Abstract:

In 1985 Mexico City was struck by an earthquake of 8.1 magnitude on the Richter scale causing major disasters. After this, mexican population received training to evacuate in case of earthquake. Evacuation drills were held every year in all institutions throughout the city. In 2017 Mexico City was hit again by two strong earthquakes. The one on September 19, with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale, left the city with a balance of 370 deads, 30000 people affected and more than 11000 buildings damaged. Hence, it was concluded that although the population received technical trainings to face natural disasters this was not enough.

The Universidad Panamericana (UP) pedagogical research team (SMART Center and CIE), in close cooperation with the UP Engineering School, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) Mexico, worked together designing an innovative experience to:

Raise awareness about both the Earth’s and Mexico City’s fragility.
Give an integral vision of urban resilience.
Present the ethical dimension of urban resilience.
Generate proposals from UP campus community to reinforce the values required to contribute to urban resilience before, during and after the disaster.

To achieve this goals and guide the introduction of new concepts, reflect on them, allow an active involvement and interaction among participants, a workshop format was chosen. To activate social relationship dynamics, to foster open attitudes and to stimulate a problem solving approach, three pedagogical principles were followed: interdisciplinarity, collaboration, and activeness.

The workshop “Values ​​and Resilience of Mexico City” sought to be a place for dialogue and ideation to obtain proposals from Universidad Panamericana’s campus community in order to reinforce the values ​​that are required to contribute to urban resilience, aligned with the educational philosophy of the university: ethical and social responsibility to face emergencies arising from natural disasters.

124 people from 7 different fields of study participated. After the event the perception of knowledge and capability of the participants to contribute in a disaster from an ethical perspective increased in 44%. The experience was positively received and sparked a special enthusiasm among participants since they discovered the importance of the ethical component when facing any disaster.
This paper will present the educational actions and pedagogical strategies used in the workshop in order for anyone to replicate it.

Keywords:

urban resilience, ethical values, social responsibility.