Reinterpreting Sub-saharan Cities Through the Concept of Adaptive Capacity ― An Analysis of Autonomous Adaptation in Response to Environmental Changes in Peri-urban Areas

This book explores whether and how a reinterpretation of Sub-Saharan cities, through the concept of adaptive capacity, could bridge this distance and contribute to a new understanding of the contemporary city. The research contributes to improved knowledge of urban and environmental planning and of the dynamics of development and environmental management in peri-urban areas of Dar es Salaam. This knowledge highlights the limits of certain common generalizations on the character of peri-urban areas. Moreover, the research provides methodological contribution derived from considerations on the strengths and weakness of tools and methods for investigating adaptive capacity and for environmental management, in the city of Dar es Salaam. Finally, it highlights controversial issues and possible research paths related to the relationship between adaptive capacity and urban and environmental planning.

Liana Ricci is an Environmental Engineer and has a PhD in Urban Planning. She is currently post-doc fellow at Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering, SAPIENZA University of Rome in Italy. Her major fields of specialization are urban and environmental planning in sub-Saharan cities, adaptive capacity assessment, climate change adaptation mainstreaming into urban policy and plans and urban policy mobility. Liana has conducted research in methodology development for data collection and analysis on spontaneous practices for climate change adaptation in urban areas of the Least Developed Countries, Local, and in Environmental Planning and Management in peri-urban areas. Her work has been presented at several national and international conferences and workshops (INURA; AESOP; ICSS 2010; European Ph.D. Network on International Climate Policy 2010; Ph.D. Workshop on Sustainable Development Columbia University 2011, UICCA conference, Turin 2011 and 2013, UGRG 2014). In 2013 she was blue book trainee at European Commission DG CLIMA working as Policy Assistant in the team for Mainstreaming of Climate Action into Cohesion Policy for the programming period 2014-2020 and in macroregions, and supported the development of Knowledge Gap Strategy for Climate Action (Horizon 2020). During the same year she was also at UN Habitat for the Internship programme on Urban Planning to stimulate and contribute to research related to Cities and Climate Chance Initiative (CCCI) and participate in CCCI Technical Support Team.