India’s total population is growing, and is becoming increasingly urban. The urban population has increased from 17.97 percent in 1961 to 31.16 percent in 2011. Increasing urbanization has led to the expansion of populations into areas which are exposed to hazards related to climatic events, with a resulting increase in vulnerability of local populations.

This working paper presents a holistic approach for how a city can customise its rapid vulnerability assessment in order to understand what is required for building climate resilience. The paper uses Hazard Exposure, Infrastructure, Governance, Socio-economic Variables, HIGS to highlight the potential impact of climate change on urban services arising from the geographical setting of a city; the nature, size and density of its settlements; and the existing coping capacity of its society and governance system.

Vulnerability to climate change is aggravated by growing urban populations, high urban poverty and backlogs in the provision of basic infrastructure and services. Currently, a structured approach and the use of datasets to understand the distribution of vulnerability to climate change impacts across India are lacking. The framework proposed here provides a systematic approach to preparing vulnerability profiles in cities, by creating datasets, which enable an initial analysis of vulnerability. It considers the sensitivity and exposure of the cities as well as the need for integration of climate-resilience considerations in urban planning.

The framework is positioned as a rapid assessment methodology and consists of gathering relevant data in each category in order to identify key vulnerabilities and their linkages with natural causes, sustainable practices and the capacities of the concerned authorities.

The paper concludes by stating that the framework has been tested on twenty Indian cities that have diverse physiographic and demographic characteristics and demonstrates its viability by two city case studies, each representing different physiographic characteristics, hazard exposures and population sizes.