Building transformative urban resilience for all

Understanding the nature of risk for people living in urban centres of the global South, in order to support community, city, national and global efforts to build resilience

Inequitable urban growth and climate change are resulting in a rapidly growing number of urban residents living at risk from a range of complex and interacting shocks and stresses. Many of these live in informal settlements with insecure tenure and a lack of affordable basic services, contributing to high levels of vulnerability.

At the same time, households, communities and cities have been developing responses that respond to risk and build resilience. Our work strengthens an understanding of the nature of urban risks and helps to ensure that pathways to urban resilience are sustainable, equitable and at scale.

The Human Settlements research group at IIED has three decades of experience of working on risk and resilience in urban areas. We enjoy longstanding partnerships with both grassroots organisations that are facing these challenges on the ground, and with major policy bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

We have a particularly strong reputation on linking urban resilience with issues of poverty, governance and informality. We have strong networks of civil society and research partners working on these issues in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and a clear understanding of both the local, contextual realities of cities in the global South as well as the ability to influence global development policy processes. 

Contact: Aditya Bahadur (aditya.bahadur@iied.org), principal researcher, Human Settlements

Find out more about IIED's Human Settlements research group.