Amenities - Question of Cities

Shade as infrastructure for Hyderabad’s vendors in scorching sun

The city’s tree cover has shrunk, taking away the natural shade that would have provided some respite for thousands of vendors forced to work in the harsh summer sun. As vendors focus on finding spots on roads and pavements, severe…

Built form worsens unbearable heat in Mumbai’s SRA buildings

Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) buildings in Mumbai’s Goregaon East record higher temperature than surrounding areas because of the built form – tiny…

Bengaluru re-imagined through its incredible water network

Bengaluru’s water woes are not new but, this letter to the city by a hardcore Bengalurean and water expert, is a tender…

Lighting, shadows, and cognitive dissonance in
urban spaces

This essay presents an emerging concern about how urban environments should be understood and designed in terms of lighting, and shows how…

Mumbai’s healthcare system shows the public, not the private, matters

With its tertiary and secondary hospitals hardly functioning, the pressure falls on the large public hospitals, most of which are located in…

Why governments promote private profiteering and undermine public goods

The increasing trend towards privatising public goods and services under the pretext of making them cost-efficient has, in fact, come at a…

‘The ‘two Indias’ in healthcare – can we have a new normal?’

With the under-funded and overwhelmed public healthcare system alongside the private which over-treats in pursuit of profits, India has a peculiar combination,…

Play spaces for adolescents: The missing link in our cities

Urban spaces are currently spaces of adult hegemony designed for their work and mobility. Even when play spaces are built, they are for children but adolescents – at the threshold of childhood and adulthood – are usually left out. India…

Placing platform workers in the city’s urban imagination

The city is the place of work for millions of platform or gig workers in India who number an astounding 7.7 million…

At Hyderabad airport, drivers agitate for the bare minimum

It took nearly ten years, collectivisation, and dogged unionising for the drivers of aggregator taxis at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to…