Posts tagged with 'slums'
The Future of Extreme Heat in Cities: What We Know — and What We Don’t
The Future of Extreme Heat in Cities: What We Know — and What We Don’t
The past year registered record-shattering global temperatures. People around the world are already witnessing epic heat waves, wildfires and drought at 1.1 degrees C (2 degrees F) of global warming, compared to pre-industrial averages. With current policies putting the world on ...
As the Earth Gets Hotter, Can Our Cities Get Cooler?
As the Earth Gets Hotter, Can Our Cities Get Cooler?
This summer the Northern Hemisphere has been so hot with record temperatures — including at sea — that discussions have turned to the limits of human survival. Even in the Antarctic, sea ice is failing to re-form, a drastic departure ...
Cities Need a Systems-change Approach to Build Climate-resilient Communities
Cities Need a Systems-change Approach to Build Climate-resilient Communities
Cities occupy just 3 percent of the Earth’s land, but account for most of the global energy consumption and carbon emissions. Many cities are also more vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters due to their population densities and interconnected infrastructure. ...
7 Ways Faith Organizations Are Making Cities More Sustainable and Equitable
7 Ways Faith Organizations Are Making Cities More Sustainable and Equitable
About two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. While cities are hubs of innovation and opportunity, the increasing pace of urbanization also exacerbates inequality, stresses infrastructure, and fuels climate change, air pollution and other environmental problems. The ...
An Innovative Jobs Program in Odisha, India Helped Informal Workers Through COVID-19 and Beyond
An Innovative Jobs Program in Odisha, India Helped Informal Workers Through COVID-19 and Beyond
When India’s federal government announced a public health lockdown on March 24, 2022 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it generated desperate scenes. Economic activity ground to a halt. Millions of migrant workers traveled back to their home states. In ...
‘Code Red for Humanity’: Sinking Indian Cities
‘Code Red for Humanity’: Sinking Indian Cities
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns, “India will see increased heat waves and heavy rainfall events, while glaciers will melt further, along with more compound events from rising sea-levels like flooding.” The report further states that “unequivocal human ...
In Ahmedabad, India, Women Are Climate Leaders, Not Victims
In Ahmedabad, India, Women Are Climate Leaders, Not Victims
During the summers, in the crowded informal settlement she calls home in Ahmedabad, India, Meenaben would lay wet jute on the floor and hay on the roof of her home to lower the temperature inside. If she didn’t, her home ...
Urban Sanitation Is a Climate and Economic Issue Too
Urban Sanitation Is a Climate and Economic Issue Too
Along the Ngong River in Mukuru, one of Nairobi’s slum neighborhoods and home to more than 100,000 people, residents face a dual threat when the rains come. First, the river rises, flooding into streets and houses. Then the water reaches ...
Tackling Inequality in Cities Is Essential for Fighting COVID-19
Tackling Inequality in Cities Is Essential for Fighting COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a disruptive new normal for everyone through shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines. But for the billions of urban poor, these guidelines aren’t just burdensome; they’re essentially impossible. Social distancing is a critically important response ...
This One Chart Shows the Radical Changes Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities
This One Chart Shows the Radical Changes Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities
Rose Molokoane picked up the microphone at the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur in February, and challenged the room full of policymakers, practitioners and researchers. “I’ve been a part of every World Urban Forum, and government is always talking about needing ...
Winner Take All? Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’ Part of Growing Global Focus on Unequal Cities
Winner Take All? Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’ Part of Growing Global Focus on Unequal Cities
Cities are growing rapidly in more places than ever before, but this growth is not always accompanied by prosperity. The specter of inequality – and fear that it could short-circuit economic development – has been rising in the global urban ...
Sheela Patel on the Urban Housing Crisis: Think Big, Act Local
Sheela Patel on the Urban Housing Crisis: Think Big, Act Local
From evictions and skyrocketing rents to substandard infrastructure and services, many residents in cities across the global south face acute housing challenges. And the problem is growing. According to estimates, one-in-three people in cities are unable to access affordable and ...
Confronting the Urban Housing Gap
Confronting the Urban Housing Gap
More than 1.2 billion city dwellers – one of every three people living in urban areas – lack access to affordable and secure housing. This housing gap is a major drag on the economy and the environment. The impact is ...
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Friday Fun: Beyond the Map—Google Explores Rio’s Slums
What do you think of when you hear the word “slum”? For many, the word brings to mind poverty, violence and squalor; slums, or informal settlements, are overwhelmingly associated with the negative. This is particularly true in Rio de Janeiro, ...
Kirtee Shah: How Urbanization Is Affecting India’s Affordable Housing and Development
Kirtee Shah: How Urbanization Is Affecting India’s Affordable Housing and Development
A renowned architect and Indian activist, Kirtee Shah has an extensive history working internationally to improve the conditions of slums and the poor. Over the years, Shah has served as the president of Habitat Forum in India, been a member ...
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