Built Environment - Question of Cities

From public good to private control: Land governance and urban exclusion in India

As India’s urban governance changed from mixed-use neighbourhoods to gated colonies, cities transformed reshaping land into a tradable asset disconnected from its social utility. Land is reserved for commercial use and high-income housing while informal neighbourhoods are missing from plans.…

Lessons for Mumbai from New York’s social housing of 1930s

Cities around the world have adopted social housing as an inalienable aspect of city-making. Understanding it as an ecology within cities will…

Overturning a burden: Privatisation of land and city building

From the ideological framework that determines how land is acquired, held and distributed to people’s access to housing and amenities, land use…

Reforms in Hyderabad: From World Bank to land bank

The erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh was the World Bank’s first sub-national loan experiment. The eventual privatisation of the public sector and…

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…

Public housing calls for governments to regulate land prices

High land prices in our cities, which do not follow the supply-demand equation, determine how land is used, what kind of houses…

‘Private interests accumulate land through force or power. That’s a big problem’

If governments want equitable, sustainable and inclusive cities, they should understand how policies and planning can influence land use and the creation…

Mumbai’s BEST is being killed, political will to revive it is absent

Should the city have robust, reliable and affordable public bus transport or not is the question facing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Maharashtra government. The approximately 3.3 million commuters of BEST buses would vote a resounding yes, if they…

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…

Shab-Parak: Night fliers of Delhi bus that’s a community

As India’s national capital sleeps, night buses keep the city connected and their commuters find the true meaning of accessible and affordable…