Community resilience is sometimes overlooked when cities and regions are developing plans and actions for climate adaptation and mitigation. The people that inhabit each place have developed several strategies and collaborations to cope with risks, from a neighbor situation to large-scale events such as pandemics or flooding. That is invaluable knowledge that governments should take into account when making their proposals and decisions. But building and/or fostering community resilience has also several challenges that need to be addressed.
The purpose of this document is to highlight some insights of the event “Barriers and Enablers to Effective Climate Governance in Cities: What is hampering or enabling community resilience?” that took place in Barcelona from Feb 19th-21th 2025, focusing on the contributions of Luis Berraquero-Díaz, current Mobilization Coordinator at Greenpeace in Seville, Spain. It will reflect on the results of an interview made with him during the event, and the main contributions that he and the other participants made. It will also include some key insights and conclusions about current barriers and enablers of community resilience, based on the interview, the participants’ point of view and personal correlations with the theory reviewed during class.
Luis Berraquero-Diaz: Interview with the Speaker and Analysis
Figure 01: Luis Berraquero-Díaz, current Mobilization Coordinator at Greenpeace in Seville, Spain.
Luis Berraquero-Díaz has a PhD in Environment and Society. He analyzes processes of socio-spatial transformation and the associated socio-ecological conflicts. In recent years, he has focused on researching the impacts of the touristification process on different urban dimensions, as well as different urban social movements and their impacts on the city. He is a member of Urban Resilience Research Network and the Ibero-American Network of Research in Urban Politics, Conflicts and Movements.
In Annex 1 of this document, there is a transcript of the interview done with Luis Berraquero related to the workshop objectives. Six questions were the triggers of this chat, related to the role of communities in cities, how they contribute to a more resilient environment, to the SDGs, challenges they face and the future of the field of community resilience.
I highlight from this conversation several main contributions to build community resilience and keep the effort ongoing and evolving through time.
- Community resilience must build justice too:
It needs to be a counterbalance from the hegemonic thinking: capitalism, patriarchy, machismo. Communities are the ones that must define for whom, for what, for where resilience is needed. - Communities function as essential support networks, especially in cities:
The pandemic was a clear demonstration of this. He shared the example of how communities in Seville self-organized to care for the most vulnerable through the RAMUCA initiative when pandemic measures were first implemented. Grassroots organizations anticipated the challenges the government would face in meeting citizens’ needs and recognized that many vulnerable groups—such as the elderly, undocumented immigrants, and others—might struggle to access even the most basic necessities. In response, they created a neighborhood-based support network. In a very short time, other neighborhoods began joining the effort and establishing their own care networks. This sense of community has proven to be a powerful tool for overcoming difficult times.
Figure 02: Logo of the RAMUCA initiative in Seville, born during the pandemic.
- Place is an important concept to build community:
Even in contexts where it seems segregation is the rule, there are places where people gather and something can be started. - Talking about resilience is not always something positive:
there are places where people organize to stop well-intentioned places such as hostels, houses to help homeless people, cycle lanes. Capitalism and patriarchy are also very resilient, and that is not a positive resilience for the world. - Internal community factors are very important and must be taken into account all the time:
There are many things that menace community-led initiatives, related to the dynamics the groups develop. The process, care, being self-critical, even the personal motivators to belong are factors that need to be taken into account and addressed when needed. Burnout and power dynamics can hinder the community efforts and make them even disappear or generate harmful dynamics around them. - Finally, community resilience as a concept needs to evolve:
There are many interpretations of each concept alone, and the combination of them makes it even more difficult to define. Also, it is possible that capitalism adopts it and gives it a proper definition that can change the whole real meaning.What I recall from this conversation—and what I consider a novel insight in the context of the community resilience module—is the importance of understanding the internal barriers and enablers that arise within communities and develop through their dynamics. Often, these factors are taken for granted, as if they emerge or resolve on their own. However, without intentional mechanisms to address them, these dynamics can weaken community initiatives and hinder their effectiveness.Another new insight from this conversation, that I don’t recall it being addressed during the module, is that community-led initiatives have benefits that go beyond the expected results. Many times they are measured as successful if they accomplished their initial purpose (for example, rescuing a public space in risk of being privatized) but they have many other benefits for the citizens: the creation of a new support network, test new practices, a leadership school, etc, that can benefit the community now and in the future.Key Takeaways and Reflections
The entire experience of participating in the workshop and hearing the insights from the invited experts opened up a new perspective on the barriers and enablers of community resilience. Some of these barriers and enablers were already familiar to me through my involvement with a collective in Monterrey, Mexico, that promotes sustainable mobility. I’ve been part of this collective for the past 10 years, and I had a sense that similar dynamics might be occurring elsewhere as well.
From their contributions and the need for further research, it is clear that several important issues require deeper understanding to support and strengthen community resilience.
- Importance of place:
A key trigger that strengthens community resilience is to have a place of reference, as an important factor to build a sense of belonging and trust, that are two key characteristics of strong communities. There is the sense among the group that there is a direct connection between the urban spaces and climate action. - Shared values and narratives:
The participants highlighted the importance of shared values and narratives in building trust among the community, and in that way, building resilience. Additionally, the current or ancestral practices of the community need to be taken into account and even enhanced as a way to strengthen trust, instead of trying to impose modern points of view that the community does not share. - Social justice in the center of community climate action:
Participants recognized that structural inequalities and power imbalances are main barriers and challenges to community resilience, and they need to be addressed in each initiative. Also, it is critical to find ways to include the most vulnerable in the action planning and results. - Awareness and mobilization:
Participants also recognized that current threats that communities face are a trigger to start a community-led initiative. This also can be an enabler for resilience, but faces the challenge to move forward from a small group of climate change interested persons to a shared narrative among broader populations affected. - Thinking in the long term:
Participants also highlighted some weaknesses many community-led initiatives have around time and evolution. Community-led initiatives are not static, are in an evolving process over time, and they need to be aware of this dynamic and have capabilities to plan in the short, medium, and long term to maintain themselves.
These contributions added new components of what we have been studying in the community resilience module. Many of the previous knowledge shared in the module was about applied examples of community-led initiatives, with the teachers sharing with us their challenges and results, and valuable tools they are applying. As I said before, the barriers and enablers the workshop participants shared, I could relate them with the experience I have had in the collective I participate in Monterrey, and add new visions of important factors to consider. One that I particularly recall, is the importance of place for communities, that, in my experience it is sometimes difficult to identify and declare it, making it difficult to involve other interested persons particularly in the city level. Another one is the evolving nature of these initiatives, that I can connect it with the resilience cycle (Image 3). It is key to be aware at which stage of the cycle your community-led initiative is and take actions accordingly, to keep up with the efforts and make changes if it is needed.
- Importance of place:
Figure 03: Resilience cycle (Holling, 1986)
Conclusion
The combination of the participants’ perspectives and the interview with Luis Berraquero expanded my understanding of community resilience in two key ways: first, by emphasizing the importance of considering the internal dynamics within organized communities to identify opportunities for strengthening them, and second, by highlighting the need to keep justice at the heart of community-led initiatives. This involves building trust, fostering a shared understanding of the vision, and challenging dominant capitalist and patriarchal perspectives. I see this as an inside-out approach to community resilience: building strong, sustainable communities while challenging the status quo, benefiting the most vulnerable, and promoting durable climate action.
Georgina Treviño González
Student at UIC Barcelona
Urban Resilience for Sustainability Transitions Master’s Programme (2024-2025)