Inside Story: Fostering peri-urban resilience: Gender-responsive approaches in northern India

This case study by the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) examines the challenges of fostering climate resilience in the peri-urban areas of Uttar Pradesh, India. It argues that current urban development policies treat populations as homogeneous, ignoring gender, class, and age differences that affect vulnerability to climate hazards. The document advocates for gender-responsive, climate-smart development solutions that increase women's participation in decision-making and address the silos between urban, peri-urban, and rural governance.

• In Uttar Pradesh, rapid urbanisation is eroding kinship networks, which reduces the capacity of families and communities to manage shocks like extreme weather events.
• Indian urban policies, specifically the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), fail to account for the diverse vulnerabilities associated with class, age, gender, and spatial location, treating the urban population as a homogeneous group.
• Several structural and governance barriers hinder inclusive climate-compatible development in cities, including a lack of gender sensitisation in urban local bodies, poor coordination between state departments and civil society, and the absence of gender-disaggregated data collection.
• Governance of urban, peri-urban, and rural areas is currently conducted in silos, despite these areas existing as a continuum; consequently, peri-urban spaces are increasingly becoming the location for the poorest populations.
• To achieve climate-resilient development, interventions must recognise varying impacts on different socioeconomic groups, ensure the full and equal participation of women, and support community institutions to overcome structural governance challenges.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2020). Inside Story: Fostering peri-urban resilience: Gender-responsive approaches in northern India. https://cdkn.org/resource/inside-story-fostering-peri-urban-resilience-gender-responsive-approaches-in-northern-india

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Inside Story: Fostering peri-urban resilience: Gender-responsive approaches in northern India. 2020. https://cdkn.org/resource/inside-story-fostering-peri-urban-resilience-gender-responsive-approaches-in-northern-india.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Inside Story: Fostering peri-urban resilience: Gender-responsive approaches in northern India |date=22 September 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/resource/inside-story-fostering-peri-urban-resilience-gender-responsive-approaches-in-northern-india |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2020inside, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Inside Story: Fostering peri-urban resilience: Gender-responsive approaches in northern India}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://cdkn.org/resource/inside-story-fostering-peri-urban-resilience-gender-responsive-approaches-in-northern-india}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }