Inserting rights and justice into urban resilience: a focus on everyday risk
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Authors
Colleges, School and Institutes
External organisations
- University of Cape Town
- King's College London
- Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS)
- THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
- Mzuzu University
- Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania (ALAT)
- University of British Columbia
- Univ British Columbia
- University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
Resilience building has become a growing policy agenda, particularly for urban risk management. While much of the resilience agenda has been shaped by policies and discourses from the global North, its applicability for cities of the global South, particularly African cities, has not been sufficiently assessed. Focusing on rights of urban citizens as the object to be made resilient, rather than physical and ecological infrastructures, may help to address many of the root causes that characterize the unacceptable risks that urban residents face on a daily basis. Linked to this idea, we discuss four entry points for grounding a rights and justice orientation for urban resilience. First, notions of resilience must move away from narrow, financially oriented risk analyses. Second, opportunities must be created for “negotiated resilience”, to allow for attention to processes that support these goals, as well as for the integration of diverse interests. Third, achieving resilience in ways that do justice to the local realities of diverse urban contexts necessitates taking into account endogenous, locally situated processes, knowledges and norms. And finally, urban resilience needs to be placed within the context of global systems, providing an opportunity for African contributions to help reimagine the role that cities might play in these global financial, political and science processes.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 123-138 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Environment and Urbanization |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 20 Mar 2017 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2017 |
Keywords
- African cities, rights and entitlements, risk, social justice, urban resilience