Centering Workers in Heat Resilience: From Lived Experience to Systemic Action

Have we ever imagined Bengaluru nearing 40°C?

Extreme heat is no longer an anomaly—it is a lived reality that determines whether a worker can complete a day’s labour, return home safely, or recover enough to work again the next morning.

“When it is very hot, we cannot stop working, because if we stop, we lose wages,” shared a construction worker. Another resident noted, “Even at night, the room stays hot. There is no air.”

These experiences reflect a deeper shift. Heat is no longer episodic; it has become systemic. It cuts across work, housing, health, and income, disproportionately affecting informal and migrant workers—who sustain the city’s economy but remain structurally excluded from its protections.

Evidence from a study  by Migrants Resilience Collaborative (MRC) and field engagements shows that nearly all migrant workers are affected by extreme weather, with 89% identifying heat as the primary stressor. The impacts are immediate: 83% report wage loss, 64% wage cuts, and 56% job loss, alongside 65% reporting health impacts (Kidwai et al., 2024). For workers dependent on daily wages, heat is not only a health risk—it is an economic shock, often without a safety net.

This vulnerability is shaped as much by living conditions as by exposure. Across informal settlements we engaged with in Bengaluru, covering over 2,300 migrant households, our study finds that gaps in basic services remain significant. A large share of households lack water at their residence, and sanitation access remains limited. For many, water access involves daily negotiation—through travel, informal arrangements, or reliance on nearby households.

As one worker shared, “We clean the city every day, but we do not have water to bathe.”

These are not small gaps—they directly shape heat risk. Without water, hydration is compromised; without sanitation, health risks increase; without adequate housing, recovery becomes difficult. Heat, in this context, is amplified by systemic gaps in basic services.

From Vulnerability to Agency

What is equally important is how these realities are being responded to—and by whom.

In Bengaluru, a defining shift emerging from our work has been from viewing informal and migrant workers as vulnerable groups to recognising them as agents of climate resilience. Through Voices of the Voiceless and the Community Climate Action Collective (CCC) initiative of MRC,  workers have articulated their lived experiences—mapping heat exposure alongside water scarcity, unsafe housing, and everyday constraints shaped by informality and mobility.

These processes, anchored in Jan Sahas’ efforts to build community agency, have enabled direct engagement with government systems—allowing communities not only to surface challenges but to shape solutions. Through this programme, a network of over 250 Climate Warriors has emerged, consistently highlighting interconnected priorities: access to water and shaded rest, safer housing, health support, protection from income loss, and inclusion in planning. These are not isolated demands—they reflect a worker-centric, systems view of resilience.

This has been enabled through the leadership of the Bengaluru Climate Action Cell, which has incorporated vulnerability as an overarching lens across all seven sectors of the city’s climate action framework.

From Voice to Planning: A New Model for Cities

Bengaluru is piloting Ward-Level Climate Action Plans (WCAPs)—shifting from top-down approaches to participatory, localised climate governance. This is a first for India. Through ward-level consultations, residents—including informal workers—have mapped heat exposure, water stress, and infrastructure gaps. As our engagements demonstrate, lived experience becomes a core input to planning, bridging the gap between climate ambition and implementable action.

Led by the Bengaluru Climate Action Cell under the Greater Bengaluru Authority, and supported by partners including WRI India, C40 Cities,  WELL Labs, Hasiru Dala, Socratus, CSTEP, and Sensing Local, this effort reflects a strong ecosystem approach. Jan Sahas has led the disaster and climate resilience component, ensuring that the needs of climate-impacted communities are embedded in planning.

Importantly, this is not just planning—it is backed by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), with ₹100 crore in dedicated climate financing and a growing pipeline of implementable projects across wards and city corporations.

From Bengaluru to Scale: What Works for Workers

Several interventions—particularly cooling access, hydration, and resilient housing—were first piloted through our work in Bengaluru, including early resilient housing efforts in worker settlements. Building on these learnings, they are now being scaled across multiple cities.

This year, over 20 cooling centres are expected to reach more than 20,000 workers, complemented by hydration pilots reaching over 1,400 workers, climate-linked insurance covering over 10,000 workers, and resilient housing expanding beyond Bengaluru in partnership with ROOH.

Our pilots point to a clearer understanding of what is working: cooling and hydration reduce exposure, resilient housing enables recovery, and social protection buffers income and health shocks.

For informal and migrant workers—often outside formal labour protections—social protection is central to climate resilience, helping prevent deeper vulnerability during climate shocks.

Conclusion: From Fragmentation to Collective Ownership

Bengaluru’s experience shows that the challenge is not a lack of solutions—but a lack of alignment.

Heat cuts across public health, labour, housing, and urban systems, yet responses remain fragmented. Building resilience requires coordinated action and collective ownership—where government, industry, civil society, and communities work in alignment, sharing responsibility for both design and delivery.

At its core, resilience is not about adding new interventions—it is about connecting systems, aligning actors, and placing those most exposed at the centre—not as beneficiaries, but as partners.

What is emerging—from community-led processes to city-level planning and national-scale interventions—is a pathway forward. One that moves from awareness to action, from fragmentation to coordination, and from vulnerability to agency.

The next step is clear: scaling heat resilience will depend on sustained collaboration, anchored in collective ownership—to align systems, resources, and action around those most at risk.

The opportunity now is to build on this momentum—ensuring that resilience is not only scaled, but shared, inclusive, and grounded in lived realities.

Written by Siji Chacko, Head – Climate Innovation & Resilience, Migrants Resilience Collaborative