that networks with high heterogeneity are necessary, but
not sufficient conditions for finding innovative solutions in the context of natural resource
management. Network actors with heterogeneous institutional backgrounds provide an
equally heterogeneous pool of information, knowledge and referrals that are important for
finding innovative solutions. Vlaar and colleagues (2006) argue that goal-oriented networks
with high heterogeneity require intensive and complex processes of sensemaking (Weick,
1995) to capitalize on the potential of heterogeneous networks to find innovative solutions
(Van Wijk et al., 2003). These authors agree that high heterogeneity can be both a blessing
and a curse for goal-oriented networks (Benz & Fuerst, 2002). High heterogeneity may
be a blessing if network actors find a way to develop a common understanding as a basis
for jointly specifying and implementing the network goal. High heterogeneity may be a
curse if it prevents the network actors from developing a focused common agenda that is
specific enough to direct interactions.
Network governance form: A network can be understood as a form of governance that is
compared with markets and hierarchies as alternative governance arrangements (see the
seminal article by Powell, 1990). This paper takes a closer look at goal-oriented networks
and how they are managed based on a specific “form of network governance” (Provan &
Kenis 2007, 233, Raab & Kenis 2009, 207, use the term “governance forms of whole networks”). The term refers to network structures that shape, firstly, who the main decision
makers are with regard to goal orientation at the network level and that shape, secondly,
how these decisions are made. Provan and Kenis (2007) distinguish between three forms
of network governance:
• A lead organization network is a goal-oriented network in which one organization
shapes the interpretations and decisions about the goal of the network and about
the ways to realize it. Kilduff and Tsai assume (2003, 87-110) that goal-oriented networks are usually led by one powerful organization with the internal and external
legitimacy to steer network development. In this paper, we consider further network
governance forms.
• A network administrative organization is a network that is characterized by the establishment of a new network-specific administrative unit responsible for network
management. All network actors have strong ties with the administrative unit. Often,
they contribute to establish the financial basis of the unit.
• A network with shared governance is a network in which all network actors, in principle, have the duty and possibility to shape fundamental decisions about the goal of
the network as well as ways of goal specification and implementation (Geddes 2008
uses the term “partnerships”). Provan and Kenis (2007) argue that shared governance is effective in small networks that require only limited professional network
management competencies.
The governance form of a goal-oriented network may be due to deliberate decisions of
powerful actors at the outset of establishing the network. The governance form may also
develop in a more evolutionary way without a “mastermind” choosing the form of the
network. The governance form of a goal-oriented network is difficult to see and control
because the term refers to the whole network and not to the perceptions of single network
actors. This may hold especially for large networks. However, we follow Provan and Kenis
(2007) who argue that the governance form of a network is crucial for goal specification
and implementation and therefore for its effectiveness. The following case study illustrates
this general statement.
KLIMAFIT – A NETWORK OF PLANNERS IN THE DRESDEN
REGION IN GERMANY
In the Dresden region, it is possible to observe various goal-oriented networks that seek
to build capacities for natural hazards (Hutter, 2013). The KLIMAfit network is a small network led by regional planners and supported by national government. The network deals
with issues of adapting to the consequences of climate change at regional level, especially
with regard to flood risk management and dealing with soil erosion due partly to intensive
rainfall. KLIMAfit can be understood as a project network (Windeler & Sydow, 2001) with
a limited duration from July 2009 until April 2013. KLIMAfit emerged in the context of the
large project network REGKLAM about climate change adaptation in the Dresden region
(details about the two networks are given below). REGKLAM was established in July 2008
and will end in December 2013 (Hutter, 2013). The author was, as already mentioned,
involved in establishing the KLIMAfit network. He was responsible for supporting the
regional planners in implementing the network goal (Hutter, 2012).
The emergence of new networks is an iterative and dynamic process (Ring & Van de Ven,
1994). Network actors try to make sense of relations between possible desired consequences of networking (“goals”) and the means and the resources to realize these consequences.
This assumption about network emergence helps to understand why initial network goal
statements may be rather abstract and why they need specification. Network actors assume
only after several rounds of making sense of the (possible) network goal that others are
reliable and trustworthy. Until then, network actors prefer to commit only to abstract goal
statements that leave enough leeway for interpretation while network relations develop
further and transaction costs become clearer (Ring & Van de Ven, 1994, Vlaar et al., 2006).
In line with this understanding of network emergence, KLIMAfit was established by representatives from the regional planning office based on communication with potential
network partners in the context of meetings of the existing large REGKLAM network
(Hutter, 2013). The possibility to apply for funding organized by national government within
46
a program about innovative solutions for climate change and spatial planning triggered this
process of communication between the potential network partners of KLIMAfit. Regional
planners claimed “ownership” of KLIMAfit right from the beginning and were willing to
make significant resource commitments, also to comply with the many detailed procedures
and requirements defined by national government.
From goal orientation to goal directedness: KLIMAfit is characterized by an intensive process
of goal specification that can be divided into three phases:
KLIMAfit started with a rather abstract overall goal statement to justify networking. The
network declared to formulate a strategy that 1) leads to the “implementation” of existing
regional planning statements for climate change (as mainly defined in the existing and legally approved regional plan) and that 2) takes non-statutory planning, especially regional
management, more intensively into account. This goal statement corresponds with the
well-known argument of planners and planning researchers that statutory planning is not
enough to consider long-term challenges with high uncertainty like climate change and
that applying a complex portfolio of instruments based on intensive collaboration and
networking is needed (e.g. Greiving 2010, Klemme, 2011). Other parts of the application
for funding were much more detailed with regard to climate change and the conditions
of the Dresden region.
In March 2011, KLIMAfit provided some interim results defined as products: Product No.
1 included detailed empirical results, for instance, about climate change at regional and
sub-regional level to consider the interests of regional managers as well as survey results
about the relevance of existing regional planning statements for local planning. Product No.
2 gave an overview of recommendations for regional planning and regional management
in the Dresden region to consider climate change adaptation more systematically in future planning processes. These recommendations focused on a relatively broad agenda of
planning issues (e.g. increasing land used for forestry at specific locations within the region,
issues of soil erosion and flood risk management, topics of regional management in rural
areas, implementation issues at multiple levels of strategy making).
From April 2011 to April 2013, national government continued to support KLIMAfit based
on a more selective choice of planning issues. Regional planners and national government
agreed to focus on two issues: Firstly, flood risk management to enhance the influence of
regional planning on the building stock, especially with regard to extreme flood events;
secondly, issues of dealing with soil erosion due partly to intensive rainfall through a more
selective process of prioritizing the most vulnerable areas in the Dresden region. Planners
expect that this increases the likelihood of implementing some measures for reducing soil
erosion.
In this process of goal specification, the regional plan served as a reference point in many
network communications, either to specify the content of further processes of statutory
planning or to justify activities that were seen as complementary to statutory planning. The
following shows the structural conditions of this process of goal specification.
Network size: KLIMAfit was a relatively small project network. The regional planning office
was the lead partner, supported by the research organization “Leibniz Institute of Ecological
Urban and Regional Development (IOER)” in Dresden. Representatives of two and then
three regional management offices acting on behalf of municipalities in rural areas in the
Dresden region were also actors of the project network. Further network actors were
47
the “Saxony State Interior Ministry (SMI)” represented by an official responsible for spatial
planning and a state agency that supports the “Saxony State Ministry for Environment and
Agriculture (SMUL)” with regard to knowledge about climate change and climate change
adaptation. Retrospectively, it is possible to observe strong ties between these seven organizations as network partners. Weak ties developed during project network implementation
to include actors relevant for issues of, for instance, soil erosion, flood risk management,
and regional management on a temporary basis into the network (e. g. representatives
of municipalities, authorities responsible for forestry in the Dresden region, the “Technische Universität Dresden”). Due to the contrast in network size between REGKLAM and
KLIMAfit, network actors agreed at an early stage of working together that the expected
network output would be pragmatically defined and much more limited than in the case of
REGKLAM. However, network actors communicated this expectation in a more informal
way in the first and second phase of goal specification. This may be due partly to the context
of funding and the overall program of national government on climate change and spatial
planning. National government as well as supporting research organizations and consulting
firms raised a broad agenda of planning issues and related questions which made an early
“open” communication about a “selective focus” of KLIMAfit somehow difficult. In a market
context, it is probably easier to agree on a “niche” at an early stage of networking when
the resource basis is as limited as in the case of KLIMAfit (e.g. less than 100.000,00 EUR
funding by national government for the whole project duration, Hutter, 2012).
Network governance form: High reliability characterized the process of working together
in KLIMAfit in all phases of goal specification. The relatively high degree of formalization
(relative to the network size) facilitated continuous communication between the network
actors and effective reporting mechanisms. However, it would be misleading to understand KLIMAfit as a network with the governance form of shared governance. The regional
planning office was the lead organization from the outset of project network development.
Network actors never questioned the lead role of regional planning (high internal legitimacy). The planning office controlled the communication with national government and
presented the main findings of the network (high external legitimacy). Regional planners
also defined the main parameters of the process of goal specification (e. g. the regional plan
and planning procedures as reference points for specifying the network goal). However,
within this framework set by the planning office network actors had significant leeway for
discussion and for working out the details of advancing regional planning and regional management. As mentioned in the introduction to this case study, the decision to establish a
network as a lead organization network was to some extent deliberate and shaped by the
process of applying for funding by national government. We propose that the governance
form is more important for a successful process of goal specification than the size or the
heterogeneity of the network (Kilduff & Tsai, 2003).
Modest heterogeneity: Strong leadership based on the network governance form of a lead
organization network facilitated goal specification in KLIMAfit. A further contributing
structural factor was the modest degree of heterogeneity of actors. The group of repeatedly interacting individuals that represented the seven KLIMAfit network actors shared
a similar understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of regional planning and regional
management. To put it simple, KLIMAfit was a small network of spatial planners and planning
researchers. Actors with a moderate or high “cognitive distance” (Nooteboom 2008, 616)
to planning participated mainly in events organized by the network (e.g. representatives
of land owners, farmers, forest management, citizens). Network actors focused on the
question how to structure and interpret the high complexity and heterogeneity of contents
that are relevant to build capacities for natural hazards in the context of climate change
48
(e. g. assessing and dealing with uncertainty of climate change variables, analyzing land use
changes with a complex spectrum of evaluation criteria, discussing different approaches
to understand and analyze flood risk related to extreme flood events).
CONCLUSIONS
KLIMAfit was a small project network led by the regional planning authority in the Dresden
region. Network actors created goal directedness through an intensive process of goal
specification that lasted for more than three years. Strong leadership shaped this process.
Network actors that were connected through strong ties were mainly planners or planning researchers. Joint attention of the network actors to the regional plan and statutory
planning made it possible to find “a way through the morass of issues, ideas, claims and
arguments” (Healey 2009, 449) that are relevant for dealing with the risk of natural hazards in the context of climate change adaptation in regions. It is likely that some project
network results will feed into the preparation of the next version of the regional plan (due
in approximately five to six years).
The case study about the network KLIMAfit should motivate planning researchers to assume
that configurations of contents, processes, and structural network features are important
for network effectiveness. Practitioners attempting to establish networks for dealing with
the risk of natural hazards are encouraged to allocate their scarce attention to issues of
clarifying and organizing the network governance form. Organizing and strategizing are
both important for dealing with natural hazards
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51
TERRITORIAL RISK AND VULNERABILITY:
PLANNING TOOLS AT MUNICIPAL SCALE*
Marcella Samakovlija**
Politécnico de Milán, Italia
The research methodological framework.
Source: Elaborated by the author.
* This paper is derived from the interdisciplinary and international research
Quater-Interreg IIIB. The coordinator
of the project was the Lombardy Region
(with the scientifically supported by Politecnico di Milano). The other partners
were: the Ente Parco delle Madonie
(Sicily), the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of the Balearic
Islands (Spain); ARPA Piemonte (Italy),
the Mediterranean Institute of Quality of
Toulon and the Region Provence-AlpesCôte d’Azur (PACA) (France). For the
Politecnico di Milano different research
groups were involved: territorial planning, chemical engineering, hydraulic
engineering, structural engineering and
urban development.
** Graduated in March 1999 in Urban Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, with
a thesis entitled “Elements of characterization landscape of Mantua: proposals
for a landscape values plan”, she has
collaborated over the years with the
ABSTRACT
The paper focuses on the link between territorial planning and risk management. Starting
from the results of an interdisciplinary and international research called Quater-Interreg
IIIB, we will underline the importance of territorial knowledge and the role that planning
can play to mitigate risks such as floods, landslide and other natural and anthropical hazards.
The aim of the research was a kind of certification that would help municipalities learn and
operate on their territory. We worked to elaborate a method that can measure the short
term and long term decision that public administration should take to turn a risky land
into a secure territory. We worked to understand how territorial planning can mitigate
the effect of hazard especially on the vulnerability components. Toscolano Maderno (Bs)
and Seriate (Bg) are the two case studies in Italy that we will present here. Furthermore,
we will introduce the Emergency Plans that we provided for these municipalities and
the link that we made with the ordinary tools of planning. In fact we don’t think that it is
necessary to introduce new tools, but we believe that the importance of knowledge of a
territory can be integrated in ordinary planning tools, in accordance with the 12/2005 Act
of the Lombardy Region (Italy), and be helpful in the phases of mitigation, prevention and
response. An important role that planner can have is in the recovery phase, especially if
we introduce the concept of building a resilience city.
KEYWORDS
Risk management, Territorial planning, Emergency plan, Basic knowledge, Resilience.
RIESGO Y LA VULNERABILIDAD TERRITORIAL:
HERRAMIENTAS DE PLANIFICACIÓN A NIVEL
MUNICIPAL
Steps of territorial vulnerability analysis and
assessment method. Source: Elaborated by
the author.
RESUMEN
El artículo se centra en la relación entre ordenación del territorio y gestión del riesgo. A
partir de los resultados de la investigación interdisciplinaria e internacional Quater-Interreg
IIIB, se hace hincapié en la importancia de los conocimientos locales y el papel que puede
desempeñar en la planificación de la reducción de los riesgos, como inundaciones, deslizamientos de tierra y otros desastres naturales como artificiales. El propósito de la investigación era elaborar una especie de certificación que pueda ayudar a los municipios a aprender
y trabajar en su territorio. Se trabajó en desarrollar un método para medir las decisiones
a corto plazo y largo plazo que el gobierno debería tomar a efectos de conseguir transformar un terreno peligroso en un territorio seguro. Se buscó entender cómo la planificación
espacial es capaz de mitigar los efectos de peligro, especialmente en los componentes de
la vulnerabilidad. Toscolano Maderno (Bs) y Seriate (BG) son los dos casos de estudio en
Italia, que se presentan aquí, además de los planes de emergencia que se han desarrollado
para estos municipios y la unión que hemos hecho con las herramientas ordinarias de
planificación. En conclusión, no se cree necesario introducir nuevas herramientas, pero
si señalar la importancia del conocimiento de un territorio que se puede integrar en los
instrumentos de planificación, de conformidad con la Ley de Lombardía (Italia), 12/2005
y que puede ser útil en las fases de mitigación, preparación y respuesta a un evento. Un
papel importante que el planificador puede tener es en la fase de recuperación, sobre todo
si se introduce el concepto de la construcción de una ciudad resiliente.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Gestión de riesgos, Planificación territorial, Plan de emergencia, Conocimientos básicos,
Resiliencia.
Department of Territorial Science before
and with the Department of Architecture
and Planning then, at the Politecnico di
Milano. In 2008 she achieved the doctoral
degree - XX cycle - in “Urban, Territorial
and Environmental Planning” at Polytechnic of Milan with a thesis entitled:
“The knowledge for the government
of the territorial risk. The tools of the
mitigation”. Since December 2001 she is
been working with a open-end contract
at Politecnico di Milano and she has been
in force at Service for Documentation of
Architecture and Territory.
Her ordinary activity involves dealing
with cartography and data base section
present in the Center. In particular she’s
in charge of the management and the
acquisition of new materials, their elaboration and predisposition for the use
of the students of this Center.
[email protected]
INTRODUCTION
Every year national and local communities face increasing costs due to environmental and
technological catastrophic events. The impact of these events on the environmental and
territorial system is really complex. Due to increase and overlapping of environmental
costs, all institutions (public and private) feel a need to change the government system
from emergency to prevention and mitigation actions.
Either in ordinary planning or in sectoral planning like the one of emergency, knowledge
of the territory is fundamental. In fact, this analytic phase can become the common base
for a planning that takes into consideration the intrinsic characteristics of the territory
(represented also from the presence of risks), towards a development and a sustainable
and harmonious management of the territory.
The goal of the research QUATER – INTERREG IIIB, is the development of a “procedure
handbook for (the) territorial risk management”. This will synthetically be illustrated in
the first paragraphs of this paper. The different workgroups involved in the research have
analyzed the following: territorial vulnerability, flood, landslide, chemical and seismic risk,
vulnerability of public buildings. The final goal of the research was to integrate territorial
risk prevention into the ordinary planning system of public institutions.
The research was applied on a local scale. In the Italian context, municipal authorities are
competent in urban planning and they have a deeper knowledge of the context. The research has been tested on three municipalities with different risks: Seriate (BG), Toscolano
Maderno (BS) and Lainate (MI).
On the Municipality of Toscolano Maderno and Seriate, the research has not been concluded with the application of the QUATER method, but it has been continued with the
predisposition of the Municipality Emergency Plan (PEC). The general objective of a restricted instrument of planning like the PEC is the predisposition of adequate models of
intervention and procedures of emergency to place in action in case of a calamitous event,
in order to support the population affected. A description of the innovative elements that
characterize these PEC is reported in the 6th paragraphs and followings. The application
of methodologies used for integration of the prevention of territorial, anthropical and
technological risks in ordinary planning and in daily operating of the Local Agencies is
slowly starting to pay off. However, there is still lot of work to be done because these
applications do not result in isolate cases, but become instead daily practice of the planner.
THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
The methodology framework (analysis and assessment) is based on the evaluation of
potential damages due to territorial risks that characterize the municipal context. Two
aspects can be identified in the general methodology: the risk analysis/assessment and the
response system. The risk analysis depends on four interrelated factors:
1. Sensitivity – intrinsic characteristics and resources of the municipal territory/context
(natural or human).
2. Exposure – number of goods, people and activities potentially involved during the
event.
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3. Vulnerability – the tendency of goods, people and activities to get damaged;
4. Hazard – the characteristics (intensity, frequency, areas involved) of the hazardous
events.
Risk is the result of all these aspects. The analysis of hazard and vulnerability can be extended beyond the municipality boundary (local level and territorial level). The aim is to
verify the presence of a potential hazard near the municipality boundary that can have
some indirect effects on it.
The response system, based on the risk analysis, is characterized by two intervention levels
on the territory: the first considers emergency management measures and risk mitigation
interventions (these actions must be implemented in a short period). The second level
concerns the territorial risks prevention measures that must be implemented over a long
period (and that must be integrated in the planning and land uses plan instruments). (Figure 1)
Figure 1. The research methodological framework. Source: Elaborated by the author.
55
THE TERRITORIAL VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
The method for territorial vulnerability analysis consists of three steps: a preliminary analysis
step (level 1), a detailed analysis step (level 2), and a further detailed analysis step (level 3).
The outcome of the preliminary analysis step (level 1) is the determination of the Basic
Knowledge (territorial information/data) concerning the municipality. In particular, this
level pinpoints the distribution of the population and the localization of strategic buildings.
The second step (level 2) outcome is an investigation into the sensitivity by means of specific
indicators, varying according to the characteristics of each municipality, and a preliminary
exposure and vulnerability assessment of the territorial system for each risk.
The detailed analysis step (level 3) enhances the results of the previous step by means of
a specific analysis (of the different hazards and area of the territory involved).
The outcomes of these three analysis steps help municipal authorities select an action and
intervention system aimed to decrease/reduce territorial vulnerability. Every step uses
parameters and indicators that can be used to assess vulnerability and carry out a periodic
audit of the certification procedure. (Figure 2)
Figure 2. Steps of territorial vulnerability analysis
and assessment method. Source: Elaborated by
the author.
Indications
At the conclusion of the detailed analysis, as we have already mentioned, the method
allows for the recognition of some indications for the short and long periods. The short
period indications are related to emergency management measures and risk mitigation
interventions (Municipality Emergency Plan, information campaign for the inhabitants, risk
mitigation interventions on strategic buildings). The long period indications are related to
territorial risk prevention measures, which have to be integrated in the planning and land
use plans instruments (for example a program for new location of strategic buildings and
a land use code).
56
Table I shows an example of short term and long term indications in the case studies of
Toscolano Maderno; the indications are divided in mitigation interventions, Civil Protection actions and planning measures (the red line divides short term indications from long
term indications). All the indications are related to the analysis that we have made on the
Municipal territory.
In the case studies analyzed, the town/city plan was in use from various years and little or
nothing had been done to introduce measures of mitigation which not only refer to the
dangerousness, but also to the vulnerability of the territory. The long term indications, for
future phases of plan updating, would have to be integrated or be held in consideration
in order to create the connection between ordinary and sectoral planning which was
mentioned before, with the support of the procedures of maintenance of the certification.
Table 1. Example of short term and long term indications. Source: Elaborated by the author.
Indications framework
Mitigation
interventions
B
Civil Protection actions
C
Planning
Development of internal Municipal office collaboration:
development of Territorial
Information System.
A1
Programming and design of hazard mitiga- B1
tion interventions.
Updating of Municipal
Emergency Plan with
C1
all risks present on the
territory.
A2
Municipal programs
finalized to hazard B2
analysis.
Design and development
Verification and comparison
of information campaign C2 with future land use plan and
for inhabitants.
territorial risk.
A3
Realization of hazard
mitigation interven- B3
tions.
Development of a program to stimulate the
intervention to keep the
safety of the buildings.
A4
Reduction of exposure level for inhabitants
and strategic building.
B4
Realization of inhabitants
Identification of alternative
C4
information.
roads in dangerous areas.
………
B5
Development of new location
Development of municiC5
pal Emergency Plan.
for public services buildings.
B6
Development of programs
Arrangement of inforand systems for territorial and
mation about territorial
C6 network monitoring; improveand network vulnerament of Territorial Information
bility.
System.
LONG TERM
SHORT TERM
A
………
Development of municipality
C3 program for new location of
strategic buildings.
………
An important aspect of the proposed method is the verification of goals and actions. The
actions efficacy and the targets gained can be checked in two ways: a continuous enrichment
of the Basic Knowledge (which improves the efficacy of the indications) and the monitoring
of actions over time.
The methodology realized for the redaction of the Municipality
Emergency Plans
As reported in the short term indication from QUATER methodology, we have elaborated
the Municipality Emergency Plans (PEC) for the Municipalities of Toscolano Maderno and
Seriate. If we go back to the three parts that compose a PEC, we can then disclose the
57
methodology set in action in the specific cases presented in the introduction. We can also
highlight some innovative elements and their relation to the planning and management of
the territory.
Firstly, in both cases we have elaborated a multi-risk plan that also takes into consideration
those hazards not explicitly cited in the reference norms. The choice we made derived
from the consideration that hazards are intrinsically part of the territory and all hazards,
in the first analysis, must be considered and analyzed with the exact same relevance. Only
after a careful assessment it is possible to decide which ones are negligible in the plan.
Regarding the general structure of a PEC, this is composed of three fundamental parts: the
Basic Knowledge, the Operative Part and the Part of Verification and Updating.
The Basic Knowledge contains:
• a territorial organization that must be elaborated independently of the presence of
risks;
• the analysis of direct or induced dangerousness, also from a close Municipality;
• the detection of the vulnerable elements exposed to the risks (es. hospitals, schools,
zones with elevated population density, technological infrastructures, etc);
• the identification of available resources (es. rapid-reaction force at local and regional
levels, areas of reception and/or shelter, vehicles and materials);
• the depiction of the risk scenes.
The Operative Part identifies the systems of monitoring and pre-monitoring an event for
the expectable risks (es. the alluvial risk) and the drawing up of the aid models (identification of members of the Local Unit of Crisis that comprise the rapid-reaction force of the
Municipal territory; the localization of over-local useful forces of intervention in case of
particularly serious events or for a particular typology of risks; for every force involved,
the “who - does - what” of the tasks).
The Part of Verification and Updating comprises:
• the verification of the PEC by drill and, in case of incidental events, through the former
post-analysis of the procedures of emergency action;
• the updating of the PEC through the identification of protocols for implementing
short and long period updates.
For the realization of the PEC we have used GIS, which allows to share and to update the
information arranged systematically in a fast and effective way.
The Basic Knowledge of the Municipality Emergency Plans
In the Basic Knowledge, after a general organization of the territory under study (comprised
of thematic like: climate, geomorphology, hydrography), we have analyzed the urban settlement and the infrastructural system, the distribution and characteristics of the population,
the economic activities, agriculture and public services, the emergency infrastructures and
the resources available.
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The first phase includes an analysis of population census and the mapping of strategic and
vulnerable buildings; the emergency areas available (subdivided in waiting areas, reception
areas and recovery areas); the public infrastructures service and resources of Municipal
property which could be available in case of necessity. All information obtained in this first
part of the Basic Knowledge of a PEC becomes mapped by GIS and in this way we provide a
cartography which is always updated and available for the PEC, but also for ordinary planning.
The ideal successive step, today still not completed in these two cases, sees this basic information of the territory, at the moment independent from the typology of present risk,
contained into a Municipal SIT (Territorial Information System) where all the councillorships
can reach and contribute in the given terms of updating. The structuring of the PEC for
this purpose has concurred to supply a common working base in which, once the financial
resources have been obtained, a Municipality will be able to build the SIT.
Another important and innovative element in this type of sectorial plan, involves the drawing
up and continuous updating of files dedicated to the emergency areas; they contain important
information on accessibility, extension, equipment of independent infrastructure service,
etc. Often neglected inside the norm of writing of the PEC, usually the planner localizes
the areas without dealing with their specific characteristics.
The second phase of the Basic Knowledge of a Municipality Emergency Plan involves the
analysis of dangerousness and risks present in the territory. For the Municipality object of the
research, the analyses have already been carried out from work groups of project QUATER.
The heart of this phase of surveying the PEC are the risk scenarios, meant from the Regional Directive like verbal and synthetic descriptions, accompanied with an explicative
cartography of the possible effects on the population and on the infrastructures, by adverse
meteorological events (flooding, also gave away dams), of geologic or natural phenomena
(earthquakes, landslides and avalanches), by forest fires, or industrial accidents or of dangerous substances in freight accidents. From the point of view of risk analysis, it is important
to emphasize the presence and the involvement of various disciplines and expertise in this
phase. These experts have not only supplied a risk assessment on present territory, but
also a reflection on relation between these risks and the development of actual urban area,
on effect of the future forecast urban growth.
The abilities of planner to represent territory through a reasoned and synthetic cartography
are fundamental in order to give back a general picture of risks and the complex systems
that compose the territory, that a specific scientific sector does not succeed in condensing.
In fact, in the phase of knowledge and planning of territory, we would have to already be
notified of the presence of a risk in our area of surveying.
Once again the relation between sector planning, one of emergency and ordinary planning
emerge. In fact, new Regional Law of Lombardy 12/2005, considers it obligatory that there
is a risk analysis for plans at different territorial levels, the problem is that all risks are not
taken into consideration and there isn’t a directed connection between ordinary territorial
plans with emergency plans that instead consider, as we have previously said, all the types
of risk. Localization of a public structure, for example a school, would have to take into
consideration not only the economic reasons, but planner would have to also take into
consideration the degree of dangerousness in different territorial risks that characterize
the area to settle. This information is contained in a PEC.
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It is obvious that not always, in our territory, we can refer to new constructions, but we
always have to take into consideration public buildings already constructed: in this case,
given the impossibility to eliminate risk, the intervention of mitigation would be opportune
and useful in order to diminish the possibility of damage caused on buildings. In both cases,
a deeper knowledge of territory is necessary, whether in punctual terms (es. localization
of the building), or in analysis of various systems that compose it.
The localization inside Plan of Government of the Territory of particular services involved
in the emergency phase and in accessible areas, is not subordinate to eventual risks (e.g.
municipal civil protection, Red Cross, fire brigade, etc.), it allows to supply a ready answer
to emergency and therefore a more effective and efficient management of the event. If we
placed side by side these two instruments and a Plan of the Urban Traffic, we could then be
sure that the time of reacting to event and the dispersion of forces involved will be limited.
Also regarding the second phase of the Basic Knowledge of a PEC, we have written up a
series of explicative cartographies of dangerousness, present risks and risk scenarios that
we have decided to adopts for the drawing up of the intervention models.
Another innovative aspect that deserves further discussion, regards the cartography of
the risk scenarios. This cartography has been planned in such a way as to have in an only
picture all the reference for the portion of territory interested in calamitous event, with
indication of strategic and vulnerable buildings, service infrastructures, that have been
involved in the event. Where possible, we specified the civic number of building involved
and consequently we gave a brief description of the characteristic of single inhabitants. In
fact, in the PEC, we have also attempted to distinguish sensitive population, that is young
people, old people or disabled ones who need particular assistance in cases of evacuation
of the areas at risk.
The Operative Part of Municipality Emergency Plans
As anticipated, the Operative Part of a PEC also characterizes the systems of monitoring
an event in premonitory phase and it drawing up the intervention models. The first aids
to populations are directed and coordinated by the Mayor of the Municipality involved in
the event. The Major, in accord to Italian legislation, is local authority in matter of Civil
Protection. In case of events which cannot cope with local resources, the Mayor could ask
for assistance at Prefect who activates and manages the over-local forces of intervention.
Therefore, the first step in the drawing up of intervention model is the localization of local
forces of intervention, they will then be involved in Local Crisis Unit (UCL) and over-local
forces will support it.
For every risk scenario contemplated in the Plans, we have identified specific procedures
of intervention that, in this methodology are made up of:
• one matrix time/components of UCL; where we identified, subdivided for temporarily and succeeded passages, the activities to place in action part of every member
of the UCL (for clarity, main forces of over-local participation are also comprised in
the matrix);
• one matrix activity/responsibility; where, for every identified activity we specify the
responsibilities of every member of UCL (if he is responsible for an action, if he is
simply informed or just supporting);
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• a job description for every member of UCL; where the activities placed in head of
every Agency are explained. The job description contains all useful and indispensable
elements to know in an emergency phase (es. telephone numbers of managers of
technological networks, etc.);
• a cartography that summarizes all the main information of the intervention procedures.
Where possible, as an example for alluvial risk, all these procedures of intervention are
multiplied for pre-alarm phase, alarm or emergency phase. For not expectable risks, the
procedures are formulated only for the emergency phase.
Particularly innovative and interesting in the contents is the job description and the cartography of intervention models. Like we had observed for cartography of risk scenarios, also
in this case we can find in a single cartography the necessary information for activation of
intervention procedures: one clear map of area interested in event with the indication of
interested vulnerable elements, the indication of the ways to escape and the usable emergency areas. This cartography, beyond graphical part, is physically structured with a series
of “pockets” where the main intervention procedures have been collected (matrix time/
components UCL, matrix activity/responsibility UCL, job description for every member
of UCL and a list of population have been involved for typology).
The part of Verification and Updating of Municipality Emergency
Plans
All the “architecture of emergency” adjusted with this methodology, introduces to the
third fundamental part of a PEC, that Verification and Updating of data and information
are contained in it.
The verification of a PEC generally occurs by drill, in case of incidental events, through
former-post analysis of procedures of emergency. Closely correlated at verification of plan
there is the periodic updating, necessary in order to be able to manage the emergency
better, because PEC must be used as a dynamic and modifiable instrument in consequence
of changes of territorial system to which it belongs. For the review of PEC we have identified a protocol of updating a short and a long period. The updating of short period regards
population exposed (with particular regard to the sensitive population) the members of
UCL, the over-local forces of intervention and all the information that changes or could
change in a minimal temporal arc. The updating of a long period regards territory (which
changes independently from presence of risks) and present dangerousness (that could
modify in the light of new studies).
Also in this phase there is a strong relation between emergency planning and ordinary
planning that can, with its decisions, aggravate or mitigate a present risk.
From the operational point of view, the updating of a PEC is therefore also conceived inside
a Municipality which adopts a system of certification like that one proposed from QUATER
method, it is useful to emphasize the necessity of a strong collaboration between several
operative sectors of Municipality, from the office of Civil Protection to the Technical Office
up to the Registry Office.
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CONCLUSION
The QUATER method develops a procedure handbook of territorial risk management
not only with short period actions, but also with some indications for risk mitigation and
prevention in a long term vision. The method aims at integrating risk mitigation aspects
in ordinary planning.
The procedure allows the arrangement of information about territory (Territorial Information System) and develops a public and private collaboration.
The system is managed by Municipality, in a flexible and incremental way, through a constant
process of goals update and verification. Moreover, the support of planning instruments
such as a sectorial Emergency Plan, directly connected to ordinary planning and to certification process, allows to achieve those goals which were initially set for mitigation of risk
through the planning instruments.
Table 2: The innovative elements inserted Municipality Emergency Plans. Source: Elaborated by the author.
Innovative elements
Analysis of dangerousness also outside the
municipal boundaries
Basic
Knowledge
Organization of the information by GIS
Interactive cartography
Relation between ordinary planning
Use of the same information about the territory
inside the Municipality SIT
Use of the same information about the dangerousness and risk inside the Municipality SIT
Operative
Coordination of the choice take in the ordinary
Design of the intervention procedure with
planning and sectorial planning, in order to
matrix, job description and interactive
avoid a worsening of the situation at risk and
cartography
to mitigate the effects.
Verification and
Updating
Protocol of updating of the information
organized by GIS
Continuous updating of the information regarding the territory and the Municipality goods
The task of making connection between these two typology of plans more effective is still a
lot. We do not think that the introduction of new instruments of planning is necessary, but
that the correct and sustainable use of existing instruments is enough. As planners, we think
that we can’t stop to think of single destination of land use, the instruments of mitigation in
our “hands” are various (eg. adoption of particular building regulations, maintenance and
promotion of the use of particular natural buffer areas, etc.) and it is necessary to enter in
the perspective that in order to plan a secure territory, we must think of different levels of
action in space and time and that a synergy between various sectorial expert is necessary.
When we think about “resilience”, we often think only to recovery of a city in post-event
phases, almost as if this stage was a sort of “closure” quantifiable. Instead, for resilience
we mean the ability to get out of a stalemate, so do not necessarily equal to the initial preevent. The ability of a territory to be resilient consists largely from organization and from
relationships existing prior to event, more the system will be flexible and more rapid will
be the recovery to normal activities with a view to improvement and awareness.
Often, the concept of sustainability is partnered by resilience. Sustainability, in fact, does
not necessarily mean that all risks are eliminated, but that a degree of balance between the
issues related to risk, social and economic ones are reached. Certain levels of risk may be
necessary and acceptable. Where a community chooses to continue living in a territory,
62
despite risk, the development should go towards the creation of cities resilient, able to
react to the effects of a disaster. This type of approach, namely to know and to work on
nature and not against it, can simultaneously achieve the goals of conservation and enhancement of natural resources without diminishing the chances of developing [Burby, 1998].
The integrated use of appropriate tools for management and planning, as we’ve tried using
in the territories of Seriate and Toscolano, it is necessary for try to plan a resilient city,
reducing intensity of development in hazardous areas, reducing need to alter and hinder
natural processes, we could reduce the economical and social costs, of vulnerable city.
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63
FLOODINGS AND SOCIAL VULNERABILITY:
THEIR SPACIAL EQUIVALENCE IN THE CITY OF
CURITIBA, BRAZIL*
Clovis Ultramari**
Pontifical University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil.
Beatriz Hummell***
Botanical Garden, Curitiba. Source: Authors
archive, Beatriz Hummell, 2013
*
Both authors live, work and research
the city of Curitiba since they started
their professional works. Research was
developed as part of the Urban Management Post graduation Program, at the
Pontifical University of Paraná. This paper
represents the first step of a now long
broader research concerning disaster
occurring in cities. Current authors attention concerns the international flux of aid
for emergency situations and the impacts
of such situations in the local efforts for
recovery.
** Clovis Ultramari is a professor at the
Pontifical University of Parana, Curitiba,
Brazil. His main areas of interest and
research are land use legislation, natural
accidents and their impacts on urban land
use, assessment of large urban projects,
and conceptual aspects of the city. He has
written many articles and books on these
subjects, mostly in Portuguese. He also
serves as an advisor on dissertations and
theses concerning his areas of expertise.
His current research project is focused
on the role of international aid agencies
in disaster recovery action.
ABSTRACT
This is a theoretical discussion on social vulnerability and on the construction of vulnerability indexes. Empirical exercise takes place in the city of Curitiba, Southern Brazil. Article
is based on both conceptual approaches revealing complexity of such topic as well as on
empirical demands to establish priorities in terms of risk reduction action facing natural
adverse events and distribution of resources in post-disaster recovery. Urban context is
that of Brazilian cities, revealing recurrent inequalities in the way inhabitants build, use,
and transform urban compartments. Research presented here can be contextualized in
a scenario where adverse phenomena should deeply influence the elaboration of urban
public policies. Its main target is to contribute to the identification of parameters to channel
public resources in preparedness actions facing adverse situations.
KEYWORDS
Social Vulnerability; Natural Hazards; Vulnerability Index; City of Curitiba.
LAS INUNDACIONES Y LA VULNERABILIDAD
SOCIAL: SU ESPACIO DE EQUIVALENCIA EN LA
CIUDAD DE CURITIBA, BRASIL
Informal settlement, Curitiba. Source: Authors
archive, Beatriz Hummell, 2007
RESUMEN
Esta es una discusión teórica sobre la vulnerabilidad social y la construcción de los índices de
vulnerabilidad. El ejercicio empírico se llevó a cabo en la ciudad de Curitiba, sur de Brasil.
El artículo se basa en dos enfoques conceptuales que revelan la complejidad de este tema,
así como de las necesidades básicas para la fijación de prioridades, en términos de acción,
la reducción del riesgo de eventos naturales adversos y la distribución de los recursos en la
recuperación post-desastre. El contexto urbano es el de las ciudades brasileñas, que destaca
las desigualdades en la forma en que los habitantes construyen, utilizan y transforman los
sectores urbanos. La investigación que aquí se presenta puede ser contextualizada en un
escenario en el que las circunstancias adversas deberían afectar profundamente el desarrollo
de políticas públicas urbanas. Su objetivo principal es contribuir a la identificación de
parámetros para la canalización de recursos públicos en la preparación para hacer frente
a situaciones adversas.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Vulnerabilidad social, Desastres naturales, Índice de vulnerabilidad, Curitiba.
*** Beatriz Hummell is a doctoral candidate in Urban Management at the
Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná
in Curitiba, Brazil. Her main research
interests are in disaster diplomacy and
humanitarianism, social vulnerability
to natural hazards and urban regeneration in slums. Was a visiting scholar
at the University of South Carolina and
participated in the Munich Re Foundation and UNU-EHS (United Nations
University - Institute for Environment
and Human Security) 2012 Summer
Academy (From Social Vulnerability to
Resilience: Measuring Progress toward
Disaster Risk Reduction). Currently
develops research for her doctoral
dissertation entitled “Geographies of
Solidarity: inequities in priority definition for aid addressing after natural
disasters”.
[email protected]
[email protected]
FOREWORD
According to The International Emergency Disasters Database, the number of natural
hazards in the last decades increased faster if compared with the first decades of the
1900s (EM-DAT, 2009). Similarly, Munich Re Group (2003) data show that the economic
losses related to disasters also have increased since the 1950s. Other studies, developed
according to different methodologies have stressed similar concerns. Data showing and
highlighting the increase of disasters are, in fact, recurrent in the scientific production that
discusses contemporary social and urban problems. It highlights that the occurrence of
disasters is an important factor to consider when formatting urban management initiatives.
Additionally, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) states that, in the last
25 years, not only the number of reported natural disasters but also their impacts on human
and economic development worldwide have increased, reducing gains obtained during a
period of relatively economic success. “It is troubling that disaster risk and impacts have
been increasing during a period of global economic growth” (UNDP, 2004, p.11).
Natural hazards may occur regardless of social stratification, however, their impacts affect
differently among these very same specificities, enabling damages to increase or diminish
their temporalities. Empirical and scientific observations also confirm that lower income
levels populations are often repeatedly affected by recurrent hazards, pointing out the
relevance of social and economic parameters on the vulnerability concept. Currently it
is largely accepted that different social levels react differently when exposed to the same
hazards. By adding the complex social differences to a wide concept such as Beck’s (1992,
2006) risk society, vulnerability would act as a result of contemporary economic and technological development but also of discrepancies in the outputs distribution of this very
same development. Other concepts have so been repeatedly discussed, but mostly in a
palimpsest way: instead of eliminating preterit hegemonic ways of understanding natural
disasters impacts, they were readjusted in new and more complex hierarchies of importance.
This article is based on such conceptual bias, stressing a close relation between impacts
caused by natural disasters and social characteristics of those who are submitted to them.
If impacts are now considered according to multiple perspectives (a long desired comprehension), prevention still depends on a limited social memory. In fact, because social
vulnerability may be understood as a “dormant phenomenon till a calamity occurs,” it is
still more easily related to risk management situations and hardly taken as a pre-existing
condition that shapes suffering and recovery ability. Although progress can be present in
the scientific discussion on adverse phenomena - confirmed and fostered by an increasing
scientific discussion on the theme -, public policies seem reluctant in taking new approaches in their programs. That was the situation observed by these authors in their studies in
Brazilian municipalities under strenuous conditions due to floods and landslides (common
disasters in the country during summer season). Case study presented here is an example.
It takes place in the city of Curitiba, located in the southern region of Brazil, with 2 million
inhabitants and internationally known due to its urban management experiences and a better
quality of urban life if compared with country´s average. These positive aspects notwithstanding, social inequalities are for a long time present in the city. Lack of historical data does
not allow to attest that number of disasters, percentage of affected people and economic
losses are increased in the last decades. Therefore, common sense insists on predicting
bleaker scenarios for the city. Methodology adopted in this case study overlays the areas
most affected by natural hazards and socio-economic indicators spatially. This methodology
is based on the data available and developed to distinguish the city´s districts according
to their vulnerability index. It also stresses the importance of dealing with public policies
spatially. This type of approach is rarely seen in Brazil, even considering that Brazilian cities
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have clearly delineated social and environmental compartments. Time frame considered
for this analysis is limited to 2003-2008. Longer periods of analysis would certainly provide
more solid results. However, the previously intended time frame of 10 years had to be
shortened either because of data unavailability or different methodologies used to collect
them. Nevertheless, this six-year period provides rich information on the topic discussed
here due to its particularity in terms of annual recurrence of intense adverse natural phenomena in the city. Geographical scope of the research refers to the entire territory of the
city (430,9 sq. km) according to its 75 districts that represent not only administrative units
but also specific territories with particular social and economic scenarios.
BRAZIL: A CONTEXT OF ADVERSITIES
Human and economic losses caused by natural disasters call for a combined and complex
action in terms of prevention, risk reduction, emergency procedures and reconstruction
practices. This is another recurrent observation among concerned scientific literature but
that still rests unapprehended by different government levels. Despite an almost general
acceptance that natural adversities impacts go far beyond the complexities of emergency
responses, important aspects involving a myriad of stakeholders still lack understanding.
There is thus a gap between what is conceptually long agreed and what is definitely observed and implemented by governmental agencies. Ideas such as let’s not only rebuild, but
build it better, preventing is easier than rebuilding, vulnerability should be socially understood,
among other examples, still remain heard as repeated mantras but hardly implemented
ones. Globalization of solidarity, characterized by an intensive exchange of practices and by
a struggle for more transparency, seems to help in this necessary transformation. However,
so far, this article is still contextualized in a reality where gap between the discourse and
the action is persistently clear.
According to Nunes and Kobiyama (2006), the increase of reported disasters can be related
to a number of factors, such as the population growth, social and territorial segregation, accumulated resources in danger areas, progress in communication media, and global changes.
This phenomenon also can be more specifically related to the global warming process and
climatic changes (IPCC, 2007). If the causes of increasing trends of natural disasters are to
be related to a number of different factors, current scientific production seems to focus its
main concern on the social aspect, which is decisive to understand natural hazard impacts.
Yet considering the complexity involving the increasing number of disasters and the increasing impacts they impose, this paper concerns the need for cities to adopt planning preventive tools and comprehension of social aspects (and vulnerability) spatially in order to
reduce risks and mitigate natural adversities impact. Indeed, many authors quote the cities’
occupation dynamics and urban growth as important facts to understand social systems and
the social and environmental vulnerability related to natural hazards (Santos, 1996; Rolnik,
1997; Giddens, 2000; Hogan et al 2000; Kasperson & Dow, 2001; Mattedi & Butzke, 2001;
Carvalho, 2006; Maricato, 2006; and Marandola Jr. & Hogan, 2006). Although cities may be
considered both the cause and the scenario of devastating phenomena, not much progress
has been identified in terms of their local policies apprehension.
The intense and fast urban occupation in Brazil, especially in the 1970s trough 1990s, was
caused by many facts such as a) Mechanization of rural production procedures resulting in
migration of countryside populations to cities and b) Generalized crisis in the production
and consumption systems with impressive layoffs and no generation of new compensatory
job posts. Urban expansion is basically a result of 1) An impressive official conversion of
rural areas into urban lots, reserved to those who can afford this product, 2) An even more
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impressive production of irregular or illegal division of land properties, and 3) A complex
process of squatting environmentally fragile urban compartments. These three factors
constitute the synthesis proposed by Milton Santos (1993) in his discussion on Brazilian
urbanization process: social division of land and sprawl.
The large amount of unqualified workers available in urban centres triggered low wages,
precarious working conditions and informal work. Generalized impoverishment pushed
low-income families to distant and never ending suburbs, with no basic infrastructure
and disrespect to federal and municipal land use regulations. Resulting illegal settlements
occupied areas unfit for development, such as riverside strips (with the reduction of essential riparian woods), environmentally protected or fragile areas, and highly descending
slope areas with no proper soil engineering correction, among others. At the same time,
municipalities can hardly cope with the responsibility to correct resulting risk situations. In
fact, lack of basic services and infrastructure imposes an additional burden to a population
already overexposed to natural and social contingencies: non-paved road system or the
lack of rain water drainage network causes or aggravates floods, lack of garbage collection
services obliterates existing water and sewage pipes and natural hydrological flows, and
poor sanitary infrastructure system in high urban densities lead to alarming public health
problems. Although these negative premises are commonly taken as a general factor for the
Brazilian cities, they should be considered according to specifications of different parts of
the cities’ territory. As a matter of fact, factors such as land occupation patterns, population
income and infrastructure availability should be considered in public policies.
Despite recent positive changes observed in Brazilian cities in terms of housing programs
for low income families and financial resources availability for funding urban basic infrastructure, larger parts of the population still face the impacts of its historic deficits of urban
infrastructures and urban land misuse. Besides, some well-intentioned governmental
programs, such as those of large low income housing programs, made possible by the
current national availability of resources, may also generate externalities that aggravate
long observed vulnerabilities.
Current urban policies in the country, by recognizing social and financial limitations to
transform entire cities, have channelled efforts to more pragmatic solutions comprehending
acupunctural interventions, legalization of squatted areas, and maintenance of original people
in their occupied lots (Ultramari, 2006). If this approach may be considered appropriate
mostly because of legal property rights grants, it does not fully eliminate the submission of
large groups of the population to the immediate impacts of natural disasters. Once financial
resources become available for improving conditions in informal settlements, property
right documents are granted, allowing families to stay in their original areas. A few urban
infrastructure works are done, but the risks to natural adversities are not entirely eliminated.
In the last five years, Brazil has embarked in a non-precedent economic rise with immediate
transformation in the way its cities are occupied. Legal land market has, in fact, boomed in
Brazilian cities, following the decision of federal and local governments to launch massive
low-income housing programs. Lower income levels of Brazilian population, which were
previously marginalized, are now part of the consumption market. This new occupation
dynamic certainly increases pressure on the limited offer of land made available by planning
guidelines. At the same time, considering that government programs that require relocation of families from risky areas need availability of nearby land to do so, lacking of urban
areas fit for development is now a bigger issue. For the first time in recent Brazilian urban
history, limitations for implementing social housing programs concern not only financial
restrictions and speculative behaviours, but also physical unavailability of proper land. This
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new situation indicates a problem that has unexpectedly forced national urban planning and
management to be more flexible in their parameters of proper and safe land. Irony now
takes place in the construction and transformation of our cities: if, in the past, risks were
triggered by illegal and informal land occupation, at present, this phenomenon may take
place because of official determination and technical orientation.
In case this complex reality is considered, vulnerability easily proves itself not only related
to social parameters but mainly by inclusive and affirmative policies.
NATURAL HAZARDS AND VULNERABILITY
The aforementioned background confirms the idea of a wider concept of vulnerability to
natural disasters. Certainly, social, community, political, cultural, and economic aspects play
decisive roles in its definition side by side to natural
phenomena. This is, in fact, a conceptual approach already largely adopted by the scientific
milieu and that has been clearly defined by the distinction between the Theory of Disasters
and the Theory of Hazards. These theories attest two traditional analytical formats. The
first one is mostly aware of geographic aspects, such as dimension, causes, and typologies
of natural phenomena. The second one conducts its investigations mostly referring to
more socially elaborated analysis to understand adverse natural phenomena. From a limited mono-disciplinary approach, the concept of vulnerability has been driven to a wider
understanding, with several sciences playing a distinctive and collaborative role (Thouret
& D’Ercole, 1996).
The research presented in this article is related to the Hazards Theory, considering it as
its main reference and understanding urban occupation dynamics (presented above) as a
fundamental factor to consider lower income levels of the population as the most vulnerable to natural disasters’ effects. These populations, usually living in risk areas and relying
on their low incomes to cope with adverse situations present a limited response capacity.
Alternatively, external governmental and non-governmental agencies become the sole real
possibility to mitigate impacts. Deschamps (2004) empirical research reinforces the idea
that “There is a strict relation between the placement of the lower levels of the population
and those areas characterized by recurrent natural adverse factors. The socially vulnerable
populations are placed in environmentally vulnerable areas” (p.104).
This assumption exemplifies a multitude of studies that recognize disasters can no longer be
understood through the lens of the nature’s will or through the restricted vision of natural
sciences alone. Quite the contrary, it calls for the dialectics announced by Hewitt´s (1997)
and Blaikie et al (1994) in the construction of the idea of social vulnerability. The origins
of the concept of vulnerability may, in fact, blur the idea we have of it today. Introduced
as a scientific field of research connected to the hazards and disasters phenomena, it still
shifts from a more natural to a more social approach. Back in the 1970s, O´Keefe et al.
(1976) radically proposed to take the naturalness out of natural disasters, advocating that
socioeconomic factors were the causes for natural disasters (a conclusion taken from an
empirical study proving that the larger amount of human losses caused by natural disasters is
confirmed in poor countries). Chambers (1989), despite agreeing with the fact that people
present specific abilities to cope with exposure to natural adverse phenomena, argues that
vulnerability results from both natural and social risk, opening the opportunity to accept that
social vulnerability has, in fact, multiple origins in terms of scientific fields, either in social
or natural sciences, and so is expected to be presented according to different approaches.
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Urban social factors - income, community representation, educational indicators, demographic rate, among others - are generally taken as a very broad concept, but immediately
reveal tangible aspects of the population in terms of financial conditions to respond positively
to basic needs in cities. In fact, these are crucial aspects to define social vulnerability. At
the same time, in the case of emergency situations, other components enrich the idea of
social characteristics. That is the case of governmental and non-governmental institutional
frameworks available to provide emergency responses, implement recovery works and
establish prevention procedures. The city of Curitiba has different territorial compartments
according to socio-economic patterns, which reflect differences in the population’s ability
to react to and recover form disasters. However, the entire city, regardless of its social
disparities, is trated in a relatively homogeneous way by disaster prevention and recovery
policies.
This combination of factors confirms the complexity of the social vulnerability concept
expected to be revealed in the empirical study and also allows identifying an overlay of
a concentration of low social indicators and the number of natural disasters per district.
Case study in Curitiba also confirms that current social indicators have a close relation with
them. In Curitiba, as well as in other Brazilian medium and large cities, 1970-1990´s poor
migrants were puched to occupy areas unfit for development because of the high land
price in proper areas. This situation is recognized recurrently among authors who discuss
urban inequalities in the context of Brazilian cities. Rolnik (2011) perhaps synthesizes these
ideas by recalling that
(…) There are ways of intervening in order to improve terrain stability, drain water,
slope reinforcements, that are ways of intervening in order to improve safety and
management of a certain places so that even at risk situation deaths are avoided.
But the main question is that nobody lives in a risky area because they choose
to or because they are dumb… People live in a risk area because their income
doesn’t give them a choice. We are talking about workers whose income does not
allow either buying or renting a place to live in a proper area. … There is no point
in palliative measures here and there if we do not take decisive action: where are
located areas proper for occupation that will be designated to low income population? (Translated from the Portuguese).
Such reality may be referred to the pressure and release model as announced by Blaikie et
al. (1994), reformulating what had been previously identified by Turner et al. (2003). The
model proposed by Turner et al (risk hazard model) understands impact of hazards as a
result of the exposure to a hazardous phenomenon and of the sensitivity of a community
exposed. However, authors do not make clear what or how hazard impacts are amplified
or attenuated. The model by Blaikie et al. stresses the progression of vulnerability according to the relation between four main components, three socially constructed and one
naturally built: root causes, dynamic pressures, unsafe conditions, and the natural hazard
itself. In the case of Curitiba, these four components can be understood as follows. Root
causes can be translated into the economic and demographic features of the districts in
the city, each of them presenting specificities in their average income, unemployment rate,
and demographic indicators regarding the number of people per family and household.
Dynamic pressures may indicate the migration process observed in the city confirming at
least three main inhabitant groups: those who arrived in the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries;
those who arrived in the rural urban migration flux of the 1970s and 1980s and still able to
afford propper but distant areas of the city or of its metropolitan region; and finally, those
who still arrive, with low income, and occupy inadequate suburb areas of an already large
agglomeration. As a rule, these two social components - root causes and dynamic pressuREVISTA M VOL. 10 No.1. ENERO-JUNIO 2013 • FACULTAD DE ARQUITECTURA • UNIVERSIDAD SANTO TOMÁS COLOMBIA
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res - present a close relation with the distance from the city’s central areas: the further we
go, the worst social conditions are presented. This is, in fact, a pattern in Brazilian cities,
where central areas differ in terms of historical occupation, provision of infrastructure, urban
infrastructure quality, and income from those areas occupied in the most recent decades,
more precisely after the 1970s, when the urbanization process expanded in the contry.
Third, Blaikie et al´s component - unsafe situations - is to be observed mostly in summer
time during the rainy season and the resulting floods. Illegal settlements along rivers or in
areas considered unfit for occupation by planning guidelines, but still an affordable choice
for lower income classes, are among the areas more vulnerable to such adversities. Finally,
in terms of the natural hazard itself - the fourth component, it is important to recall that
impermeabilization of urban land resulting from a rising population growth of 1.3% per
year and a never seem civil construction sector expansion, have imposed the reduction of
naturally permeable areas. Deacreasing the amount of permeable soil in a high-density area
overcharges the drainage systems, which many times fail causing floods in urban areas. This
issue is tangled with other problems commonly found in Brazilian urban areas, such as poor
garbage collection services, lacking sewer infrastructure, among others, that increase the
probability and consequences of flooding, especially during summer rain season.
It seems that models to establish components of a comprehensive concept of vulnerability
and indicators to geographically measure impacts of adverse phenomena are under constant
criticism and, paradoxically, an object of recurrent practice, both at public policy agencies
and scientific production levels. Undoubtedly, despite conceptual limitations of these
methodological tools, they remains a reference for public management concerning the
most sensitive groups in emergency situations. In the case study presented here, pragmatism imposed submission to data available: number of occurrences (floods) per district per
year and social indicators gathered to summarize a hierarchy of income levels’ emergency
response ability per district. By adopting such approach, we avoid common criticism to the
construction of the concept of vulnerability by adding probably more adequate indicators
but with difficulty in their measurements. Besides, the approach adopted here considers
the fact that statistics concerning geographic and social concentration of floods in the city
of Curitiba are taken as a result of 1) Social structures and processes (either by the lack of
propper infrastructure or by the occupation of environmentally fragile areas), 2) Different
responses to recovery according to different socioeconomic profiles (poor populations rely
more on immediate public action than those who can afford individualized solutions), and
3) Physical features of the municipal terrain (some areas are more subject to floods than
others). As a matter of fact, the case of Curitiba, which could be taken as a parameter for
other Brazilian cities, overlaps these three levels of comprehension: unsafe lands are primarily occupied by lower income people, both for historical reasons but mostly because of
impositions of segregating practices concerning real estate values. The effort to establish a
relation between these levels of comprehension is aligned to what Villagrán de León (2006)
considers one of the main current topics in the formulation of social vulnerability: use of
models to explain it and the creation of indicators to express it over time and across spaces.
Another conceptual reference adopted in this case study concerns the limited number of
indicators used to determine the most and the least affected districts by adverse natural
phenomena and the most and the least prepared districts to respond positively to their
impacts. It contradicts other analyses such as that developed by Yeletaysi, Sarp et al. (2009),
among many other authors, who work with a broader set of indicators to identify poverty.
In our case, there is an assumption, based on empirical experience, where it is possible
to work with combined indicators such as that used by the municipality of Curitiba to
express a social condition or, what interests the most here, a hierarchy among districts of
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social fragility facing disasters. By proceeding this way, we avoid criticism as that recalled
by Villagrán de Léon (2006) who attests an intrinsic difficulty in quantifying vulnerability.
In the other hand, Cutter et al. (2003) use a broader set of indicator to calculate a composite
index (Social Vulnerability Index, SoVI) for the United States. By analyzing factors driven
by a set of indicators, SoVI allows to identify more specific aspects (i.e. elderly, specific
type of industry, race and ethnicity, etc) to be explored by policy makers when thinking
about possible tools for empowering populations to better prepare for and recover from
disasters. Hummell (2013) shows that SoVI is doable for Brazil at the state level. However,
at the present moment there is no availability of such data at the city level.
An important fact to be considered for the construction of a socially sensitive public
policy is that certain areas of a city are more likely to suffer from the very same adverse
event than others. Appreciation of the case of Curitiba attests that it results not only from
different physical features but also from differences concerning its population groups. By
doing so, this discussion enlarges the comprehension of Beck´s (1992) idea of risk society
or even his own concept of risk: society is not only part of the “world’s uncontrollability”
but also capable of disaster preparedness, mitigation, reconstruction and, most important,
understanding who deserves priority in actions depending on limited financial resources.
The case of the city of Curitiba reinforces thus these ideas and confirms the hypothesis that
the higher impacts of disasters and the lowest social and economic features are expectedly
and almost precisely overlaid. The combination of social and physical aspects reveal a conceptual concern that disasters are hard to be named either natural or human but certainly
carries a combination of both (Baker, 1976; Tobin and Montz, 1997).
The understanding that natural hazards cannot be described as consequences of independent natural or human factors but, most likely, as a result of their complex and constant
interaction is on the basis of what is described below.
CITY OF CURITIBA: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
The method used in the case study is primarily based on the analysis of official data produced by public agencies. According to Brazilian legislation and local institutional practices,
incidence of disasters must be reported, properly classified, and publicized. Despite this
organizational process of collecting and making information available, as well as an increase
in the number of disasters and in the number of impacted areas and people, they are not
yet easily spatially understood. It means that civil emergency response agencies or urban
management processes still resent planning tools to establish priorities in terms of city
compartments and their vulnerability specificities. This absence of spatial comprehension
is implied not only in a blurred and generalized view of possible adverse phenomena and
their real impacts but also in difficulties to later determine the kind of action needed to each
one of the city´s urban compartments. In fact, most of the Brazilian municipalities still lack
data that considers disasters spatially; the city of Curitiba made progress in presenting this
data according to its districts. However, more precise scale, the one that is able to precise
impacts in terms of streets and blocks, is still in demand.
In terms of the variables used in the research, two are more representative: a) Natural
disasters (number of registered disasters per district between 2004 and 2008), collected
by the City´s Civil Defence Agency and classified by year and type of occurrence; and b)
Population’s Quality of Life Index (PQLI) given in percentage and synthesizing a series of
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education, health, housing, safety, and transport indicators. This variable was collected at
the Institute of Research and Urban Planning of Curitiba (IPPUC) and refers to 2003. In both
cases, data used were the most updated at the moment of the research. Complementary
and updated analysis made for selected compartments of the city confirm positive changes
in terms of the Population Quality of Life Index. However, it also confirms the persistence
of spatial patterns differentiating districts and maintaining the same discrepancies already
observed before.
Data concerning disasters are commonly classified in natural, anthropic, and combined
by Brazilian Civil Defence Agencies. Despite the fact that such distinction is very subtle in
urban areas and not easily differentiated from one another, official data are still organized
according to these three typologies. In the case of the present research, the combination of
anthropic factors such as the location of urban settlements, techniques of civil construction,
density categories, provision of infrastructures, and impermeabilization of land surface patterns intensely shape and graduate impacts imposed by the most recurrent natural adverse
phenomenon observed in the city: intermittent floods in selected areas during the three
months of summer. Discussion presented here is limited to this kind of disasters (floods)
and confirms the inaccuracy in classifying disasters according to independent causes.
In order to make a joint analysis of both indicators (number of disasters and PQLI), each
were classified in 5 intervals according to the standard deviation form the sample mean.
Qualitative values from 1 (good) to 5 (bad) were assigned to the intervals. Figures 1 and
2 show the classification of Curitiba’s districts according to the number of disasters and
PQLI respectively.
Figure 1. Hierarchy of Curitiba’s Districts
According to the Number of Disasters. Source:
Authors.
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It is possible to notice in Figure 1 that most districts present a low or very low number of
disasters. The districts that presented a higher numbers of disasters are the city center,
a few districts randomly distributed in the north portion of the city and a larger number
concentrated in an east-west corridor south to the city center (downtown area). Expectedly,
the districts around the city center present lower numbers of disasters. These districts
present higher income levels and historically have good infrastructure and development.
This pattern is confirmed in Figure 2, showing a very high or high quality of life in most of
these districts. The districts further away from the city center present lower quality of life.
Figure 2. Hierarchy of Curitiba’s Districts According
to the PQLI. Source: Authors.
When analysing the information of the two variables simultaneously by adding the attributed qualitative values (1 to 5) a new rating scale is created. This new rating scale is here
considered representative of the vulnerability of the districts, by combining a social (PQLI)
and a disaster (number of disasters) variable. Table 1 illustrates how the qualitative values
of the variables were combined.
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Table 1. Vulnerability scale resulting from the combination of the attributed qualitative
values of the number of natural disasters and PQLI. Source: Authors.
After this classification, it was possible to visualize a spatial representation that gathers both
variables simultaneously (registered number of disasters and PQLI) and then to establish a
vulnerability scale, depicted in Figure 3. Such representation confirms that a) Neighbouring
districts perform similar results, and b) Distinction between central and peripheral districts
is clearly observed.
Figure 3. Curitiba´s district classification
according to the vulnerability scale. Source:
Authors.
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Districts presenting low and very low vulnerability are generally located in the surroundings
of city center. This can be explained by the history of this part of the city territory, which
has been occupied mainly by higher socioeconomic level populations. It also confirms that
safer areas were first occupied, leaving those considered under risk to migrants arriving in
the 1970´s – 1990´s demographic boom or simply to those who could not afford overpriced center urban land. It is important to stress that the areas in the center portions
of the city were not turned safe by infrastructure interventions. Quite the contrary, they
present almost no limitations in terms of unstable terrains, slopes, or high concentration
of river channels. Mostly recent occupied areas either dependent on such infrastructure
implemented by local government or are simply left to be occupied under risk.
Districts with moderate to high vulnerability do not present specific patterns of concentration in the territory. They are, in fact, the most recurrent situation, establishing an average
where disasters are confirmed only when very serious adversities happen (according to
historic data, in average every 20 years) but still very dependent on the role of local government agencies.
Despite the aforementioned facts, by drawing an east-west line along the middle of the
map, it would be possible to observe a concentration of least vulnerable districts in the
upper portion of the map, whereas the higher vulnerability districts are concentrated in the
southern portions of the city. Again, this fact may be related to the history of the territory’s
occupation: selection of safer and infrastructured areas by those who first settled (a long
and slow process of urbanization till late 1960s) among an occupation that would sprawl
to distant, improper, and metropolitan terrains.
Final analysis reveals that 13 districts or 18% of the total have very low vulnerability (additive
scores of 2 and 3, Table 1), accounting for the best situation in both variables. Four districts,
or 5.5% of the total have very high vulnerability (additive scores of 9 and 8 – there were
no 10 scores), presenting a bad situation in both variables.
All these facts allow the conclusion that in a great number of cases, the districts classified
as having good quality of life are related to lower registered numbers of disasters. On the
other hand, districts classified as having low quality of life are related to higher registered
number of disasters,
Considering these observations, it is possible to understand that the populations with lower
PQLI are more vulnerable to natural hazards than those presenting higher PQLI. This
information allows the return to the working hypothesis announced earlier in this article
that lower income levels of the population are more recurrently affected by disaster, and
that the type of areas occupied by this population is related to their higher vulnerability.
This being confirmed was so reiterated in the final results of the research that authors now
believe it should be only named assumption due to its very clear evidences.
FINAL REMARKS
A conceptual review on social vulnerability and efforts to measure it are discussed in this
paper. The case study presented here is submitted to explicit methodological limitations for
apprehending social realities in abstract representations such as numerical indicators and
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maps. Despite the confirmed possibility to rely on the vulnerability rating as a parameter for
the development of public policies in the city of Curitiba, it leaves room for controversies
concerning variables to be considered and the way they are overlaid and finally analyzed.
Despite its significance for urban planning, it reinforces unavoidable generalizations of
specific situations (in this case, made at the district level), recalls the multitude of variables
influencing final results, demonstrates recurrent ideological approaches in the selection of
parameters to be taken into consideration, and confirms a submission of the researcher
or policy maker to data availability. If this complex situation leads to reconsider the search
of precise hierarchical definitions of spatial compartments in terms of risks, the extreme
situations, those that interest us most (districts with higher vulnerability) are believed to be
detected in a more accurate way. Such contribution, made possible by the definition of a
vulnerability index, also may serve as an instrument of public policies concerning different
needed governmental or community actions facing risk reduction plans or emergency
procedures. Despite generalizations because of the geographic scale adopted (districts), it
may constitute a primary planning tool. Otherwise, much room is left to the investigation
of particularities at a more intra-urban scale, considering existing differences inside the
same district.
Results presented in this research were not expected to point out other factors related to
the concept of vulnerability, such as different capacities of the different levels of the population to reduce risks and to respond to disasters according to their institutional and local
organizations. Therefore, there is an assumption that it is partially implicit in socioeconomic
profiles described in the synthesis brought by the Population´s Quality of Life Indicator
(PQLI). Constraints and distinguished abilities to establish either formal or informal civil
organizations to present demands are to be differently detected in territories classified
either as the most or as the least vulnerable ones. Socio-economic scenario worked in this
research certainly indicates the existence of an overlay of unequal access to urban services
and infrastructure (education, health, housing, safety, and transportation), unequal conditions
to respond to emergency situations, and unequal conditions to postulate for structural
changes. If this triple overlay is somewhat a synthesis of different vulnerabilities, it still recognizes the existence of a city far from the dual visualization (rich and poor) proposed by
Castells (1989) or Mollenkopf & Castells (1991) but closer to a more encompassing one,
such as that formulated by Marcuse´s quarters (1993). From a dual city of rich and poor,
overlays worked in this research indicate an urban occupation characterized much more
by a profusion of situations, agents, and abilities to cope with adverse natural phenomena.
If the assumption that different socioeconomic levels are affected differently by natural
disasters is largely taken into consideration at conceptual discussion, urban management
practices are hardly familiarized with these particularities in their own territories. It draws
the attention to the fact that preventive actions are not only needed but also must adopt
a profound fractal vision of the city.
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81
PREVENCIÓN DE LA MALARIA MEDIANTE
ESTRATEGIAS MEDIOAMBIENTALES Y
TÉCNICAS TRADICIONALES APLICADAS A LA
ARQUITECTURA*
Alejandro Ordoñez Ortiz**
Recibido: 12 febrero 2013
Aprobado: 25 febrero 2013
Localización, Camerún y comunidad de
Minkoaméyos donde se desarrolló la propuesta.
Suministrada por el autor a partir de la
información suministrada dentro de las bases
del concurso internacional Building Malaria
Prevention por la organización Archive Global
Architecture for Health.
*
“Este artículo se deriva del trabajo de
equipo realizado por Alejandro Ordóñez Ortiz, arquitecto perteneciente a
Citu Experiencia Local, Laboratorio de
Proyectos Urbanos, en asocio con los arquitectos Erika Gómez y Gustavo Bautista
de Contrapunto Taller de Arquitectura,
quienes participaron en el Concurso
Internacional “Building Malaria Prevention” (“Construyendo la prevención de
la malaria”), convocado en 2012 por la
organización Archive Global – Architecture for Health; el fallo del jurado, emitido
el 3 de octubre de 2012, consideró a esta
propuesta como la mejor, otorgándole el
primer lugar.”
** Arquitecto, investigador urbano y
docente.
[email protected]
RESUMEN
El presente escrito indaga sobre la naturaleza del riesgo, su relación con la arquitectura y
la salud bajo los presupuestos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, OMS y la Comisión
Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, CEPAL. También plantea estrategias de superación para una problemática específica: la Malaria, enfermedad responsable del 50% de
muertes en menores de 5 años en Camerún. Con la anuencia de la organización Archive
Global Architecture for Health, y bajo los parámetros del concurso internacional de arquitectura y salud Bulding Malaria Prevention, se enuncia un diseño de vivienda capaz de mitigar
hasta en un 90% el riesgo de contagio de Malaria, que será definitivo para la superación de
las penosas condiciones habitacionales y de salud presentes en 24 familias en Yaoundé. La
mitigación del riesgo se convierte, entonces, en la prueba fehaciente sobre la pertinencia
de la arquitectura como disciplina fundamental para la humanidad.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Riesgo, Mitigación, Malaria, África, Arquitectura, Salud, Concurso Internacional.
MALARIA PREVENTION THROUGH
ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES AND
TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO
ARCHITECTURE
Socialización del proyecto junto con Archive
Global en Camerún. Suministrada por el autor.
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the nature of risk and its relation to architecture and health budgets
under WHO and ECLAC. It also presents strategies for overcoming specific problems:
Malaria, a disease responsible for 50 % of deaths in children under 5 years in Cameroon.
With the consent of the organization Archive Global Architecture for Health and the
parameters of the international architectural competition Malaria Prevention and Building
Health, sets out a housing design can mitigate up to 90 % the risk of spread of Malaria ,
which will definitive overcoming the painful housing and health conditions present in 24
families in Yaoundé. Risk mitigation then becomes the proof of the relevance of architecture
as a discipline essential to humanity.
KEYWORDS
Risk, Mitigation, Malaria, Africa, architecture, health, International Competition.
Con una naturaleza confortable el hombre jamás habría
inventado la arquitectura.
Oscar Wilde
El riesgo como concepto no es la catástrofe, sino su probabilidad de ocurrir; la probabilidad entraña entonces la vulnerabilidad de quien está en situación de riesgo. El concepto
involucra así partes iguales de probabilidad y vulnerabilidad en aquellos seres y lugares
sumidos en condiciones extremas.
Tanto para la OMS como para la CEPAL, el riesgo en salud y arquitectura son situaciones
idénticas cuando en zonas deprimidas coexisten factores de peligro relacionados con
amenazas naturales, biológicas, cambios climáticos, deficiencias de saneamiento básico,
además de la falta de higiene relacionada con las características de las construcciones
habitadas; entonces se asiste a un escenario donde la vulnerabilidad y la probabilidad son
reales hasta el punto de poner en riesgo la vida humana. De esto se infiere necesariamente
que el habitar implica riesgo.
A la luz de estas consideraciones plantearse una posición dentro del estudio arquitectónico que atienda a las necesidades de mitigación de riesgos y donde todavía el sentido de
la arquitectura sea la protección de seres humanos resulta, por lo menos, imperativo. El
pensamiento arquitectónico debe ir, entonces, más allá que su consolidación en el espacio,
para ir incluso sobre la vida de las personas y sobre el concepto mismo de riesgo, si se lo
considera desde una visión integral.
Un caso que puede aludirse es el de la arquitectura pensada para la prevención de enfermedades como riesgos. Por ejemplo, Le Corbusier en su memorable Carta de Atenas
señala la necesidad de entender la relación del entorno arquitectónico y la salud: “El sol,
que preside todo proceso de crecimiento, debería penetrar en el interior de cada vivienda para
esparcir en ella sus rayos, sin los cuales la vida se marchita.” La modernidad ha ligado sendos
esfuerzos por mostrar las ventajas de la luz natural y la ventilación para la prevención de las
enfermedades; desde la liberación de la planta lograda con el uso generalizado del concreto
reforzado, se pasó al concepto de fachada libre y con él, a los amplios ventanales que garantizan la ventilación cruzada y la iluminación de los espacios. Así, la arquitectura ha sido
capaz en las décadas precedentes de brindar soluciones que impacten en las problemáticas
del cuerpo humano para mitigar el riesgo como en ninguna otra época de la humanidad.
A la luz de la anterior consideración la organización Archive Global Architecture for Health,
que basa su accionar en la capacidad de la arquitectura para incidir positivamente en la salud
de los habitantes, lanzó el concurso internacional Bulding Malaria Prevention, que buscaba
premiar el mejor diseño de una vivienda capaz de mitigar el riesgo de contagio de Malaria
en Camerún, país africano donde el 50% de muertes en menores de 5 años se debe a
esta enfermedad, que ataca especialmente en zonas socio-económicamente vulnerables.
En otras palabras, la arquitectura se aborda aquí como un instrumento para combatir la
Malaria bajo los presupuestos de la misión de Archive Global que “se centra en el uso de un
derecho fundamental - la vivienda - para entregar una necesidad básica - la salud.”
84
Figura 1. Condiciones de vivienda y letrinas
en Yaoundé, Camerún. Fuente: Información
suministrada dentro de las bases del concurso
internacional Building Malaria Prevention por
la organización Archive Global Architecture
for Health.
La Malaria es una enfermedad que coexiste con la pobreza extrema. Esta aseveración se
hace evidente al contrastar las cifras de los casos de muerte por malaria y su localización;
esto es, la muerte por la enfermedad se concentra en el continente más pobre del mundo:
África, donde la tasa de mortalidad, y peor, de mortalidad infantil, tienen una relación directa
con el contagio del Anopheles Gambiae1, hasta llegar incluso al punto de producir más de
300.000 muertes infantiles en el 2010. Archive Global vincula esta alta tasa de mortalidad y las
condiciones reinantes al interior de una vivienda, como habitáculo destinado a la protección.
Ahora bien, ¿Cómo pensar entonces en una solución integral de vivienda que trascienda a
su uso de hábitat, para incluir en ella la mitigación de riesgos como el desarraigo social, la
ausencia de oportunidades, o incluso enfermedades contagiosas como la Malaria?
1
Mosquitos Culícidos responsables de la mayoría de contagios de Malaria en el mundo.
85
El arquitecto Alejandro Ordóñez Ortiz, en asocio con Contra Punto Taller de Arquitectura,
formuló un diseño de vivienda capaz de mitigar, según estimaciones, hasta en un 80% la
probabilidad de contagio en zonas de Camerún vulnerables a la Malaria. Esta propuesta,
que conjuga en su diseño saberes tradicionales autóctonos propios de la cultura africana, la
cohesión social y el diseño arquitectónico, se alzó con el primer puesto entre más de 450
propuestas presentadas a Archive Global en la convocatoria antes descrita.
Para entender el proceso, es necesario socavar sobre la naturaleza del contagio de la Malaria,
descrita por la OMS a partir de vectores de riesgo: un mosquito, la noche, condiciones de
insalubridad, ausencia de ventilación pero al mismo tiempo de repelencia: tales vectores
disparan el riesgo de contagio por medio de la picadura del Anopheles Gambiae. Esto plantea
de inmediato la necesidad de repeler al mosquito mediante una transformación del espacio
habitado. Se hace necesario preguntar: ¿Cómo adelantar una transformación del espacio
arquitectónico capaz de prevenir factores de riesgo, con la precariedad contextual que
rodea a la situación africana?
En la formulación del proyecto, (ver Figura 2) los principios rectores que se trazaron
como objetivos fueron tres: (I) Repeler al mosquito. (II) Impedir el acceso del mosquito a
la vivienda. (III) Proteger a los habitantes al interior de la vivienda. ¿Cómo lograr esto sin
perder de vista las condiciones de extrema pobreza persistentes en la zona?
Figura 2. Cuadro conceptual de principios y estrategias hacia la prevención de la Malaria en la vivienda propuesta. Fuente: Arquitecto Alejandro Ordóñez y Contrapunto Taller de
Arquitectura. Suministrada por el autor.
86
La arquitectura tradicional, incluso en condiciones de profunda escasez, no está exenta
de aplicar técnicas que ayuden a prevenir la enfermedad. La propuesta se basa en aplicar
técnicas tradicionales al contexto ya existente, ligar un patrimonio común a cualquier lugar
y ser humano: el conocimiento, utilizar la naturaleza como aliada hacia la prevención. Dicho
de otro modo, el concepto es tan profundo como simple a la vez: consiste en utilizar dichos
saberes tradicionales junto con la capacidad de la comunidad para cambiar su realidad, su
salud y eventualmente salvar la vida mediante la aplicación de medidas efectivas. La prevención de la enfermedad liga entonces la historia de la lucha local contra la enfermedad,
optimizándola mediante la racionalización arquitectónica sin dejar de atender al contexto.
Figura 3. Imagen 3D de la
vivienda propuesta. Fuente:
Arquitecto Alejandro Ordóñez
+ Contrapunto Taller de
Arquitectura. Suministrada
por el autor.
87
Figura 4. Fuente: Arquitecto Alejandro Ordóñez + Contrapunto Taller de Arquitectura. Suministrada por el autor.
Figura 5. Fuente: Arquitecto
Alejandro Ordóñez + Contrapunto
Taller de Arquitectura. Suministrada
por el autor.
88
Figura 6. Fuente: Arquitecto Alejandro Ordóñez
+ Contrapunto Taller de Arquitectura.
Suministrada por el autor.
89
Figura 7. Fuente: Arquitecto Alejandro Ordóñez + Contrapunto Taller de Arquitectura. Suministrada por el autor.
La propuesta arquitectónica se presenta entonces mediante la implantación de estrategias,
a saber:
a) Invertir los techos metálicos actuales, utilizar la estructura de madera existente
complementándola con una estructura metálica y canalizar así el agua lluvia para que
pueda ser recolectada en un tanque con el fin de generar servicios de aseo básicos,
como, por ejemplo, la instalación de un sanitario (complementado esto con un pozo
séptico a futuro). El tanque, construido en ladrillo común de la zona, deberá estar
tapado, para evitar la proliferación del mosquito. De igual forma, voltear los techos
producirá un flujo de ventilación natural constante. Esta ventilación al interior de la
vivienda reducirá la humedad, y con ello, minimiza la posibilidad de permanencia
del mosquito al interior. Esta acción está relacionada con el Principio I (repeler el
mosquito en tanto se alteran las condiciones para su permanencia y proliferación).
b) Junto con la comunidad, tejer un cielo raso de tela para cada casa, que junto con el
techo en forma de “V” producirá un efecto térmico al interior que filtra el acceso del
mosquito. Este cielo raso, si bien puede ser de tela, puede también estar fabricado
con sacos para empaque de café, producto de Camerún; todo esto atiende al Principio
II. (Impedir el acceso del mosquito)
c) Al carecer de ventanas y puerta de acceso, los habitantes de las viviendas están más
expuestos a la enfermedad. El proyecto propone fabricar ventanas en la obra con
madera de palets o estibas, forradas con tela de costal pintadas según el deseo de
cada familia, de acuerdo a los colores y estéticas locales. La puerta de acceso deberá
estar conformada con madera. Es opcional que tenga la tela de costal, puesto que
puede ser enteramente sólida para incrementar la seguridad de la vivienda. Principio
II. (Impedir el acceso del mosquito)
d) Las malas condiciones de iluminación aumentan la humedad al interior de las viviendas
y el mosquito trasmisor de la malaria siente atracción por estos lugares. Para mitigar
este riesgo, se propone perforar dos de los muros exteriores que conforman la casa,
a los que se insertarán botellas de vidrio recicladas que produzcan una incidencia
positiva en las condiciones de iluminación natural al interior. Principio I. (Repeler al
mosquito alterando las condiciones de humedad al dar luz a la vivienda)
e) Estrategias ambientales: Repelentes naturales a través de plantas que emiten olores,
sembradas alrededor de las viviendas en forma de franjas protectoras. Estas franjas
deben contener ejemplares de plantas como: Citronella (Cymbopogonnardus), Castor
90
Oil Plant (Ricinus communis), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) y Mirabilis Jalapa. Estas cuatro
plantas, dispuestas alrededor de la casa generan una protección contra el mosquito
a partir de sus olores. En una segunda instancia, se propone una repisa adosada a las
ventanas, que al interior posibilite otra barrera medioambiental, esta vez con plantas
en recipientes reciclados, ubicados tras la abertura de las ventanas. Estas plantas pueden ser de Piretro (Tanacetum cinerarii folium), ajo (Allium sativum) o anís (Pimpinella
anisum), todas especies accesibles en Camerún. Por último, utilizar cajas recicladas
de empaque de frutas, se propone un objeto móvil que contenga hierbas secas que
transmitan olores. Este objeto móvil puede estar en las habitaciones, en la zona común, cerca de los niños cuando jueguen, colgadas en las circulaciones externas de la
casa u otro sitio. Con esto se satisface el Principio I. (Repeler al mosquito mediante
plantas) y el Principio III (Proteger a los habitantes al interior de las viviendas).
f) Pisos de tierra arcillosa compactada complementados con esteras africanas en las
áreas principales.
g) Elaboración de una cruceta con madera reciclada de estiba, para colgar un mosquitero a la estructura de la cubierta. Esta cruz de madera permite que la malla cubra
totalmente la cama o estera, elimine el contacto con la piel, por lo cual se aleja la
posibilidad de que el mosquito pueda picar. Principio III (Proteger a los habitantes al
interior de las viviendas).
Todas estas medidas, conjuntadas además con la construcción de un servicio sanitario
fuera de la casa y el perfeccionamiento de las técnicas de tejidos autóctonos, se inscriben
además en los objetivos que la OMS considera como fundamentales para la lucha contra la
Malaria (por ejemplo: “define y difunde normas, criterios, políticas, estrategias técnicas y
directrices basadas en datos científicos y promueve su adopción”). Visto desde esta perspectiva, la adopción de la propuesta está en plena armonía con los objetivos institucionales
requeridos en cuanto a mitigación de riesgos de la salud derivados de la arquitectura,
además de respetar las singularidades culturales de la región y aprovechar plenamente las
herramientas naturales de flora, con lo que el contexto de precariedad africana se puede
ver afectado positivamente. Valga decir que el proyecto se inscribe en Yaoundé, al interior
de una comunidad de 24 familias.
Es necesario recordar además que se estima una reducción del 80% de contagio mediante
la adopción de estas medidas.
El equipo de arquitectos proponentes del plan y ganadores del premio, visitó a inicios del
2013 la región en Camerún que iba a ser intervenida. De la mano de las organizaciones
que respaldan el proyecto, se llevó a cabo un ciclo de reuniones con la comunidad para
concertar la intervención arquitectónica, además de explicar sus alcances. Actualmente, se
ultiman los detalles para el inicio de la construcción de las modificaciones a las viviendas,
con lo que se espera que este proyecto de ayuda humanitaria se lleve a término y sirva de
modelo bajo el auspicio de Archive Global Architecture for Health para combatir la Malaria
y sus consecuencias en todo el continente africano.
La arquitectura, como cualquier actividad humana ligada a la cultura, debe ser la construcción
colectiva y permanente de sentido. Dicho en otras palabras, el quehacer arquitectónico
debe adquirir legitimidad ante los ojos de los hombres en tanto sirva para un fin mayor: la
protección de la vida y la construcción de un mundo mejor. La construcción de un hogar
no es otra cosa que la realización física de un objetivo: el intentar estar bien, la protección
del propio ser y de los otros. Este entendimiento, que viene desde los primeros hogares
hasta hoy, es el que ha dado sentido a las construcciones que dieron inicio a las ciudades
y al entendimiento real de lo que es la arquitectura.
91
GUÍA PARA AUTORES DE ARTÍCULOS
Revista M publica artículos inéditos resultado de investigación que son sometidos a
evaluación por pares especializados en los campos temáticos cubiertos por la revista.
La evaluación se realiza “a ciegas” en doble sentido y no debe tomar más de dos
(2) meses para su realización. El comité editorial se reserva el derecho de publicar
o no los artículos que no cumplan con los criterios de publicación definidos por la
Universidad Santo Tomás (Colombia). El autor debe garantizar que su artículo no ha
sido publicado ni presentado a publicación en ningún medio diferente a Revista M.
La extensión de los artículos no debe ser mayor de 25 páginas en letra Arial, fuente
No. 12 con interlineado a doble espacio.
Los artículos deben contener: Título, Resumen y Palabras clave en idioma español
e inglés.
El autor debe especificar el nombre de la investigación de la cual su artículo se deriva.
El material del artículo debe ser enviado al Editor de la Revista a la cuenta [email protected] en formato Word para el texto; las imágenes deben
enviarse en archivos independientes en formato TIFF o JPG con resolución no menor
a 300 DPI cada una. Se debe anexar en documento aparte el listado de imágenes
con su respectivo pie de foto y la fuente u origen de las mismas; los derechos de
reproducción de las imágenes serán gestionados directamente por los autores.
Referencias bibliográficas
A partir de 2013 Revista M utilizará la Norma definida por la Asociación Americana
de Psicología (APA) para referencias bibliográficas. Ejemplos1:
Referencias:
Artículo de Revista
Apellido, Inicial. (Año de publicación). Título del artículo. Título de la revista,
volumen, página inicial-página final.
Artículos en una revista científica exclusiva de Internet
Apellido, Inicial. (Año de publicación, día, mes). Título del artículo. Título de la
Revista, volumen. Recuperado el día de mes de año, de anotar URL.
1
Tomado de: Guía Presentación trabajos estilo APA 1 Guías de apoyo – Formación de usuarios. Biblioteca USTA Bucaramanga,
Colombia
92
Artículos de Internet basados en una fuente impresa
Apellido, Inicial. (Año). Título [versión electrónica], Título de la revista, volumen,
página inicial-página final.
Copia electrónica de un artículo obtenido en una base de datos
Autor, A.A. & Autor, B.B. (año). Título del artículo. Título de la revista, volumen,
(número), páginas. Recuperado el día de mes de año, de la base de datos tal.
Libro completo:
Apellido, Inicial. (Año). Título del libro. Lugar: Editorial.
93
GUIDE FOR AUTHORS OF ARTICLES
Revista M publishes original articles resulting from research that are subjected to
review by specialized peers in thematic areas covered by the journal. The evaluation
is done “blindly” in both directions and should not take more than two (2) months to
be completed. The editorial board reserves the right to publish or not the items that
do not meet the publication criteria defined by Santo Tomás University (Colombia
) . The author must ensure that the article has not been published or submitted for
publication in any other journal.
The length of articles should not exceed 25 pages in Arial font No. 12 double-spaced .
Items must contain: Title, Abstract and Keywords in Spanish and English .
The author must specify the name of the research from which the article derives.
The paper should be sent to the Editor of the journal to [email protected].
edu.co in Word format ; images must be sent as separate files in TIFF or JPG format
with resolution no less than 300 DPI each. The list of images must be attached in
a separate file with their respective captions and source or origin; the rights to
reproduce the images will be directly managed by the authors.
References
Revista M uses the standard defined by the American Psychological Association
(APA ) for references. Examples:
Journal Article :
Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) . Title of article. Title of the journal, volume,
initial page- final page.
Articles in an exclusive scientific journal on the Internet:
Surname, Initial. (Year of publication, day, month) . Title of article. Title of the journal,
volume, Retrieved on the day, month, year, URL scoring .
Internet articles based on a printed source:
Surname, Initial. (Year). Title [Electronic version ], Journal title, volume, initial page
- final page .
94
Electronic copy of an article obtained from a database :
Author , A. A. & Author , B. B. (year). Title of article. Title of journal , volume,
(number), pages. Retrieved month day, year, from database _________.
Full Book:
Surname, Initial . (Year). Title of book. Location : Editorial .
Revista M
ISSN 1692-5114
Arq. Liliana Rueda Cáceres
Carrera 18 No 9-27 . Bucaramanga, Colombia
Teléfonos: 57 (7) 6800801. Ext.: 2500-2241
Mail: [email protected]
95

Contenido - universidad santo tomas de bucaramanga

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