Urban resilience to flood risks in Chennai

Preliminary Research FindingsShazade Jameson14th August 2013

Outline

• Background to Research• Theory• Methods• Preliminary Findings– Causes of flooding– Institutional Social Capital– Knowledge Management– Rights issues

• Tentative Conclusions: Financial & Infrastructural Violence

Why Chennai?

• Chance2Sustain – WP3: Environmental Risk

Assessment– WP4: [Participatory] Knowledge

Management in Urban Governance

• Special relationship to water…• Acute water scarcity /

inequalities• Rainfall > national average =>

Flooding

… either too much or not enough

Environmental Risk

By 2050: developing world will be 67% urban India’s current population 1.2 billion (UN 2012)

Chennai = Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ)Greater risk from climate change

Not everybody experiences risks the same.

Risk = hazard x vulnerability

Socioeconomic Vulnerability

Adaptive Capacity

1. Institutional Social Capital Cooperation? Conflict? Sites of

overlap? Networks? Power relations?

How do people work together?

2. [Spatial] Knowledge ManagementActors and their networksDiscoursesProductsConsequences

Critical Urban Theory

Infrastructure shapes spaceSpace shapes social relations…. & social relations shape space …. & infrastructure.

= co-construction.

What are the consequences for socioeconomic inequalities?

In short…

How do long term flood knowledge management systems build or hinder institutional adaptive capacity to flooding, and what are the effects for the city’s current resilience to floods?

Qualitative Methodology

Critical Realist approach

31 Stakeholder interviews, 20 min – 1h 30 approx.

CorporationAcademicsVarious CSOsPWDCMDAMetroWater

Content & Discourse analysis through coding

Causes of Flooding

Gupta & Nair 2011

Long term flood management requires attention to all these aspects.

In Chennai’s urban governance, “flood management” does not exist as such.

Causes of flooding: Direct

1. Encroachments

- “Legal”- “Illegal”

2. Water bodies reclaimed

3. Loss of traditional rainwater harvesting system (Eris)

Watch the Oggium Madugu connect Pallikaranai to the back waters, though obstructed by Kannagai Nagar Flats

ExNoRa

Till Sep 2002, the Madugu is still connected to the Muthukadu back waters

ExNoRa

Aug 2004 the back water is fragmented and dry

ExNoRa

April 2009, the marsh disappears and land mass appears

ExNoRa

Cause of flooding: Indirect

Causes of Flooding: IndirectArchaic British land use codes inapplicable

High population pressure = high land value

Lack of holistic recognition of water

Improper solid waste management - Level

- Location

Institutional Social Capital

Very little. Ignoring bigger picture makes it difficult!

lack of participatory process

Why? • Different priorities• Different knowledge domains

Funding (JNNURM) prioritised as separate departments

Sites of cooperation:- Informal personal connections. Requires personal investment.- Technology

High-tech mapping

Aerial Laser Terrain Mapping

Highly accurate, 30cm elevationdetermines flood risk

Defense issue Only “user agencies”

Hazard-centric viewpoint“In a vision from above, a city is just a layout of streets, but what happens there is

hidden.” - Fernandez

Storm Water Drains

Lack of records

= Minimal centralised knowledge management

Feasibility of plans checked by inspection

Lack of monitoring of construction

Different urban networks in conflict

Prevents potential drinking of floodwater

Performativity of records

Cause of flooding depends on which department you work with

Fear of blame Records kept minimal

Reinforces dominance of engineering approach

Socioeconomic & Environmental variables tend to be ignored, only dealt with during flood relief

Reinforces individual informal social capital

Success from the top down

New ideas pushed through mostly by top-down support

Procedures can be performative

E.g. Conservation Authority of Pallikaranai Marshland = CAPML

Multi-departmental societySupport from Chief MinisterNew funding mechanismAfter 15 years campaigning by CSOs

…. Requires political will

Flood Management as a Human Right

[“illegal”] “encroachments” universally blamed for floods

Resettlement = political issue

Further segregation of engineering approachArgument of city modernisation & beautification IT Corridor = floodplain = compounding vulnerabilitiesParticipatory methods not taken up for lack of skills & timeAlso, vested interests in land reclamation

Tentative Conclusions

Flood management as a human, ecological and economic right unaddressed by complex entanglement of priorities

Lack of holistic & participatory flood management despite relative awareness

Resilience requires redundancy & flexibility, transparency and openness for innovation at all levels.

Implementing agencies suffocated by restrictive funding and narrow mindsets.

Financial and infrastructural violence ignoring lived experience

Thank you!

@shazjameson

seekingthequestion.com

Any questions?