Extreme heat in twelve Asian cities

What extreme heat is doing in 12 Asian cities: whether each has a heat plan, the vicious cycles the evidence ties to it, who is hit hardest and who is already at work.

Singapore, Singapore

A city-state with hot nights, dense towers and an early national heat stress advisory.

Heat plan: Heat plan in force. Cycles tied to it: The sleepless-nights loop, The cooling trap, The dying-green loop, The invisible-deaths loop.

Bangkok, Thailand

A tropical megacity where heat costs lives, livelihoods and a share of the city’s economy.

Heat plan: Heat plan in force. Cycles tied to it: The poverty–heat trap, The reactive-spending loop, The sleepless-nights loop, The green-displacement loop.

Hanoi, Vietnam

A fast-growing northern capital whose power and water strain together in the heat.

Heat plan: No published city heat plan found. Cycles tied to it: The energy–water loop, The global cooling loop.

Manila, Philippines

A dense, humid metropolis where heat closes schools and pushes the heat index into danger.

Heat plan: Parts in place, no full plan found. Cycles tied to it: The lost-schooling loop, The cooling trap, The farm-debt loop.

Jakarta, Indonesia

A sinking, sprawling capital in the country where half of Southeast Asia’s air conditioners could be.

Heat plan: Parts in place, no full plan found. Cycles tied to it: The global cooling loop, The wildfire loop, The dying-green loop.

Delhi, India

A capital of extreme pre-monsoon heat, street trade and falling groundwater.

Heat plan: Heat plan in force. Cycles tied to it: The heat credit squeeze, The dying-green loop, The groundwater loop, The invisible-deaths loop.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

One of the world’s densest cities, where heat costs workdays and fills tin-roofed homes.

Heat plan: Parts in place, no full plan found. Cycles tied to it: The poverty–heat trap, The energy-poverty trap, The displacement loop, The lost-schooling loop.

Kathmandu, Nepal

A valley city warming fast, below the Himalayan ice that feeds South Asia’s rivers.

Heat plan: No published city heat plan found. Cycles tied to it: The melting-ice loop, The medical-debt trap.

Mumbai, India

A coastal megacity where the nights are heating faster than the days.

Heat plan: Parts in place, no full plan found. Cycles tied to it: The sleepless-nights loop, The energy-poverty trap, The invisible-deaths loop.

Ahmedabad, India

Where South Asia’s first heat action plan began, and where its results were measured.

Heat plan: Heat plan in force. Cycles tied to it: The overwhelmed-clinic loop, The poverty–heat trap, The invisible-deaths loop.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

A coastal capital where humid heat meets crowded markets, harbours and fish landing sites.

Heat plan: Parts in place, no full plan found. Cycles tied to it: The cooling trap, The poverty–heat trap.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A fast-growing capital of garment factories and metal roofs, where the hot season peaks before the rains.

Heat plan: No published city heat plan found. Cycles tied to it: The cooling trap, The poverty–heat trap, The lost-schooling loop.