Understanding climate and health intersections across informal settlements in urban North Karnataka.
Research Overview
Kalaburagi city (formerly Gulbarga) sits in India’s semi-arid Deccan plateau in Karnataka. Once a major centre of the Bahmani Sultanate, it is now part of the Kalyana Karnataka region—historically marked by socio-economic underdevelopment. The city faces growing climate stress from extreme heat and recurrent droughts. Around 11% of residents live in informal settlements, many without secure tenure or access to basic services, where health risks such as heat stress are further intensified. Our work investigates the intersection of heat and health across four contrasting sites that differ in demography, geographic setting, historic context, and health vulnerabilities.
A resettlement colony established in the late 1990s by the state government, it relocated families living below the poverty line under the Ashraya Yojana, and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families from across the city under the Ambedkar Yojana. Most residents work in informal and insecure jobs, since opportunities for formal employment or small businesses are limited by the settlement’s peripheral location within the city.
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The settlement was established about 25 years ago under state housing schemes such as the Ashraya Yojana and Ambedkar Nivas Yojana. The settlement is home to around 700 households from Scheduled Caste communities in Kalaburagi who were relocated from informal settlements in the city centre. Residents contend with rising heat during the summer months, while older homes remain vulnerable to flooding during moderate rains due to inadequate drainage.
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Mangarwadi, located in the heart of Kalaburagi, is a long-established settlement that forms part of a larger low-income neighbourhood cluster with Bapu Nagar and Bharat Nagar Thanda. Built on low-lying land with a nala (drain) running through it, the area is prone to waterlogging during rains, intensified by inadequate infrastructure for drainage and sanitation. Limited green spaces and dense built-up areas further amplify heat stress during the summer months.
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Jeelanabad, a settlement in Kalaburag over 150-years-old , transformed from an industrial hub (due to the closing of MSK Mill in 2000s) to one dependent on daily wage and informal labor. The community endures severe localized heat stress, with daytime Land Surface Temperatures reaching approximately 45°C, alongside vulnerabilities related to scarce and contaminated municipal water, forcing reliance on borewells or stored supply. Although essential services like roads and healthcare have improved in the past few years, multi-generational residents still do not possess legal rights to land.
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