ENG

Building Resilience to Climate Change in Informal Settlements

25 August 2023 Research and Analysis
David Satterthwaite, Diane Archer, Sarah Colenbrander, David Dodman, Jorgelina Hardoy, Diana Mitlin, Sheela Patel

Informal settlements in cities in low- and middle-income countries concentrate populations at greater risk of climate change impacts. Community- and city-government-led measures to upgrade settlements are not designed as responses to climate change, but they can enhance resilience to climate-change risks. There is much overlap and complementarity between what informal-settlement upgrading needs and what builds their resilience to climate change; both focus on local risks. Both upgrading and resilience building usually need actions to reduce disaster risk in the wider region. But integrated action is a challenge because responsibility for upgrading and for resilience usually falls under different sectoral agencies.