How IIED Works on Cities and Housing Justice

IIED treats cities as places of justice, not just engines of growth. Its urban work focuses on three connected areas: helping low-income urban communities prepare for and respond to climate change, challenging unfair and unsustainable housing systems, and building evidence on forced evictions and informal settlements. The entry point for much of this is Urban October, which IIED uses to promote a better urban future for all. This explainer is for readers who want to understand what IIED actually does on urban justice and where to find the relevant work.

The framing: cities as places of justice

IIED lists "Evolve cities as places of inspiration and justice" as one of its six organisational priorities. That framing matters because it links three issues that are usually handled separately:

• Climate adaptation in informal settlements — how people living in underserved urban areas prepare for and respond to a warming planet.
• Housing systems — challenging rules, markets and practices that produce unfair or unsustainable housing outcomes.
• Displacement and migration — generating evidence to improve support for migrants and refugees in cities.

The common thread is that urban inequality is produced by systems, not just by scarcity, so the work targets the systems.

What the work covers in practice

Informal settlements on a warming planet

IIED's published work includes "Better cities are possible: transforming informal settlements on a warming planet" (23 April 2025). The focus is on how informal settlements can be transformed rather than erased, and how climate risk is experienced by residents who lack secure tenure and basic services.

Housing justice and forced evictions

IIED convenes and publishes on housing justice as a justice-system question. A scheduled event, "Housing justice: how can people-centred justice principles address forced evictions?", applies people-centred justice principles to eviction. Related insight work examines forced evictions and climate change, including the relationship between eviction risk, CO2 emissions and anti-eviction struggles. The practical implication is that eviction is treated as both a housing and a climate question, not only a legal one.

Migrants and refugees in cities

IIED's stated aim is to help migrants, including displaced people, have brighter futures, and its urban spotlight includes work on improving support for migrants and refugees in cities. This connects displacement to urban policy rather than treating it as a separate humanitarian topic.

How to follow or use this work

Urban October is the annual moment IIED uses to pull this material together; the rest of the year the work appears as articles, insights and events rather than a single programme page.

What to keep in mind

IIED describes itself as an independent research organisation that delivers positive change on a global scale, working through research, partnerships and influence. Its urban output is therefore best read as evidence and advocacy aimed at shifting policy and practice, not as a service directory or funding programme. The site signals a subscription option but the available material does not specify terms, so check the site directly before assuming access conditions.