Cities for all

Stories of Refugee Women in Lebanon

Around the world, women face unimaginable daily struggles. Whether it’s fetching water for their family, fighting for their rights to land, or escaping war.

In 2019 we met refugee women in Lebanon who are living all of these realities. Often alone because their husbands have died or abandoned them, or with extra children to care for as their families are not able to.

In this blog, we explore the plight of refugee women living in Lebanon, and what we are doing to help them empower themselves to achieve more.

Building Resilient, Sustainable & Inclusive Societies

The African situation is really unique. The rates African cities are growing and urbanising is massive, but it’s greatly informal (i.e. mostly slums). The last count in Accra, we have over 246 informal settlements.

The rate at which people are moving into urban centres in Africa, I think is something that is beyond the frame of reference for city management teams in the global north. 75% of the world’s population in 2050 will be living in cities.

Fighting evictions in Recife, Brazil: favelas, bankruptcy & luxury

When you arrive in Recife you’re met with spectacular views of modern high-rise buildings, long sandy beaches and crystal blue waters; what some would describe as paradise.

What you can’t always see are the many forgotten communities and thousands of displaced families who have suffered to make those views so ‘spectacular’.

Today, there are over 30 million homeless people in Brazil and another 75 million live in terrible housing conditions, but why is the situation so bad?

Relative vs Absolute Poverty

What is poverty and how can we define different types of poverty?

In simple terms, poverty is not having enough money or access to resources to enjoy a decent standard of living; be that the lack of access to healthcare, education or water and sanitation facilities etc.

Historically, poverty in the UK was defined as either primary and secondary in studies by Seebhom Rowntree in the 20th century.

Find out more by reading our blog post.

Causes of Urban Poverty in India

As cities across the world rapidly develop, life is becoming increasingly difficult for those left behind. In India, the causes of urban poverty can be linked to the lack of infrastructure in rural areas, forcing inhabitants of these regions to seek out work in India’s mega-cities.

However, as more and more people make this migration, the space left to accommodate them becomes less and less. Urban development can’t keep up with the growing numbers of informal settlers and no one wants to be held accountable for the slums or their residents.

Tackling Social Inequalities in Romania

This interactive documentary is the first of a series that we’ve created as part of our Cities For All campaign. It focuses on how we tackle the poor housing conditions in Romania, explaining why it is so far behind most other countries in the European Union and ranks as the poorest.

Learning From Urban Crises

70% of the worlds population live slums and are increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters. As such, it’s vital to find ways of preparing so fewer people are affected when crises hit.

Watch our interactive documentary about disaster response in slums to find out how we can make cities more disaster resilient.