Urban Vulnerability

The fight to overcome urban poverty and to build sustainable cities has to take account of urban vulnerability. Rapidly urbanizing populations, weak city infrastructures, and a limited formal institutional capacity to manage urban risk are not challenges unique to southern Africa. In cities all over the developing world, residents carry the burden of having to protect themselves from "disasters."

"Urban Vulnerability: Perspectives from Southern Africa" aims to stimulate debate about risk reduction in urban settings, and to identify key issues for further advocacy. The authors propose a conceptual framework for understanding urban vulnerability and link the concept with disaster risk. An overview of some of the urban challenges facing five southern African countries (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) sets the context for case studies from each country, with a particular emphasis on youth, health and the environment. The case studies examine urban-based initiatives, each operating on a relatively small scale and documenting threats to urban livelihoods ranging from insufficient food, pesticide contamination, fires, environmental hazards associated with poverty and inadequate servicing, to the social pathologies of crime.

"Urban Vulnerability: Perspectives from Southern Africa" draws together southern African authors who are also practitioners to reflect on their experiences, and highlights new methodological approaches to assessing risk.