Strengthening urban resilience in African cities: Understanding and addressing urban risk

This research shows that disaster risks in towns and cities are strongly linked to underdevelopment.The population of Africa’s cities is growing rapidly. But as poor people cram into towns and cities characterised by limited, weak and often under-resourced infrastructure, they are increasingly relegated to marginal, inadequately serviced, informal settlements and low-cost housing areas, leaving them vulnerable to numerous livelihood, health and security risks, such as:

• insecure livelihoods;
• a lack of basic infrastructure and services such as water and waste management;
• poor urban and land planning;
• inadequate oversight of urban planning;
• land-use and building standards;
• low accountability for the provision of infrastructure and basic services.

All increase poor people’s exposure to hazards, and vulnerability to their effects. Consequently, reducing risk and building resilience to disasters in urban areas requires tackling the developmental issues that underlie it.

Reducing risk and building resilience in towns and cities in Africa requires holistic action at the local, regional and national levels. It requires:

• empowering communities to identify, reduce and manage risk;
• strengthening governments’ capacity to reduce risk, particularly at the local level;
• strengthening urban planning and regulatory frameworks;
• facilitating dialogue and collaboration to reduce risk;
• non-governmental organisations, UN agencies, civil society and community groups also need to develop strong relationships, and collaborate.
• focus areas should include working with communities to identify, strengthen and diversify livelihood opportunities, especially for young women and men.