African cities aren’t doing enough to adapt to climate change: lessons from Durban and Harare

When record-breaking rains swept through the coastal city of Durban in South Africa in April 2022, the resulting floods destroyed roads, bridges and homes. Durban’s low-lying, poor neighbourhoods were hardest hit, with residents losing their homes and their lives.

The scene would have felt familiar to residents of many other of Africa’s fast-growing cities. Some, including Lagos, Cairo, Cape Town and Durban, have already faced the need to adapt to a changing climate and its intensifying hazards such as floods, droughts or intense heat.

Cities need new ways to adapt to climate change.

The current system of social, economic and political structures that cities are based on is built on a market-led capitalist model and globalisation.

This model has caused cities to grow in ways that make economically and socially disadvantaged and underserved people more vulnerable to climate hazards.

For instance, many poor residents can only afford to build flimsy