Inserting Rights and Justice into Urban Resilience: A Focus on Everyday Risk in Cities in the South

This briefing aims to reconceptualise resilience with more emphasis on rights and justice for urban citizens, and less focus on infrastructure as the object to be made resilient. A justice orientation draws on theories that consider justice to include: the fair distribution of social and material advantages; meaningful participation in decision-making processes; acknowledgement of social, cultural and political differences; and the right to minimum levels of capabilities and opportunities to achieve livelihood and well-being goals.

This briefing deliberately assumes a Southern perspective. The failings of everyday development are perhaps most real in the Global South, where urban inequality is high, and social and ecological resilience is threatened. The discussions here are informed by the lived realities and conceptual innovations of urban contexts. Key consideration is given to resilience, rights, entitlements and risk management in urban areas.