This thesis investigates the degradation of the river ecosystem in Monterrey, located in northeastern Mexico, with a focus on the Río Santa Catarina. Historically a free-flowing river from the Sierra Madre Oriental to the Gulf of Mexico, the Río Santa Catarina is now often dry except during heavy rains or hurricanes, when it poses flood risks to the city. Human interventions, including concrete reinforcement of riverbanks and the construction of roads, have disconnected the river from Monterrey’s urban fabric and exacerbated water scarcity during dry seasons. These short-term flood control measures have degraded the river ecosystem, reflecting broader issues of biodiversity loss, climate change, desertification, and water scarcity.

Monterrey, situated in a semi-arid landscape and facing severe climate challenges, exemplifies the complex relationship between human societies and their natural environments. Historical changes have shifted the city’s relationship with its landscape from symbiotic to exploitative, driven by industrialization and rapid urbanization. This shift has led to a narrative that views the natural landscape as a problem to be managed rather than a resource to be nurtured.

This thesis highlights the significant opportunity for Monterrey to transform its approach to river management. By reimagining the Río Santa Catarina as a natural river park, the city can enhance flood control, restore ecological integrity, and foster community engagement. The proposed solutions are based on the Urban Ecology Design Approach (Tillie, 2024), which considers the urban ecosystem level, urban habitat level and the species level of Monterrey. The solutions are integrated in the watershed of the Santa Catarina River based on the Watershed Approach (Hooijmeijer et al., 2021) and promotes strategies for upstream water retention, midstream space allocation, and controlled downstream flow. Three site-specific designs illustrate these strategies, aiming to restore the river’s ecological balance and reconnect the community with the river.

While the issues faced by Monterrey’s river ecosystem are context-specific, they reflect global challenges of balancing flood control with ecological resilience. The methods and strategies developed in this thesis are broadly applicable to other regions facing similar environmental pressures.

Assam is the second largest habitat for Asian Elephants. The systematic habitat destruction and fragmentation on the pretext of agricultural expansion, settlement growth and infrastructural development had rendered the state as hotspot for human-elephant conflicts, claiming as many as 300 elephant lives in the past decade. The diminishing forest habitat has compelled this mega-herbivorous species to venture into human settlements and agricultural fields for their survival in search of food and water. Although tea gardens act extended forest system, elephants are face violent resistance in agricultural fields around it. The challenges posed by climate change on the landscape excarcebate the conflict. Projections indicate that the growing suitability of the North Bank region for tea cultivation by 2050 will exert immense pressure and fragmentation on elephant habitats resulting in further amplification of conflict. The project “Blurring the boundaries: Making way for elephants” investigates the relationship of people with their landscape and results in developing a comprehensive toolbox of climate adaptive agricultural strategies that can be incorporated across various contextual settings of human and elephant habitats by examining the possibilities of collaboration between human and elephant habitats.