Research overview

ClimUrb seeks to create policy-relevant knowledge about how climate change impacts on the livelihoods and living conditions of poor urban people and communities. The current research activities have an exclusive focus on Bangladesh, through two projects. The analytical framework informing our research approach is presented in the ClimUrb Analytical Framework.

Poverty and Climate Change in Urban Bangladesh – start-up project

The Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester funded this two-year project in 2009 to support initial activities of the ClimUrb research agenda. The core argument is built around the need for a disaggregated perspective on climate change impacts on the livelihoods of the urban poor. Data collection has now been completed and the analysis has begun.

Community and institutional responses to the challenges facing poor urban people in an era of global warming in Bangladesh

This three-year project started in October 2010 and is funded by the ESRC-DFID. The research seeks to explore how to effectively address the problems of poor urban people, in a context of rapid climate change. It adopts a cross-disciplinary perspective, bringing together a team of leading Bangladeshi and UK researchers and policy activists working in six field sites. The research objectives are:

To examine the key challenges facing poor urban people in Bangladesh and understand how these challenges are compounded by climate change.
To investigate current adaptive practices by individuals and communities to build, protect and maintain their livelihoods in the face of these challenges.
To examine and compare the institutional structures which mediate urban poor people’s livelihood practices.
To provide policy-relevant findings that help public, private and non-profit agencies contribute more effectively to support the urban poor, particularly with adaptation to climate change.