This publication critically examines urban policies and projects from the perspective of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, urban resiliency, inclusive cities, and the impacts of the informal economy. The 2014 volume marks the fifth year of the “Reducing Urban Poverty” competition, with chapters examining the following topics:
a comparative analysis of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management into urban planning and development the Indian cities of Bhubaneswar, Indore, and Surat; the influence of external processes and priorities on urban climate adaptation in Manila, drawing conclusions about the governance implications for adaptation decision making and policy implementation at the local level; exploration of the factors that influence vulnerability and resilience to flood hazards in two informal settlements located along the banks of Korle Lagoon near the Central Business District of Accra, Ghana; an examination of how families affected by Typhoon Haiyan have been involved in housing reconstruction efforts in the Philippines; an examination of the capacity of the informal sector to absorb unemployed urban youth through self-employment in the informal microenterprise (IME) sector, using Ghana as a case study; self-help as a housing strategy for low income settlements in the neighborhood of Pampas de San Juan, Lima, Peru; a case study of the Otigba information and communications technology cluster in Lagos, Nigeria to assess the impact of industrial clustering on the living standards of informal sector workers; and examination - through a pilot study in Livingston, Zambia - of the opportunities that mobile payment systems can offer microenterprises that face limited access to capital for growth and information technology for enhanced productivity