[CSH-CPR Urban Workshop #200] Determinants of Household Resilience to Fire in Informal Settlements: Evidence from the Bastis of Delhi, India (S. Karmakar)

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About the talk:

Urban fire incidents are among the most significant yet underreported and under-researched disasters in the Global South. Their impacts are disproportionately experienced by populations living in informal settlements, where unplanned urbanisation, often beyond the purview of regulatory frameworks, is compounded by inadequate infrastructure and a persistent gap between housing demand and supply. 

While informality shapes fire risk through engineering, social and institutional dimensions, these risks remain inadequately understood in existing studies, particularly in the Indian context. Although fire incidents are difficult to predict, timely responses are crucial to minimising their impacts, while long-term resilience-building is essential for enhancing fire safety and reducing risk. Household resilience to fire is shaped by the interplay of various factors, which remain underexamined in India. Against this backdrop, the presentation examines informal settlements (bastis) in Delhi, India, to explore the factors influencing household resilience to fire incidents. 

Based on surveys of 253 households across 30 bastis, followed by structural quantitative modelling, the findings identify prior experience of fire as the strongest determinant of household resilience, followed by factors such as household economic conditions, social support and sense of place. Drawing on these insights, the presentation proposes actionable policy measures that leverage mutual trust, prior experience and participatory action. Together, the findings reflect households’ lived experiences and highlight the non-linear, context-specific nature of resilience-building. The study contributes to the emerging scholarship on human behaviour in fire in informal settlements and aligns with SDG 11’s goal of building resilient and inclusive cities.

Speaker:

Satorupa Karmakar is a PhD candidate at the UQIITD Research Academy (University of Queensland–Indian Institute of Technology Delhi). Her research examines fire risk and resilience in the bastis of Delhi, India. Grounded in critical urban geography, her research documents how basti residents develop resilience in the absence of formal support systems, a process she describes as survival urbanism. Her work centres people’s lived experiences of urban growth and transformation, asking whose interests policies actually serve and how risks are structurally conditioned by sociospatial inequality. She examines the tensions between urban transformation shaped by top-down policies and the adaptive strategies of basti residents shaped from below. With an academic background in geography and planning, her broader research interests include housing vulnerability and informality, climate and disaster adaptation, and urban policy and governance. Satorupa has published in peer-reviewed journals and presented her research at national and international conferences. She has collaborated extensively with government agencies, NGOs, and community members across India and Australia to translate research into policy recommendations. She is committed to conducting research that serves communities and informs policy for inclusive urban futures in the Global South, where urbanisation is central to understanding the challenges and possibilities of contemporary cities.