This study transcends the homogenizing (inter-)national level of argumentation (‘rich’ versus ‘poor’ countries), and instead looks at a sub-national level in two respects: (1) geographically it focuses on the rapidly growing megacity of Hyderabad; (2) in socio-economic terms the urban population is disaggregated by taking a lifestyle typology approach. For the first time, the lifestyle concept – traditionally being used in affluent consumer societies – is applied to a dynamically transforming and socially heterogeneous urban society. Methodically, the author includes India-specific value orientations as well as social practices as markers of social structural differentiation. The study identifies differentials of lifestyle-induced GHG emissions (carbon footprints) and underlines the ambiguity of a purely income based differentiation with regard to the levels of contribution to the climate problem.

Currently 23 cities exceed the 10 million inhabitants' threshold. The number of world's megacities is expected to grow to 39 in 2025 with 32 of these in emerging economies. While today cities cater for over half of the world's population, they are facing ever increasing environmental problems. Whether or not an emerging megacity will be able to cope with expected climate change impacts and increased scarcity of natural or man-made resources depends on its capacity to change human behaviour in different areas of what a city constitutes. On-going research on various responses to anticipated climate change impacts on the emerging megacities aims to generate knowledge for an effective and feasible transition towards sustainable development. Where different disciplines and approaches seem to overwhelmingly agree is that mitigation and adaptation measures are urgently needed. This implies not only identifying available technological options but also exploring institutions - defined as "sets of rules" and governance structures, i.e. those "modes of organization" that are necessary to put rules into practice. Thus, in order to arrive at feasible mitigation and adaptation measures, technical solutions and social construction need to be combined. This Emerging megacities series presents findings of current inter- and trans- disciplinary research on different topics concerning the sustainable growth of these rapidly expanding cities.

This paper analyses the structure of local, regional and national stakeholders that might be relevant for a transition of Hyderabad into a low-carbon megacity. The main angle of the stakeholder selection in this report is defined by the leading question of our research: How do (local) lifestyle dynamics contribute to climate change, and how can lifestyle changes help to reduce local emissions and the vulnerability to global climate change? Our analysis reveals that climate change actually is a medium to low attention issue for the majority of stakeholders in Hyderabad (as in India in general). At the same time, the identified minority of individual or collective actors that actually do rate climate change higher on their agendas have the potential to form a critical mass for socioecological change in the city if (1) they improve their cooperation, if (2) institutional reforms in the urban space increase their impact, and if (3) they manage to align with a still 'silent majority' of stakeholders that by now rate climate change to be of minor relevance. The latter point is based on another key finding of our analyses: Actors with high structural power (based either on political, economic or network power) might be turned into potential 'allies' of a low-carbon strategy, if (1) they can interpret adaptation and mitigation options as new opportunities in their option space, (2) climate issues are more closely linked to sustainability issues, and (3) they perceive institutional reforms and stakeholder involvement as being beneficial for their daily operations. From these insights we derive some consequences for future pilot projects and policy advice.