Breaking Cycles of Risk Accumulation in African Cities

This publication focuses on how cycles of risk accumulation in African cities can be broken in ways that also enhance local and city-wide development.

A range of case studies about disaster risk management (DRM) themes, from community participation in DRM data collection to risk mapping, and from urban waste management to hazard accumulation in urban risk traps, are offered from Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Each study aims to stimulate discussion and support best practices amongst city planners and risk managers.

The book is written in an accessible style. Each short chapter focusses on a specific challenge or opportunity offering key lessons and background reading. Insights from climate scientists, risk modellers, and citizen science teams are presented showing how vulnerability and health-assessment methods are used to reveal and act to reduce risk.

The book is a joint initiative of the Urban ARK programme and UN-Habitat and was launched on 12 February 2020 at the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum. Around 50 colleagues joined at the launch with viewpoints and commentaries from Mark Pelling (Urban ARK lead and King’s College London), Mathias Spaliviero (UN-Habitat), Ibidun Adelekan (University of Ibaban) and Joe Mulligan (Kounkuey Design Initiative), chaired by Sarah Blackburn (Global Challenges Research Fund, UKRI).