Tag: hyderabad

  • A typological study of slum settlements in Hyderabad

    A typological study of slum settlements in Hyderabad

    Exploring the Impact of Housing Quality and Settlement Form Typologies on Heat Vulnerability in the city’s informally built areas Heat and the city’s built environment intersect and interact at different scales. A granular understanding of built-environment conditions of informal settlements is required to inform interventions and policies.  Current policy documents including the Hyderabad’s Heat Action…

  • Baking Against the Odds: Tale of a Disappearing Bakery in Singareni Colony

    Authors: Tanaya Bhowal, Rittu Anilkumar Only a few things are as quintessentially artistic as a wood fire baked puff. The flaky, golden crust and the aromatic richness of these puffs showcase a level of craftsmanship and taste, that beats any machine produced alternatives, without a hitch. In the heart of Singareni Colony, we had found…

  • Studying Heat in Informal Settlements: A Note on Methods

    The Cool Infrastructures project aims to understand all the ways in which heat plays a role in people’s lives. In particular, the project asks how people who live in informal settlements, whose location on the “grid” is tenuous, deal with, adapt to, and conceive of heat. Questions and Data In order to start answering these…

  • Understanding Extreme Heat in Informal Settlements: A Teaching Module

    Increasing incidence of events of extreme heat – higher temperatures and longerspells of higher temperatures – have been a matter of concern for institutions ofurban governance for the past decade. In India heat is largely understood in terms of disaster management framework. Governmental response has been limited to metropolitan regions and in a more diffused…

  • The City that Cannot Sleep: Heat in Low-income Neighbourhoods

    People in Singareni Colony – partly an off-grid urban informal settlement and partly a VAMBAY housing colony in south-east Hyderabad – live in houses that feel like blazing ovens. Even getting some quality sleep becomes a far cry in the summer. Sandwiched between different kinds of heat-trapping material and walls of congested houses without ample…

  • A Spatial History of Singareni Colony, Hyderabad.

    Contributors: Rahul Mishra, Goutham Raj Konda, Tanaya Bhowal Walking into Singareni on a warm sunny day, the sight of children playing, women collecting water from the water tanker, streets filled with spilt water from the water tanker, haphazardly hanging electric wires, some parked two wheelers, clothes hanging outside for drying are just come scenes which…

  • Building Context for Our Research in Singareni: Who Are Our Respondents?

    An integral component of conducting an urban heat study involved comprehending the heat perception of residents, their coping mechanisms, the actions they take, and how they adapt to extreme climate conditions. In the context of the project, the research team implemented the Time and Activity Perception survey in Singareni Colony, Hyderabad, commencing toward the end…

  • The Great Indian Kitchen: Narratives Around Cooking in Heat in Singareni Colony

    Contributor: Anushree Gupta What is your idea of a conventional kitchen? The kitchen is an important aspect of every household. It makes a house complete. For me, I picture it as a place where the aroma of home-cooked meals blends with a homemaker’s effort to put the food on the table. A fairly small but…

  • The ‘Everyday Social Life’ of an Off-grid Basti

    From engaging in everyday banters while sitting under a tree, to taking important life decisions while chatting at a tea-stall, social interactions with friends, neighbours, and relatives, form an important part of the everyday lives in Singareni Colony. Some kinds of socialising activities are related to conducting and attending life events and social events, while…

  • Data Dashboard – Climatic Data from 2 Locations in Hyderabad

    Contributors and workers: Abhijit Trimukhe, Chandbhai, Almas, Siraj and Swastik Harish One of the critical gaps in our understanding of heat and its impacts on people in informal settlements is simply the lack of data on temperature, humidity and other climatic parameters in such places. Weather data is typically restricted to government weather stations that…