Urban heat in South Asia: integrating people and place in adapting to rising temperatures

This policy brief evaluates the current state of the knowledge of and plans to manage urban heat in South Asia. First, the brief examines heat in South Asian cities through the different layers of the urban environment: buildings, communities, and cities. Next, it adds the human element and explores different population groups that are vulnerable to urban heat in the region: children, informal workers, and residents of informal settlements. Together, this analysis forms the basis of three major recommendations and a conceptual framework to provide policymakers with direction on where greater attention and resources are required to improve urban heat management in South Asia.