Cooling our cities: Why smart surfaces should be India's next infrastructure priority

Walking down a concrete-laden street in Bhopal on a hot summer afternoon can feel like stepping into a furnace. Heat radiates from buildings, pavements, and rooftops–exacerbated by shrinking green cover and dense infrastructure. This is the everyday reality for millions living in India’s sprawling cities.

Urban heat is rapidly emerging as one of the most urgent public health and economic challenges of our time. Temperatures in city centres often rise 3–4°C higher than in surrounding rural areas due to heat-absorbing infrastructure. As India continues to urbanize, with more than half the population projected to live in cities by 2050, this problem is only expected to intensify.

A recent Government of India-World bank report, Towards Resilient and Prosperous Cities in India, highlights the grave risks Indian cities face from continued urbanization and global warming. In his introduction to the report, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar calls for “urgent and increased investment in climate-resilient cities.” The report flags critical risk areas including excess heat-related deaths, threats to worker productivity, slowed economic growth and reduced national economic competitiveness.

An effective solution lies in “Smart Surfaces”—a combination of reflective, porous, and green surfaces designed to reflect sunlight and heat, reduce heat absorption, manage rainfall, improve air quality, and enhance overall urban resilience. This includes reflective and cool roof paints or coatings, reflective permeable pavements, tree canopies, reflective road surfaces, and green infrastructure. When applied strategically, they reduce surface temperatures, absorb less heat, and bolster urban resilience.

Several cities in the US are adopting Smart Surfaces strategies. In June 2025, Atlanta passed the US’s most comprehensive cool roofing bill. Implementation is projected to cool the city by 1.4°C—up to 3.5°C in the hottest areas—offset 3.6 million tons of CO2 emissions and generate $760 million in net financial benefits over 30 years.

In India, Bhopal is leading the way. Earlier this year, the city became the first to conduct a detailed citywide analysis on how Smart Surfaces can cost-effectively reduce heat and improve public health. The study found that targeted surface transformations converting 50–75% of roofs and 10% of roads to more reflective materials, along with modest increases in tree cover of around 5% could deliver localized cooling of 2–3°C. These changes would also reduce flooding, mold, and productivity losses, while protecting vulnerable populations, such as students and outdoor workers.

The World Bank’s recommendations including adoption of cool roofs on 12.5%–25% of rooftops, increasing tree cover by 10–30%, early warning systems and adjusted work hours offer a useful national framework to address urban heat. While these are valuable guidelines, every city has unique constraints. In dense urban areas, for instance, limited space makes it difficult to increase tree cover by even 10%. To achieve deeper and more sustained urban heat mitigation and flooding risk reduction–and to better protect workers and students–cities must design and implement more ambitious, locally relevant targets grounded in detailed city-specific data and analysis.

This is where the Smart Surfaces approach stands out. By using high-resolution spatial data and cost-benefit modeling, cities can pinpoint the most impactful surface interventions and deploy them where they’re needed most. A customized strategy allows cities to improve livability quickly and affordably, even without large-scale infrastructure changes.

An air-conditioning-only approach to urban cooling brings additional challenges. AC units increase energy demand and expel heat outdoors, making already hot environments even hotter. They also strain power grids and widen the gap between those who can afford cooling and those who cannot. Continuing along the path of relying only on AC for cooling risks escalating heat-related deaths, worsening inequality in access to thermal comfort, increasing electricity bills, straining power grids and even potentially driving internal climate migration.

In contrast, Smart Surfaces provide inclusive cooling benefits. They cool public spaces, schools, and streets—protecting children, the elderly, and laborers who are most exposed to extreme heat but are least likely to have access to mechanical cooling. By bringing down temperatures citywide, Smart Surfaces improve public health, reduce risk and help make cities more livable, equitable, and climate resilient.

Moreover, these strategies offer scalable, citywide benefits that reduce demand for air conditioning, cutting energy costs and lowering pressure on urban infrastructure. They also improve worker productivity, support learning outcomes, enhance climate resilience, and foster green job creation. By protecting lives and livelihoods, Smart Surfaces enhance a city’s overall economic competitiveness and reduce long-term healthcare costs.

As Indian cities brace for rising heat, integrating Smart Surfaces into core urban planning—supported by model by-laws for urban local bodies, technical assistance and high-resolution surface mapping—offers one of the fastest, most cost-effective solutions to help cities cool, become more livable and resilient. As several cities have already shown, a citywide Smart Surfaces strategy is a very low-cost, rapid way to deliver on this milestone report’s call for “urgent and increased investment in climate-resilient cities.”



Greg Kats is Founder & CEO, Smart Surfaces Coalition. Sanjay Seth is Programme Director, TERI. Megha Behal is India Program Manager, Smart Surfaces Coalition.


(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com)