Coping with Weather in Cape Town:

The concern that weather variability and climate change has raised nowadays puts every community on the alert. This is arguably the most persistent environmental threat to global stability in vulnerable communities in recent times. City dwellers are now experiencing increased variable weather episodes such as frequent flooding, heat waves and drought with increased wind and storm activities. Unfortunately, the aftermath of these weather irregularities are felt most severely by vulnerable urban poor residents with the least mechanisms to cope. This book focused on Enkanini, an informal settlement in the greater Khayelitsha Township of Cape Town, South Africa. It documented weather-related challenges the residents encountered and examined the adaptation strategies they adopted. Emphasis was also placed on the vulnerable nature of their dwellings and their ingenuity in coping with the variable weather pattern in Cape Town. Ethnography guided the author to participate overtly in the activities of the community over an extended period by watching what happened and asking questions pertaining their vulnerability to the vicissitudes of the prevailing weather during summer and winter.