Cecilia Tacoli

Senior associate, Human Settlements

Full biography

Expertise

Rural and urban linkages, migration and urbanisation patterns in the context of globalisation.

Current work

The links between rural and urban development, with special attention to the role of small urban centres in the development of their surrounding region, migration and mobility, livelihood diversification and rural non-farm employment, transformations in peri-urban areas.

Cecilia Tacoli's projects

A soup stall in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Many of the urban poor rely on frequent food purchases, often cooked food prepared by street vendors (stefans_box, Creative Commons via Flickr)

How the urban poor define and measure food insecurity

Project, Mar 2018

Informal food vendors in Mathare, Nairobi. Understanding food consumption and how food systems work is essential to support food security (Photo: Cecilia Tacoli/IIED)

Urbanisation, rural-urban transformations and food systems

Project, Aug 2016

A settlement in Chabahil, an ancient town near Kathmandu in Nepal. Many countries use different definitions or 'urban' (Photo: Gordon McGranahan/IIED)

Urbanisation and emerging population issues

Project, Jun 2015

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

RurbanAfrica

Project, Mar 2015

Ejura Market in Ghana is an important centre for farmers selling their yam crops (Photo: IITA)

Rural urban linkages

Project, Aug 2014

Street vendors in Karachi (Photo: Fareena Chandra/IIED)

Urban food security and consumption

Project, Aug 2014

Recent publications

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The urbanization of food insecurity and malnutrition

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Food (In)Security in Rapidly Urbanising, Low-Income Contexts

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Why small towns matter: urbanisation, rural transformations and food security

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Urbanisation, rural transformations and food systems: the role of small towns

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Informal food systems and food security in rural and urban East Africa

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Creating a new menu for food security policy

Cecilia Tacoli's blog posts

A woman sitting on a raised platform

Urban food insecurity and malnutrition are about more than just food

Blog, Oct 2019

People gather around a table at an outdoor meeting

Tackling widespread hunger in cities means listening to the urban poor

Blog, Aug 2019

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

Blog, Apr 2017

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

Blog, Mar 2015

Top: Sohel Ahmed and colleague prepare to release the balloon; bottom: Some of the photographs taken from the air (Photos: Sohel Ahmed)

Up in the air: Citizen scientists map food dangers in Nairobi

Blog, Mar 2014

Many inhabitants of the city of La Paz in Bolivia live in extreme poverty. A persistent myth is that urban poverty is driven by large numbers of poor migrants (Photo: Lemurian Grove, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Debunking the myths about migration and climate change

Blog, Nov 2011