February 2020

Urban newsletter

Greetings! We're delighted to share the launch of the new episode of IIED's Make Change Happen podcast, 'Seizing opportunities for urban change'.

This month we also bring news of our participation at the World Urban Forum (WUF10). You'll also find details below of all our latest projects and publications.

Please drop us a line if you want to find out more about our work.

Best wishes
Alexandra Norodom – Human Settlements Group

Seizing opportunities for urban change: Make Change Happen podcast episode 3

Ahead of the 2020 World Urban Forum, the third episode of IIED's ‘Make Change Happen’ podcast, 'Seizing opportunities for urban change', looks at how our local-to-global urban work developed and its current priorities.

The episode discusses our work on inclusive urban futures, featuring David Satterthwaite, who spearheaded IIED’s work on urban poverty. He is joined by senior urban researcher Anna Walnycki, and podcast host Liz Carlile, IIED's director of communications. Together they look at how IIED’s work with marginalised urban communities developed, and what opportunities exist now for building more inclusive cities.

The full podcast series with previous episodes on protecting the ocean and energy access can be found at the IIED website.

News

WUF10

IIED and partner events at the World Urban Forum (WUF10)

Organised and convened by UN-Habitat, the World Urban Forum is the foremost international gathering for exchanging views and experiences on sustainable urbanisation. IIED’s researchers and partners will share research and participate in events throughout the two week conference in Abu Dhabi.

Find out what we'll be speaking about, where and when at WUF10

An aerial image of old Delhi. But the megacity continues to grow and its predicted 43m inhabitants in 2035 would make it the world's largest city (José Antonio Morcillo Valenciano, via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Blog series

The transition to a predominantly urban world

A new series of blogs and interviews, curated by IIED senior fellow David Satterthwaite, will examine different aspects of global urban change, including analysis of the social, political and environmental factors that cause cities to thrive or decline.

These blogs reflect a planned new edition of Satterthwaite's landmark 2007 working paper, 'The transition to a predominantly urban world and its underpinnings'. The updated edition will be published later this year.

The series will review the whole spectrum of urban centres: from the nine cities with over 20 million inhabitants to the tens of thousands of small urban centres.

Recent publications

Working paper: Learning from community planning following the 2010 Haiti earthquake
Working paper: In search of shelter: the case of Hawassa, Ethiopia
Working paper: Towards more inclusive urban health systems for refugee wellbeing: Lessons from Kampala, Uganda
Working paper: Urban refugees in Nairobi: tackling barriers to accessing housing, services and infrastructure
E&U briefing: The urbanization of food insecurity and malnutrition
Briefing: Proposed solutions for inclusive shelter in Hawassa
Briefing: Shelter for all: towards more inclusive housing in Mogadishu
Briefing: Towards holistic solutions to Nairobi’s affordable housing crisis