How Better Housing Can Make Asian Cities Climate-Resilient
Affiliate Disclosure
Hey fellow impactful ninja ?
You may have noticed that Impactful Ninja is all about providing helpful information to make a positive impact on the world and society. And that we love to link back to where we found all the information for each of our posts.
Most of these links are informational-based for you to check out their primary sources with one click.
But some of these links are so-called "affiliate links" to products that we recommend.
Why do we add these product links?
First and foremost, because we believe that they add value to you. For example, when we wrote a post about the environmental impact of long showers, we came across an EPA recommendation to use WaterSense showerheads. So we linked to where you can find them. Or, for many of our posts, we also link to our favorite books on that topic so that you can get a much more holistic overview than one single blog post could provide.
And when there is an affiliate program for these products, we sign up for it. For example, as Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.
What do these affiliate links mean for you?
First, and most importantly, we still only recommend products that we believe add value for you.
When you buy something through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission - but at no additional costs to you.
And when you buy something through a link that is not an affiliate link, we won’t receive any commission but we’ll still be happy to have helped you.
What do these affiliate links mean for us?
When we find products that we believe add value to you and the seller has an affiliate program, we sign up for it.
When you buy something through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission (at no extra costs to you).
And at this point in time, all money is reinvested in sharing the most helpful content with you. This includes all operating costs for running this site and the content creation itself.
What does this mean for me personally?
You may have noticed by the way Impactful Ninja is operated that money is not the driving factor behind it. It is a passion project of mine and I love to share helpful information with you to make a positive impact on the world and society. However, it's a project in that I invest a lot of time and also quite some money.
Eventually, my dream is to one day turn this passion project into my full-time job and provide even more helpful information. But that's still a long time to go.
Stay impactful,
At Impactful Ninja, we curate positive and impactful news for you. Add Impactful Ninja as a preferred source on Google or sign up for our free newsletter to get these delivered straight to your inbox—just like our expert roundup below!
📰 The quick summary: Treating adequate housing as a strategic investment — rather than an afterthought — could be one of the most powerful ways to build climate resilience for the nearly 700 million people living in informal settlements across Asia and the Pacific.
📈 One key stat: Large-scale upgrading of informal settlements could raise GDP per capita by up to 10% and increase life expectancy by 4%, underscoring that housing investment delivers far-reaching economic and human development gains.
💬 One key quote: “Access to adequate housing is a foundation of resilient cities,” as Sanjeevani Singh and Enid Madarcos write, noting that safe and affordable homes provide stability and enhance communities’ capacity to withstand and recover from shocks.
1️⃣ The big picture: Nearly 700 million people — close to one-third of Asia and the Pacific’s urban population — live in informal settlements, many of them in areas exposed to flooding, extreme heat, landslides, and rising sea levels. Despite growing policy commitments, the region is not on track to meet its Sustainable Development Goals, with 88% of measurable targets projected to be missed by 2030. Weak land governance, unplanned development, and inadequate housing leave urban residents disproportionately exposed to climate hazards. Research from Habitat for Humanity shows that upgrading informal settlements at scale could prevent over 20 million illnesses, avert nearly 43 million incidents of gender-based violence, and avoid around 80,000 deaths within just one year. Aligning housing policy with climate adaptation and inclusive urban governance offers one of the clearest pathways to closing this resilience gap.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Scaling up housing improvements across Asia and the Pacific carries enormous potential for human and economic development — raising GDP per capita by up to 10% and extending life expectancy by four years. Within a single year, widespread settlement upgrades could prevent more than 20 million illnesses and save roughly 80,000 lives. Adequate housing also directly reduces climate vulnerability, giving communities the stability to withstand and recover from extreme weather events. Momentum is building at the policy level, with housing affordability and climate-resilient construction rising as priorities at major regional forums. Governments, the private sector, and civil society all have concrete, complementary roles to play — from embedding secure tenure in national strategies to mobilizing blended finance and co-producing community-led solutions.
3️⃣ What’s next: Governments across the region need to embed climate-resilient housing and informal settlement upgrading into national urban development and disaster risk reduction strategies. The private sector can accelerate progress by directing blended finance toward affordable housing and low-carbon retrofits suited to tropical climates. Civil society and academic institutions play a key role in tracking SDG 11 targets and ensuring that policies reflect the lived realities of the most vulnerable urban residents.
Read the full story here: Earth.org – Housing as Climate Resilience in Asia-Pacific Cities
