On Monday 18th of September, Climate2020 in collaboration with adelphi published an article discussing urban vulnerability in climate fragile cities called “The Fragility of Cities”. In this article, Janani Vivekananda discusses the potential connections between climate change adaptation and urban violence while identifying some of the gaps in the knowledge base of urban resilience and potential entry points for future research and action.
In a fragile context where inequality, poverty and marginalisation are drivers of grievance and conflict, climate impacts can make these inequalities even more apparent, fuelling grievances further. Climate change and peace-building need to take account of cities’ complex dynamics: urban planning and development need to be ‘climate and conflict sensitive’.
The article stresses the need for a deeper understanding of how potential conflicts arise in urban settings and how climate change exerts external challenges to urban resilience; since most humanitarian entities all have gaps when it comes to addressing this nexus of climate change, cities and fragility.