We finally reached an important milestone in the TRANSCEND project by conducting the first kick-off workshop in our case study of Mumbai, together with our partners of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). The workshop was set up as a hybrid event at the beautiful IITB campus on Friday, 8 April 2022.

The workshop’s objectives were to a) launch TRANSCEND’s field work campaign in Mumbai by bringing together stakeholders from local and regional government, civil society, and academia, and b) discuss perspectives and methodologies for developing and evaluating urban flood risk and climate change adaptation pathways.

After introductions by Prof. Garschagen and Prof. Parthasarathy, we had the honour to get an overview of current and future disaster risk management and flood protection planning by key representatives of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Then we held a panel discussion with experts from locally active civil society organisations and scholars from scientific institutions in Mumbai and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The panel helped us to understand, for example, current debates around the recently launched Mumbai Climate Action Plan. It was also the forum to ask the invited experts how the project can be most useful and effective from a scientific and practical point of view. A follow-up round table discussion brought in different voices from local stakeholders, providing us with insights into diverse priorities, approaches, and expectations concerning flood risk management and climate change adaptation in Mumbai.

Overall, the kick-off workshop was an excellent opportunity to get in touch and learn from different kinds of stakeholders and to build the foundation for further in-depth research in collaboration with new local partners.