Urban slum vulnerability in informal settlements: A case study of indoor overheating in Ghana

Approximately one billion people are estimated to live in urban slums. The current trajectory suggests that the rapidly growing urban population will result in a further expansion of slum populations especially in developing countries. Slum dwelling are often characterised by inadequate ventilation, substandard construction quality and poor thermal insulation. This predisposes them to indoor overheating, a health concern due to rising global temperatures. This study investigated the indoor overheating potential of slum dwellings in Ghana using the heat index. Six purposefully selected slum dwellings were monitored for a 12-month period using temperature and humidity dataloggers and mini anemometers. The findings from the study revealed severe indoor overheating in slum dwellings during the day and mild overheating patterns during the night across the period of the analysis. The heat index indicate that indoor conditions fell between the caution and danger thresholds during the day, and between caution and extreme caution during the night. The findings underscore the need for interventions to feed policies for slum upgrading to mitigate overheating and parry a possible public health crisis. The originality of the study lies in the focus on slums within a typical tropical sub-Saharan African country. This highlights the unique challenges faced by vulnerable groups in rapidly urbanizing with high resource constraints. Consequently, this study provides a deeper understanding of indoor thermal conditions in informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa.