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

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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

Madizini in Tanzania grew from a village into an urban centre, initially because the local sugarcane plantations and factory needed workers. Now the town supports a wide array of businesses (Photo: Jytte Agergaard)

Reframing food security for an urbanising world

Insight, 10 April 2017

A Congolese vendor sells handkerchiefs on the pavement in central Kampala. Congolese refugees dispersed throughout the city often lack the social and economic support networks necessary to find work or to start a business (Photo: William Monteith/IIED)

Refugee livelihoods in Ugandan cities: mind the gap between policy and practice

Insight, 22 March 2017

Temporary settlements in Kirtipur, Nepal, which was devastated by earthquakes in 2015 (Photo: Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed)

Cash transfers in urban crises: do they work for women?

Insight, 08 March 2017

Geographic patterns are seen out the window of an airplane traveling between Mwanza and Dar Es Salam, Tanzania on March 20, 2015 (Photo: Brian Sokol/Panos Pictures)

Connecting cities to basins

Long read, 06 February 2017

Ibadan, Nigeria, a city that has experienced devastating high winds and flooding (Photo: David Dodman/IIED)

How risk accumulates in African cities – and ways to break the cycle

Insight, 30 January 2017

Niamey, the capital of Niger, is growing rapidly. Urban ARK is exploring the varied vulnerabilities of boys and girls from conflict-displaced and host communities (Photo: Jean Rebiffé, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Urban Africa Risk Knowledge (Urban ARK)

Archived Project

Informal settlements lining the railway tracks in Mumbai (Photo: gloogun, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Ward diaries: crucial evidence for planning in Mumbai's slums

Insight, 28 November 2016

With over half the world's refugees, such as these in Thailand, now living in large towns and cities where they are confronted by a unique set of challenges, the traditional image of life in tented, sprawling camps no longer tells the full refugee story (Photo: Andrew McConnell/Panos Pictures/IRC)

Towards a humanitarian's handbook for cities in crisis

Insight, 16 November 2016

Informal settlements around Laguna Lake near Manila in the Philippines (Photo: Arlynn Aquino EU/ECHO, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Climate responsive cities: a road towards the 'New Urban Agenda'?

Insight, 15 November 2016

Families living within the 'No Dwelling Zone' in Guiuan in the Philippines one year after super Typhoon Haiyan (Photo: Victoria Maynard)

Urban planning after crisis: lessons from Southeast Asia

Insight, 10 November 2016