New report warns developing cities to act now against a perfect storm of environmental risks

A press release from Atkins, the engineering consulting firm: A major new report ‘Future Proofing Cities’ published today by Atkins in a unique partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID) and University College London (UCL) assesses the risks to cities from climate hazards, resource scarcities, and damage to ecosystems and how they can act now to future proof themselves. Covering 129 cities totalling 350 million people in 20 countries, this report identifies practical measures that cities can take to manage these future risks.

Around 75% of the world’s population will live in cities within 40 years. Almost all of this population growth will happen in the developing world, with 4.6 billion people projected to live in already rapidly growing cities.How will these cities in the developing world cope socially, environmentally and economically with such accelerated urbanisation?

Future Proofing Cities assesses the risks from mega cities like Bangkok to smaller cities such as Zaria in Africa. It looks at their risk profile from climate hazards, resource scarcities, and damage to ecosystems and urges action now to future proof against these risks.

This report provides a fresh approach to the urgent issues arising from rapid urbanisation. It assesses the environmental risks facing cities in an integrated way and identifies more than 100 practical policy options that are most relevant and will be of most benefit to people living in different types of cities. It builds on the collective work on urbanisation by DFID, Atkins and UCL with forewords by the World Bank and Rockefeller Foundation.

The report is set against a growing awareness of the need for increased funding for infrastructure development in developing countries at the city level.This report provides an early warning for people living and working in these cities, while providing market intelligence for investors....

A slum in East Cipinang, near Jakarta, shot by by Jonathan McIntosh, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license