Rising Urban Heat is a Public Health Emergency

Over two full house days in Bengaluru last month, Purpose held a design, art and research event, Sweat & Concrete 2025, to surface creative solutions for cooler cities. This is part of Purpose India’s People First Cities, an initiative for inclusive, participatory approaches to improve the quality of life of informal settlement residents and informal workers. The core question: Can we out-design urban heat? 

Like too many other Indian cities, Bengaluru has suffered from unprecedented extreme temperatures and heat waves as early as February. Ample evidence-gathering and research are underway to understand the impacts of heat stress in India, but not enough innovative, community-led solutions are being showcased in the ecosystem, particularly for urban informal workers, 80% of whom are currently exposed to heat stress. Purpose has sought to highlight the intersectional impacts and solutions for heat stress, and Sweat and Concrete 2025 is a manifestation of this goal. 

Bringing together citizens, designers and change-makers to showcase innovative, community-led, ground-up solutions for combatting urban heat stress, the event showcased the Neralu Heat Shelter. Created by architects Sagar and Ankritya using locally available materials, the shelter sparked real-time interactions with informal workers and local residents, who offered feedback to refine the design further.

The event also showcased other runner-up concepts, alongside an interactive performance by Kahe Vidushak that depicted the emotional and physical struggles of living in a city with rising temperatures, drawing a large audience, including informal workers and Bengaluru’s civil society members.

A multimedia exhibit revealed the hidden toll of heat on workers’ lives, while a bilingual panel discussion emphasised the need for long-term, community-driven solutions and greater private sector engagement to address heat as a public health crisis, especially for gig and women workers.  Additionally, a gamified co-creation activity by the Sustainable Futures Collaborative helped generate actionable, scalable solutions for local city governments.

The event used design, art, research and convening to surface new opportunities and solutions for heat stress, from the lens of the most vulnerable populations. All exhibits and events were designed to shine a light on less visible aspects of heat stress. Some of the common themes that emerged are: 

• Heat stress data needs to be more granular and intersectional: expanding the scope of data collection to ward-level variations, indoor/outdoor work temperatures, public health stats, and the unseen impacts on sleep, nutrition, the ability to earn, nutrition and mental health need to be highlighted
• Recognising informal work could unlock many forms of relief: from installing cooling tech in waste centres to adjusted work shifts and compassionate customers, increased recognition can bring multi-faceted benefits
• A shift in the heat narrative: Moving away from reactionary city-level statistics and reactionary reporting to a more localised, intersectional approach can offer actionable, relevant solutions for residents and policymakers 

Sweat & Concrete 2025 received strong interest and coverage from both the local and national press, including  The Associated Press, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, and The Hindu. In the end, the event became more than just an exhibition—it has become a platform for storytelling, design and policy dialogue. Most importantly, it is a call to action for city leaders, planners and policymakers to integrate community-led heat solutions into urban policy. As our cities become hotter, Sweat & Concrete shows that we can prioritise inclusive urban planning that ensures the well-being and dignity of informal workers who keep our cities running.