Beyond As Indian cities respond to national and global mandates for Climate Action Plans (CAPs), their planning processes reveal significant differences shaped by city scale, governance structures, and local political economies. This presentation offers a comparative analysis of CAP development across cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Nashik, and Patan, drawing on WRI India’s multi-city engagement. It highlights how megacities like Mumbai benefit from stronger political mandates, institutional capacity, and formal data systems, while smaller or mid-sized cities like Nashik operate in more resource-constrained, adaptive, and often locally embedded contexts. These variations lead to divergent process orientations — from technocratically led, consultant-driven planning to more iterative, locally owned approaches. The presentation attempts to unpack who drives CAPs, how tools are adapted, and what happens post-plan. Ultimately, CAPs reflect climate intent and cities’ institutional readiness and political economy, each shaped by its scale and context.

About the Speaker:

Jaya Dhindaw is an urban strategist with over two decades of global experience in sustainable cities, climate resilience, mobility, and urban planning. As Executive Director of Sustainable Cities at WRI India, she leads cross-cutting initiatives that integrate data, policy, and multi-level governance to drive inclusive urban transformation. Jaya has worked with governments, academia, and private firms across India and the U.S., including the City of Charlotte and IISc Bangalore. A systems thinker and published author, she holds degrees in Architecture, City Planning (IIT Kharagpur), and Environmental Policy (University of Cincinnati), and serves as Managing Associate Editor for the Journal of Sustainable Urbanization, Planning and Progress.

This is the one hundred and eighty-three (183) in a series of Urban Workshops planned by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi, and Centre for Policy Research (CPR). These workshops seek to provoke public discussion on the city’s development issues and address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society, and politics. For further information, please contact: Rama Devi at ramadevi2487@gmail.com, Champaka Rajagopal at champaka@cprindia.org or Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha@cprindia.org.