The Indian Himalayan State of Uttarakhand is experiencing population growth and undergoing the process of urbanization. This is happening in a region predisposed to multiple natural hazards and exposed to climate change extremes. The urban development process unfolding under these circumstances is largely unplanned and unregulated and has overwhelmed the municipal capacity to address it. Existing research has largely adopted a hazard-based approach towards addressing the issue, recommending stricter developmental codes and infrastructure-based solutions to the problem. This paper approaches the issue from a governance perspective and explores options to complement existing capacity for municipal risk governance. It does so by examining the process of urban development and the actors involved in addressing risk. The research draws from a single case study in the rapidly growing town of Almora in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. It employs a mixed methods approach comprising of document review, 24 key informant interviews and a survey of 150 household. Results indicate that the municipality is severely constrained in its capacity to address risk in the built form. In lieu, 93% of surveyed households rely on the knowledge and expertise of private building professionals. However, building professionals in Almora are largely informal and are neither trained nor accountable to address risk. The paper concludes that while risk governance presents a viable alternative towards addressing the problem of risk in a resource stressed environment, it needs to be contextualized to consolidate informal building professional and acknowledge their risk knowledge and practices.

印度北阿坎德邦的喜马拉雅州正在经历人口增长，并正在经历城市化进程。这种情况发生在一个容易受到多种自然灾害侵袭，遭受极端气候变化影响的地区。在这种情况下进行的城市发展进程在很大程度上是计划外的，而且不受监管，这使市政当局解决这一问题的能力不堪重负。现有研究已在很大程度上采用了基于危害的方法来解决该问题，并建议了更严格的开发规范和基于基础架构的解决方案。本文从治理的角度探讨了这一问题，并探讨了补充现有市政风险治理能力的方案。它通过审查城市发展过程以及应对风险的参与者来做到这一点。该研究来自于一个迅速发展的北阿坎德邦喜马拉雅山的阿尔莫拉镇的案例研究。它采用了混合方法方法，包括文档审查，24次主要信息提供者访谈和对150户家庭的调查。结果表明，市政当局以建筑形式应对风险的能力受到严重限制。取而代之的是，有93％的被调查家庭依靠私人建筑专业人士的知识和专长。但是，阿尔莫拉的建筑专业人士大多是非正式的，他们没有受过任何培训，也不负责应对风险。本文的结论是，尽管风险治理为解决资源紧张环境中的风险问题提供了一种可行的替代方案，但需要将其背景化，以巩固非正式的建筑专业人士并认可他们的风险知识和实践。