The Urban Africa: Risk Knowledge (Urban ARK) Programme continues to have significant policy impact two years after the official project completion.

How can cycles of risk accumulation in African cities be broken in ways that also enhance local and city-wide development? This book addresses this question by drawing on the experience of researchers, policy makers and community organisers working in African cities.

Repost of original article from: KDI BLOG, written by The KDI Kenya Team (Joe, Amos, Pascal, Ibra, Charles, Sabrina, Rosie)

FROM THE WILSON CENTER, originally posted on New Security Beat: https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2018/03/urban-risk-resilience-opportunit...

March 13, 2018, By Saiyara Khan 

Reposted with permission

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change held a global conference on Cities and Climate Change in Edmonton, 5-7 March 2018.  This was a high-level opportunity for exchange between city majors and planners, climate scientists and urban researchers to map out some priorities for the IPCC as it commences planning for the 6^th Assessment Review.

There are a growing number of national and international research programmes in Nairobi focused on disaster risk and climate change. The Urban ARK consortia and ForPAc: Towards Forecast Based Preparedness Action, are interacting in various ways to further strengthen collaboration and synergies for their related research being undertaken in Nairobi. 

Le lundi 30 octobre 2017, dans la salle de réunion de l’hôtel terminus de Niamey, se sont déroulées les activités de la première journée de l’atelier de renforcement de capacités des acteurs. Cet atelier s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet « Connaissance des Risques en Afrique Urbaine (URBAN-ARK) mis en œuvre au Niger par l’ONG Save the Children International en collaboration avec la Faculté d’Agronomie de l’Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey. 

Adriana Allen and Emmanuel Osuteye (University College London, Development Planning Unit)  conducted a series of 2-day Action Planning workshops, in Karonga, Malawi (27-28th July 2017), followed by another in Freetown, Sierra Leone (3-4th  August 2017).

In June 2017 a collaboration was initiated between the AXA Research funded project “Risk in Informal Settlements - Community Knowledge and Policy Action” and Urban ARK's Work Package 3 (led by Mark Pelling and Hayley Leck, King’s College London) to facilitate a strategic action planning process in the light of research findings. The AXA project is led by Urban ARK consortium members Cassidy Johnson and Emmanuel Osuteye, Development Planning Unit at University College London.  

The idea of a Special Planning Area might not immediately be alluring. But for the residents of Mukuru, one of the largest ‘slums’ in Nairobi, this mundane phrase hides the potential for a radical transformation in their homes and lives