Diane Archer

Former IIED senior researcher

Full biography

Diane Archer was IIED's senior researcher until August 2018

Expertise

Urban climate change resilience, community-driven development, urban development, slum upgrading, Asian cities (particularly Thailand)

Before IIED

Project coordinator at the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) in Bangkok
PhD in Land Economy at the University of Cambridge, on the topic of social capital and participatory slum upgrading in Thailand.

Current work

Research on Asian cities and climate change; humanitarian response to crises in urban areas.

Diane Archer's projects

View over the Mukuru informal settlement in Nairobi, showing corrugated roofs

Shelter provision in East African cities: understanding transformative politics for inclusive cities

Project, Apr 2018

The April 2105 Nepal earthquake destroyed more than 500,000 buildings in Kathmandu. There was a huge international aid effort, but reconstruction has been slow (Photo: SIM Central and South East Asia, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Urban Crises Learning Partnerships

Project, May 2017

Makeshift camps for internally displaced people sprang up in Kathmandu after the severe earthquake in Nepal in April 2015. Relief workers are struggling to help displaced people find durable shelter as the country braces for the monsoon season (Photo: SIM Central and South East Asia, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Urban Crises Learning Fund

Project, Jul 2015

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

Project, Mar 2015

A fishing settlement in Bandar Lampung city, Indonesia. (Photo: Diane Archer/IIED)

Strengthening knowledge on urban climate resilience

Project, Jul 2014

Recent publications

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Empowering local actors in an urban crisis

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Responding to climate change in cities and in their informal settlements and economies

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The urbanization of humanitarian crises

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Developing city resilience strategies: lessons from ICLEI and ACCCRN

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Resilience planning in Asian cities: lessons from the ICLEI–ACCCRN process

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Taking action against wildlife crime in Uganda

Diane Archer's blog posts

Uganda’s capital city Kampala hosts 98,300 officially registered refugees from 25 countries (Photo: Morgan Schmorgan, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Kampala sets example for how cities can help refugees

Blog, Jun 2018

The UN estimates that a million Somalis were displaced during 2017. Many move to informal settlements on the fringes of the capital, Mogadishu (Photo: AMISOM Public Information via Wikimedia Commons)

Providing shelter in East African cities: what works?

Blog, Feb 2018

When infrastructure is not provided, or not affordable, the urban poor find their own way around the problem, as in Delhi, India, where electricity is tapped

Urban crisis response needs a humanitarian sector shake-up

Blog, Dec 2017

Nabaa Lebanon street scene

The future of humanitarian crises is urban: it’s time to urbanise crisis response

Long read, Nov 2017

Lebanon is hosting one million Syrian refugees, and around half of them are children. Most families live in makeshift shelters; some rent half-built apartments, sharing with two or three families (Photo: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development, Creative Commons via Wikipedia)

Coping with forced displacement: lessons from cities

Blog, May 2017

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'?

Blog, Nov 2016