Study area.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is the fifth largest city in India with a population of 5.6 million persons in an area of 581 km².¹⁴ As of 2003, approximately 50% of this population lived in slums or peri-urban areas.¹³ It has a hot semiarid climate, lies at 53 m above sea level, receives approximately 740 mm of rain per year, has an average yearly low of 12°C and an average yearly high of 42°C, and has three seasons: winter from mid-November to mid-February, a hot and dry summer from mid-February to mid-June, and monsoon season from mid-June to mid-October.¹⁵ The Sabarmati River divides the city into new and old Ahmedabad in the west and east, respectively, and three urban lakes are located in the eastern half of the city (Figure 1 ). Finally, Ahmedabad is divided into 64 wards and has a large surrounding peri-urban area on its outskirts and a dense urban core centered just east of the Sabarmati River, which is home to a large portion of the city's urban poor and is one of the most densely populated areas of the city.

Classification of population density (persons per km²) and ward geographic classifications based on location relative to the city's dense urban core and also considering the predominant land use type present in each ward (specifically urban vs. rural). Also included is the Sabarmati River that bisects the city and the three large urban lakes located in the eastern half of the city.