Convening
Cities across the Global South are facing serious health challenges, made worse by climate change. In many urban settlements, insecure housing, poor infrastructure, limited access to healthcare, and social exclusion make people more vulnerable to climate-related risks like heatwaves, floods, and disease. These communities are already experiencing the health effects of climate change, but their experiences are often overlooked, and the data needed to support them is limited. Too often, climate responses fail to address these inequalities—and even deepen them.
Urban Heat &
Climate Risk
Fragile Built
Environment
Poor Infrastructure
& Services
Inequitable Access
to Healthcare
Socio-Economic
Exclusion
If Cities Could Speak focuses on these vulnerable settlements, working with communities across the Global South to map how climate hazards affect health in the project’s sites across India, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.
By combining local knowledge with spatial data, this work brings to light the everyday impacts of climate change on urban health, and helps identify ways to adapt.
Latest reflections from the field. Across 21 work sites.
Cape Town, South Africa
