Urban

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

Also related to

Urban development

Urban Matters blog

Informal settlements (slums)

Man selling fruit and vegetable on the busy streets in India.

Closing the data gaps on heat stress and developing strategies for resilience

15 October 2026

Woman pumping water using from a well in Zambia.

Drought unmasks structural failures and systemic inequalities in Mazyopa informal settlement

Marcelle Mardon and Melanie Chirwa
25 August 2026

Image of grafitti of child crying on a building in Favela Metro-Mangueira. The buildings next to it are torn down.

Can people-centred justice stop forced evictions?

Camila Cociña and Paula Sevilla Núñez
09 July 2026

Dandara people's agroecological garden in Recife, Brazil.

Nature for climate in cities: exploring nature-based solutions for informal settlements

April 2025 - April 2027

Make Change Happen episode 39

Living with urban drought: Make Change Happen podcast episode 39

25 August 2026

Various people being interviewed at the World Urban Forum.

How IIED helps young housing activists be heard

Impact story 2 minute read

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

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Facilitating spaces of association for youth citizenship in India

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Promoting youth participation in urban governance in Nepal

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Nature for climate in cities

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

Youth-led civic media for urban governance

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Unlocking urban climate finance: barriers and progress in African cities

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Drought’s inequalities: towards inclusive climate adaptation in Zambia

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Engaging young people from informal settlements in housing and urban governance

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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

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

623 entries

Woman using a public water tap in Kliptown, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Johannesburg uses 32 different indicators to assess progress towards its strategic goals. Indicators need to reflect the needs of marginalised and vulnerable groups (Photo: Ray Muzyka, Creative Commons via Flickr)

The value and limits of urban sustainability indicators

Insight, 21 April 2015

Ongoing monitoring of communal toilets has helped to improve design: here, smaller toilets for children are included in adult toilet blocks. Previously children's facilities were in separate buildings and were frequently left uncleaned (Photo: SPARC)

How India's slum and pavement dwellers made sanitation affordable

Insight, 05 April 2015

A new sanitation block being constructed in Kibera settlement, Nairobi, Kenya. Most of Kibera's residents don't have access to electricity or running water (Photo: Sustainable Sanitation, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Finance for whom and for what?

Insight, 31 March 2015

Women selling bananas in a street market (Photo: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Creative Commons via Flickr)

RurbanAfrica

Archived Project

Semarang, Indonesia: One of the ten initial cities in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network, Semarang has been a pioneer in integrating climate change resilience into city planning and management. (Photo: David Dodman/IIED)

Climate change governance in cities

Archived Project

Investments in community infrastructure – like this canalside walkway in Bangkok – can help to build resilience for low-income urban residents. Funding for this type of local improvement should be a priority for climate change financing (Photo: Ruth Mcleod)

Financing urban resilience

Active Project

Disasters, such as this flooding in Old Bagamoyo Road, Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam, were the subject of discussion in Sendai (Photo: Matthew Wood-Hill, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

Keep it simple: helping local governments reduce the risk from the next disaster

Insight, 25 March 2015

Jakarta: migrants from rural villages sleeping in an area that they rent for Rp 1.000,- (10 cents Euro) per night per person. There can be more than 50 people living and sleeping in this area at one time (Photo: Henry Ismail, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Stopping rural people going to cities only makes poverty less visible, and stripping migrants of rights makes it worse

Insight, 18 March 2015

The rice fields on outskirts of the city of Bandung, Java, Indonesia: urban areas often have damaging impacts on the areas around them (Photo: Ikhlasul Amal, Creative Commons via Flickr)

New publication looks at environmental impacts of urban areas

News, 16 March 2015

A community planning workshop in Cambodia (Photo: Diana Mitlin/IIED)

Improving housing in Asia – and turning traditional top-down funding on its head

Insight, 11 March 2015