Imagine this: the electricity zaps off at noon during summer, and the air conditioning switches off. The sweat begins trickling down your back, and the hot air envelops your room. In these situations, Abirami DM and her family sit near the courtyard of their traditional home in Chintadripet, as the breeze filters in. This two-storey home, which has witnessed six generations of Abirami’s family, is built with materials like red oxide flooring and mud walls. “I grew up here, so I couldn’t find the difference in terms of heat until my maternal side of the family moved from a traditional…

For Dhanasekaran, a resident of Ezhilmuga Nagar, an area adjacent to the proposed Global Sports City project site, the vast stretch of land in Semmencheri is more than an empty plot waiting to be developed. Every monsoon, he watches it transform into a sheet of water, carrying runoff from surrounding neighbourhoods towards the Pallikaranai Marshland. "We are the poorvakudi (original inhabitants) of this place. Even though we were relocated here years ago, this has become our home," says Dhanasekaran, standing beside the 112-acre site where the project is set to come up. "Officials may not know how much water will…