Climate Crisis and “City Citizens”: A Look into the Gender-Inclusive Disaster Management Policies of Indian Smart Cities
Bhattacharya R, Mukherjee S (2025)
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2025
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
Edited Volumes: Gender-Transformative Approaches for Climate Change Adaptation
Series: Springer Climate
Book Volume: Part F644
Pages Range: 397-424
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-90236-9_20
Abstract
Urban activities contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions exacerbating climate changeClimate change, increasing global temperatures, and leading to frequent extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods. These changes affect urban infrastructure, services, livelihoods, and public health, necessitating robust disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies for resilient urban planningUrban planning. International frameworks—Sendai Framework, 2030 Agenda, and New Urban Agenda—emphasize the importance of urban resilience, urging local and subnational governments to foster inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. Smart citiesSmart cities present opportunities to enhance disaster resilienceWoman resilience through flexible land-use policies, targeted investments, and community-driven decision-making. However, genderGender inclusivity remains a critical yet underexplored aspect, as womenWomen and marginalized groups often face heightened vulnerabilitiesVulnerability, especially during disasters. This paper explores the role of Indian smart citiesSmart cities in building and supporting disaster resilience, with a focus on genderGender inclusiveness. Employing content and policy analysis, it examines a hundred smart citiesSmart cities developed under the Smart CitiesSmart cities Mission (SCM) of the Government of IndiaIndia in 2015. Findings highlight that while some smart citiesSmart cities have progressive DRR, the integration of genderGender-responsive approaches remains inconsistent. Therefore, smart citiesSmart cities were categorized into—comprehensively planned (Indore, Coimbatore, Chennai); moderately planned (Pune, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar); and inadequately planned (Shillong, Agra, Guwahati). However, the reliance on secondary data restricts precise analysis. Additionally, varying levels of policy detail and definitions used across cities may introduce inconsistencies in comparative analysis. Collection of genderGender-disaggregated data, expanding womenWomen’s roles in urban planningUrban planning, genderGender-responsive training and budgeting, etc., can be helpful measures in gendering DRR strategies.
Involved external institutions
India (IN)How to cite
APA:
Bhattacharya, R., & Mukherjee, S. (2025). Climate Crisis and “City Citizens”: A Look into the Gender-Inclusive Disaster Management Policies of Indian Smart Cities. In Anindita Sarkar, Nairwita Bandyopadhyay (Eds.), Gender-Transformative Approaches for Climate Change Adaptation. (pp. 397-424). Springer Science and Business Media B.V..
MLA:
Bhattacharya, Rituparna, and Sramana Mukherjee. "Climate Crisis and “City Citizens”: A Look into the Gender-Inclusive Disaster Management Policies of Indian Smart Cities." Gender-Transformative Approaches for Climate Change Adaptation. Ed. Anindita Sarkar, Nairwita Bandyopadhyay, Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2025. 397-424.
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