PACMEX - Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research

PACMEX - Percepción y Acción Comunitaria para la Reducción de Riesgos de Desastres y Adaptación al Cambio Climático en México

Principal Investigators

Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology - UFZ
Dr. Nathalie Jean-Baptiste

Faculty of Environmental Psychology - UNAM
Dr. Patricia Ortega Andeane

Funding Institutions

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (DGAPA

Project duration

08/2015–07/2016

Summary:

PACMEX se desarrolla dentro del marco de un proyecto de investigación participativo multidisciplinario que analiza la vulnerabilidad social en zonas de riesgo en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México (ZMCM); asi cómo la percepción y comunicación de riesgo para desarrollar tecnologías y técnicas innovadoras para mejorar la capacidad de adaptación y la sostenibilidad de dichas comunidades. El proyecto se implementa en una comunidad con problemas recurrentes de inundación, deslizamiento de tierra, disponibilidad y calidad del agua.

El objetivo principal de PACMEX es analizar la percepción de riesgo y vulnerabilidad, y hacer un diagnóstico urbano para determinar la capacidad de adaptación y recuperación ante los efectos negativos relacionado a los eventos extremos. Las propuestas de diseño y tecnología permitirán mejorar el nivel de calidad de vida en las comunidades afectadas y al mismo tiempo permitirán una mejor comprensión de la relación riesgos y desastres, con el cambio climático y las acciones de adaptación.

Para ello se plantean dos principales preguntas de investigación:

P1. ¿Cuál es el grado de afectación de las comunidades en riesgo en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México?
P2. ¿Qué tecnología o diseño resulta apropiada y puede influir positivamente en la capacidad de adaptación de comunidades frente a eventos extremos y al cambio climático?

Team:

Dr. Nathalie Jean-Baptiste – Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Leader WP1 & Project coordination. Assessment of social, economic and environmental vulnerability

Gabriela Torres Morales MSc - Institute for European Studies (IfEU) Bauhaus University Weimar

Researcher WP1. Assessment of social, economic and environmental vulnerability and research blog management

Dr. Patricia Ortega Andeane – Faculty of Environmental Psychology, UNAM
Leader WP2 & Project coordination. Perception and risk communication

Dr. Cesáreo Estrada Rodríguez - Faculty of Environmental Psychology, UNAM
Research support WP2. Perception and risk communication

Dra. Gemma Verduzco Chirino - Faculty of Architecture, UNAM
Leader WP3. Design and technology

Dr. Alejandro Cabeza - Faculty of Architecture, UNAM
Academic support WP3. Design and technology

Integration plattform

Societal Transformations
towards Sustainability

News

New project on transdisciplinary raw materials research

Since January 2024 Henriette Rutjes and Dr Diana Ayeh are responsible for the research project "GeRohTrans – Public Engagement in Raw Materials Research in the Ore Mountains: Transdisciplinary Cooperation and Global Responsibility". As part of the WIR! initiative “recomine”, the research project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a period of two years. It focuses on the temporality of public engagement in transdisciplinary raw materials research projects.

New project on CO2 capture and storage (CCS)

Dr Danny Otto has been awarded a new research project on the capture and storage of CO2 as part of the EU "CETP - Clean Energy Technology Partnership" call for proposals. The project entitled "RamonCO - Risk-based framework for assessing CO2 storage monitoring" started on 1 December 2023 and will run for 3 years.

IALE 2023, 10.-14.07.2023, Nairobi, Kenia

Julius Knopp will give two presentations on "Spatial allocation of Ecosystem Services under contrasting scenarios of urban development across Chinese and European cities" and "High-resolution urban mapping for enhanced urban planning and management - A case study for Aarhus, Denmark".

New perspectives in earth observation (26.7.- bis 28.7., Bonn)

The 4th Symposium takes a look at exciting future fields of satellite-based Earth observation (EO). The event aims to provide a platform for dialogue among researchers, application and service developers, as well as data users in satellite Earth observation. This will effectively strengthen the exchange and networking among the participants. Ellen Banzhaf and Julius Knopp will also be participating in the symposium.

IALE

At the 11th World Congress of Landscape Ecology (IALE), studies by Julius Knopp, Ellen Banzhaf and Sebastian Elze will show the multi-faceted research field of urban remote sensing at the UFZ between 11 and 15 July 2023. Two presentations will give insight into the research on nature-based solutions in cities (REGREEN; regreen-project.eu/); The SUSOZ team will deal with Big Data of freely available earth observation data in the network project DREAMS to better record and evaluate rapid urban processes in sub-Saharan Africa.

GI-Salzburg23

As a contribution to the further development of geoinformatics in the social sciences, Sebastian Elze and Ellen Banzhaf are participating in the international Forum GI-Salzburg23. Together with governance and pedagogy colleagues, they will discuss the approach of walkable floor maps as an interactive tool.

Urban-Rural-Partnerships - Sustainable and Resilient

Stephan Bartke and Sigrun Kabisch, Eds.,

2023, printed edition of the Special Issue published in Land

The volume consists of 16 papers by speakers attending the international conference „Sustainable & Resilient Urban-Rural Partnerships - URP 2020“. The papers represent novel urban-rural imaginaries, integrated strategies and projects which explore current and future potential in terms of sustainability and resilience. They include conceptual and methodological considerations, as well as case studies dedicated to striking examples and providing transferable knowledge and solutions.

Link to the paper

JURSE 2023 - Heraklion Crete

16 May - 19 May 2023
As a member of the JURSE Scientific Committee, Ellen Banzhaf is participating in the Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event in Greece. There she will present central work of the platform project 6.4, Resilient Cities.
For further details see here.

Risk Communication to support property level adaptation

In January 2023, the final report of the project "PIVO - Private Eigenvorsorge" was published. The project was funded by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). Under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Christian Kuhlicke, PIVO investigated how different communication formats (a serious game on flood protection, a simulation and a precautionary information campaign) affect the motivation of citizens to take precautions against the consequences of climate change. This report provides a detailed and illustrative overview of the developed communication formats and the results of an extensive evaluation. A longitudinal survey was conducted in 11 municipalities, with six cities serving as control municipalities in order to draw controlled conclusions on the effectiveness of the communication formats. You can find the report under the following link (it’s in German and includes a English summary).

New project on resilience planning in German municipalities

In December, the one-year project “Resilience in municipal practice – How about resilience?” started with the collaboration of Prof. Dr. Christian Kuhlicke, Prof. Dr. Dieter Rink, Janine Pößneck und Anika Schmidt. Financed by and in close exchange with the German federal association on housing and urban development, called vhw, the team will elaborate a survey of debate, knowledge and planning related to urban resilience in German municipalities. Based on literature analysis and interviews a synthesis report will be published at the end of the project. The overall goal is to further refine the concept of urban resilience and elaborate suggestions for municipal planning. The project is part of the platform project „Transformations towards resilient cities".

more News & Highlights

Publications

URBIO 2022 Book of Abstracts

The 7^th Conference of the International Network Urban Biodiversity and Design (URBIO) with the theme “Integrating Biodiversity in Urban Planning and Design Processes” took place on 28-30 Nov. 2022 at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig. The book of abstracts has now been published.

Information and download

Fully revised new edition:

Groß, M.; McGoey, L.: Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. 2nd edition 2022.

New article online:

J. M. Knopp, G. Levin and E. Banzhaf, "Aerial Data Analysis for Integration Into a Green Cadastre—An Example From Aarhus, Denmark," in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 16, pp. 6545-6555, 2023, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2023.3289218

Current publications