Jaipur's historic urban fabric embodies generations of climate-responsive design. Narrow lanes channel airflow, traditional building materials help regulate indoor temperatures, and historic water management systems were designed to accommodate seasonal rainfall patterns.

However, the city now faces evolving risks associated with extreme weather events, urbanisation, and changing patterns of exposure. The dense built environment can constrain emergency access, heritage structures require context-sensitive approaches to risk reduction, and conventional interventions are often unsuitable within protected precincts.

In collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India, Nagar Nigam Jaipur, and PDCOR Ltd., STS is developing a Disaster Management Plan for Jaipur's Walled City. The plan integrates risk assessment with heritage conservation principles, drawing on local knowledge, traditional practices, and the unique characteristics of the historic built environment.

In partnership with the Government of Uttarakhand and GIZ, and ICARS, IIT Roorkee, we are developing a state-wide climate vulnerability and risk assessment atlas for one of the Himalaya's most climatically sensitive states. Uttarakhand faces a widening range of extreme events, from floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods to forest fires, drought, and heat stress, each amplified by rising temperatures, shifting monsoons, and glacier retreat.

Building on the high-resolution climate projections developed by IIT Roorkee under the CAFRI II initiative, our work translates this science into actionable, block-level insight: quantifying how hazards are likely to behave, assessing the physical, social, and economic vulnerability of key sectors under growth scenarios reaching fifty years ahead, and mapping where these pressures intersect.

The result is a Climate Vulnerability Atlas, paired with location-specific adaptation and mitigation measures, designed to help the state anticipate risk rather than respond to loss, and to plan for the people and ecosystems that depend on the mountain.

As part of AVPN's Lighthouse Project on heat and health, this initiative recognises that the two cannot be addressed in isolation. The heat emergency is not on the street. It is inside the home.
Families living under tin roofs in Dakshin Puri, South Delhi face indoor temperatures that exceed outdoor readings long into the night, as heat absorbed through the day radiates back into poorly ventilated rooms, disrupting sleep, straining cardiovascular systems, and compounding existing health vulnerabilities across age, gender, and income. Heat amplifies every vulnerability a household already faces, often quietly and invisibly.

In partnership with Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, the project works directly in the settlement to understand and address thermal conditions that official forecasts and Heat Action Plans do not reach. The work combines household thermal monitoring, community engagement, and the testing of practical interventions: cool roofs, shade structures, a community cooling shelter, and cooling streets that give residents a place to recover when their homes cannot. Low-cost, locally sourced materials are being explored so that solutions can be built, managed, and adapted by communities themselves.

The project positions heat response as a question of access, not just awareness.

In collaboration with Selco Foundation, we assessed climate vulnerabilities and livelihood risks for low-income communities in Puri, Odisha. Using a mix of GIS mapping, literature review, and on-the-ground surveys, the study identified how cyclones, floods, and heatwaves threaten lives, homes, and incomes. A participatory methodology spotlighted five highly vulnerable communities, integrating gender, age, and disability dimensions. Local voices gathered through focus groups informed an inclusive, evidence-based adaptation strategy, emphasising community empowerment and policy reform to safeguard Puri's most at-risk residents.

For the Hyperlocal Mapping of Air Pollution project with UNDP (Climate & Energy Lacuna Fund), we deployed IoT sensors and AI-driven predictive modelling to generate precise, actionable data. This intelligence supported the development of use-case scenarios for implementing targeted regulatory actions and cost-effective pollution management strategies for State Pollution Control Boards and Development Authorities in Bihar and Gurugram, Haryana.

In collaboration with the HT Parekh Foundation, we conducted in-depth city-level studies to formulate impact investment strategies for urban India. Focusing on heat resilience, waste management, and water systems, our approach combined infrastructure readiness assessments, governance analysis, and community vulnerability mapping. This multi-faceted evaluation identified where philanthropic capital could be most catalytic, particularly in underserved and high-risk urban zones, guiding investments toward high social return and equitable development.

This research project focuses on climate-impacted populations displaced to cities, where they settle in informal housing, facing increased vulnerabilities. The project aims to map these vulnerabilities using housing inadequacy as an indicator and develop risk reduction strategies. Key activities include creating and testing a risk assessment tool, scaling risk reduction models, vulnerability measurement, and engaging in policy advocacy. The goal is to reduce disaster risks for displaced families, particularly women and girls, through locally-driven actions.

This project aimed to build resilience and provide relief after Cyclone Fani caused heavy losses to the coastal communities of Odisha. Mobilizing the fishing community (led by the fisherwomen) and making them the vehicles for delivery was the focus. Differential impact on houses and public infrastructure was studied, and plans were formulated for future resilience.

Guidelines were prepared for converting public buildings into isolation wards, operations and maintenance, lockdown protocols and first responder training. The guidelines were formulated in line with National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and climate factors such as building orientation and roof insulation for different climatic zones were considered.

This project developed approaches to address water-related risks in Assam, particularly floods and erosion along the Brahmaputra, Beki and Buri Dhing rivers. A framework for climate resilience of over 100 vulnerable villages along with implementation plans were formulated. Both were carried out through a participatory approach, in line with existing policies and plans.

Tourist sites by definition have many visitors. As such, if a disaster strikes, the impact is far greater in terms of property and lives lost. The cities of Gaya and Bihar Sharif are gateways to the tourist sites of Bodh Gaya and Nalanda respectively. We prepared comprehensive disaster management plans for both cities, including an AI-assisted risk model that was run in Gaya.

Monitoring the progress of programs is sometimes as important as the program itself. The Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under its Smart Cities Mission to capture the progress made by cities in the preceding year. Case studies on local climate action and community interventions were prepared in this project.

The decline of wetlands reduces resilience against water-related hazards such as floods and droughts. Using wetlands as natural infrastructure for disaster risk reduction (DRR) can go a long way in mitigating hazards and bolstering resilience of local communities. In this project, we worked to restore wetlands in Kanwar basin, Bihar.

The railway line connecting Kashmir to the rest of India is a project of national importance. Navigating tough terrain, it comprises longer tunnels and higher bridges than have ever been built in the area. A comprehensive disaster management plan for such a line is unprecedented. The plan analyzes hazards and lays down protocols for reducing risk and taking emergency action.

This action research explored the improvement of system efficiency through community actions and frontline health worker effectiveness during COVID in NE India. Nudges that improve catalytic actions in small ways can improve outcomes significantly. The findings of the project showed ways to create high levels of social impact in community resilience through strategic actions.

The Virtual Cadre is a unique and effective governance mechanism in Kerala wherein identified office-bearers across state departments constitute a multi-sectoral team of disaster managers. This ensures better inter-departmental coordination, which has been an elusive goal of disaster management approaches. The focus was on training and capacity building of the Virtual Cadre.

Extreme heat disproportionately affects urban low-income families. Cities are hotter than the countryside, and slums are hotter than other parts of cities. The project demonstrated how women can mobilize, understand weather risks and lead frugal interventions such as cool roofs and street shading that are easily adopted, making their spaces safer from heat-related risks.

Local communities possess valuable traditional wisdom on ways to address their risks. They constantly come up with creative ways to solve their problems. This approach to innovation complements technology and governance to improve the efficiency of humanitarian action. The project identifies and supports such innovations across geographies and co-creates pathways to scale them.

Weather warnings and climate forecasts are usually too complex for end users such as farmers and citizens to fully understand and act upon. Additionally, information is often received from weather stations far away. This project targeted the collection and analysis of local weather data, improving both the understanding of risks and the actions that should be taken as a result.

Climate change is adversely impacting livelihoods across sectors and geographies. An overview of climate impacts, key sector insights, and nuances of how communities face downstream effects was synthesized to help identify priorities for resource allocation. This was done for vulnerable districts to inform our client's social impact investment priorities.