Urban river systems are critical to climate adaptation, yet their governance is often fragmented across multiple sectors, scales, and stakeholders. In flood-prone cities like San Juan, Puerto Rico, community-based organizations play a central role in shaping adaptation pathways, yet their visions for river futures may diverge due to differences in place-based experiences and governance structures. This research examines how community groups in the Río Piedras watershed define and advance adaptation strategies, how their mental models evolve through collaboration, and how coalition-building influences cross-scale governance for stormwater resilience.
In the wake of recent disasters, San Juan has seen a proliferation of governmental, non-governmental, and grassroots planning initiatives addressing extreme flooding. For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been awarded significant funding for river-related infrastructure projects in Puerto Rico, influencing local adaptation efforts. To navigate this evolving governance landscape, we work in partnership with la Alianza por la Cuenca del Río Piedras (Alianza)—a network of scientists, planners, and community organizations established in 2015—to analyze the emergence of the Coalición, a collective of neighborhood groups that formed in November 2023 to strengthen community-driven flood adaptation.
Using content analysis of public qualitative data (e.g., testimonies, community meetings, media coverage), we construct comparative mental models of community adaptation narratives and apply network analysis to assess structural alignments and shifts within the coalition over time (2021–present). Our findings reveal how river connectivity and flood experiences shape adaptation pathways and demonstrate how coalition-building fosters new opportunities for governance coordination in urban watersheds.