Most of the world’s population lives in urban and peri urban areas. About 31 per cent of India’s population lives in urban areas, and India’s urban population is expected to rise to around 814 million by 2050. Economic success in urban areas throughout India has led to migration from rural areas, but our cities continue to face significant challenges. Inadequate and expensive housing has pushed low-income p op ulations into informal settlements, while inefficient transport infrastructure, air pollution, and increasing vulnerability to climate-related disasters continue to lower the quality of urban life. Urban populations are increasingly vulnerable to climate-related hazards, intensified by ecological changes resulting from unsustainable infrastructure development, and growing inequality amongst urban residents.

One of the most critical climate-change related issues faced by cities is extreme heat. Heatwaves have become a serious public health threat in India. Cities around the world tend to be hotter than rural forested areas due to the Urban Heat Island Effect. Dense urban areas face the issue of urban heat island phenomenon. Areas with random planning and rapid construction have low natural vegetation, and lack in green cover, which causes heat to accumulate in certain pockets. Heat gets stored in the built environment of these spaces, and causes surface land temperatures to rise. Urban areas with unplanned growth are more prone to Urban Heat Island Effects (UHIE), as the increased use of manmade materials causes higher surface temperatures.

In a city like Kolkata, urban areas are densely populated. Dense urban areas are highly vulnerable to UHI effect and growing frequency of heatwaves. Low and unstable income, as well as a particularity of the built environment restricts mitigation abilities of residents and puts them in a precarious position. With over 22 million inhabitants (Census 2011), Kolkata will only continue to grow. However, rising global temperatures will also make life in cities hotter. Lack of green cover, construction of concrete infrastructure, and lack of clean waterbodies exacerbate the problem. Kolkata is located between the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains and the........

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