A Changing Environment for Human Security

6    Urban risk and vulnerability

Insights and lessons from Latin American cities

Patricia Romero-Lankao, Mercy Cordova Borbor, Eduardo Behrentz and Laura Dawidowski

Introduction

Climate change has increasingly become recognized as one of the greatest challenges to global efforts to meet sustainability and human security goals. However, climate change is a deeply local issue as well. Given that more than 50 percent of the world’s population is located in urban areas, cities bear both the opportunities and challenges for the integration of climate considerations into efforts towards meeting sustainability goals (Wheeler and Beatley, 2008). While previous scholarship has explored how hazards such as air pollution and climate variability affect ...