A new study, published in Nature Climate Change, sounds the alarm on growing climate threats to major urban centres around the world, including those of India’s rapidly expanding cities. The paper says that even as cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events, they also have the potential to drive both climate mitigation and adaptation, provided that governments, scientists, and local authorities work together to devise equitable and practical strategies.
A case in point of the urgency for such action is represented by the recent extremes in India’s climate: Delhi suffered heatwaves never previously experienced, Mumbai struggled once more through acute flooding, and Chennai faced another bout of high-intensity rainfall. Experts say such events expose how unregulated urban expansion and uneven access to infrastructure leave millions-especially low-income communities-at heightened risk.
The research further cautions against allowing scientific progress to deepen existing social or institutional inequalities. This is a call for the authors to point out that many of the fast-growing cities in Asia and Africa remain outside the realm of global climate research, despite their increasing vulnerability. Some examples include India’s mid-sized urban hubs like Indore, Surat, and Lucknow.
The disconnect between the two can be filled by incorporating high-resolution climate data and urban data from local sources into city-level adaptation plans. The authors also believe in an approach of much closer relationships between researchers and policymakers; an approach that aligns with India’s Smart Cities Mission, which promotes data-driven governance. But still, infrastructure development tends to take precedence over climate resilience in most urban planning frameworks, the study says.
