Climate Adaptation Practices in Building Constructions: Progress and Limitations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Climate change and increased floods events are a major challenge for cities in the developing world. African cities face greater challenges having to deal with fewer management capacities simultaneously with increased intensity of climate related events. This paper presents an assessment of measures employed in construction of residential buildings and the impact of recurrent flooding events. Floods adaptation strategies take a central role here and they are assessed through empirical analysis of adaptation practices at household levels in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The emphasis is on key features of adaptation such as: knowledge of building technicians and technocrats, regulatory bodies, forms of buildings’ contract and the relationship between different key actors. The paper highlights several recommendations to improve the quality of buildings in flood-prone areas, these include forming binding contracts among parties, recognition of informal actors and processes, appropriate building construction as well as storm water drainage systems, buildings’ retrofitting as well as identifying maladaptive approaches. The paper concludes with the significance for urban design and policies in climate change adaptation in rapid growing urban environments and calls for guiding fragmented and adhoc practices to increase the robustness of different forms of settlements in East Africa.