Posts tagged with 'informal settlements'
In Kenya and throughout east Africa, flooding this past April and May wreaked havoc, leaving a path of deadly destruction. The unprecedented deluge of heavy rainfall resulted in a catastrophe that many in Kenya have never witnessed. According to a June ...
India is the seventh most climate-vulnerable country in the world, with nine of its states among the top 50 most vulnerable regions globally. The country’s cities are at the forefront of the climate crisis with more than 80% of the urban population living in ...
The International Day of Play (IDOP), held annually on June 11th, is a unifying global moment to celebrate the power of play for all children everywhere. IDOP draws attention to Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of ...
On a Sunday afternoon in September 2023, a group of about 30 individuals, including a group of mostly female neighbors from nine kampungs (a common term for “urban villages” or “informal settlements” across multiple languages and nations in Southeast Asia) ...
“What you do in your cities resonates across the world. When you make your cities green and sustainable, you are not just local heroes, you are global heroes.” Those were the inspiring words that Inger Anderson, Director of the UN ...
Climate-change-induced events such as heat waves and floods severely impact quality of life in urban areas. It can be financially disruptive and even fatal, disproportionately impacting settlements most vulnerable to climate risks. Greening of open spaces can be an important ...
In the crowded slums of Zambia, Africa, members of the Zambia Youth Federation, a social movement of the urban poor, conducted climate change research and presented it in an emotional spoken word poem. Their message let policymakers know how climate ...
With over half of the world’s population living in cities, urban spaces not only house us but offer opportunities for collective work and learning while serving as sources of creativity, inspiration and hope. Nevertheless, cities also account for a staggering ...
The past year registered record-shattering global temperatures. People around the world are already witnessing epic heat waves, wildfires and drought at 1.1 degrees C (2 degrees F) of global warming, compared to pre-industrial averages. With current policies putting the world on ...
It’s an island no one in their right mind wants to be on, but sadly many of us increasingly find ourselves due to global warming. “Heat islands” are a concept British climatologist Gordon Manley came up with way back in ...
“Climate change is affecting cities all around the world, and Freetown is no exception.” That’s what Eugenia Kargbo, Freetown’s Chief Heat Officer, told UrbanShift during the City Academy hosted in Kigali last year. Through her role—the first of its kind in ...
This summer the Northern Hemisphere has been so hot with record temperatures — including at sea — that discussions have turned to the limits of human survival. Even in the Antarctic, sea ice is failing to re-form, a drastic departure ...
There is no question that for the world to successfully slow and mitigate the effects of climate change, cities will need to transform. Currently, urban areas consume 78% of the world’s energy supply and produce over 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions. By ...
Cities occupy just 3 percent of the Earth’s land, but account for most of the global energy consumption and carbon emissions. Many cities are also more vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters due to their population densities and interconnected infrastructure. ...
About two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. While cities are hubs of innovation and opportunity, the increasing pace of urbanization also exacerbates inequality, stresses infrastructure, and fuels climate change, air pollution and other environmental problems. The ...
