Ricardo Fort presented the work of GRADE on informal urban expansion at the Institute of Development Studies
| Date | : | 16/10/2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Location | : | Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex, United Kingdom) |
| Area/s | : | Urbanization and sustainable cities |
Our Director of Institutional Projects, Ricardo Fort, visited the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), one of the most important development think tanks worldwide, to explain the work of GRADE and to explore further collaboration between both institutions.
In front of an audience made up of students and IDS staff, Ricardo shared the results of GRADE’s research projects that tackled “Informal Urban Expansion in the Global South: Second Order Solutions for Pressing Policy Challenges in the Absence of the State”.
Over the past three decades, cities in developing countries have expanded their residential area by a median rate of almost 200%. Over two thirds of this new urban land can be described as informal settlements that lack proper basic services and urban infrastructure. Yet, traditional prescriptions on this issue tend to rely in policies that require strong state interventions such as citywide urban planning and widespread social housing projects—solutions that require a degree of institutionalization and a level of resources that the global south often lacks. In this context, it might be more effective to develop what we call ‘second order solutions’: low budget, simple tools that effectively tackle specific policy challenges relying on freely available information and technologies. In the session, Ricardo shared the results of four academic research projects set in Peru that yielded such innovative tools: a mobile app for automated plot plans, a virtual cadaster using drones, an investment prioritization tool based on satellite imagery.
