The Conversation

Informal urban settlements have long drawn on community resources to build and refurbish them. With climate change increasing the heat island effect in cities, they are often at the low end of the scale of scientific and policy priorities. Their informality means that these communities are vulnerable to the vagaries of urban policy urging solutions ranging from resettlement to reconstruction. The speakers in this panel approach the problem from different perspectives – sociology, engineering, and public administration, answering the question – how do we ensure viable, scalable, and sustainable solutions to urban heat island effects in informal settlements of the global south?

The Panel

Sheela Patel

Founder and Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), Mumbai, and Founding Member, Slum Dwellers International (SDI)

Sheela is the founder and director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) India, which is based in Mumbai, and works in partnership with the National Slum Dweller Federation and Mahila Milan. SPARC is an NGO that has been working since 1984 to support community organisations of the urban poor in their efforts to access secure housing and basic amenities and seek their right to the city.

Patel is widely recognised – nationally and internationally – for seeking urgent attention to the issues of urban poverty, housing and infrastructure onto the radar of governments, bilateral and international agencies, foundations and other organizations. She is a founder, among many, of Slum Dwellers International, a transnational social movement of the urban poor, whose board she previously chaired.

Prof. Eugenie Birch, PhD

Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research and Education, Department of City and Regional Planning, Weitzman School of Design and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, University of Pennsylvania

Eugénie L. Birch is the Lawrence C. Nussdorf Chair of Urban Research and Education. She teaches courses in global urbanization and the doctoral seminar and serves as chair, Graduate Group in City and Regional Planning, co-director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, co-editor, City in the 21st Century Series, University of Penn Press and co-editor, SSRN Urban Research e-journal. With Penn IUR she recently completed a project “Entreprenuership & Innovation in Connecticut’s Higher Education System,” for the state of Connecticut.

The "Conversations on Informality" Seminar Series of the Penn IUR Forum on Urban Informality bring together leading scholars and practitioners for an exchange across academic disciplines and in policy.