Name Sennan Mattar Programme, Year mphil/PhD, 1st Year Project Title

What is the project researching?

This project aims to examine what extend the growth and challenges of informal settlements/slums in Zambia can be considered a consequence of climate change. A particular focus is the implications climate change has on rural-urban migration to these areas, given emerging research suggests a link between deteriorating rural conditions and migration to urban areas (Barrios et al, 2006; Girardet, 2008; Gebeyehu, 2014).

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) 2015 explicitly highlights there is a gap in our knowledge concerning the daily challenges faced by inhabitants of informal settlements, including reasons for their proliferation, limiting the ability to form effective solutions and realize vulnerable communities’ human rights. As such, this project intends to establish an in-depth understanding of the causes and challenges of informal settlements in Zambia by employing qualitative methodologies, e.g. semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, case studies, focus group discussions.
With the focus on implications of climate change in rural areas, this translates into three key objectives:

• Determine the scale of growth of informal urban settlements

• Explore the determinants for rural-urban migration

• Analyse possible adaptive and empowerment measures