Heat Action Plan - Question of Cities

Rising heat makes cool
Kashmir history

As Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir turn hotter than ever in summer and winters become warm, discussions revolve around declaring heat waves in a region known to be bitterly cold to cool. Heat is no longer an aberration but…

Shade as infrastructure for Hyderabad’s vendors in scorching sun

The city’s tree cover has shrunk, taking away the natural shade that would have provided some respite for thousands of vendors forced to work in the harsh summer sun. As vendors focus on finding spots on roads and pavements, severe…

Do not touch our trees: Citizens echo across cities

From Pune to Hyderabad, citizens are protesting large-scale tree cutting linked to roads, metros, flyovers, mining and real estate projects despite worsening urban heat. In Pune, activists say decades of infrastructure-led concretisation have devastated tree cover, even as the city…

Economies of exhaustion: Women, work, and
climate action

Nearly 168 million women do informal work in India’s cities as street vendors, domestic workers, construction labourers, home-based workers, waste pickers, but most have no contracts or safety nets. They carry an unequal burden, often higher than that of men…

How Delhi’s poor and homeless beat the heat on their own

The country’s capital recorded this year’s first heat wave in early April, with temperatures touching 40.2 degrees Celsius. With summer making an early and harsh onset, the most vulnerable people – the homeless – have only themselves to rely upon…

‘Vulnerability mapping directly improves lives of those most affected by climate risks’

The devastation from floods, droughts and heat across India every year has heightened the need for effective strategies and adaptive measures. The report, Mapping India’s Climate Vulnerability: A District Level Assessment, by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, analyses…

The spectacular failure of planning cities, as we know it. What next?

The widely-prevalent conventional urban planning framework in India, focused on land use, zoning and building regulations, is out of step with the demands of the time we live in, especially climate change events. Development Plans or Master Plans approach natural…

India’s changing monsoon patterns demand shifting gears in preparedness

There is empirical evidence to show that changes in the monsoon or heavier rainfall is not merely our imagination. The tehsil-level study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water maps, like never before, the many changes across India. As…

Why India’s cities are not prepared for extreme heat and high rainfall

Searing heat scorched northern India, including Delhi, before rains hit hard. Flooding threw life out of gear in Pune, Bengaluru, Itanagar among other cities through June. Hundreds lost their lives. Cities were ill-equipped to address these extreme weather events whose…

Urgent heat conversations and actions we need in India to cool down cities

As millions of Indians struggle through an relentlessly scorching summer with never-before high temperatures, Heat Action Plans have become critical to people’s lives and livelihoods. Although states and cities have prepared plans – and some have fitfully implemented them –…