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Cities, Gender, Climate Change

Professor Nausheen H Anwar
Fall 2023, Main Campus

Timing: 6:00 - 9:00 pm Thursday

Office Hours: 4:00 - 5:00 pm Thursday

Course prerequisite for SSLA Students - Introduction to Urban Studies

COURSE DESCRIPTION

It now appears inevitable that temperatures will increase this century by at 1.5 Celsius, though even this
projection may prove too optimistic. This seminar explores the challenge of climate change in the
delivery of the SDG11, in relation to the planning and development of cities. It positions gender and
intersectionality as key issues in thinking about climate change and cities. This seminar makes three
fundamental assumptions: (1) Climate change is real and driven by human agency and amenable to
change; (2) vulnerable men and women in precarious positions bear the burden of challenges such as
displacement, dispossession, interethnic and social conflicts, and destabilization of livelihoods; (3) cities
are under stress for addressing poverty and inequality that exacerbate the burden of climate change,
but the urban scale is also an adequate scale for enacting actions for ecologically sustainable and socially
just futures. The delivery of the SDGs, specifically, the goal of making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable, depends on current abilities to deliver a fundamental transformation of existing systems of
urban planning, governance, and infrastructures that play a critical role in how cities can prepare for
uncertainty, and steer out of climate change induced disasters, such as urban flooding and extreme
heat. The lectures will be divided into two sections: the first section will explore the debates on the
vulnerability of poor men and women making emphasis on gender, intersectionality, context specific
impacts, and urban transformations in the Global South. The second section will explore the lacunae in
planning and policy discourses, and current debates on uncertainty, resilience, adaptation, mitigation,
and low-carbon strategies at the urban scale.

COURSE GOALS & LEARNING OUTCOMES

 Understand/recognize the relationship between cities/urban planning/development and climate
change impacts.
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 Understand/recognize the gendered context of urban vulnerability and relationship with climate
change impacts.
 Understand the infrastructural (physical & social) basis of urban vulnerability and risk and its
interaction with climate change impacts.
 Understand the theories/concepts that might give rise to a cause of action for climate change at
the urban scale.
 Discuss the role gender plays in environmental organizing by women and LGBTQ people at
urban scale, and its relevance to urban planning.
 Understand/recognize the importance of ‘scale’ in climate change politics.
 Explain how gender-responsive policies and plans can support climate change risk
mitigation/action at the urban scale.
 Apply knowledge of intersecting identities to analyze local policies/plans around climate change.
 Engage in critical self-reflection about gender justice, urban sustainability, and climate justice in
local communities and daily life.

ALL READINGS UPLOADED IN LMS

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADE ASSESSMENT

Class participation and weekly discussion questions (15%)
Students should come to class having read the required readings and prepared to discuss these in a
thoughtful manner. Each week students will post at least two thoughtful questions on the weekly
readings. These questions will be posted on LMS or emailed to me by 9pm latest on the previous
Tuesday.

2. Lead class discussion (20%)

Every student enrolled in the class must introduce one weekly seminar. (Sign-up sheet will be circulated
during the first week of class). Students introducing the readings will make a 15-minute presentation
and pose 4-5 questions for the class to kick-starting the discussion.

3. Critical Reading Reflection (20%)

Students will complete one critical reading response during the semester (Select any week with the
caveat that you may not opt for the week that you lead class discussion) and submit in soft copy form.
The critical reading reflection should reflect on the readings: you may comment upon how readings
contradict or complement each other or build upon or undermine previous readings. Assessment will be
based upon content, style, and thoughtful engagement with the readings.

4. Term paper proposal due (15%)

By week 7 of the course, a two- page (double spaced) proposal and one-page bibliography will be
submitted. The Term paper proposal will focus on a city as a case study and student will explore the role
different stakeholders (NGOs, state actors, international organizations, community activists) are playing
in planning for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and if/how gender is prioritized in urban
planning and policy agendas. The proposal should outline research question and thesis and provide a
sense of the research issues to be addressed and indicate how student will draw upon class readings.

5. Term paper (30%)

For the Final paper, students will need to show a critical understanding of climate change and gender as
a cross-cutting issue in urban planning/development. Paper should also demonstrate familiarity with the
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readings assigned for the course but go beyond course readings. For the undergraduate SSLA students,
paper should be 4500-5000 words (double spaced) maximum, Calibri or Times-Roman font 12. For the
MSc Development Studies graduate students, paper should be 8000 words (double spaced) maximum,
Calibri or Times-Roman font 12.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING:
 World Resources Institute: Ross Center for Sustainable Cities (Case-Studies):
http://www.wri.org/our-work/topics/sustainable-cities

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Week 1
 Introductions and sign-up for presentations
 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-Sixth Assesment Report: The Physical Science Basis
(2022). Kindly read as much as possible of the Full Report especially Chapter 6 on cities and the
regional factsheets posted at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

Week 2
 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-Sixth Assesment Report: The Physical Science Basis
(2022). Everyone should have read the Full Report: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
 Global Report on Human Settlements (2011) Cities and Climate Change, Policy Directions.
Chapters 1 and 7. United Nations Habitat: https://unhabitat.org/global-report-on-human-
settlements-2011-cities-and-climate-change
 World Cities Report (2022): Envisaging the Future of Cities. Read Chapters 1 and 3. [LMS]
 Chakrabarty, D (2009) The climate of history: Four theses. Critical inquiry, 35(2), 197-222.
 UNDP (2020) Gender,Climate & Security :Sustaining inclusive peace on the frontlines of climate
change.

Week 3
 Sultana, F. (2014) Gendering climate change: Geographical insights. The Professional
Geographer, 66(3), 372-381.
 Selections from Rodgers D and O’Neill B (2012) Infrastructural violence, Ethnography
 Jon, Ihnji (2021) Why cities? Towards a new theorisation of ‘scale’. Chapter 1 in New Ecology
and Urban Politics, Pluto Press.

Week 4
 Kaijser, A. & Kronsell, A. (2014) Climate change through the lens of
intersectionality. Environmental Politics, 23:3:417-433
 Khosla, P. & Masaud, A. (2011) Cities, Climate Change and Gender: A Brief Overview. Gender
and Climate Change: an introduction. Ed. Irene Dankelman, London: Earthscan, 55-72.

Film: 24 Hours of Urban Risk & Gendered Perspectives on Violence - Colombo, Nairobi, Karachi

Week 5
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 Beebeejaun, Y. (2017) Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life, Journal of Urban
Affairs, 39(3): 323-334.
 Davis, M. (1997) The radical politics of shade. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 8(3): 35-39.
 Shi, K. (2019) Letter from Karachi: For a place in the shade. https://www.himalmag.com/letter-
from-karachi-a-place-in-the-shade/

Week 6
 Chant, S. & McIlwaine. 2016. Cities, Slums and Gender in the Global South. London: Routledge
(Intro and Conclusions)
 Anwar, N.H, & Sur, M. (2020) Climate change, urban futures, and the gendering of cities in South
Asia. In Climate Justice and Migration: Mobility, Development, and Displacement in the Global
South.

Week 7
 Jon, Ihnji (2021) Why cities? Towards a new theorisation of ‘scale’. Chapter 2
 Jon, Ihnji (2021) Cleveland vs. Cape Town: Can a city aspire to be green and inclusive? Chapter 4
 Follmann, A. (2016) Delhi's Changing Riverfront: Bourgeois Environmentalism and the
Reclamation of Yamuna's Floodplain for a World-class City in the Making.

Week 8
 Oppermann, E. et al (2021) Establishing intensifying chronic exposure to extreme heat as a slow
onset event with implications for health, wellbeing, productivity, society, and economy. Current
Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.04.006
 Khalid, R. & Sunikka-Blank, M. (2018) Evolving houses, demanding practices: A case of rising
electricity consumption of the middle class in Pakistan. Building and Environment 143, pp.293–
305

Week 9
 Satterthwaite, D. et al (2020) Building Resilience to Climate Change in Informal Settlements. On
Earth Review, Feb 2021.
 Thi Dieu My Pham & Thi Thu Suu Lam (2016) Gender needs and roles in building climate
resilience in Hue City, Vietnam. Working Paper Series: 33. Asian Cities Resilience. Access:
http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10780IIED.pdf

Week 10
 Stein, A. & Moser, C. (2014) Asset planning for climate change adaptation: lessons from
Cartagena, Colombia. Environment and Urbanization, 26: 166-183.
 Huraera, J. (2014) Adapting the built environment: the role of gender in shaping vulnerability
and resilience to climate extremes in Dhaka. Environment and Urbanization,26: 147-165.

Week 11
 Aggarwal., R. M. (2013) Strategic Bundling of Development Policies with Adaptation: An
Examination of Delhi’s Climate Change Action Plan. IJUUR, 37 (6):1902-1915.
 Wagenaar, H. & Wilkinson, C. (2015) Enacting Resilience: A Performative Account of Governing
for Urban Resilience. Journal of Urban Studies - Special issue: Governing for Urban
Resilience, May 2015; Vol. 52, No. 7
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Week 12
 Anwar, N.H., Khan, H., Abdullah, A., et al (2022) ‘Designed to Fail? Heat Governance in Urban
South Asia: the Case of Karachi- A Scoping Study’, Karachi: Karachi Urban Lab (KUL).

Week 13
 Van Voorst, R., & Hellman, J. (2015). One risk replaces another: Floods, evictions, and policies on
Jakarta’s riverbanks. Asian Journal of Social Science, 43(6), 786-810.

Guest Speaker: Representative from Karachi Bachao Tehreek (KBT

Week 14
 Davies, A. R., Castán Broto, V., & Hügel, S. (2021). Is there a new climate politics? Politics and
Governance, 9(2), 1-7.

Week 15/16/17: Extended Class Sessions - Wrap-up, reflections, discussion of term papers.