Editor's note

This week witnessed rolling 24-hour news coverage of the devastating Hurricane Harvey as it deluged the US Gulf Coast and flooded the city of Houston. In comparison, catastrophic floods claiming thousands of lives elsewhere received much less air time.

Monsoons hit South Asia hard, affecting 40m people and killing more than a thousand. From Mumbai to Assam, Nepal and Bangladesh, land has been deluged, livelihoods wrecked, buildings felled and cities brought to a standstill. Here, our academic experts explain and explore how urban planners must rediscover ecology to create sustainable environments. They also look at how we can improve the living conditions of the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable populations from Vietnam to Sierra Leone to the Himalayas.

Elsewhere, our authors explore ecological disasters wrought by snakes, neo-Nazis’ strange passion for milk, and the dicey ethics of luxury tourism in the Global South.

Clea Chakraverty

Commissioning Editor

Top story

Mumbai rains flooded the city for a week, leaving thousands helpless while building collapsed killing dozens on August 31th. PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP

Mumbai floods: what happens when cities sacrifice ecology for development

Harini Nagendra, Azim Premji University

Flooding in India's largest city is a reminder that urban growth has to work with nature.

Energy + Environment

Devastating Himalayan floods are made worse by an international blame game

Jagannath Adhikari, Curtin University

Nepal has blamed India for exacerbating intense monsoon flooding that has killed at least 1,200 people in the last two months.

The Sierra Leone mudslide disaster isn't over yet – here's what the world must do

Tony Redmond, University of Manchester

Foreign aid can harm as well as help.

In Vietnam poverty and poor development, not just floods, kill the most marginalised

Jason von Meding, University of Newcastle; Hang Thai T.M., University of Newcastle

Disasters may have 'natural' triggers but why are ethic minorities forced to live under harsh conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to catastrophes?

What made the rain in Hurricane Harvey so extreme?

Russ Schumacher, Colorado State University

An expert in extreme weather events explains why the rain – and thus flooding – associated with Hurricane Harvey has been 'unprecedented.'

Science + Technology

Business + Economy

Arts + Culture

  • Is it ethical to take a luxury holiday in a ‘developing’ country?

    Paul Hanna, University of Surrey

    It's not just the price to you, but how much it costs the destination.

  • Remembering America's lost buildings

    Kevin D. Murphy, Vanderbilt University; Carol Willis, Columbia University; Daniel Bluestone, Boston University; Kerry Traynor, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York; Sally Levine, Case Western Reserve University

    We asked five architecture experts to name one building or structure they wish had been preserved, but couldn't resist the tides of decay, development and discrimination.

Politics + Society

Health + Medicine

  • The women who don’t know they’re autistic

    Fabienne Cazalis, École des Hautes Études en sciences sociales (EHESS)

    Autism manifests in different ways. The signs are often less visible in women than in men, leading many to be underdiagnosed.