Heat stress in Informal Settlements

Sammanfattning

Rapid Urbanization and Climate Change are two effects that are occurring especially on the African continent. Whereas rapid urbanization, together with frequent rural-urban migration, leads to the formation of Informal settlements in cities and peripheries in Africa. Climate change and its effects, and increasing risk for natural disasters, have vast effects on living conditions, the environment, and human health in these unplanned settlements. One particular aspect is the occurrence of Urban Heat Island effects and the residents' exposure to frequent Heat-stress in informal settlements. Sustainable urban upgrading needs to tackle economic, social, and environmental aspects. Upgrading aims to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable in a city, while avoiding their displacement and the establishment of new informal settlements. Incremental upgrading, upgrading in phases under the involvement of different stakeholders, provides a chance towards a more socially just division of resources within the city and among its residents.