Urban Flooding: Study of Bangalore

Abstract

Climate Change has brought an unprecedented change in the meteorological parameters, affecting the urban habitat. Uncontrolled growth, cravings for Urban dwellings, and inhibiting the areas which were once the sponge for urban floods have caused massive hardships for urban governance and the controlling authorities. Sufferers are the common masses, especially the marginal sections of society, mostly the urban poor. Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India is facing a burning problem of urban mismanagement in terms of traffic, Urban land use, and water availability. Bangalore is the hub of India’s software revolution which employs the youth from across the country. The demand for housing is met by the haphazard construction of residential apartments often encroaching on the waterlogged low-lying land. Many lakes visible 40 years ago have vanished from the map. They are now in residential & commercial use. The natural channels are all modified and blocked, so the water cannot find its path to drain thereby choking the city and low-lying areas. This paper explores how Bangalore, once a sustainable city transformed into a city with multiple urban problems and why it is still a widely accepted residential preference among the youth equipped with innovative technologies and upcoming start-ups.