Felipe DE ALBA
Stay at the Collegium de Lyon :
From September 2011 to July 2012
Felipe de Alba is EURIAS junior fellow (2011-2012) and post-doctoral fellow at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge (USA), until November 2011. He
holds a Ph.D. in Planning from the University of Montreal. He was public servant for the
Government of Mexico City (GDF) from 1997 to 2002 (metropolitan coordination) and for the
Federal government (1992-1996) on strategic planning.
He collaborated to numerous books: La construction des Amériques aujourd’hui. Regards
croisés transnationaux et transdisciplinaire’ (2009), Regard sur les Jeunes et Dynamiques
territoriales (2009) Flux et territoires, vers un monde sans états (2006), Le défi métropolitain
(2004), and Regards croisés des Amériques (2010). He has to his credit more than twenty
articles in international journals relating to metropolitan phenomenon in Mexico and Latin
America.
He also collaborated with Mexican newspapers. He is coordinator of the Continental
Network for
Interdisciplinary
Research
on informal
networks in
metropolitan
associate
at the
Chair
of
areas (RECIM, www.recim.info), research
Studies of Contemporary Mexican CERIUM, a member of the Editorial Board of the journal eInnovation RICEC (www.ricec.info) at INRS-UCS (Montreal).
Research project at Collegium de Lyon: “Governing natural resources in a context of
climate change: Survival or adaptation in the face of water stress.”
In the last few decades, Latin America has undergone major transformations affecting social,
political and economic life. Firstly, with new technologies, globalisation brings about changes
in “ways of doing.” These technological innovations produce marked stratifications between
those who do not have access and those who ripe all the benefits (Bouguerra 2005; Li and
Reveuny 2003). In the Global South, globalisation is often characterised by neoliberal
programs such as privatisation or competitive performance criteria (Easterly and Servén
2003). In most cases, these transformations take place without evaluating their
environmental consequences (Crabtree 2005). This is certainly the case in Mexico.
Secondly, metropolitanisation in the South has facilitated economic modernisation and the
standardisation of urban planning criteria, yet it has also produced uncontrolled development
on urban fringes (Davis 1994; Pastor, Benner, and Matsuoka 2009) and an exponential
increase in social conflicts related to poverty, on issues such as delinquency, informal work,
the devastation of biodiversity and the deterioration of public health (Bodemer 2003;
Dourojeanni and Jouravlev 2002; Iracheta 2002). Without control, metropolitanisation in the
Global South brings a demand for public services outside of all rational criteria, while
splintering the balance between ecosystems and the use of natural resources (De Alba 2008,
2009) and climate change.
In Latin America, this spiral linking uncontrolled growth of urban fringes (Sao Paulo, Mexico)
with an increase in poverty and a deterioration of public health (Lima, Buenos Aires) severely
affects the availability of natural resources and their sustainability. In Mexico City, climate
changes take the form of droughts, flooding, depletion of groundwater, land overexploitation
and urban sprawl, and landslides (Iracheta 2002). These issues are at the top of political
agendas nationally and internationally.
This is at once provocative and challenging for social scientists. My objective in this context is
to analyse social and political tensions resulting from climate change and the use of natural
resources in the Global South. What are the causes and consequences of these tensions?
What solutions are proposed by governments and societies? With interviews of key-actors
from internationals agencies and others, the study will be centred on the political instruments
developed to attenuate the consequences of environmental disasters, such as what is
currently occurring in Mexico City and otherl the Global South cities.
My work so far has focused on the importance of local decision-making levels in the
intergovernmental conflicts characterising water management in Mexico. In the following
years, it will be important to explore the role of international decision-making bodies in the
governance/governability of water.
PUBLICATIONS
•
De Alba, Felipe et Bernard Jouve. 2006. « Mexico entre flux globaux, domination
politique et recherche d’une “troisième voie” ». Jouve, Bernard et Yann Roche (coords.),
2006, Des flux et des territoires. Presses universitaires du Québec. pp. 41-70.
•
Mendoza, Betzabé et Felipe de Alba. 2010. “Epistemología del tiempo político en las
movilizaciones de la APPO en Oaxaca, México”. Ciudades, Janvier-Mars 2010, Mexico,
No.84, pp.19-26.
•
De Alba, Felipe et Carlos Cruz. 2009. “¿Cómo definir un mundo de incertidumbres en
movimiento? Las in-pertinencias del no lugar en lo político”. Reflexión Política, Colombia,
Vol.11, no.22, pp. 82-95.
De Alba, Felipe. 2009. “Cómo se construye la modernidad de lo político? Los intersticios
y los intermedios de las protestas en la metrópoli”. Journal of Iberian and Latin American
Studies, Australia, No. 15:1, pp. 27-49.
•
•
Boudreau, Julie-Anne et Felipe de Alba. “The figure of the hero in cinematographic and
urban spaces: Fear and politics in Ciudad Juarez” Soumis à Emotion, Space, Society
(RU).
•
De Alba, Felipe et Karina Kloster, 2007. “Un nuevo paradigma en los conflictos sociales?.
Una metrópoli en fragmentación progresiva: las luchas por el agua en la ciudad de
México”. Revista Estudios Sociales Comparativos Universidad del Cauca. Colombia. Vol
1:1, pp. 33-56.
•
De Alba, Felipe. 2009 “¿Cómo definir lo que está en curso de definición? La épistémè de
la governance y de la gobernabilidad en la metrópoli”. Jorge Luke (Edits.) Democracia y
ciudadanía en América: Realidades diversas y retos teóricos. UAM, CRIM-UNAM y UACM.
pp. 43-76.
•
De Alba, Felipe. 2009. « Mobilisations sociales et nouveaux clientélismes: les luttes pour
l’eau à Mexico » Fréderic Lesemann et Jean François Côté 2009. La construction des
Amériques aujourd’hui. Regards croisés transnationaux et transdisciplinaires. Presses de
l’Université du Québec. pp. 239-265.
•
De Alba, Felipe, Selene Villarelo et Luzma Nava. 2009. « Le marché du travail, la
sécurité sociale et les jeunes scolarisés à Mexico » Madeleine Gauthier et Claude
Laflamme (2009) Regard sur… Jeunes et Dynamiques territoriales. Tome 2. Ancrage de
l’identité et lieux de participation. Presses de l’Université Laval. pp. 81-96.
•
De Alba, Felipe. 2004. « Geopolítica metropolitana en México: crisis o reconfiguración ?».
Borja, De Alba et al, 2004. Le défi métropolitain. Mexico, PUEC, UNAM, 2004, pp. 121157.
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