Opportunities and barriers for urban adaptation to climate change in Latin America. The cases of Mexico City, Lima and Santiago, Chile

Abstract

This paper analyzes opportunities and barriers for urban adaptation to climate change. A framework aiming at influencing decision-making was developed. Whether urban planners take action depends on three first-tier variables: information, resources, and incentives. These variables are themselves functions of underlying variables, including actor-specific characteristics of the decision-maker, the institutional environment, and the natural and socio-economic environment. The framework is applied in three case studies for Mexico City, Lima and Santiago, Chile, where anecdotal evidence has been gathered from expert interviews. The obtained results indicate that the relevant categories of barriers are mainly the same across the case studies. Moreover, the importance of the institutional context is confirmed, including challenges associated with mainstreaming adaptation, multi-level governance and participation.