The best of QoC 2023
As 2023 comes to a close, it is customary to compile year-end lists of the work done throughout the year. At Question of Cities, we join the bandwagon not as an exercise in self-congratulation but more as a reflection of…
The silent epidemic: Air pollution infiltrates our lungs, our lives, say people
No one has been spared by the effects of air pollution. A nagging cough, throat infection, lung ailments, breathing problems, and tiredness have become common. Doctors have been seeing a rise in patients with the same symptoms and yet cities…
Let’s breathe better air, said cities and fought air pollution
As people in cities across India struggle to breathe through the smog and haze that now characterise winter months, a number of solutions are discussed of which a few are adopted before the season changes and the air clears. There’s…
How cities subtly changed the flavour of festivals
People in cities celebrate their traditional cultural festivals - with a difference. As city living becomes more demanding and public spaces shrink, festival rituals are adapted. Festival celebrations, altered to suit modern urban living but retaining some rituals that people…
‘Cities are valued as places of commerce and not well-being, so trees are seen as dispensable’
In an age when cities are building more malls, parking lots, offices, schools and colleges, there seems to be hardly any room for trees. We have stopped valuing the natural resources and the ecosystem they support; as cities turn grey…
On streets of India, life unfolds through food, flowers, traditions and people
Urban India lives on its streets, it is said. This is not far from the truth of everyday life for millions in our cities, large or otherwise, where streets come to life at dawn and barely wind down at night,…
When you open a street up to people, they create magic
Children cycling and skating, a bunch of people practising yoga, an enthusiastic group dancing to Zumba beats, and the elderly strolling without being worried about speeding vehicles are some activities that a section of Mumbai’s residents participated in every Sunday…
Women move the narrative from victims to agents of change
At a time when extreme weather events are causing damage and destruction around the world, women are silently turning climate crusaders in their communities and leading mitigation or adaptation measures. Women are affected disproportionately more and in different ways than…
‘This year’s Yamuna floods are a trailer of bigger floods to hit Delhi’
New Delhi and parts of the National Capital region (NCR) struggled through a massive flood in July, the likes of which had not been seen in many decades, certainly since 1978. Yamuna River breached its previous highest flood level by…
Frequent flood hazards show the downside of urbanisation
The northern hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and the north-eastern state of Assam have been reeling under massive floods this monsoon. The large-scale destruction all around, and the loss of lives and property, exceeded what has come to…