Abstract
As flood events become more intense and frequent, cities throughout the world increasingly devise projects for flood management and control, including hard and soft infrastructural solutions. Among these, an emblematic example is the project Parque Várzeas do Tietê (PVT) – or Tietê Lowlands Park – a 75 km-long floodplain restoration scheme proposed by the government of São Paulo, Brazil, to allegedly solve the city's flooding problem. The project's execution, however, is contingent on the removal of approximately 7500 low-income families, raising questions on the intertwined relationship between adaptation to flooding and the exclusion of informal urban settlements. Drawing on urban and feminist political ecology, we use the PVT as a case study to examine the politics and uneven outcomes of adaptation in São Paulo's eastern periphery. We combine archival and ethnographic work to expose the persistent politics of invisibility that sustain the project's exclusionary contours. In the process, we also demonstrate the various ways floodplain residents reshape their invisibility to contest, negotiate, and resist the PVT in the spaces of their everyday lives. As a result, the analysis identifies the project's perverse effects but also opportunities for productive engagements between the government and local communities towards more just, inclusive, and equitable adaptation futures in São Paulo, and beyond.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 181-192 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Geoforum |
| Volume | 104 |
| Early online date | 7 May 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2019 |
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Contested grounds : Adaptation to flooding and the politics of (in)visibility in São Paulo's eastern periphery. / Henrique, Karen Paiva; Tschakert, Petra.
In: Geoforum, Vol. 104, 08.2019, p. 181-192.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Contested grounds
T2 - Adaptation to flooding and the politics of (in)visibility in São Paulo's eastern periphery
AU - Henrique, Karen Paiva
AU - Tschakert, Petra
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - As flood events become more intense and frequent, cities throughout the world increasingly devise projects for flood management and control, including hard and soft infrastructural solutions. Among these, an emblematic example is the project Parque Várzeas do Tietê (PVT) – or Tietê Lowlands Park – a 75 km-long floodplain restoration scheme proposed by the government of São Paulo, Brazil, to allegedly solve the city's flooding problem. The project's execution, however, is contingent on the removal of approximately 7500 low-income families, raising questions on the intertwined relationship between adaptation to flooding and the exclusion of informal urban settlements. Drawing on urban and feminist political ecology, we use the PVT as a case study to examine the politics and uneven outcomes of adaptation in São Paulo's eastern periphery. We combine archival and ethnographic work to expose the persistent politics of invisibility that sustain the project's exclusionary contours. In the process, we also demonstrate the various ways floodplain residents reshape their invisibility to contest, negotiate, and resist the PVT in the spaces of their everyday lives. As a result, the analysis identifies the project's perverse effects but also opportunities for productive engagements between the government and local communities towards more just, inclusive, and equitable adaptation futures in São Paulo, and beyond.
AB - As flood events become more intense and frequent, cities throughout the world increasingly devise projects for flood management and control, including hard and soft infrastructural solutions. Among these, an emblematic example is the project Parque Várzeas do Tietê (PVT) – or Tietê Lowlands Park – a 75 km-long floodplain restoration scheme proposed by the government of São Paulo, Brazil, to allegedly solve the city's flooding problem. The project's execution, however, is contingent on the removal of approximately 7500 low-income families, raising questions on the intertwined relationship between adaptation to flooding and the exclusion of informal urban settlements. Drawing on urban and feminist political ecology, we use the PVT as a case study to examine the politics and uneven outcomes of adaptation in São Paulo's eastern periphery. We combine archival and ethnographic work to expose the persistent politics of invisibility that sustain the project's exclusionary contours. In the process, we also demonstrate the various ways floodplain residents reshape their invisibility to contest, negotiate, and resist the PVT in the spaces of their everyday lives. As a result, the analysis identifies the project's perverse effects but also opportunities for productive engagements between the government and local communities towards more just, inclusive, and equitable adaptation futures in São Paulo, and beyond.
KW - Climate justice
KW - Displacement
KW - Everyday resistance
KW - Exclusion
KW - Feminist political ecology
KW - Urban political ecology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065141156&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.04.026
DO - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.04.026
M3 - Article
VL - 104
SP - 181
EP - 192
JO - Geoforum
JF - Geoforum
SN - 0016-7185
ER -