Cities are often blamed for high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. However, an analysis of emissions inventories shows that -in most cases -per capita emissions from cities are lower than the average for the countries in which they are located. The paper assesses these patterns of emissions by city and by sector, discusses the implications of different methodological approaches to producing inventories, identifi es the main drivers for high levels of greenhouse gas production, and examines the role and potential for cities to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

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This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about social distancing and washing hands implausible. There are further challenges to do with the lack of reliable data and the social, political and economic contexts in each setting that will influence vulnerability and possibilities for action. The potential health impacts of COVID-19 are immense in informal settlements, but if control measures are poorly executed these could also have severe negative impacts. Public health interventions must be balanced with social and economic interventions, especially in relation to the informal economy upon which many poor urban residents depend. Local residents, leaders and community-based groups must be engaged and resourced to develop locally appropriate control strategies, in partnership with local governments and authorities. Historically, informal settlements and their residents have been stigmatized, blamed, and subjected to rules and regulations that are unaffordable or unfeasible to adhere to. Responses to COVID-19 should not repeat these mistakes. Priorities for enabling effective control measures include: collaborating with local residents who have unsurpassed knowledge of relevant spatial and social infrastructures, strengthening coordination with local governments, and investing in improved data for monitoring the response in informal settlements.

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This paper considers community‐based adaptation (CBA) to climate change and its relationship to the theory and practice of participatory development. It is argued that CBA needs to recognise the considered experience of participatory development to date, particularly in relation to local involvement in project planning and implementation, as well as acknowledging the specific challenges raised by climate change. Without attention to risks and uncertainty, political structures and institutions, the necessarily multi‐level nature of adaptation policy and programming, and the links between mitigation and adaptation politics and practice, outcomes of CBA interventions are unlikely to support pro‐poor development. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Approximately 1 billion people currently live in informal settlements, primarily in urban areas in low-and middle-income countries. Informal settlements are defined by poor-quality houses or shacks built outside formal laws and regulations. Most informal settlements lack piped water or adequate provision for sanitation, drainage, and public services. Many are on dangerous sites because their inhabitants have a higher chance of avoiding eviction. This paper considers how to build resilience to the impacts of climate change in informal settlements. It focuses on informal settlements in cities in low-and middle-income countries and how these concentrate at-risk populations. This paper also reviews what is being done to address climate resilience in informal settlements. In particular, community-and city-government-led measures to upgrade settlements can enhance resilience to climate-change risks and serve vulnerable groups. It also discusses how the barriers to greater scale and effectiveness can be overcome, including with synergies with the Sustainable Development Goals. Rapid Urbanization and Growth of Informal SettlementsThe current urban population is approximately 4.4 billion people globally. About 3.4 billion people currently live in urban centers in what the United Nations (UN) terms ''less developed regions.'' 1 UN projections suggest that urban population growth in ''less developed regions'' will be over 2 billion people by 2050 and that close to 90% of this increase will be in Asia and Africa. This means that another 2 billion urban dwellers will require housing, basic services, and resilience to climate-change impacts. 1 At present, approximately 1 billion urban dwellers live in what are termed informal settlements in poor-quality houses or shacks. 2 Informal settlements fall outside formal laws and regulations on land ownership, land use, and buildings. Their illegality makes government agencies unable or unwilling to work with them. These are settlements to which city governments have not extended what the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) terms risk-reducing infrastructure (paved roads, storm and surface drainage, piped water, etc.) and services relevant to resilience (including healthcare, emergency services, and rules of law). 2 Many informal settlements are ill prepared for climate change and face particularly high risks of floods and landslides as a result of poor-quality buildings and a lack of infrastructure to prevent flooding, withstand heavy storms, and cope with heat waves. 2 In the absence of more effective policies, most of the world's growth in urban population will be accommodated in informal settlements. Given the projected rates and regions of urban population growth by 2050, there is an urgent need to build resilience to climate change in these settlements and to do so at scale. There is also an urgent need to vastly expand the supply and reduce the cost of ''formal'' (i.e., legal) housing that provides low-income groups with safer and more accessible alternatives to...

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This paper reports the results of an autophotographic study carried out in Kingston, Jamaica. Cameras were distributed to high school students from different social backgrounds in order for them to record their own impressions and interpretations of the urban environment. This combination of an unusual methodology with a high level of youth participation provides a unique insight into the human-environment interactions taking place in the city, and reveals a variety of information about the ways in which social class, age and gender influence perceptions of and relationships with the urban environment.