IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section A

Abstract

Cities in Africa are vulnerable to disasters such as floods and landslides. The impact of disasters and climate change in cities is severe for poor households, especially groups such as the elderly, poor women and children, as they have the least access to resources to mitigate and recover from disasters. Disaster risks in cities are strongly linked to lack of basic infrastructure and services such as water and waste management, poor and inadequate urban and land planning, poor land-use and building standards, as well as low accountability. These increase urban dwellers’ exposure to hazards and vulnerability. Consequently, reducing risk and building resilience to disasters in urban areas requires tackling the developmental issues that underlie it. This requires improving infrastructure and services, and strengthening livelihoods, all of which are critical in reducing exposure to hazards and enhancing people’s ability to cope with and recover from disasters. It is essential to set priorities to reduce risk, while at the same time holding authorities to account through transparent, responsive and proactive governance structures. This paper will examine hazards, vulnerabilities, capacities and underlying drivers of disasters in East African cities. It will identify priorities for resilience to natural disasters in cities in East Africa. These will be coastal cities of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa and inland cities of, Nairobi, Kampala, and Juba.