Humanitarian Response to Urban Crises: a Review of Area-Based Approaches

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Author(s)
Parker, E. & Maynard, V.
Publication language
English
Pages
28pp
Date published
01 Jul 2015
Type
Research, reports and studies
Keywords
Coordination, Urban
Organisations
IIED DFID Urban Crises Learning Fund

In recent years there has been increasing interest in area-based approaches among humanitarian actors responding to urban crises. Through analysis of case studies, as well as available policy literature, this paper proposes that, in an urban context, area-based approaches have three defining characteristics: they are geographically targeted, and adopt a multi-sectoral, participatory approach.

Area-based approaches are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’; their positive and negative effects depending entirely on the context in which they are conceived, their programme design, the manner of their delivery and the appropriateness of adopting such a strategy. Further research is required to better understand the implications of wide-scale adoption of area-based approaches by the humanitarian community.