Urban development – Shelter
For over a decade now, Groupe URD has been analysing post-crisis humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in urban and peri-urban contexts, and in refugee camps.
Cities and crises
Emergency shelter programmes can involve many different forms of assistance: emergency shelters, transitional shelters, modular-re-usable shelters, rehabilitation of existing buildings, extensions, supplying building materials for self-build projects, technical assistance, permanent and semi-permanent housing, cyclone-resistant and earthquake-resistant technologies, etc. Our research and analysis of these programmes and subsequent recommendations have raised questions concerning the appropriateness of this assistance in relation to local needs such as the quality and spaciousness of housing, cultural appropriateness, local ownership, adaptability and sustainability.
Groupe URD’s expertise in humanitarian and reconstruction operations in urban contexts
Through observation, evaluation and analysis of shelter programmes we aim to learn lessons from current aid practices and to identify good practice and innovation in order to avoid the mistakes which often occur in these programmes.
Urban contexts are singularly complex. Cities are the product of historical, technological, social, cultural, political, societal and economic systems. Any kind of crisis will destabilise all of these systems. Through field-level analysis in post-disaster and post-conflict situations, we try to decipher what sparked the crisis and what its impact has been on existing urban systems and governance.
Groupe URD has also published three books which deal with urban issue:
- Afghan cities and urban challenges - Issues at stake in the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan
- Post-tsunami housing reconstruction in Aceh
- Wars in cities and cities in wars
Contributing to collective reflection
Groupe URD is involved in a number of French and international networks in which we contribute to collective reflection about the international aid sector and share the results of our work. For example, we are part of the French Alliance for Cities and Territorial Development (PFVT) with whom we take part in working groups, events (like the World Urban Forum 2012) and lesson sharing activities. We are also involved in international networks and lesson sharing processes such as the IASC Reference Group on Meeting Humanitarian Challenges in Urban Areas.
For more information, contact Anne Burlat
Groupe URD’s projects related to this theme since 2014:
- Supporting a peer exchange exercise between urban development experts from CAR and Haiti, February-September 2016
- Humanitarian response for IDPs in the Central African Republic , Early to mid-2017, for IIED
- Providing support to the Ministry of Housing in CAR, August 2016
- Capitalizing on FDF-supported post-earthquake reconstruction in Nepal, early 2016 - end of 2017
- Strengthening LRRD in an urban context in Central African Republic, March 2016 - in partnership with the French Embassy in CAR and OCHA
- The reconstruction of housing in Haiti: technical issues, habitability and heritage, 2014
- Iterative evaluation of the integrated reconstruction and urban and economic development project in the neighbourhood of Christ-Roi in Port-au-Prince, 2013-2016
- Evaluation of the support Programme for the reconstruction of housing and neighbourhoods in Haïti , Mid 2012-end 2014, for UN-Habitat
- Cities and crises: urban fragility, humanitarian action and the challenges of reconstruction in cities, 2011
Archives:
Articles related to this topic in "Humanitarian Aid on the move":
- Humanitarian assistance in post-crisis urban contexts – what have we learned so far?, Béatrice Boyer & Marion Bouchard
- Urban Resilience, Presentation by Jean-Christophe Adrian
- Cities and crises , Béatrice Boyer and François Grünewald
- What is French decentralised cooperation doing in terms of territorial crisis management? , Pierre Baillet
- The challenges of reconstruction from the point of view of local authorities, Bertrand Gallet
- Responding to crises in cities by strengthening local governance and capacity, Pierre Schapira
- Managing crises in urban areas: food and nutritional security and urban-rural links, Florence Egal
- Cities and global risks, François Grünewald
- Towards the sustainable development of urban areas affected by disasters, Emmanuel Hubert
- Kabul - Port au Prince, reflections on post crisis aid operations in urban environments , Béatrice Boyer
- Humanitarian programmes which need to be adapted to urban vulnerabilities in Port-au-Prince, Freetown, Charikar or Ulan Bator, Nicolas Villeminot
- Post-earthquake Haiti: supporting the post-earthquake urban reconstruction process, Jean-Yves Barcelo
- Humanitarian action in cities: new challenges, new roles ? , Simon Deprez and Eléonore Labattut
- Post-disaster re-housing in cities: should we support social dynamics or reinforce the status quo?, Sandra D’Urzo
- Bibliography on cities and crises
- Port-au-Prince – urban disaster and humanitarian crisis, Béatrice Boyer
- Neglected cities: the responsibilities of aid agencies in post-crisis contexts - The case of Afghanistan, Béatrice Boyer
- Post-tsunami reconstruction in Aceh: quantity versus quality, Simon Deprez and Eléonore Labattut
