Strengthening and Enhancing Contextual Urban Resilience (SECURe) toolkit

This document presents a toolkit, or a practical step-by-step guide, to applying the Strengthening and Enhancing Contextual Urban Resilience (SECURe) framework. The SECURe framework is a structured approach through which researchers, policymakers and practitioners can understand urban power dynamics and inform the design of ‘urban labs’. 

Urban labs are collaborative and experimental platforms that bring together a wide range of city actors, including government, civil society, researchers and private businesses to co-design, test and implement innovative solutions addressing urban challenges such as resilience, sustainability and equitable development in real-world city environments. When designed strategically, urban labs can reduce differences in power between city actors and ultimately transform whose risk matters when it comes to urban development planning.

Urban development in low- and middle-income countries is a major contributor to global climate risk. Urban growth in these countries usually involves rapid and unplanned expansion without adequate infrastructure and basic services, which often results in the proliferation of informal settlements. Understanding how urban development shapes risks for different people allows us to identify opportunities to rethink how urbanisation can reduce rather than amplify climate risk.