Building Climate Resilient Cities for Future

Context: Indian cities are set to play a decisive role in the country’s future. By 2050–2070, the urban population may reach 1 billion, with megacities larger than many countries. This rapid urbanisation creates both opportunities and risks.

Key Challenges Faced by Indian Cities

Climate Impacts and Hazards

• Flooding: Flooding is increasing due to poor drainage and rapid construction. By 2030, over two-thirds of urban dwellers will be at risk of surface/pluvial flooding.
  • Estimated losses: $5 billion (2030) → $30 billion (2070).
• Extreme Heat: Urban heat island effect raises city temperatures 3–4°C above rural areas. With rising temperatures, the risk of heat-related deaths and productivity losses
  • Heat-related deaths may double by 2050.
• Housing Vulnerability: Informal settlements often lie in low-lying, flood-prone areas with poor-quality housing. The current housing stock is highly vulnerable to floods, heat, cyclones, landslides, and earthquakes.
• Water Scarcity: Rising demand and climate stress create shortages, especially in slums with poor water access.
  • Eg: Chennai’s “Day Zero” crisis (2019) when reservoirs ran dry.

Urban Development and Planning Gaps

• Rapid, Unplanned Urbanisation: Population will almost double by 2050, pushing growth into city fringes and high-risk zones.
• Inadequate Planning: Over 50% of towns lack approved master plans; existing plans are often poorly implemented.
• Loss of Green Cover: Low per capita green space worsens heat and reduces natural flood absorption.
• Transport Vulnerability: Even 10–20% road inundation can paralyse 50% of transport systems. Heat can warp rails and disrupt transport.

Rising Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions

• Energy, Transport, Buildings: Horizontal, less-dense sprawl increases dependence on cars and energy demand.
• Solid Waste Management (SWM): Inefficient waste disposal produces methane (20% of global human-induced methane emissions). Blocked drains from waste worsen flooding.
• Housing Sector: Construction materials (cement, steel) and energy use in buildings add heavily to the carbon footprint.

Financing and Institutional Weaknesses

• Huge Investment Needs: Climate-resilient urban infrastructure requires $2.4 trillion by 2050 and $10.9 trillion by 2070.
• Low Revenue & Dependence: Municipalities rely heavily on central/state transfers; property tax collection is far below global norms.
• Limited Spending Capacity: Cities struggle to even use existing budgets due to weak capacity.
• Lack of Climate Finance Tracking: Climate-related spending isn’t tracked, making accountability and financing difficult.
• Low Private Sector Role: The Private sector contributes only 5% of urban infrastructure financing, deterred by policy and regulatory risks.
• Fragmented Governance: Overlapping roles across agencies cause delays and poor coordination.
• Limited Technical Expertise: Small/medium towns lack trained staff for risk assessment and climate planning.

Way Forward: Building Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Cities

City-Level Action Plans

• Risk Assessments: Regular climate risk studies, GHG inventories, and integration into land-use planning. Prevent construction in high-risk zones.
• Early Warning Systems: Multi-hazard warning systems with last-mile connectivity for vulnerable groups.
  • Eg: Odisha’s cyclone warning system is credited with saving thousands of lives.
• Climate-Sensitive Development: Stronger building codes, resilient infrastructure, risk-sensitive zoning.
• Integrated Risk Reduction: Use both grey infrastructure (drainage, embankments) and green infrastructure (wetlands, parks, trees). Promote cool roofs, urban greening, and water-sensitive design.
• Focus on Vulnerable Populations: In-situ upgrades in slums, adaptive social protection, relocation as a last resort.
• Compact & Green City Planning: Encourage Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), mixed-use planning, and managed densification to reduce emissions.
• Municipal Services Upgrade: Waste-to-energy plants, recycling, and methane capture at landfills.
• Resilient Transport: Expand public transport, encourage walking/cycling, electrify buses, and build redundancy in road systems.
• Green Buildings: Solar rooftops, energy-efficient designs, incentives for low-income housing retrofits.

National and State-Level Resilience Programs

• Urban Resilience Missions: Launch national programs on flood resilience and heat management.
• Capacity Building: Train municipal staff, hire skilled urban planners and engineers.
• Data Systems: National hub for climate resilience data, GHG inventories, and project preparation.
• Integrated Policies: Align housing, waste, and transport policies with climate goals.

Financing and Institutional Reforms

• Increase Urban Investment: Raise the share of GDP for urban infrastructure, especially climate-related spending.
• Boost Municipal Revenues: Reform property tax, user fees, and service charges to raise own-source revenue.
• Climate Budget Tagging: Track climate-related spending in city accounts to improve transparency and attract funding.
• Innovative Financing: Use green bonds, carbon markets, land value capture, tax-increment financing, and international climate funds.
• Engage Private Sector: Create bankable projects, improve procurement, offer credit guarantees, and expand insurance markets.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Multi-sector Planning: Integrate transport, housing, water, and waste management planning.
• Regional Cooperation: Address floods, waste, and pollution at river-basin and metropolitan levels, not just city boundaries.
• Citizen Participation: Engage communities in planning, waste segregation, water saving, and disaster response. Awareness campaigns for climate action.

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