Architecture of walls in the neoliberal remodelling of Bengaluru
The city once known for balancing gated enclosures with open, tree-lined, planned neighbourhoods has turned alienating and disquieting with business parks, gated…
Better cities
Urban imaginaries and spatial inclusion in Kozhikode’s
Gujarati Street
Once the hub and home of traders from Gujarat, the street has been transformed into an ‘art street’ with a new heritage-cultural…
What New Town did not take from the old city
All Indian cities have characteristics which could be adopted into the design of new towns but Rajarhat New Town neither referenced them…
Modern planning forgets traditional, eco-sensitive designs
Of the many design elements that have fallen out of favour is the jharokha, especially in hot places. The enclosed stone window…
Plan not for riverfronts, plan
for natural edges and ecology
of rivers
Regulatory systems for urban rivers prescribe fixed distances for riparian or buffer zones which contradict the very nature of rivers whose edges…
How Chennai can – and must – rebuild its relationship
with water
The way the city has been built – hard infrastructure encroaching on water bodies – denies it the ability to safely move…
Kochi: Notes on unequal ecologies of inhabitation
The city that water made is being unmade by water, at an accelerated pace. But the unmaking is uneven and reflects the…
Shimla and Kullu mountains send feedback; we ignore
and build
The hill town with the old water system built in tune with gravity now has water anxiety and private rooftop reservoirs, covered…
Nagpur’s rivers and lakes see huge construction,
Rs 200-crore fountains
Nagpur’s water network – Nag River, Pili and Pora flowing into it, Ambazari and Futala lakes – was its natural cooling infrastructure.…
Three loops of learning to rethink the cities-ecosystems relationship
For climate adaptation to move from crisis management to a transformative rethinking of urban life, the three loops of learning framework –…