Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Assessing the historical adaptive cycles of an urban social-ecological system and its potential future resilience: the case of Xochimilco, Mexico City

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Regional Environmental Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As the bulk of the world’s population becomes urban, maintaining urban ecosystem services for environmental and social well-being in cities is crucial. According to resilience theory, maintaining such services requires for a complex adaptive systems perspective that helps in identifying key elements and dynamics behind cross-scale social-ecological interactions. In this context, the objective of this article is to use a resilience “lens” to problematize the imminent loss of an urban wetland using the adaptive cycle model as a heuristic tool. Our case study focuses on the Xochimilco wetland, located in the southern periphery of Mexico City. Xochimilco is characterized by the presence of a complex system of raised bed wetland agriculture (the chinampa system), which was established over 1000 years ago; currently, despite having a recognized cultural and environmental value, it is threatened by increasing urban sprawl, over-exploitation of the aquifer, and water contamination. By conducting a historical analysis of the Xochimilco social-ecological system, we assess how it has gone through phases of the adaptive cycle. As a result, we identify critical elements of the system’s historically maintained resilience and main drivers of system change. From such findings, we present some insights on the possibilities of maintaining the system’s resilience and guidance for future management strategies for the Xochimilco wetland. Lastly, we reflect on the scope and limitations of using a resilience-based approach and an adaptive cycle analysis for addressing urban sustainability problems, especially in cities in the Global South.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aguilar A, Espinosa AC, Caraballo C (2006) El manejo del agua. Tema central en Xochimilco. In VV. AA. (2006), Xochimilco: Un proceso de gestión participativa. México

  • Aguilar A (2008) Peri-urbanization, illegal settlements and environmental impact in Mexico City. Cities 25:133–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2008.02.003

  • Ahern J (2011) From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: sustainability and resilience in the new urban world. Landsc Urban Plan 100(4):341–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.02.021

  • Alberti M, McPhearson T, Gonzalez A (2018) Embracing urban complexity. In: Elmqvist T, Bai X, Frantzeskaki N, Griffith C, Maddox D, McPhearson T, Parnell S, Romero-Lankao P, Simon D (2018) Part I: dynamic urban planet. Cambridge University Press

  • Allen A (2003) Environmental planning and management of the peri-urban interface: perspectives on an emerging field. Environ Urban 15(1):135–147

  • Anderies JM, Walker BH, Kinzig AP (2006) Fifteen weddings and a funeral: case studies and resilience-based management. Ecol Soc 11(1):21. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267809

  • Arechiga E (2004) De la exuberancia al agotamiento. Xochimilco y el agua, 1882-2004. In: Terrones ME (coord.). A la orilla del agua. Política, urbanización y medio ambiente. Historia de Xochimilco en el siglo XX. Gobierno del Distrito Federal, Delegación Xochimilco, Instituto Mora. Ciudad de México, México

  • Armillas P (1971) Gardens on swamps. Science 174:653–661. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1733739

  • Ayllón-García S (2016) Rapid development as a factor of imbalance in urban growth of cities in Latin America: a perspective based on territorial indicators. Habitat International 58:127–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2016.10.005

  • Bai X, Surveyer A, Elmqvist T, Gatzweiler FW, Güneralp B, Parnell S, Prieur-Richard AH, Shrivastava P, Siri JG, Stafford-Smith M, Toussaint JP (2016) Defining and advancing a systems approach for sustainable cities. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 23:69–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2016.11.010

  • Berkes F, Folke C (eds) (1998) Linking social and ecological systems: management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience. UK, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs R, Blenckner T, Folke C, Gordon L, Norström A, Nyström M, Peterson GD (2012a) Regime shifts. In: Hastings A, Gross L (eds) (2012 a) Encyclopedia of theoretical ecology. University of California Press. Ewing, NJ, USA

  • Biggs M, Schlüter M, Biggs D, Bohensky E, BurnSilver S, Cundill G, Vasilis D, Daw T, Evans L, Kotschy K, Leitch A, Meek C, Quinlan A, Raudsepp-Hearne C, Robards M, Schoon M, Schultz L, West P (2012b) Towards principles for enhancing the resilience of ecosystem services. Annu Rev Environ Resour 37:421–448. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-051211-123836

  • Calnek E (1972) Patrón de asentamiento y agricultura de chinampas en Tenochtitlan, en González Carlos Javier (comp.). In (1992) “Chinampas Prehispánicas”, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Antologías-Serie Arqueología. México

  • Canabal B, Torres-Lima P, Burela G (1992) La ciudad y sus chinampas. El caso Xochimilco. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaussard E, Wdowinski S, Cabral-Cano E, Amelung F (2014) Land subsidence in central Mexico detected by ALOS InSAR time-series. Remote Sens Environ 140:94–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.08.038

  • Chelleri L, Waters JJ, Olazabal M, Minu G (2015) Resilience trade-offs: addressing multiple scales and temporal aspects of urban resilience. Environ Urban 27(1):181–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247814550780

  • Díaz S, Fargione J, Chapin FS III, Tilman D (2006) Biodiversity loss threatens human well-being. PLoS Biol 4(8):e277. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040277

  • Eakin H, Bojórquez-Tapia LA, Janssen MA, Georgescu M, Manuel-Navarrete D, Vivoni ER, Escalante AE, Baeza-Castro A, Mazari-Hiriart M, Lerner AM (2017) Opinion: urban resilience efforts must consider social and political forces. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:186–189. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620081114

  • Eakin H, Shelton R, Siqueiros-Garcia J, Charli-Joseph, Manuel-Navarrete D (2019) Loss and social-ecological transformation: pathways of change in Xochimilco, Mexico. Ecol Soc 24(3):15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11030-240315

  • Elias M, Mudege N, Lopez DE, Najjar D, Kandiwa V, Luis J et al (2018) Gendered aspirations and occupations among rural youth, in agriculture and beyond: a cross-regional perspective. Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security 3(1):82–107. https://doi.org/10.19268/JGAFS.312018.4

  • Ernstson H, van der Leeuw SE, Redman CL, Meffert DJ, Davis G, Alfsen C, Elmqvist T (2010) Urban transitions: on urban resilience and human-dominated ecosystems. Ambio 39:531–545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-010-0081-9

  • Ezcurra E (1990) De las chinampas a la megalópolis: el medio ambiente en la Cuenca de México. Serie La Ciencia desde México. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Ezcurra E, Mazari-Hiriart M, Pisanty I, Aguilar AG (2006) La cuenca de México. Aspectos ambientales críticos y sustentabilidad. Fondo de Cultura Económica - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Fath BD, Dean CA, Katzmair H (2015) Navigating the adaptive cycle: an approach to managing the resilience of social systems. Ecol Soc 20(2):24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26270208

  • Folke C, Carpenter S, Walker B, Scheffer M, Elmqvist T, Gunderson L, Holling CS (2004) Regime shifts, resilience, and biodiversity in ecosystem management. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:557–581. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.021103.105711

  • Gobierno del Distrito Federal (2006) Acuerdo por el que se aprueba el Programa de Manejo del Área Natural Protegida con carácter de Zona de Conservación Ecológica “Ejidos de Xochimilco y San Gregorio Atlapulco”. Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal

    Google Scholar 

  • Gobierno del Distrito Federal (2012) Atlas geográfico del suelo de conservación del Distrito Federal. Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Procuraduría Ambiental y del Ordenamiento Territorial del Distrito Federal, México

  • González JA, Montes C, Rodríguez J, Tapia W (2008) Rethinking the Galapagos Islands as a complex social-ecological system: implications for conservation and management. Ecol Soc 13(2):13. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267990

  • González-Pozo A (coord.), Armillas I, Díaz-Berrio S, Chiapa FR, Arriaga CE, Castro JG, Rodríguez LC, Ángeles B, Montaño M, Toledo M (2016) The chinampas of Xochimilco at the start of the XXIst century: an initial catalogue. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Mexico

  • Gunderson LH, Holling CS (eds) (2002) Panarchy: understanding transformations in systems of humans and nature. Island Press, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernández H (2003) Xochimilco ayer, vol III, Gobierno del Distrito Federal. Delegación Xochimilco e Instituto Mora, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS (1973) Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 4:1–23. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245

  • INEGI (2017) Anuario estadístico y geográfico de la Ciudad de México 2017. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay C (2015) The agrarian question and the neoliberal rural transformation in Latin America. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 100:73–83. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43673539

  • Leichenko R (2011) Climate change and urban resilience. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 3:164–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2010.12.014

  • Lerner AM, Eakin H (2011) An obsolete dichotomy? Rethinking the rural-urban interface in terms of food security and production in the global south. Geogr J 177(4):311–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2010.00394.x

  • Lerner AM, Eakin H, Sweeney S (2013) Understanding peri-urban maize production through an examination of household livelihoods in the Toluca Metropolitan Area, Mexico. J Rural Stud 30:52–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.11.001

  • Lerner AM, Eakin H, Tellman E, Bausch JC, Aguilar B (2018) Governing the gaps in water governance and land-use planning in a megacity: the example of hydrological risk in Mexico City. Cities 83:61–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.06.009

  • Mazari-Hiriart M, Ponce-de-Leon S, Lopez-Vidal Y, Islas-Macias P, Amieva-Fernandez RI, Quinones-Falconi F (2008) Microbiological implications of peri-urban agriculture and water reuse in Mexico City. PLoS One 3(5):e2305. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002305

  • Meerow S, Newell JP, Stults M (2016) Defining urban resilience: a review. Landsc Urban Plan 147:38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.11.011

  • Merlín-Uribe Y, Contreras-Hernández A, Astier-Calderón M, Jensen OP, Zaragoza R, Zambrano L (2013a) Urban expansion into a protected natural area in Mexico City: alternative management scenarios. J Environ Plan Manag 56(3):398–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2012.683686

  • Merlín-Uribe Y, González-Esquivel CE, Contreras-Hernández A, Zambrano L, Moreno-Casasola P, Astier M (2013b) Environmental and socio-economic sustainability of chinampas (raised beds) in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Int J Agric Sustain 11(3):216–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2012.726128

  • Merlín-Uribe Y (2009) Evaluación de dos sistemas de manejo de recursos naturales de Xochimilco con indicadores de sustentabilidad. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Moglia M, Cork SJ, Boschetti F, Cook S, Bohensky E, Mustera T, Declan P (2018) Urban transformation stories for the 21st century: insights from strategic conversations. Glob Environ Chang 50:222–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.04.009

  • Nagendra H, Bai X, Brondizio ES, Lwasa S (2018) The urban south and the predicament of global sustainability. Nature Sustainability 1(7):341. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0101-5

  • Peñafiel A (1884) Memoria de las aguas potables de la capital de México. Estudio para el Gobierno de la Ciudad de México. Secretaría de Fomento, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett ST, Cadenasso ML, Grove JM, Boone CG, Groffman PM, Irwin E, Kaushal SS, Marshall V, McGrath BP, Nilon CH, Pouyat RV (2011) Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress. J Environ Manag 92:331–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.08.022

  • Rojas T (coord.) (1995) Presente, pasado y futuro de las chinampas. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social. Patronato del Parque Ecológico de Xochimilco, México

  • Romero P (2004) Tres problemas contradictorios: desarrollo urbano, medio ambiente y políticas públicas durante el siglo XX. In: Terrones M (2004) A la orilla del agua. Política, urbanización y medio ambiente. Historia de Xochimilco en el siglo XX. Gobierno del Distrito Federal, Delegación Xochimilco e Instituto Mora. México

  • Romero-Lankao P, Qin H (2011) Conceptualizing urban vulnerability to global climate and environmental change. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 3(3):142–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2010.12.016

  • Sanders W (1976) The agricultural history of the Basin of Mexico. In: Wolf E (ed) The Valley of Mexico: studies in pre-hispanic ecology and society. School of American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheffer M, Carpenter SR, Lenton TM, Bascompte J, Brock W, Dakos V, van de Koppel J, van de Leemput IA, Levin SA, van Nes EH, Pascual M (2012) Anticipating critical transitions. Science 338:344–348. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225244

  • Seto KC, Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Fragkias M (2010) The new geography of contemporary urbanization and the environment. Annu Rev Environ Resour 35:167–194. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-100809-125336

  • Seto KC, Güneralp B, Hutyra LR (2012) Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools. PNAS 109(40):16083–16088. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211658109

  • Toyzan C (2015) Growing greens and going green in Mexico’s wetlands. Earthwatch, stories from the field https://blog.earthwatch.org/2015/07/02/growing-greens-and-going-green-in-mexicos-wetlands/

  • Villagrán A, Ramírez F, Carrillo D. Restauración Ecológica y Desarrollo: Luchando Por La Conservación de Xochimilco. Walking Mexico https://walkingmexico.com/restauracion-ecologica-y-desarrollo-luchando-por-la-conservacion-de-xochimilco/

  • Walker BH, Gunderson LH, Kinzig AP, Folke C, Carpenter SR, Schultz L (2006) A handful of heuristics and some propositions for understanding resilience in social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 11(1):13. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267801

  • Walker BH, Holling CS, Carpenter SR, Kinzig A (2004) Resilience, adaptability, and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 9(2):5. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267673

  • Walters C (1986) Adaptive management of renewable resources. Macmillan, New York, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Wigle J (2010) The “Xochimilco model” for managing irregular settlements in conservation land in Mexico City. Cities 27:337–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2010.04.003

  • Zabaleta D (2010) El Proyecto Unesco-Xochimilco (PUX), en la Ciudad de México. Alcances y límites de la gobernanza democrática en iniciativas propuestas por gobiernos locales con institucionalidad débil. Instituto de investigación y debate sobre la gobernanza. Colombia-Francia. http://www.institut-gouvernance.org/fr/experienca/fiche-experienca-27.html

Download references

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the Posgrado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. We also thank Fabiola Gress for the elaboration of the case-study map. Finally, we are thankful for the comments from the anonymous reviewers.

Funding

This study was funded by UNAM-DGAPA-PAPIIT No. IA301117.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Posgrado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Marcela Jiménez & Patricia Pérez-Belmont

  2. Stockholm Resilience Centre, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

    Maria Schewenius

  3. University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden

    Maria Schewenius

  4. Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), A.P. 70-275 Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico, Mexico

    Amy M. Lerner & Marisa Mazari-Hiriart

Authors
  1. Marcela Jiménez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Patricia Pérez-Belmont
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maria Schewenius
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Amy M. Lerner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Marisa Mazari-Hiriart
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy M. Lerner.

Additional information

Communicated by Debbie Ley

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jiménez, M., Pérez-Belmont, P., Schewenius, M. et al. Assessing the historical adaptive cycles of an urban social-ecological system and its potential future resilience: the case of Xochimilco, Mexico City. Reg Environ Change 20, 7 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01587-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01587-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation