Impact Assessment Study of Urban Flooding on Stray Animals to Understand Their Vulnerability to Changing Climate

Abstract

The past three decades have seen an unprecedent rise in urban growth in developing countries of Global South that has led to consequent degradation of the overall physical environment and quality of life. The adverse effects of changing climatic patterns are visible in the form of urban flooding that can cause major disruptions in cities, and lead to significant impacts on people, economy, ecology and environment. In landscape architecture discipline, the impact of climate-generated issues on human health in cities are widely studied, but their impact on urban fauna specifically stray animals (dogs & cattle) have still remained unexplored. These animals have become an integral part of human life and urban ecosystem yet disproportionately vulnerable during flooding. Various countries have begun taking initiatives for achieving inclusive planning by integrating animal welfare into their disaster management plan thus, considering animals as an integral part of urban ecosystem. These current disaster management guidelines are currently human, infrastructure and economy focused and not recognizing animals as a part of shared environment. To understand the ground situation of stray dogs during a flood situation, this study was conducted in three different locations of Delhi during Monsson 2025. The research focuses on analysing the ecological behaviour of urban stray animals and their possible survival mechanisms during urban flooding in Indian cities. It proposes a framework that works in favour of animals and essential to be implemented to have a holistic approach in landscape planning and design.