1 Background
The world is urbanizing fast and climate change impacts are already being felt in
urban agglomerations across the globe. At present, 54 % of the world’s population
lives in cities, which is likely to increase to 66 % by 2050. The United Nations
Report has projected that the concentration of urban population will be more in Asia
and Africa, and India is projected to add 404 million urban inhabitants by 2050
(World Urbanization Prospects 2014). Because of high population densities and
increased industrial activities, cities both contribute to climate change and also face
serious risks due to impacts of climate change. Being engines of growth, cities are a
hub of economic centres, thus, economic losses due to climate changes are expected
to be significantly high in urban areas.
Increase in India’s urban population means an increased pressure of providing
basic amenities, such as drinking water, housing, sewerage, etc., to the urban
people. Increased rate of urbanization causes pressures on the city’s ability to
provide necessary infrastructure and transportation requirements for the increasing
population. This has a direct bearing on the natural resources (high consumption of
sand, wood, minerals, etc.) and the urban ecology (increase in air pollution, water
contamination, groundwater depletion, etc.). Coupled with these are the impacts of
climate change, such as rise in temperature, extreme rainfall events, sea level rise,
and increase in vector-borne diseases, urban heat island effect, which make urban
centres extremely vulnerable to disasters, such as the July 2005 floods in Mumbai.
Flood related problems and uncertainties have been occurring in many South
Asian cities and nearly half of the global flood fatalities over the last quarter century
occurred in Asia, of which South Asia was affected more of deaths and economic
loss. Besides the subcontinent’s large coastal and deltaic cities are the ones who get
flooded, cities located inland have also been affected with flood risks to a large
extent, which may be attributed to resulting effects of social, spatial, and political
economic drivers of urban flood risk and uncertainty (Ranganathan 2014). Urban
flooding is increasingly experienced in cities and towns post 2000. Even small
downpours disturb the city life. Besides, cities continue to face water scarcity and
inadequacy while water markets thrive (Ramachandra 2012).
In spite of growing evidence of climate change impacts on Indian cities, both the
state authorities and the civic bodies are unable to wed urban planning exercise with
environmental planning. Current plans and policies are not holistic, and fail to meet
the future escalating demands of urban population and possible urban disasters.
Worse, the current practices of urban development are only making our cities more
vulnerable to natural calamities.
Our paper explores these issues through two case studies of Indian megacities—
Bengaluru in Karnataka and Mumbai in Maharashtra. Former focuses on causes and
implications faced due to urban flooding and related concerns reflecting poor urban
planning and mindless construction mania that has accentuated cases of urban
450
S. Manasi and N. Jamwal
The world is urbanizing fast and climate change impacts are already being felt in
urban agglomerations across the globe. At present, 54 % of the world’s population
lives in cities, which is likely to increase to 66 % by 2050. The United Nations
Report has projected that the concentration of urban population will be more in Asia
and Africa, and India is projected to add 404 million urban inhabitants by 2050
(World Urbanization Prospects 2014). Because of high population densities and
increased industrial activities, cities both contribute to climate change and also face
serious risks due to impacts of climate change. Being engines of growth, cities are a
hub of economic centres, thus, economic losses due to climate changes are expected
to be significantly high in urban areas.
Increase in India’s urban population means an increased pressure of providing
basic amenities, such as drinking water, housing, sewerage, etc., to the urban
people. Increased rate of urbanization causes pressures on the city’s ability to
provide necessary infrastructure and transportation requirements for the increasing
population. This has a direct bearing on the natural resources (high consumption of
sand, wood, minerals, etc.) and the urban ecology (increase in air pollution, water
contamination, groundwater depletion, etc.). Coupled with these are the impacts of
climate change, such as rise in temperature, extreme rainfall events, sea level rise,
and increase in vector-borne diseases, urban heat island effect, which make urban
centres extremely vulnerable to disasters, such as the July 2005 floods in Mumbai.
Flood related problems and uncertainties have been occurring in many South
Asian cities and nearly half of the global flood fatalities over the last quarter century
occurred in Asia, of which South Asia was affected more of deaths and economic
loss. Besides the subcontinent’s large coastal and deltaic cities are the ones who get
flooded, cities located inland have also been affected with flood risks to a large
extent, which may be attributed to resulting effects of social, spatial, and political
economic drivers of urban flood risk and uncertainty (Ranganathan 2014). Urban
flooding is increasingly experienced in cities and towns post 2000. Even small
downpours disturb the city life. Besides, cities continue to face water scarcity and
inadequacy while water markets thrive (Ramachandra 2012).
In spite of growing evidence of climate change impacts on Indian cities, both the
state authorities and the civic bodies are unable to wed urban planning exercise with
environmental planning. Current plans and policies are not holistic, and fail to meet
the future escalating demands of urban population and possible urban disasters.
Worse, the current practices of urban development are only making our cities more
vulnerable to natural calamities.
Our paper explores these issues through two case studies of Indian megacities—
Bengaluru in Karnataka and Mumbai in Maharashtra. Former focuses on causes and
implications faced due to urban flooding and related concerns reflecting poor urban
planning and mindless construction mania that has accentuated cases of urban
450
S. Manasi and N. Jamwal