Climate Change, Assets and Food Security in Southern African Cities

There is overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing. It is the poorest countries and people who are the most vulnerable to this threat and who will suffer the most. This book shows how increasing urbanization and growing poverty levels mean that it is imperative to ask how climate change might impact on asset accumulation and food security for the urban poor. It demonstrates how these three, often separate foci, can be brought together to frame a holistic urban adaptation approach. Furthermore, although much has been written about climate change, limited evidence exists in southern Africa of how climate change has been integrated in urban planning. The authors explore the urban climate change nexus linking asset adaptation, climate change science and food security through several case study cities. These include Cape Town (South Africa), Lusaka (Zambia), Maputo (Mozambique), Mombasa (Kenya) and Mbabane (Swaziland). The results shed light on how this nexus might be explored from different perspectives, both theoretical and practical, in order to plan for a more resilient future. The book comprises ten chapters which all focus on a particular southern African city, with each chapter written by highly experienced academics, researched focused practitioners and professional planners. Although each chapter concentrates on a southern African city, the insights which this book presents can be used to understand other urban centres in low and middle-income countries outside of this region and around the world.