Urban

Addressing urban environmental issues for cities that work for people and planet

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Urban development

Urban Matters blog

Informal settlements (slums)

Informal settlement in Manila, Philippines on the water.

CBA20: Local solutions inspiring global action

Event on 11 May 2026

Drawing of a group of people standing and watching one person fix a sign on a building.

Socio-technical practices for just cities: E&U special issue celebration

Event on 23 February 2026

Woman pumping water into a plastic canister. She is wearing a traditional saree.

Strengthening urban resilience through collaboration: lessons from India, Kenya, Myanmar and the Philippines

08 December 2025

Woman sitting on a balcony wearing a face mask. Behind here, an informal neighbourhood of houses can be seen.

Five years on: how Brazil’s Zero Eviction Campaign is driving policy change for housing justice

Camila Cociña and Fernanda Moreira
06 November 2025

Group of men standing and talking in front of a building.

Bridging the gap between local, organised communities and city government

Sheela Patel and Celine d’Cruz
10 December 2025

A bearded man stands at a podium with a screen behind him.

Urban legend: one man, 50 years, countless seeds of hope

Long read 13 May 2024

Related collections

Learn more about focused areas of IIED's urban work

Better cities are possible: achieving resilient, low-carbon and inclusive urban development

A series of articles exploring the critical shifts in governance, policy and action needed to transform informal settlements on a warming planet

The transition to a predominantly urban world

A series of insights and interviews designed to share the experiences of community leaders, professionals, researchers and government from the global South

Urban crises and forced displacement

A programme of work on urban refugees and internally displaced peoples that also supports municipal authorities to respond to crisis and protracted displacement

Housing justice

A programme of work involving research, capacity development, policy advisory and advocacy initiatives that advance housing justice

Publications

View more Urban publications

Cover image: Youth-led civic media for urban governance Case studies from India and Nepal

Youth-led civic media for urban governance

Preview of 22732iied

Unlocking urban climate finance: barriers and progress in African cities

Preview of 22731iied

Drought’s inequalities: towards inclusive climate adaptation in Zambia

Preview of 22726iied

Engaging young people from informal settlements in housing and urban governance

Preview of 22715iied

From nature-based solutions to naturing infrastructure: towards a care-centred approach

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From capacity to capability: urban living labs as a route to gain influence

Preview of 22713iied

From power to influence: counter-mapping for urban living labs

Preview of 22697iied

Heat impacts on informal settlements

Preview of 22693iied

Why collective organisations matter for resilience

Cover of the paper, Housing justice and climate change in cities

Housing justice and climate change in cities

613 entries

A busy street

The rise of Nairobi’s concrete tenement jungle

Insight, 31 July 2019

A street scene with pedestrians, stallholders, motorbikes and cars

Making Indian cities inclusive means making them more walkable

Insight, 05 June 2019

A flooded street in an informal settlement

To stay ahead of climate change, cities need to act now

Insight, 04 June 2019

A group of fishermen on a boat in Bangladesh

Leave no one behind: assessing policy choices

Archived Project

A view of the migrant informal community of Marathahalli, Bengaluru

‘Participatory’ adaptation plans aren’t working for migrants in cities

Insight, 09 May 2019

Women work in an Agarbatti (incense stick) factory (Photo: Urban Health Resource Centre)

Unsmart, unsafe cities for informal workers: effective policy change will need better data

Insight, 05 April 2019

Tents in a refugee camp

Responding to protracted displacement in an urban world

Archived Project

Mogadishu attracts people from all over the country, making it the second-fastest growing city in the world, with a 4% annual rate of urbanisation growth (Photo: Baron Reznik, Creative Commons via Flickr)

The challenge of finding money to build shelter in Mogadishu’s informal settlements

Insight, 28 January 2019

Nairobi in Kenya is one of many fast-growing cities across Africa (Photo: Stuart Price/Make it Kenya, Creative Commons via Flickr)

African cities can raise more money. Kenya and South Africa offer useful lessons

Insight, 31 October 2018

Informal housing in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia's cities are struggling to meet demand for affordable housing and settlements are growing (Photo: Olli Pitkänen, Creative Commons via Flickr)

The Ethiopian informal settlement jigsaw puzzle: an opportunity to re-sort the pieces?

Insight, 25 October 2018