Built Environment - Question of Cities

Reading Jane Jacobs today: Why her urban renewal agenda is still relevant

The doyenne of urban activism, Jane Jacobs, urged professional urban planners to understand that a city is more than its economy and its structures, that it is made by the everyday lives and interactions of people. Through her writings and…

Jane Jacobs’ focus on people and everyday lives in cities resonates in India

Jane Jacobs, the American journalist and barefoot urban planner of the 1960s, was often dismissed as a ‘housewife’ and her creatively built…

Jane Walks: A global movement to connect with cities and communities

How well do you know your city and its neighbourhood? Have you explored its layers of history and observed the nooks and…

Jane Jacobs for generations: Protester, urban thinker, people’s planner

Streets and sidewalks – often regarded as mundane — have immense significance in Jane Jacobs’ urban design vocabulary. Living and working in…

The life and times of Jane Jacobs, the urban activist who revitalised city planning

Jane Jacobs and her community-based ideas of urban planning snowballed into a movement as her influence spread. The urbanist and activist single-handedly…

Heat Action Plans: The way ahead as India sizzles with higher temperatures

As cities in India brace for a harsh summer once again, the importance of Heat Action Plans has been underlined. A good…

The story of India’s scorched cities in four maps

Why India’s cities need to prepare and implement Heat Action Plans is evident in the maps which clearly show the rising frequency…

Urban festivals: Beyond art are difficult dialogues and political mobilisation

Cities have had a romance with urban art and culture festivals for centuries. Festivals showcase their most fetching aspects, display local talent through exhibits and the performing arts, and, in the process claim – or reclaim – public spaces in…

‘Urban art festivals are event-centric. They can be visceral provocations and part of a larger ongoing public discourse’

It was the festival time in Mumbai with a number of them making the most of the city’s short-lived winter. Each neighbourhood…

Urban landscape changes as stories, talents emerge from Mumbai’s lesser-known public spaces

The Govandi Arts Festival was an event of many firsts. It brought together communities and people who shared one platform, but many…