This study sheds light on the effects of community resilience and risk appraisal on climate change adaptation behaviour within the context of the resettlement site of Kannagi Nagar in Chennai, India. The residents of Kannagi Nagar, built on flood-prone marshlands, are exposed to the risks of flooding and water scarcity. Data were collected at the household level through a questionnaire and interviews to investigate activities contributing to community resilience, their interrelatedness, and the influence of community resilience and risk appraisal on household adaptation behaviour. Findings show that community resilience – assessed using the five core dimensions of trust, place attachment, collective efficacy, social networks and social support – significantly and positively influences adaptation actions. This implies that only when the inhabitants of Kannagi Nagar are supported by their social networks and have confidence in their community’s capabilities, can greater risk awareness increase the number of adaptation measures taken.

In Chennai, Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR) pushes the urban poor to resettlement sites in the outskirts of the city. One of those sites is Kannagi Nagar, located 15 km from the city centre, in which women suffer from more significant livelihood deprivation. As there is evidence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) being useful in development, this study aims to explain the role of ICT in the livelihood restoration and enhancement of the social and financial capital for women in Kannagi Nagar. Through a case study with a blend of quantitative and qualitative techniques, the research incorporated a closed-ended questionnaire survey and interviews. Among the women, ICT use is prevalent, however, they have not fully optimized the potentials of ICT for livelihood restoration. The use is still limited to the purpose of maintaining the contacts they already have. However, some women have been able to use ICT, especially through their phones, for the restoration and enhancement of their social and financial capital. Nonetheless, to harness the full potential of ICT and strengthen women’s agency, access to ICT should be improved.

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Poor communities facing marginalization can benefit the most from the opportunities digital communication technologies provide. However, the digital divide clouds the realization of these opportunities, especially for women. This chapter sheds light on the issue of resettlement in Chennai city in the context of housing rights of urban poor women with a focus on the role of Mobile Technology for Development (MT4D) in mitigating the negative impact of the entire process of resettlement. Our MT4D experiments in the field with affected women also present the dynamics of the interactions between gender, technology, and poverty in the urban resettlement context. The researchers opine that adoption of a techno-optimism approach using MT4D will not only effectively solve many issues which arise due to lack of information in resettlement sites, but can also serve as a tool to help women in resettlement sites to migrate into digital economies.