Archives - Question of Cities

‘Urban art festivals are event-centric. They can be visceral provocations and part of a larger ongoing public discourse’

It was the festival time in Mumbai with a number of them making the most of the city’s short-lived winter. Each neighbourhood festival had a different social fabric, brought people together including communities that are otherwise in the margins, asked…

Urban landscape changes as stories, talents emerge from Mumbai’s lesser-known public spaces

The Govandi Arts Festival was an event of many firsts. It brought together communities and people who shared one platform, but many messages. The youth, who had disconnected themselves with the area, found hope when their talents were appreciated. This…

Creating the right environment and spaces to make voices heard

Organising an urban festival is like weaving a multi-colour quilt. One of the many challenges is curating the events which will draw viewers but managing to keep the focus on the theme, another is to work with local communities and…

How adopting green measures made air more breathable

As all major cities across the world grapple with poor air quality, it becomes imperative to take responsibility and translate plans into action. A series of seminars and talks from local to national and international level on Climate Change ends…

Mumbai needs an Ecological Plan beyond the quick fixes for air pollution

Mumbai’s air quality has been deteriorating since November last year but hardly anyone thought it would soon get the dubious tag of the second-most polluted city in the world. Even the Arabian Sea, the city’s natural cleanser, could not help…

‘I need to provide for my family, the air doesn’t matter’

The face masks are back in Mumbai – not because of COVID but poor air quality. Over the past two months, Mumbai’s air quality has been fluctuating from ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ on the index, leading to numerous health problems…

Clearing the air on Mumbai’s smoggy atmosphere

When Mumbai’s air quality deteriorated and overtook Delhi to make the financial capital the most polluted city in the country, the alarm bells rang loud and clear. For several days in January and February, Mumbaikars woke up to smog-enveloped surroundings…

Lessons from independent India’s urbanisation: Plan cities based on sustainability and social equity

The first three planned cities in India were to be reflections of a modern and secular new nation, built form of the new democratic republic. Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, and Gandhinagar could have become the template of India’s urbanisation, strengthening their role…

How Gandhinagar transformed from ‘Gandhian’ city to GIFT City

More than a decade after Chandigarh was built, the planners of Gandhinagar had the opportunity to re-envision a city with different or local influences. Instead, Gandhinagar was an opportunity lost. It furthered the experiment in independent India’s urbanisation trajectory which…

‘Gandhinagar is a green ghost capital city – and hardly Gandhian’

When Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar was conceptualised, it seemed like an ideal place to live in with a vast expanse of greenery. The city has grown in all directions, ignoring the Gandhian principles of minimalism, sustainability, and liveability which are crucial…