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Rising temperatures are mainly associated with wildfires, but the incidence of fire may also increase in the urban context. Yet, fire in Delhi, India, as elsewhere in the towns and cities of the Global South, remains largely invisible, despite the nearly 11 million people each year who are burnt severely enough to require medical attention. This paper focuses on whether summer temperatures in Delhi are rising and whether higher temperatures and lower humidity contribute to a greater number of fires in urban areas. The data strongly suggest a relationship between the warming city, a growing number of summer fires, and mounting temperatures around the world. Delhi, however, is only one example of an urban reality that is common to much of the Global South. Similar questions about the incidence of fire and whether the number is increasing need to be asked of other towns and cities that share the same vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and urbanization are significantly magnifying flood hazard, leading to a greater vulnerability of urban concentrations. This paper investigates the impact of climate change on urban flooding using future projected rainfall data and a calibrated hydraulic model. Two urban watersheds in Delhi, India (the Qudesia Nallah catchment and the Jahangirpuri drain catchment) are considered to evaluate the climate change impact on urban flooding. Regional climate models (RCMs) are used to project future precipitation, which is then utilized by the hydraulic model to evaluate the impact on flooding. Climate data from three RCMs extracted from the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) are used to study the impact of climate change for historical (1990–2016) and future scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5, 2021–2100). The rainfall projections are fed as 2-, 5-, 10-, and 20-year return periods to a calibrated hydrodynamic Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). The results show that the flooded nodes vary between 2–6 and 12–43, respectively, in the Qudesia Nallah catchment and the Jahangirpuri drain catchment under present conditions but increase from 11 to 51 and 42 to 91, respectively, for future climate conditions. The results suggest that the risk of occurrence of flooding, duration, and frequency in the two study areas will increase in the future when compared to those under the present conditions. The results also indicate that the damage induced by the 20-year return period rainfall at the present time will likely be caused just by the 2-year return period in the future. This is due to the greater likelihood of rainfall extremes in the region. The potential flooding sites identified in this study will provide the urban municipalities with substantive information to perform ameliorative strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The idea is to propagate the concept of climate resilience in India beyond international mandates and bold statements, enabled through utilization of open data. The research underscores need for climate responsive planning for megacities in India with an example of National Capital Territory of Delhi, the capital of India whose trends and policies often form a blueprint for others to follow. Design/methodology/approach: The research was conducted in six distinct, yet inter-related stages: literature review, data collection, data analysis at four levels – city, zonal, planning division and flood plains inhabited by climate vulnerable population with least adaptive capacity, formulating alternative scenarios of future development, evaluation of scenarios, conclusions and recommendations. Findings: India has approximately 8,000 urban centres. Less than 2% of these centres have a planning document. Less than 1% of these documents acknowledge climate change as a phenomenon let alone a challenge to urban future. It is therefore a priority to address the challenge from a planning perspective for India. Research limitations/implications: Methodologies for evaluating the multiplier effect are still in their pre-final stage and there exist uncertainties and margin of error. Practical implications: Aligned with pre-tested methodologies, the research through extensive empirical and spatial-temporal analysis indicates severity and irreversibility of socio-economic and environmental losses. Originality/value: Risks and vulnerabilities to climate change and climate induced disasters exhibit multiplier effect that varies spatially across a region's demography. Quantitative analysis of multiplier effect on the secondary environment is rarely explored in climate studies. The paper addresses this lacuna by examining climate risks to Indian megacities with a case example of Delhi. The findings suggest that urbanization, climate risks and natural environment are interlinked, where an impact of one generates ripples across other two and their secondary environment plus sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]