Argentine cities in the context of climate change: Explorations for risk analysis and urban resilience

Abstract

Latin America shows an accelerated urbanization process and a development model that generate and intensify social and environmental problems. Added to these problems are the risks triggered by climate change that affect today’s cities. In Argentina, its effects are manifested differentially over the regions, impacting cities and human settlements. In this scenario, this paper proposes to explore the environmental risk faced by Argentinean cities in a context of climate change from two dimensions: threat and resilience. For this, two synthetic indices were built using the Mean Index Coefficient methodology for each dimension and subsequently the results were articulated by defining risk categories. Results were spatially represented using a Geographic Information System. Gran Posadas, Corrientes, and Salta reach the most unfavorable situations following by Gran La Plata, Gran Mendoza, Gran San Juan, Gran Tucumán-Tafí Viejo, and the Buenos Aires counties. The importance of focusing on adaptation measures under the concept of urban resilience is highlighted. New questions arise from this work and invite further research whose results will allow progress towards sustainability and urban resilience by including them in local policies.