In African cities, orienting risk management towards a developmental agenda can
confront the root causes of poverty and risk. Transition to an integrated approach has
the most chance of success when it combines interventions working on the risk culture
Research carried out in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on cross-scalar risk communication and disaster risk governance reveals that, while there is considerable potential for communities to measure and communicate risk and to prioritise actions, there is little scope for them to influence disaster risk
Cities are at the centre stage of Africa’s pathway to prosperity, with the majority of its population expected to be living in urban areas within the next decade.
Between 2016 and 2017, Arup carried out case study research to explore how large two infrastructure projects are creating, compounding or mitigating risk in Nairobi. The Thika Highway Improvement Project and the Two Rivers Mall Development were selected as case studies as they represent typical l
In Dar es Salaam, climate model analysis strongly suggests that both day- and nighttime temperatures will rise, with heat waves also expected to increase. Heat will likely aggravate many existing health and well-being risks in the city.
Around half of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa live in informal settlements, lacking the basic infrastructure and services on which good health depends.
Community-based organisation and action can contribute greatly to disaster risk reduction, and interlinked to this, to building resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Urban flooding cannot be avoided entirely and in all areas, particularly in coastal cities. Therefore adaptation to the growing risk is necessary. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based knowledge on risk informs location-based approach to adaptation to climate risk.
The inhabitants of African towns and cities face a range of hazards, which can best be described as representing a ‘spectrum of risk’ from events that can cause death, illness or injury, and impoverishment.
The extent to which cities in Africa face climate change and natural hazard related
disaster risks is shaped by much more than just their exposure to hazard. Past and
current patterns of urban growth and development have shaped the context of risk
