Urban heat is a public health emergency, an infrastructure challenge and a climate crisis rolled into one. To safeguard cities and their most vulnerable populations, India needs city-level cost-effective long-term mitigation strategies.
In India, current frameworks for defining urban areas relies on the subjectivity of bureaucracy and archaic metrics such as the distribution of the male workforce. A more accurate definition will enable better targeting of resources.
The US federal policy pendulum is swinging away from facts, reason and basic human decency with Trump re-entering the White House. But it will swing back if city mayors and local leaders insist on effective climate governance.