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> Human Settlements research group

David Satterthwaite

Senior fellow, Human Settlements; team leader, urban poverty and local organisations

Full biography

David Satterthwaite is a senior fellow at IIED and visiting professor at the Development Planning Unit, University College London. Two recent books co-authored with Diana Mitlin were Urban Poverty in the Global South; Scale and Nature (2012) and Reducing Urban Poverty in the Global South (2013). Both were published by Routledge.

He was a co-ordinating lead author of the chapter on urban adaptation in the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and he is currently working with other IPCC authors on a book on how cities can combine development and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Expertise

Poverty reduction and environmental problems in urban areas; climate change adaptation, including contributions to the IPCC's Third, Fourth and Fifth Assessments.

Before IIED

David Satterthwaite has been with IIED since 1974.

Education

BA (University of Bristol), DipDevPlan (University College London), PhD (London School of Economics)

Current work

  • Editor, Environment & Urbanization.
  • Research and documentation on the current and potential role of urban poor federations to address their needs and develop partnerships with government agencies
  • Research on why the scale and depth of urban poverty is under-estimated and mis-represented by most governments and international agencies.
  • Research on urban risk in cities in Africa with particular attention to those most at risk – undertaken with a consortium of several African and British research institutions.

Previously director of IIED's Human Settlements research group. He was awarded the Volvo Environment Prize in 2004 and was part of the IPCC team honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Interviews

IIED expert interviews: David Satterthwaite
David Satterthwaite's picture
Telephone: 
+44 (0) 20 3463 7399
Email: 
david.satterthwaite@iied.org
Twitter: @Dsatterthwaite
ORCID
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
 

David Satterthwaite's projects

Home workers making bouquets (Photo: Siddharth Agarwal/UHRC)

Addressing risks facing informal workers

Project, Oct 2018
Niamey, the capital of Niger, is growing rapidly. Urban ARK is exploring the varied vulnerabilities of boys and girls from conflict-displaced and host communities (Photo: Jean Rebiffé, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Urban Africa Risk Knowledge (Urban ARK)

Project, Dec 2016
This IIED data visual shows the scale and speed of global urban transformation (Photo: Matt Wright/IIED)

Visualising urbanisation

Project, Sep 2014
Covers of Environment and Urbanization publications

Environment & Urbanization local organisation profiles

Project, Aug 2014
Old Fadama, Ghana: health conditions in many low-income and informal settlements will be worsened further by rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns (Photo: David Dodman/IIED)

Climate change and urban health

Project, Jul 2014
Recent front covers of Environment & Urbanization

Environment and Urbanization

Project, Mar 2010

David Satterthwaite's blog posts

Aerial view of Kisumu, Kenya.

Outside the large cities

Blog, Nov 2020
Housing in informal settlement.

Getting housing back onto the development agenda in the time of COVID-19

Blog, Oct 2020
Skyline of Kolkata, India.

How regional and national capital cities influence urban change

Blog, Sep 2020
View of the city of Delhi at night

The global geography of world cities

Blog, Jul 2020
A view of Shanghai's tall buildings

Cities’ development trajectories

Blog, Jun 2020
A view over a large township

Internal and international influences on urban change

Blog, May 2020
  • Load more

Links to other sites

Environment & Urbanization

E&U is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering urban and environmental studies. It is published by Sage Publications and was established in 1989.

How to ensure that aid empowers urban poor groups

TEDx talk in Hamburg, July 2013

 
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International Institute for Environment and Development, 235 High Holborn, Holborn, London WC1V 7LE, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 7399

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