Participatory Planning for Climate Compatible Development in Maputo, Mozambique

‘This English/Portuguese book is an example of how participatory planning, which puts citizens at the heart of community improvement, can facilitate local responses to climate change challenges. Focusing on the partnerships between governments and communities in Maputo, Mozambique, this bilingual compilation highlights key lessons of climate compatible development for urban managers, practitioners, academics, policy makers, citizens and activists.’
Environment and Urbanization Journal

‘The book ‘Participatory Planning for Climate Compatible Development’ advances a key argument concerning the need to involve urban citizens in local action for climate adaptation.’
Climate and Development Knowledge Network

‘This book is a guiding light for planners, communities and anyone concerned with climate change in our cities. It will join a growing but still limited collection of studies and is likely to become an important guide to living in our climate-changed present. Participatory action planning might not be the only way to involve urban residents in addressing this new landscape, but it offers a deeply considered approach that is needed across Maputo and cities more widely.’
Africa at LSE Book Reviews

‘This book is accessible in the best sense of the term and yet offers complex ideas and challenges to traditional planning norms that have shaped a geography of vulnerability across the city. The book is fully referenced and behind each section lies a series of interesting ideas from disciplines including urban studies, planning, climate science, development studies, geography and others, brought together to anchor the reflections on the process described in the book.

Part of the success of the book can be attributed to the use of clear figures, tables and explanatory boxes that offer an alternative to pages of text. With over 20 full colour photos of Chamanculo C, the reader gets a real understanding of this poor but popular neighbourhood and the challenges it faced in relation to climate change. These include the textured nature of the area’s development and its people that help bring the particular topographies of climate change to a neighbourhood level. The key lessons that conclude each chapter add to this accessibility and illustrate how it might be used by policymakers pressed for time and more inclined to search for the highlights of such publications.

The dual English/Portuguese language is perhaps the most prominent component of the book that illustrates the attention and ethical care that has gone into both the research process and the reflective writing that the reader encounters. All too often publications about African cities are written in English, limiting the audience and failing to connect with local policymakers and concerned citizens….

This book is a guiding light for planners, communities and anyone concerned with climate change in our cities. It will join a growing but still limited collection of studies and is likely to become an important guide to living in our climate-changed present. Participatory action planning might not be the only way to involve urban residents in addressing this new landscape, but it offers a deeply considered approach that is needed across Maputo and cities more widely’