Editor, Environment and UrbanizationSenior Fellow, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) Address: IIED
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The Physical Geography of South America, the eighth volume in the Oxford Regional Environments se... more The Physical Geography of South America, the eighth volume in the Oxford Regional Environments series, presents an enduring statement on the physical and biogeographic conditions of this remarkable continent and their relationships to human activity. It fills a void in recent environmental literature by assembling a team of specialists from within and beyond South America in order to provide an integrated, cross-disciplinary body of knowledge about this mostly tropical continent, together with its high mountains and temperate southern cone. The authors systematically cover the main components of the South American environment - tectonism, climate, glaciation, natural landscape changes, rivers, vegetation, animals, and soils. The book then presents more specific treatments of regions with special attributes from the tropical forests of the Amazon basin to the Atacama Desert and Patagonian steppe, and from the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific coasts to the high Andes. Additionally, th...
This paper responds to the article by Daniel Hoornweg and Kevin Pope, on predictions for the worl... more This paper responds to the article by Daniel Hoornweg and Kevin Pope, on predictions for the world’s largest cities in the 21st century, in this issue of Environment and Urbanization. It recognizes the value and importance of this article in highlighting the very large likely scale of urban population growth up to 2100 and in initiating a discussion on what this might imply for the scale and distribution of the world’s largest cities. But it raises some concerns about the extent to which very large cities will grow in what are currently nations with very low per capita incomes. Mega-cities need to be underpinned by mega-economies. The world’s largest cities up to 2100 will mostly be those where private capital has chosen to invest, and much of this may not be in the cities identified in the Hoornweg and Pope article as likely to be the largest. The economic future, the development future (including whether the Sustainable Development Goals get met) and the ecological future (especia...
This paper reviews progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitat... more This paper reviews progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation in urban areas. Drawing on UN data, it shows the disastrous performance of many low- and middle-income nations in relation to the goal of halving the proportion without drinking water sources piped on premises and improved sanitation between 1990 and 2015. It also describes how even such a poor performance is actually understating the problem because of deficiencies in the data available. For water, there are no data sources with global coverage on who has “sustainable access to safe drinking water” (what the MDGs specify). UN statistics record whether households have drinking water sources piped on premises, but this does not necessarily mean the water is safe to drink or that there is a regular, reliable supply (what is implied by sustainable access). For what is termed “improved” or “basic” sanitation, the bar is set too low in the quality of provision needed in urban areas, so la...
This paper discusses the institutional constraints that aid agencies and development banks face i... more This paper discusses the institutional constraints that aid agencies and development banks face in being able to address urban poverty. These include their limited capacity to support local institutions that respond to the needs and priorities of low-income groups and that are accountable to them. It describes the distance between the decision-making processes of most international agencies and the “urban poor” and the very limited possibilities for the urban poor to influence what gets funded and by whom. It also discusses the political constraints that have inhibited more effective donor agencies and suggests how support for locally based funds for community initiatives could help overcome some of these. It ends by describing the low priority given by donor agencies to urban poverty reduction and suggests some changes that would help development assistance to meet its targets for reducing urban poverty.
Approximately 1 billion people currently live in informal settlements, primarily in urban areas i... more Approximately 1 billion people currently live in informal settlements, primarily in urban areas in low-and middle income countries. Informal settlements are defined by poor-quality houses or shacks built outside formal laws and regulations. Most informal settlements lack piped water or adequate provision for sanitation, drainage, and public services. Many are on dangerous sites because their inhabitants have a higher chance of avoiding eviction. This paper considers how to build resilience to the impacts of climate change in informal settlements. It focuses on informal settlements in cities in low-and middle-income countries and how these concentrate at-risk populations. This paper also reviews what is being done to address climate resilience in informal settlements. In particular, community-and city-government-led measures to upgrade settlements can enhance resilience to climate-change risks and serve vulnerable groups. It also discusses how the barriers to greater scale and effectiveness can be overcome, including with synergies with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Physical Geography of South America, the eighth volume in the Oxford Regional Environments se... more The Physical Geography of South America, the eighth volume in the Oxford Regional Environments series, presents an enduring statement on the physical and biogeographic conditions of this remarkable continent and their relationships to human activity. It fills a void in recent environmental literature by assembling a team of specialists from within and beyond South America in order to provide an integrated, cross-disciplinary body of knowledge about this mostly tropical continent, together with its high mountains and temperate southern cone. The authors systematically cover the main components of the South American environment - tectonism, climate, glaciation, natural landscape changes, rivers, vegetation, animals, and soils. The book then presents more specific treatments of regions with special attributes from the tropical forests of the Amazon basin to the Atacama Desert and Patagonian steppe, and from the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific coasts to the high Andes. Additionally, th...
This paper responds to the article by Daniel Hoornweg and Kevin Pope, on predictions for the worl... more This paper responds to the article by Daniel Hoornweg and Kevin Pope, on predictions for the world’s largest cities in the 21st century, in this issue of Environment and Urbanization. It recognizes the value and importance of this article in highlighting the very large likely scale of urban population growth up to 2100 and in initiating a discussion on what this might imply for the scale and distribution of the world’s largest cities. But it raises some concerns about the extent to which very large cities will grow in what are currently nations with very low per capita incomes. Mega-cities need to be underpinned by mega-economies. The world’s largest cities up to 2100 will mostly be those where private capital has chosen to invest, and much of this may not be in the cities identified in the Hoornweg and Pope article as likely to be the largest. The economic future, the development future (including whether the Sustainable Development Goals get met) and the ecological future (especia...
This paper reviews progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitat... more This paper reviews progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation in urban areas. Drawing on UN data, it shows the disastrous performance of many low- and middle-income nations in relation to the goal of halving the proportion without drinking water sources piped on premises and improved sanitation between 1990 and 2015. It also describes how even such a poor performance is actually understating the problem because of deficiencies in the data available. For water, there are no data sources with global coverage on who has “sustainable access to safe drinking water” (what the MDGs specify). UN statistics record whether households have drinking water sources piped on premises, but this does not necessarily mean the water is safe to drink or that there is a regular, reliable supply (what is implied by sustainable access). For what is termed “improved” or “basic” sanitation, the bar is set too low in the quality of provision needed in urban areas, so la...
This paper discusses the institutional constraints that aid agencies and development banks face i... more This paper discusses the institutional constraints that aid agencies and development banks face in being able to address urban poverty. These include their limited capacity to support local institutions that respond to the needs and priorities of low-income groups and that are accountable to them. It describes the distance between the decision-making processes of most international agencies and the “urban poor” and the very limited possibilities for the urban poor to influence what gets funded and by whom. It also discusses the political constraints that have inhibited more effective donor agencies and suggests how support for locally based funds for community initiatives could help overcome some of these. It ends by describing the low priority given by donor agencies to urban poverty reduction and suggests some changes that would help development assistance to meet its targets for reducing urban poverty.
Approximately 1 billion people currently live in informal settlements, primarily in urban areas i... more Approximately 1 billion people currently live in informal settlements, primarily in urban areas in low-and middle income countries. Informal settlements are defined by poor-quality houses or shacks built outside formal laws and regulations. Most informal settlements lack piped water or adequate provision for sanitation, drainage, and public services. Many are on dangerous sites because their inhabitants have a higher chance of avoiding eviction. This paper considers how to build resilience to the impacts of climate change in informal settlements. It focuses on informal settlements in cities in low-and middle-income countries and how these concentrate at-risk populations. This paper also reviews what is being done to address climate resilience in informal settlements. In particular, community-and city-government-led measures to upgrade settlements can enhance resilience to climate-change risks and serve vulnerable groups. It also discusses how the barriers to greater scale and effectiveness can be overcome, including with synergies with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Las ciudades pueden estar entre los lugares más saludables – en tanto todos los residentes tengan... more Las ciudades pueden estar entre los lugares más saludables – en tanto todos los residentes tengan acceso a infraestructura y servicios a costos razonable y de buena calidad que reducen riesgos. Esto incluye agua de red, cloacas, drenajes, recolección domiciliaria de residuos sólidos, electricidad, servicios de salud y de emergencia. Si este tipo de infraestructura y servicios no existen, las ciudades concentran una enorme cantidad de riesgos. ¿Cómo se puede evaluar la impor-tancia relativa de todos los riesgos (desde riesgos diarios a pequeños y grandes desastres) de manera tal que sirva para guiar acciones?. Este corto artículo describe el espectro completo de riesgos en áreas urbanas, y destaca aquellos que están siendo pobremente documentados y cuyos impactos están siendo subesti-mados. También destaca medidas que pueden tomarse para resolverlos. Palabras clave: riesgos diarios/ pequeños riesgos de desastres/ grandes riesgos de desastres
With the UN Conference Habitat III coming up in October 2016, this may be of interest as it is an... more With the UN Conference Habitat III coming up in October 2016, this may be of interest as it is an assessment of whether the Habitat I recommendations formally endorsed by governments in 1976 had influenced policy and practice in 17 nations
Drawing on a collaborative research programme with teams from India, the Sudan, Nigeria and Argen... more Drawing on a collaborative research programme with teams from India, the Sudan, Nigeria and Argentina, this is one of the most detailed research initiatives on small and intermediate urban centres. Although it was published in 1986, it still has much of relevance to this topic
This paper was prepared as a background paper for the International Scientific Conference on Citi... more This paper was prepared as a background paper for the International Scientific Conference on Cities and Climate Change in Edmonton in March 2018. It describes how one of the greatest challenges for climate change adaptation is how to build resilience for the billion urban dwellers who are estimated to live in what are termed informal settlements. These have been built outside the ‘formal’ system of laws and regulations that are meant to ensure safe, resilient structures, settlements and systems. The paper describes how is it possible to build resilience for those living outside the formal systems and usually working within the informal economy.
After the introduction, section 2 describes the circumstances and extent of informality in cities in low- and middle-income countries, including informal settlements, informal land markets, informal employment and informal services. Section 3 reviews what has been learned from upgrading informal settlements. Although most informal settlement upgrading was not done in response to climate change, upgrading is a process that is perhaps the most important means by which low-income urban dwellers unable to afford formal housing and relying on informal livelihoods can get more resilience to climate change impacts – as well as reducing risks they face from everyday hazards and disasters. Section 4 considers the ways in which informality shapes risk and vulnerability in terms of urban form, housing, industry and livelihoods, water and sanitation infrastructure and urban ecology. Section 5 discusses governance with a focus on what city and municipal governments and local civil society organizations can do to achieve more inclusive, low carbon, and climate resilient development in towns and cities around the world. Section 6 draws some conclusions.
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Papers by David Satterthwaite
After the introduction, section 2 describes the circumstances and extent of informality in cities in low- and middle-income countries, including informal settlements, informal land markets, informal employment and informal services. Section 3 reviews what has been learned from upgrading informal settlements. Although most informal settlement upgrading was not done in response to climate change, upgrading is a process that is perhaps the most important means by which low-income urban dwellers unable to afford formal housing and relying on informal livelihoods can get more resilience to climate change impacts – as well as reducing risks they face from everyday hazards and disasters.
Section 4 considers the ways in which informality shapes risk and vulnerability in terms of urban form, housing, industry and livelihoods, water and sanitation infrastructure and urban ecology. Section 5 discusses governance with a focus on what city and municipal governments and local civil society organizations can do to achieve more inclusive, low carbon, and climate resilient development in towns and cities around the world. Section 6 draws some conclusions.