Climate Adaptation: a Challenge for Mexican Cities

In recent days, a large part of the country has suffered intense rainfall that has flooded several cities, causing damage to public infrastructure, homes, etc. These floods demonstrate, year after year, that our cities are not designed to adapt to changing meteorological phenomena, a situation that is expected to worsen with the advance of climate change.

In the coming years, for example, it is predicted that as the global temperature increases, the atmosphere will retain more water, which will generate more intense rainfall. In this context, the vulnerability of cities increases not only due to the lack of hydraulic infrastructure to mitigate the impact of rainfall, but also due to poor urban planning and regulation, the destruction of natural ecosystems, among other factors.

Now, the recent floods have highlighted the limited capacity of infrastructure in many cities, indicating that it has not grown at the same rate as urban and population development. While a recurring explanation is the lack of resources, in many cases, authorities allocate large budgets to showy works, relegating investments in less visible but necessary infrastructure, such as hydraulic infrastructure.

On the other hand, most Mexican cities have grown under an expansive model that promotes urban development in areas prone to flooding and alters the natural landscape by replacing extensive natural surfaces with roads, parking lots, and buildings. By covering cities with impermeable surfaces such as asphalt and concrete, the capacity for water absorption or infiltration is reduced, turning urban environments into swimming pools.