Abstract:
Much of the City of Cape Town’s urban landscape is characterized by informal settlements, a legacy left by the apartheid regime, with many poor and disadvantaged communities living in areas exposed to the recurrent risk of rising floods. This thesis examines the applicability of people-centred approaches to flood warning systems in informal settlements in Cape Town. Recurrent flood impacts, during the winter rainfall months, and their costs, are disproportionally borne by those at risk, and the local governments that are required to repeatedly respond to them. Behavioural factors influencing response to flood-risk and flood warnings are examined.
