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Paper short abstract

This study explores how social capital strengthens adaptive capacities in low-income, informal migrant settlements in Bengaluru. Informal networks and mutual aid augment resilience, enhance wellbeing and reduce vulnerabilities, amid precarious living conditions and rising climate risks.

Paper long abstract

Historically, people have been migrating to cities for better incomes, opportunities, and quality of life. Migration is also crucial for reducing risks associated with climate change impacts. However, climate change and exclusionary urbanisation have altered migration conditions, exacerbating vulnerabilities, especially for marginalised and low-income communities in destination cities.

Building on existing literature, the ongoing study explores the relationship between social capital and adaptive capacity in low-income migrant settlements in Bengaluru, India. Migration is integral to Bengaluru’s economy, with nearly half the city’s population comprising migrants, many of whom live in low-income, informal settlements exposed to climate risks, insecure housing, limited services, and precarious livelihoods. As rising temperatures, water scarcity, and recurrent flooding intersect with uncertain living conditions, migrants experience compounding vulnerability.

The ongoing study draws on comparative research across informal migrant settlements in Bengaluru, selected based on their exposure to climate risks. The fieldwork comprises settlement scoping and profiling, semi-structured interviews, and detailed life history interviews. The study examines how informal networks, everyday relationships, and systems of mutual support shape migrants’ ability to navigate unfamiliar urban destinations and respond to climate change impacts. While these relational practices shaped by networks, norms and trust play a vital role in strengthening wellbeing and fostering resilience, enabling households to respond to, and cope with short-term risks and challenges - their contribution to longer-term, anticipatory, or transformative forms of adaptation remains uneven and closely linked to the distinct social dynamics and, the characteristics and histories of the settlements within which they are shaped.