Informality, Grassroots Planning, and Urban Resilience in the Global South

Urbanization in the Global South has intensified housing shortages, spatial segregation, and inequalities, with informal settlements housing over one billion people worldwide and mostly located in the Global South. Traditional top-down planning approaches often fail to address the complex needs of low-income urban populations, particularly in contexts vulnerable to environmental hazards and economic instability. As a response, grassroots organizations and community networks have emerged as critical agents in urban development, disaster prevention and response, and poverty alleviation. Understanding how informal practices, community-led initiatives, and formal planning instruments intersect provides essential insights into sustainable urban development. This Research Topic is anchored to Earth Day 2026 (22 April), highlighting sustainable urban development, environmental challenges, and resilience to climate change in cities. Recent scholarship increasingly recognizes that urban resilience in Global South contexts depends on integrating local knowledge systems and community initiatives with institutional frameworks. This Research Topic addresses the urgent need to understand how grassroots organizations, informal practices, and adaptive community strategies shape urban resilience in the Global South, with many cities facing environmental and socioeconomic pressures. We seek to examine the mechanisms through which communities build resilience, negotiate urban space, and advocate for equitable development outcomes. Recent advances in participatory planning, disaster management, and community-based adaptation demonstrate the significant role of communities leading adaptation, resilience and urban transformation. This Research Topic will synthesize interdisciplinary perspectives on how informal housing, community organizing, and grassroots planning contribute to or hinder urban sustainability and inequality reduction in a context of increasing climate challenges. By centering the experiences and agency of marginalized urban populations, we can develop more inclusive, context-responsive frameworks for urban development that acknowledge the reality of informal urbanization and environmental challenges. This Research Topic welcomes empirical studies, comparative analyses, and theoretical contributions exploring the interconnections between urban informality, grassroots organizations, and urban resilience in the Global South. Suggested themes which may be explored in this Topic, include, but are not limited to:• Grassroots organizations’ roles in urban planning, disaster prevention and response, and community advocacy • Interactions between formal planning policies and informal practices or community-led initiatives • Community adaptation to environmental hazards, climate change, economic shocks, and social fragmentation • Participatory and community-based planning methodologies and outcomes to address climate adaptation • Intersections of grassroots resilience with institutional frameworks and development programs • Contributions to SDG11 and SDG13 in the context of low-income communities in the Global South We accept original research articles, systematic reviews, policy briefs, and perspective pieces that provide in-depth, multi-scalar analysis connecting local urban dynamics to broader sustainability and equity agendas. Contributions emphasizing environmental sustainability and climate resilience align with contemporary global development priorities. We particularly welcome articles about Original Research, Policy Reviews and Systematic Literature Reviews (length: 12,000 words). The suggested structure for articles includes the following sections: Introduction; Literature review/Conceptual discussion; Methodology (if applicable); Analysis - including discussion; Conclusion. For more information, please see the Guidelines for Authors Topic editors: Sonia Roitman, Vicente Sandoval Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80730/informality-grassroots-planning-and-urban-resilience-in-the-global-south