Archives - Question of Cities

Urgent heat conversations and actions we need in India to cool down cities

As millions of Indians struggle through an relentlessly scorching summer with never-before high temperatures, Heat Action Plans have become critical to people’s lives and livelihoods. Although states and cities have prepared plans – and some have fitfully implemented them –…

‘Move from crisis-oriented approach during heat waves to making cities heat-resilient’

Every year, discussions in the public and private domains on heat start around March-April and peak in May-June. These usually focus on short-term measures, a set of dos and don’ts for people, which are important but limited from a long-term…

Trees: Nature’s canopies against scorched cities and heat waves

It’s known that trees are natural coolers amidst the concrete in our cities. This becomes critical when cities reel under heat waves as they have this summer. Abundant green cover helps to heat-proof cities while an absence of trees exacerbates…

Informal workers brave cruel heat for a few rupees a day

Outdoor and informal workers such as construction labourers, delivery drivers, hawkers and vendors are forced to brave the punishing heat to earn a few rupees a day. Their working conditions are deplorable, living conditions no better. As they bear the…

Heat-proofing cities: Green solutions that helped to cool them

As cities around the world warm up faster and heat waves become more frequent and intense, cities have gone beyond red heat alerts and action plans to cool themselves. Some of the on-ground initiatives to beat the heat range from…

A new urban agenda for India built on reflections of the last decade

Since 2014, cities have found a special focus in the government’s policies and programmes. But how did some prominent programmes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Smart Cities Mission fare? Broadly, while some gains are evident, they overlooked…

Delhi experience shows why clean cooking fuel needs more than Ujjwala

Household cooking stoves, or chulhas, contribute to carbon emissions besides endangering the health of millions of women. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, launched in 2016, intended to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to deprived households. However, the…

Green talk: Included in party manifestos, excluded from campaigns

As slugfests and fiery speeches take centre stage throughout the campaign in the 2024 general elections, environmental issues and climate change which affect one and all have hardly been given space. Manifestos of political parties mention them in varying degrees…

Smart Cities Mission: Reflections on gains and losses, nine years on

Most of the 100 cities chosen under the Smart Cities Mission, launched with great fanfare in 2015, have spent or allocated funds for projects and set up Special Purpose Vehicles. Although the Mission outlined redevelopment, retrofitting and greenfield projects as…

M-East Mumbai: Votes don’t improve lives but they vote anyway

The cramped, polluted and neglected civic ward in the city, which houses migrant workers and project-affected persons displaced from other parts of Mumbai, shows the failure of politics to respond to people’s needs, in a sense. The triad of roti-naukri-makaan…