ReliefWeb

Leah Campbell

1. Introduction

Over 50% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and these are growing larger year on year. Half of this population lives in dense informal settlements, and 90% of urban growth is occurring in the developing world (UN-Habitat, 2016). The scale, density and diversity of urban areas magnify challenges common to all humanitarian responses, and also pose new ones. Urban environments have rich and poor areas, new and old neighbourhoods, populated areas next to peri-urban peripheries, different administrative districts and industrial zones – all sitting side by side (Carpenter, in ALNAP, 2014a). Urbanisation is occurring differently across the globe, and no two cities are the same.
One of the biggest challenges for humanitarians responding to urban crises is that urban populations and communities are different from those with which humanitarians have traditionally worked.
Unlike in rural or camp populations, working in urban contexts means:

• There will be a significantly higher number of affected people (who may be gathered together densely or spread out over a wide area depending on the crisis).

• Multiple stakeholders exist (including various ‘community’ networks, local government, community-based organisations (CBOs), gangs and other groups), each with different priorities and accountabilities.

• Vulnerable people may be hidden in a dense population, and may not wish to be identified.

• The population is highly mobile – moving day-to-day between home and work, connected to other rural and urban areas and more likely to move home.

• It is difficult to identify who within a population can be considered representative of that group.

• The population, even in one dense space, is highly diverse, with no common level of vulnerability, capacity or need.

• There are often greater opportunities for communication and collaboration, given the availability of technology and infrastructure and the number of potential partners.

This Working Paper explores the topic of working with urban populations and communities. It draws on practical challenges and approaches in relation to targeting and communication with urban populations, and in the mobilisation of urban communities. The paper was informed by a literature review, as well as ALNAP’s ongoing urban webinar series and Community of Practice discussions, which have consistently raised these issues over the past few years.