ABSTRACT

Urban citizens increasingly need to adapt to climate risk. This is especially the case in informal settlements that have limited state engagement and are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Community-based adaptation (CBA) in the informal settlement has the potential to support the transformation that re-shapes power relations as well as reducing climate risk. This paper explores how multiscalar governance in Cape Town can either empower or undermine CBA to flooding in informal settlements. Drawing on urban political ecology, the analysis reveals significant tension around differing ideas of the temporality of informal settlements, as well as token community inclusivity in participatory planning processes. While everyday governance practices have been used by the City of Cape Town at the local scale, a local community-based organisation has used insurgent planning to envision and enact a more just city. A community designed and spear-headed reblocking process (rearranging shacks in a settlement to allow for flood drainage and service delivery) is a powerful example of CBA and represents the potential of community-based organisations to take steps towards transformative action. In order to enable more widespread urban transformative CBA, it is important to address the drivers of vulnerabilities and underlying power dynamics of political decision-making to destabilise the status quo and move towards real adaptation.

摘要

城市居民越来越需要适应气候风险。在国家参与有限且特别容易受到气候变化影响的非正规住区尤其如此。非正式住区中基于社区的适应（CBA）有可能支持重塑权力关系并降低气候风险的转型。本文探讨了开普敦的多尺度治理如何增强或削弱 CBA 应对非正规住区的洪水问题。该分析借鉴城市政治生态学，揭示了围绕非正规住区临时性的不同观点以及参与性规划过程中象征性的社区包容性的显着紧张关系。虽然开普敦市在当地范围内采用了日常治理实践，当地的一个社区组织利用叛乱计划来构想并建立一个更加公正的城市。社区设计和带头的重新封锁过程（重新安排定居点中的棚屋，以便排洪和提供服务）是 CBA 的一个强有力的例子，代表了社区组织采取步骤实现变革行动的潜力。为了实现更广泛的城市变革 CBA，重要的是要解决政治决策的脆弱性和潜在权力动态的驱动因素，以破坏现状的稳定并走向真正的适应。社区设计和带头的重新封锁过程（重新安排定居点中的棚屋，以便排洪和提供服务）是 CBA 的一个强有力的例子，代表了社区组织采取步骤实现变革行动的潜力。为了实现更广泛的城市变革性 CBA，重要的是要解决政治决策的脆弱性和潜在权力动态的驱动因素，以破坏现状的稳定并走向真正的适应。社区设计和带头的重新封锁过程（重新安排定居点中的棚屋，以便排洪和提供服务）是 CBA 的一个强有力的例子，代表了社区组织采取步骤实现变革行动的潜力。为了实现更广泛的城市变革性 CBA，重要的是要解决政治决策的脆弱性和潜在权力动态的驱动因素，以破坏现状的稳定并走向真正的适应。