Team QoC - Question of Cities

Learning climate change language from lived experiences

As the English-dominated climate discourse becomes more technical, thinkers and activists are responding with strategies to make it people-oriented. A lot of knowledge and understanding can be gleaned from people on the ground, they say. Well-known planner and researcher Dr.…

People show the media what words and languages to use

The local impacts, descriptions, and knowledge of climate change rarely make it to the national or global climate discussions. Question of Cities talks to multi-lingual journalists to understand how to decode it all. Doing away with technical words and understanding…

‘BEST is a municipal responsibility, it’s stupid to
think of profit-loss’

The cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), still the most reliable mode of transport, is going through a rough patch with reduced fleet, struggling employees, part-privatisation and more. It is not a lost cause, though. Academic researcher and activist…

Seeing the unseen nature amidst Mumbai’s expanding concrete

A casualty of the build more approach is the erasure of precious natural wealth. Amidst the concrete maze of Mumbai-Navi Mumbai, there are still some treasures tucked away, as this photograph of flamingos shows. The Vihar Lake, the flora-fauna in…

‘A happy city is where joy is not a commodity’

Rapid and unplanned urbanisation has hardly left open spaces for children. The carefree running, the cycling without the fear of speeding vehicles, the freedom that open spaces offered are now stories told by the older generations. The way cities are…

‘Deep flaw or blind spot in Indian environmentalism is that it largely ignored cities’

Cities built at the cost of ecology are becoming uninhabitable and unsustainable. Between the Gandhian perspective which is hostile to city life and the other that cities are engines of growth, both flawed, cities face ecological crisis and issues of…

Reading Guha: India’s environmental history that’s “partially usable”

India’s environmentalism did not start with the Chipko movement, says historian and author Ramachandra Guha. His latest book Speaking with Nature – The Origins of Indian Environmentalism maps three waves of environmentalism in India and focuses more on the forgotten,…

Countries set green examples in buildings

The effects of climate change are visible in all cities across the world. Tackling this through green solutions means buildings that integrate energy-efficient measures to improve energy performance, sustainable water management, and recycle and minimise waste. That more countries and…

Guwahati is fast axing its trees and undermining its future

Among Assam’s largest cities, Guwahati has turned into a huge construction site with a dwindling tree cover. The city lost 12 square kilometres of trees between 2001 and 2023 which is the size of London Heathrow airport while Assam’s forest…

‘Cutting trees has become as routine as buying stamps at post office’

Call them tree warriors or green crusaders. They are fighting the tough battle in cities across India – Dehradun, Delhi, Bengaluru – to preserve and protect trees both for their intrinsic value and to combat the effects of climate change.…