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Paper short abstract:

We would like to bring findings and reflections from a 2-year inter-disciplinary British Academy funded project in Nairobi and Karachi investigating a nexus of climate change-health risks for communities living in informal settlements from urban infrastructural developments.

Paper long abstract:

The project ‘Building Infrastructures of Repair in the 24-Hour Risk City’ (2022-2024) brought together social scientists, urbanists, engineers and psychologists to examine the nature of risks faced by communities in informal urban settlements in Karachi and Nairobi experiencing rapid infrastructure developments, and how pathways to adaptation and social justice could build on community-led repair mechanisms in the face of the climate ‘disrepair’ often engendered by these developments. This included a strong focus on the inter-relationship between physical infrastructures, health and climate disasters (flooding and heat) for vulnerable communities, and for different social groups among those communities. The paper will hone in on our findings in relation to a broad spectrum of health impacts, including psychological impacts. It will draw on qualitative research with communities affected by three road building projects in Nairobi and surveys, including a health and wellbeing survey, and in-depth interviews carried out with three communities in Karachi affected by government mega-projects and slum demolitions for drainage clearance. The analysis aims to highlight the spatial, temporal and societal dimensions of the inter-relationships between climate change and health, and the compounding and cascading effects of health and climate-related vulnerabilities. We discuss the tensions around community mechanisms for repair, and how far these can be supported to scale up adaptation.