Climate change is considered as the most potent challenge facing humanity at large. To many, it poses as an existential threat. While impacts, that mix the social, the environmental and economic are felt everywhere, with no respect for national or regional boundaries, climate change is increasingly an urban issue. Human actions located within an urban space are contributing the most to global warming and resulting climate change. Cities not only concentrate populations, infrastructure, economic activity and political institutions, but they also concentrate inequalities and environmental risks. United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), identifies cities, settlements and infrastructure as important sites for climate adaptation and climate-resilient development, linking adaptation with sustainable development and social justice.
The challenge is especially significant in cities of the Global South. By 2050, nearly 70% of the world population will live in urban areas with the fastest growth occurring in the cities of the global South, where rapid urbanization often occurs alongside infrastructure deficits, informal housing and employment, limited municipal resources and fragmented governance. UN-Habitat’s World Cities Report 2024 emphasizes that climate impacts interact with existing urban inequalities and that marginalized populations are frequently among those most exposed while possessing the fewest resources for adaptation. According to the Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) rankings – brought by German Watch, in 2025, Pakistan was ranked #1 — the most climate-affected country in the world that year, despite contributing only about 0.9% of the global greenhouse emissions load. Karachi, ranked as one of the least livable cities in the world (Global Livability 2026, Economist Intelligence Unit), provides an especially relevant and relatable case through which students can explore these relationships. The city experiences recurrent urban flooding and extreme heat, while questions of water, drainage, solid waste, housing, public space, infrastructure and institutional fragmentation intersect with climate vulnerability.
This course introduces students with a social sciences background to the intersection of urbanization and climate change. Rather than treating climate resilience as a purely technical or engineering problem, the course foregrounds the social dimensions: how communities cope, how institutions succeed or fail, how vulnerability is unevenly distributed and how justice and power shape who is protected and who is exposed. As an introductory elective, it builds foundational literacy and critical thinking, preparing students to engage with resilience debates as informed citizens and as future professionals, well-grounded in issues of equity and social justice.
