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Inadequate water access is central to the experience of urban inequality across low- and middle-income countries and leads to adverse health and social outcomes. Previous literature on water inequality in Mumbai, India’s second-largest city, offers diverse explanations for water disparities between and within slums. This study provides new insights on water disparities in Mumbai’s slums by evaluating the influence of legal status on water access. We analysed data from 593 households in Mandala, a slum with legally recognized (notified) and unrecognized (non-notified) neighbourhoods. Households in a non-notified neighbourhood suffered relative disadvantages in water infrastructure, accessibility, reliability and spending. Non-notified households also used significantly fewer litres per capita per day of water, even after controlling for religion and socioeconomic status. Findings suggest that legal exclusion may be a central driver of water inequality. Extending legal recognition to excluded slum settlements, neighbourhoods and households could be a powerful intervention for reducing urban water inequality.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2026
Contemporary income inequality outweighs historic redlining in shaping intra-urban heat disparities in Los Angeles
Abstract The roots of intra-urban heat disparity in the U.S. often trace back to historical discriminatory practices, such as redlining, which categorized neighborhoods by race or ethnicity. In this study, we compare the relative impacts of historic redlining and current income inequality on thermal disparities in Los Angeles. A key innovation of our work is the use of land surface temperature data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the International Space Station, enabling us to capture diurnal trends in urban thermal disparities. Our findings reveal that present-day income inequality is a stronger predictor of heat burden than the legacy of redlining. Additionally, land surface temperature disparities exhibit a seasonal hysteresis effect, intensifying during extreme heat events by 5−7 °C. Sociodemographic analysis highlights that African-American and Hispanic populations in historically and economically disadvantaged areas are often the most vulnerable. Our findings suggest that while the legacy of redlining may persist, the present-day heat disparities are not necessarily an immutable inheritance, where targeted investments and interventions can pave the way for a more thermally just future for these communities.
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- PAR ID:
- 10680175
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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