The race against time to determine solutions to highly complex urban challenges is no more critical than in Africa. Until 2050, 90% of the global urbanization will be experienced in Africa and Asia. Despite Africa’s low contributions to GHG emissions, the continent remains the most vulnerable to hazards e.g. climate change. Africa’s cities, particularly intermediary cities, face exponential growth, unplanned urbanization trends and unfolding vulnerabilities with limited capacities, posing systemic risks to its economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods; threatening to undo Africa’s cities development gains and unfold new levels of inequality. Despite an increasing understanding of the complexity of risks, incorporating these complexities adequately into development planning is still a prominent issue towards the achievement of the SDG - Agenda 2030 and the Agenda 2063.
To address the complex nature of risks and safeguard development gains, Connective Cities and the Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management (GIDRM) established a Working Group on Risk Informed Urban Development (RIUD) with a focus on Africa. The members of the group and other experts contributed during the session through good practices, experiences and recommendations. The cities represented were: Kisumu (Kenya), Quelimane (Mozambique) and eThekwini, Durban (South Africa). The other experts were from Bremen (Germany) and UNDP.
The objective of our contribution at the Africities Summit was to strengthen the dissemination of knowledge and lessons learned on how to integrate risk-informed urban development in intermediary cities and various key sectors and/or value chains.
The session showcased two good practices and was complemented by panelists advocating for sustained investments in urban governance towards achieving resilience to risks and ensuring the sustainability of development.
Session content including 2 good practices on:
Download Good Practice presentations [pdf]
Recording 1: Mr. Rajeev Issar; Policy Specialist in Climate Risks and Risk Governance, UNDP