Urban dwellers’ adaptive capacity as a socio-psychological process: Insights from Lima, Peru

This study examines the adaptive capacity of urban dwellers in the face of a changing climate dealing with water insecurity. It builds on the case of Lima residents’ responses to the extreme events brought by the 2017 El Niño Costero, used here as a temporal analogue. Our novel, process-oriented approach to framing adaptive capacity integrates elements from both environmental behavior and new institutionalism literatures. Based on interviews with Lima residents, policymakers, and stakeholders as well as on a qualitative document analysis of national and city policies we identify and characterize the socio-psychological processes that are critical to understanding why individuals adopt (or not) different adaptive strategies. We show how governance and social institutions (from municipal regulations to gender roles) influenced residents’ perceived vulnerability and how this, in turn, structured their coping actions during the El Niño Costero episode. We further demonstrate that ways in which individuals deploy coping mechanisms structure their future adapting paths through practices that privilege the status quo while deferring risks in time and space. In this context, the interrelation of residents’ cognitive processes with evolving social norms lead to five strategies for dealing with climate change. The discussion reflects on the need to address institutionalized social inequalities that permeate Lima’s daily urban life in order to enhance the adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable, and on the relationship between residents and authorities on the pathway to urban resilience.