Daily
250 words
5/10
Rating

12 August 2026

Chennai biodiversity and urban environment

The topic provides a practical, evidence-based case study on urban heat island mitigation through rooftop gardens, which is highly relevant as context for questions on sustainable urban planning and environmental conservation.

1 min read 2 questions 1 prelims

Notes

  • Chennai's urban landscape is historically rooted in hydraulic structures, reflecting a city carved out of water.
  • Recent faunal and floral discoveries in Chennai suggest that the city's biological wealth remains under-researched and undervalued.
  • A joint study by IIT-Madras and Okapi Research and Advisory evaluated the impact of rooftop gardens on urban thermal comfort.
  • Rooftop gardens reduced roof surface temperatures by 8°C to 12°C and ceiling temperatures by 2°C to 4°C.
  • Rooms beneath rooftop gardens were found to be 1°C to 2°C cooler than those beneath exposed roofs.
  • Ambient temperature differences of up to 8.1°C were recorded between garden-covered and exposed roofs in Otteri.
  • Rooftop gardens are proposed as a nature-based, passive cooling strategy to mitigate the urban heat island effect.
  • Scaling up rooftop gardens to cover 20% to 30% of urban terraces is being explored as a potential city-level heat stress resilience strategy.

Questions

  1. Discuss the potential of nature-based solutions, such as rooftop gardens, in mitigating the urban heat island effect and enhancing climate resilience in Indian metropolitan cities. 150 words
    Attempt this — 150 words in 8 min
    0 / 150 words 8:00
  2. Urban planning in India must integrate ecological conservation with infrastructure development. In the context of Chennai, analyze how the preservation of biodiversity and the adoption of passive cooling strategies can contribute to sustainable urban governance. 250 words
    Attempt this — 250 words in 11 min
    0 / 250 words 11:00

Prelims

  1. Based on the study by IIT-Madras and Okapi Research and Advisory, what is the primary impact of rooftop gardens on indoor thermal comfort?

Syllabus

Topics

Sources

250words.in · https://250words.in/daily/2026-08-12/chennai-biodiversity-and-urban-environment