The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Topics at Cities and Built Environment: the pages in this section are listed below, each with its own scope and status.
GCRI · In development · service level R0
The Cities and Built Environment topics are the eight subject dossiers of its field, among them urban growth and land, housing and affordability, and buildings and heat. Each dossier sets out how the risk develops, what is measured and in which units, the public sources and their licences, the methods, who decides and the limits of the evidence.
GCRI is a research, development and policy institution. It is not a regulator, and it does not certify, license or approve; its findings carry their methods and uncertainty.
The topics follow the city from land and housing to buildings, transport, utilities and green infrastructure, with informal settlements and municipal governance alongside.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Urban sprawl | Low-density, dispersed urban expansion that raises travel distances and infrastructure costs. |
| Housing cost overburden | Spending on housing above a set share of disposable household income. |
| Land surface temperature | The temperature of the ground and building surfaces as measured by satellite thermal sensors. |
| Accessibility | The ease of reaching destinations such as jobs and services, measured by those reachable within a time or cost. |
| Slum | A household or area lacking one or more of improved water, sanitation, durable housing, sufficient space or secure tenure, in UN-Habitat usage. |
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Settlement expansion and land use.
TopicHousing systems and climate exposure.
TopicBuilding performance and urban heat.
TopicUrban journeys, transit and infrastructure.
TopicService access, exposure and inclusion.
TopicWater, waste, electricity and communications.
TopicNature-based urban interventions.
TopicPolicy questions and planning authority.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.