Urban Governance and Climate Resilience: A Comparative Study of Water Management Policies in Bengaluru and Cape Town
Dr. Riyaz Ahamed
Research Scholar, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta, Karnataka.
Keywords: Urban Governance, Climate Resilience, Water Scarcity, Bengaluru, Cape Town, Policy Comparison
Abstract
This paper looks at water management and climate safety in two cities, Bengaluru in India and Cape Town in South Africa.As we all know, water problem is becoming serious in many cities. These two places show different stories. In our country,
Bengaluru is facing water trouble for a long time. Fast city growth, broken systems, and poor planning are big reasons.Cape Town, on the other side, faced a sudden water crisis because of heavy drought. This study uses a simple system idea to
understand how people, government, nature, and technology work together in both cities. The findings are interesting. In Bengaluru, weak government systems have pushed citizens to take action on their own. This is commonly seen in Indian
people, where local groups try to solve problems when systems fail. In Cape Town, the government acted fast and avoided a complete water shutdown, but some policies affected poor people more. Even though the problems were different, one
common point comes out clearly. When governments focus only on technical solutions or emergency steps and ignore fairness, long-term water safety becomes weak. This paper tries to give simple lessons for better and fair water planning in
cities like ours.
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Published
01-03-2026