Dr Anna Taylor is a Research Fellow at the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI). She is a geographer and environmental scientist specializing in urban climate adaptation, with a particular interest in transformative ways of governing water-related risks and vulnerabilities. She engages in transdisciplinary research on climate resilient, sustainable urbanism, public decision making and multi-level governance. For 15 years, Anna has worked on research and consulting projects related to climate risks and adaptation. Her recent consulting projects have included developing a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Framework for the South African national government (Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries), and learning from case studies of using scientific climate information in decision-making in South African metropolitan municipalities (commissioned by the Cities Support Programme in the National Treasury).
Anna’s PhD and post-doctoral work focused on climate adaptation in southern African urban contexts (notably in Cape Town, Windhoek, Durban, Harare and Lusaka), contributing to the Mistra Urban Futures, CLIMWAYS, FRACTAL, LIRA 2030 and GreenGov projects. Her PhD involved a close partnership with the City of Cape Town municipal government, where she worked as an embedded researcher to analyse and contribute to the further development of adaptation processes and adaptive pathways. She also seeks to collaboratively build a future for the Cape Town Climate Change Think Tank (previously the City Lab), which generated many valuable insights and connections during its first phase. Before joining UCT in 2011, Anna worked for the Stockholm Environment Institute in Oxford, UK, on various international projects supporting climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning.
