ABSTRACT
For the most part, considerations of climate change and cities in the global South have
focused on the pressing challenges of climate vulnerability and the way in which it is
coproduced through existing political economies and persistent inequalities (Romero
Lankao, 2010). Commentators have pointed to the inadequacy of existing infrastruc-
ture provision and forms of governance for addressing current vulnerability and the
ways in which these ‘deficits’ are profoundly limiting capacity for climate adaptation
(Satterthwaite, 2011). In the Indian context, Revi (2008, p. 211) argues that ‘a chasm
exists between the official urban “city building” development agenda and vulner-
ability reduction for those most at risk in these urban areas’ such that ‘the current
scale of demolitions and relocations is compounding the vulnerability of many
urban residents’. Given this context, and the imperative of responses to climate
change that take account of those most likely to be affected by it (World Bank,
2010), concerns have been raised that discourses which attribute responsibility for
GHG emissions to cities may both over-exaggerate urban contributions and smooth
over the significant differences between cities (Dodman, 2009; Satterthwaite,
2008). At the same time, recognising differences between cities in terms of their con-
tribution to GHG emissions also entails acknowledging the differences within cities in
relation to per capita emissions (Hoornweg et al., 2011), and consequently that it may
be appropriate to explore some forms of low carbon urban development as one part of
pursuing sustainable development in cities in the global South.
