Jashvitha Dhagey - Question of Cities

Mumbai’s contested land use and the jostle for space

The pattern of land use in India’s commercial capital has meant that it is among the most dense cities in Asia. This is Mumbai’s reality – visual reality with tall towers packed so closely that breeze does not move between…

Focused on flood management, Mumbai lets down Mithi River ecologically

Twenty years after the July 2005 deluge in Mumbai, the Mithi, pivotal to drain the rain, is still choked, silted and disconnected from the city despite thousands of crores spent to clean it, build embankment walls and sewage treatment plants.…

Ecotourism: Small steps forward but a giant leap remains

Ecotourism, as a path to make tourism sustainable for nature and people, is still a fraction of India’s gigantic tourism industry, mostly driven by committed individuals or small groups. While nature-based farm stays, zero waste destinations, hotels using glass bottles…

When climate communication takes creative and non-news forms

Practitioners of creative forms such as theatre, indie films, installations, poetry, stand-up comedy, and card or board games are engaging with the complex and layered information and reports about climate change to present it to their audiences in a new…

The BEST Museum as Mumbai’s memoir – and more

A well-curated transport museum is a significant historical documentation and the story of a city. How ironic then that the BEST Museum which narrates the story of one of the most enduring and moving icons of Mumbai has been tucked…

When childhood is scarred by shelling and play is perilous

When sirens blare, homes are blacked out, drones and war planes hover in the skies above, and shelling punctures the peace of the night, as it happened with the India-Pakistan war this May, among other fallout is the setback to…

‘In India, play is a luxury…parents and teachers should understand its importance’

As cities expand, the number of open spaces and in-between spaces for play are shrinking. Playgrounds and gardens are an afterthought. Mumbai has seen creative ways to resist the erasure of spontaneous play emerge despite the incessant construction, congestion, and…

‘Coping with heat isn’t an individual problem, it’s a systemic challenge’

The unequal impact of heat on the marginalised in India’s cities is no longer in question. The chasm is deepening between those who can escape heat stress and those forced to work despite extreme heat. Apekshita Varshney, founder of non-profit…

The journey from dingy to vibrant, meaningful spaces in Govandi

The cramped and ill-maintained Natwar Parekh Compound in Mumbai’s Govandi is hardly a place children can feel at home, run around, explore the world and learn. But they, facilitated by civil society organisations, have turned their dingy spaces into Kitab…

Feminism meets environmentalism but women left out of decision-making

As women, across barriers of caste and class and other social indices, assert themselves, they also touch upon environmental issues that are deeply tied to their lives, living conditions, work and more. They raise voices as women demanding gender justice…