Urbanisation in India is both a necessary input and an inevitable consequence of growth. However, we must accept that the existing urbanisation models are unsustainable at the Indian scale and there is no available alternative trajectory.
This analysis provides us greater insight into an adaptation-led strategy to reduce climate change risk and increasing urban resilience in keeping with India’s development and priorities challenges. This attempts shifts the emphasis away from a largely mitigation and techo-centric response that has come to dominate the climate crisis discourse emanating largely from OECD countries. This may provide a window of opportunity for countries like India to chart a more independent traverse to a more sustainable future.
