As cities grow, climate risks are rising fastest for people living in informal and under-served areas. Practical local solutions exist, but they often fail to scale when they are disconnected from the decisions, budgets and institutions that shape urban development. The Unlocking Resilience through Bottom-up Action-Research and Multi-Scalar Networks (URBAN) project tested how locally led climate adaptation and political-economy analysis can move from evidence into planning, resources and policy influence.

A part of the GRTD portfolio, responding to the climate, food and nature pillar, and funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office through the CLimate Adaptation and REsilience (CLARE) programme, URBAN worked across 5 cities in Africa and Asia to understand how local resilience solutions can gain influence, resources and long-term traction.

The project found that political-economy analysis can change how resilience work is designed. It helps identify who makes decisions, who controls resources, what evidence counts, where communities need formal representation, and how local priorities can move into planning, finance and policy.

Using the Strengthening and Enhancing Contextual Urban Resilience (SECURe) framework, URBAN partners turned this analysis into practical strategies: sequencing activities, building coalitions, securing formal recognition for community groups, translating local evidence for decision-makers, identifying finance pathways and managing implementation risks.

Examples from 3 different countries

In Ajmer and Jodhpur, India, the project helped ensure community evidence on urban water bodies had recognised routes into planning processes and potential funding decisions. In Iloilo City, Philippines, it helped community organisations secure the formal standing needed to participate in housing, land-use and disaster risk decision-making. In Kisumu, Kenya, URBAN supported KDI and local communities around Dunga Wetland to build a shared community position and evidence base before wetland protection decisions were finalised, contributing to a continuing partnership with Kisumu County Government to co-produce a Wetland Management Plan.

Together, these examples show that locally led adaptation is not only about identifying community priorities. It is also about creating the governance pathways, institutional relationships and evidence formats that allow those priorities to shape planning, finance and implementation.

URBAN has now closed, but its tools, learning products and city-level partnerships provide a practical foundation for future urban adaptation programmes. This legacy also extends through the Urban Resilience Strategic Exchange, where URBAN brought funders, researchers and implementation partners together to pursue a more joined-up model for moving local resilience priorities from evidence and co-design into city plans, funding proposals and policy reform. If applied more widely, these lessons could help turn local knowledge into city decisions that better protect people, homes and livelihoods from growing climate risks.

For further information see the SECURe toolkit, Using the SECURe framework to scale urban living labs and the CLARE programme.