Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book draws from two recently completed research programmes Climate Change and Urban Poverty in Bangladesh (ClimUrb) and Chance2Sustain, as well as a series of papers emerging from research on urban poverty and climate change across Africa, Asia and Latin America, presented at the ClimUrb conference in September 2013 in Manchester, UK. It explores how innovation and the co-creation of knowledge can spur local adaptation. The book describes the mismatch between expert-led understandings of landslide risks and the risks perceived by low-income communities on the hill-slopes of Bogota, Colombia. It also explores two spatial domains namely, settlement and dwelling unit in which adaptive practices take place in the built environment. Characteristics of spatial location and the built environment also have important consequences for the health-related impacts of climate change.