Urban blogs
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Barricading Karachi: how private security contributes to dividing the city
1 December 2015Violence in Karachi will not be reduced until more effective and equitable solutions to policing and urban planning are found. Guest blogger Donald Brown examines the ways physical barriers affect space and people.
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Wanted: more inclusive, resilient, sustainable cities
20 November 2015Eighty per cent of Latin Americans live in urban areas. The result is a complex and challenging urban agenda that needs to be addressed through integrated and inclusive policies. An IIED and IIED- América Latina workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina, looked at examples of Latin American cities that are striving to become more inclusive, resilient and sustainable, from across the region
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Ten urban planning principles every humanitarian should know
10 November 2015As cities are increasingly where humanitarian action responds to crises, can urban planning principles help humanitarians intervene more effectively?
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Building trust through dialogue with street-food vendors
5 November 2015Street-food vendors' businesses are often threatened in the name of progress, but a new initiative from IIED and Hivos is looking to bridge the divide, protecting livelihoods and an important source of cheap food
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A picture of urban living
30 October 2015What does the word 'urban' mean to you? Our photo gallery shows how we are working with partners to document and highlight the often neglected circumstances in low-income urban communities, and to advocate for change
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Exploring inclusive urbanisation and other migration crises
28 October 2015In the run-up to World Cities Day, with its theme of 'living together', an IIED, IDS and UNFPA workshop will examine why the migration that helps to create cities is so often resisted, and how a more inclusive urbanisation can be achieved. Gordon McGranahan raises six key questions
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Building fairer food futures
16 October 2015Powerful images from Uganda and Indonesia highlight the importance of informal food vendors in the food systems of the rural and urban poor
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The SDGs don't adequately spell out cities' role in implementation
12 October 2015The new development framework lays out a groundbreaking vision on the common good. But it doesn't say enough about how this is to be achieved, by whom and with what funding
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What might slum dwellers want from the SDGs?
5 October 2015Jockin Arputham has been fighting for the rights of slum dwellers for nearly 50 years. Ahead of World Habitat Day, he highlights what the Sustainable Development Goals could mean for slum dwellers
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Should cities invest in climate mitigation?
21 September 2015There are compelling economic opportunities for cities to reduce their carbon footprints – but will these measures be enough to stay below 2 degrees of warming?
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Why urbanisation matters in responding to humanitarian crises
15 September 2015While the plight of Syrian refugees trying to get to Europe is grabbing attention, far more are living in cities and towns in the region. IIED hosted a recent workshop to look at how their needs can be best met
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Namibia's women lead the way in housing development
10 September 2015Persistence, celebration and the First Lady's help have turned around the fortunes of women's savings organisations helping to meet Namibia's housing needs
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The SDGs and 'a new urban agenda'?
8 September 2015If the world delivers on the Sustainable Development Goals, will IIED be out of a job? The SDGs may have a lot to say about what needs to be achieved but not about how, by whom and with what funding and support. There is hardly any mention of local government and local civil society. But you cannot meet the commitments listed above or indeed most of the other goals and targets in urban areas without their support.
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Sanitation in informal settlements: a networked problem
26 August 2015Can understanding how people perceive sanitation help achieve sustainable access to sanitation in cities?
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Karachi's transport challenge
13 August 2015Karachi desperately needs a better transport system. Government efforts have repeatedly failed, yet the authorities are reluctant to allow innovative solutions to rule the road
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It's the thought that counts: how can Addis deliver for the world’s poorest?
8 July 2015When the world's leaders meet in Addis to decide how they fund the SDGs, the real question is whether this money will support the world's poorest to shape their own futures
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Rush to urbanise leaves food vendors out in the rain
7 July 2015The drive to organise and improve towns and cities in Uganda is leaving food vendors out in the rain, warns Chris Busiinge from the Kabarole Research and Resource Centre
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Informal food vendors: urban food security's invisible experts
24 June 2015One in three urban citizens in Asia and Africa live in informal settlements. It’s time to consider their priorities when shaping urban food security policies.
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The value and limits of urban sustainability indicators
21 April 2015Are indicators a useful way of increasing resource efficiency and resilience in cities – and if so, which indicators are most valuable? Loan Diep and David Dodman report back from the ICLEI World Congress
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How India's slum and pavement dwellers made sanitation affordable
5 April 2015In India, slum and pavement dwellers' organisations have designed and managed a programme of community toilets and washing facilities that are used by hundreds of thousands of households. Guest blogger Sheela Patel describes how this was achieved
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Finance for whom and for what?
31 March 2015Ahead of the Financing for Development conference, David Satterthwaite highlights the disconnect between commitments made by national governments and finance for (mostly local) institutions ations representing those ill-served or unserved.
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Keep it simple: helping local governments reduce the risk from the next disaster
25 March 2015The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction aims to make communities safer in the face of new disasters – but could complex guidance be confusing issues, asks Cassidy Johnson
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Stopping rural people going to cities only makes poverty less visible, and stripping migrants of rights makes it worse
18 March 2015There is growing concern that rural migrants transfer poverty to urban areas, but excluding them is not the solution. Ensuring full citizenship rights to all groups and proactive planning for urban growth are more effective ways to reduce disadvantage and poverty
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Improving housing in Asia – and turning traditional top-down funding on its head
11 March 2015Community involvement in improving housing for low income families in Asian cities is changing approaches to funding – and delivering impressive results as well
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Why sanitation, spearhead of urban improvement in the 19th century, has become the laggard of the 21st
4 March 2015Drawing on a recently published paper in 'World Development', Gordon McGranahan considers why, given we seem to have the know-how, there are still so many people in cities without decent sanitation