Integrating the Viable System Model and Agile Governance for Sustainable Water Management in Rural Tourism Communities

This study develops a diagnostic analysis through the Viable System Model (VSM), combined with the principles of agile governance, to examine the organisational viability of social tourism enterprises in La Magdalena Atlitic, a rural community located within Los Dinamos National Park in Mexico City. The objective was to understand how these enterprises contribute to sustainable water management through adaptive organisational structures. Based on fieldwork and participatory workshops, the diagnosis identified three main operational units: rural tourism, water conservation and monitoring, and environmental maintenance. The results indicate that, although the operational subsystems display dynamism, the functions of coordination, control, and auditing remain weak and conflictive, thereby limiting feedback and systemic learning. The integration of agile governance highlights the community’s potential to transform reactive practices into adaptive mechanisms, strengthening collaboration and participatory decision-making. The intelligence and identity systems play a key role in linking local knowledge with external innovation, consolidating a shared purpose around the preservation of the Magdalena River. This study reveals that the combination of the VSM and agile governance fosters both sustainable and regenerative systems.