2026 Reports

Inclusive Flood Resilience through Participatory Research: Insights from Durban’s INACCT Project

Marais, Clara; Leck, Hayley; Douwes, Joanne; Sutherland, Catherine

The Designing Inclusive African Coastal City Resilience (INACCT Resilience) project works in Durban, South Africa, to strengthen proactive, inclusive, and gender-responsive urban resilience in Durban’s Informal Settlements, particularly through the lens of flooding. In April 2022, Durban experienced a catastrophic flood event which claimed the lives of over 450 individuals and displaced 40 000 people. Informal Settlement communities are amongst the most severely impacted by climate disaster such as these, given geographic vulnerabilities, insufficient infrastructure and limited access to recovery resources. INACCT Resilience, led by ICLEI Africa, partners with eThekwini Municipality, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and residents of Informal Settlements to integrate local knowledge systems with technical insights to inform resilient municipal urban development processes. Participatory methods such as PhotoVoice and Learning Labs support inclusive mutual learning to strengthen local ownership and equitable resilience outcomes. INACCT aims to highlight and scale community-led adaptation innovations—such as using carpets and old tyres for soil stability—as innovative responses to climate hazards. The project's gender equity and social inclusion framework ensures that planning processes integrate the lived experiences and needs of vulnerable groups. By adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to research and action, INACCT strengthens equitable, sustainable, and locally grounded flood resilience. The project offers valuable insights for other African cities seeking to operationalise gender-responsive and inclusive adaptation in the face of accelerating climate risks.

Keywords: urban resilience; Informal Settlements; community-led adaptation; participatory planning; gender equity