Reducing relocation risks in urban areas: Latin America closure report

Between April 2015 and December 2016, the Latin American Social Science Faculty participated actively in the Climate Development Knowledge Network-CDKN- financed project on “Decision, implementation and social and economic impacts of climate risk induced resettlement in urban areas”. Comprising studies undertaken in Mexico, Colombia and Peru, this research formed part of a larger research endeavor including studies from India, Uganda and Tanzania coordinated by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements-IIHS; The Bartlett Development Planning Unit-DPU- at University College London-UCL- and the University of Makerere. The Bartlett-DPU, in the person of Dr. Cassidy Johnson, was the global research coordinator.

The rationale for the project was couched in the following terms, included in the project contract: “The social and economic impacts on individuals, society and urban regions, from climate-related relocations, are not well understood by those enacting resettlement. Relocation may reduce a region’s future climate-related disaster risk but it can also increase people’s poverty and vulnerability. The decisionmaking process about post-disaster relocation, pre-emptive resettlement or on-site upgrading, and their implementation processes, have drastic effects on whether outcomes are socially just and whether they actually reduce future risks for individuals, urban regions and society. The project will develop locally-relevant understanding and awareness of the processes and impacts of climate-related resettlement at the country and city levels, to enable policy impact and capacity-building.”