How are Indian cities adapting to extreme heat? Insights on heat risk governance and incremental adaptation from ten urban Heat Action Plans

Cities are exposed to and concentrate heat. Indian cities are particularly at risk with terrifying projections of extreme heat, especially for vulnerable populations. Recognising this growing heat risk, Indian cities have been frontrunners in heat action planning, experimenting with a range of actions, typically through city-level ‘Heat Action Plans’ (HAPs). These plans articulate a range of imaginations about which sectors or population groups are considered vulnerable, what actions are deemed effective and feasible, and what capacities cities are investing in. Reports of the efficacy of these HAPs from recent heatwaves in 2022 and 2023 demonstrate the uneven and inadequate nature of these plans. This study begins with the hypothesis that urban heat action planning in India has made significant strides but remains incremental in nature. This hypothesis is explored through a review of ten HAPs and 25 in-depth interviews with HAP designers, funders, and implementers. We find that current heat management governance structures, institutional capacities, and financial mechanisms, carry with them the ‘institutional thinness’ of Indian climate governance and a hangover of relief-oriented approaches in disaster management. This overlooks lessons from adaptive governance, which highlights the importance of flexible, forward-looking decision-making. Further, incremental actions such as water kiosks in public spaces and public awareness campaigns on heat impacts, while essential, often preserve the status quo, and need to be complemented with transformational, system-wide agendas such as targeted implementation of heat-resilient building codes or a better articulation of how cities can balance grey-green-blue infrastructure solutions. Currently, the highly evolving HAP governance arena is infused with new actors, technologies, and metrics of defining effective urban heat management and this dynamism is promising. However, not tasked with or equipped with a transformational agenda, heat risk governance is missing an opportunity to institutionalise proactive, decisive, and effective heat action planning in the country.