In this latest Research Brief, Meghal Perera explores the impact of cost-reflective energy pricing on urban working class poor households. Consecutive tariff hikes have led to the deterioration of the quality of life of households as attempts to conserve electricity have often increased the time poverty of women and placed their health, comfort and safety at risk. Based on findings from over 3 years of fieldwork in low-income settlements in Colombo, this Research Brief explores key trends in electricity consumption of the urban poor, examining the impact of tariff increases as well as coping strategies adopted by households.

For over a decade, Sri Lanka's Urban Development Authority's Urban Regeneration Project has reshaped Colombo’s fabric. As the third phase of the project draws to a close next year, there is a new window of opportunity for a new government to review and change course, to create and implement evidence-based housing policy. Apart from the widely cited critiques of autocratic leadership, poor governance and military force leveled against the project, the genesis of its failure lies in a set of assumptions, mostly about the nature of the urban poor. An interrogation of these assumptions shows that they have not been based on evidence or fact, thus placing the whole project on shaky foundations. 

Mapping food vendors is an important method to capture availability, accessibility and diversity of food environments. This report details the methodology used to map food vendors in urban sites and explores the reasons behind the development of this methodology. It provides practical insights into the implementation of field-based vendor mapping, discussing both the challenges encountered and the lessons learned.

How we talk about the urban poor is situated in a broader context of urban development and competing ideas of what Colombo should and will look like, and such words sanction the exclusion of the urban poor from the city.  It is crucial that our terminology reflects the complexity of ground level realities, particularly when Sri Lanka’s difference is erased and subsumed by other South Asian narratives. 

Why are fish markets consistently decried as filthy, and what does that say about urban space and our changing ideas of what is acceptable in our cities? While adding fish markets to the list of national failings may be the simplest course of action, a closer examination of how these markets are perceived by urban planners and administrators, offers us insight into dominant ideologies of planning, municipal governance and public health that continue to influence our cities today.

This article interrogates the proposed CEB electricity tariffs, and unpacks crucial equity considerations that have been missed in the public discourse. It argues that households’ diverse consumption patterns must be considered, alongside existing vulnerabilities like financial debt.