Sheikh Akbar Ali and Neelesh Kumar presented findings from If Cities Could Speak at a two-day national roundtable in Hyderabad in May 2026, organised by the Montfort Social Institute, Yugantar, Focus on the Global South, and the Working Peoples Coalition's Housing Group. The event brought together participants from different states across India to deliberate on the realities faced by workers navigating escalating heat stress and climate variability in their communities.
The If Cities Could Speak contribution drew on fieldwork from Delhi, Patna, and Kalaburagi to situate workers' experiences of climate risk within the structural vulnerabilities of informal settlements — inadequate housing, absent infrastructure, limited access to healthcare — and to argue that effective policy responses must address these conditions in their specificity, not as abstract categories of risk.
Following deliberations, the conference resolved unanimously to compile a joint policy document for submission to relevant government authorities. The document will address escalating heat and climate variability, propose actionable remedial measures, delineate government support mechanisms, and advocate for comprehensive climate resilience policies that centre the experiences of workers in vulnerable settlements.
