Climate Change | How climate change affects cities

A community of trees as a social network of greens

While a single tree, especially old and heritage ones like the khirni tree in Delhi or the Baobab in Mumbai’s Bandra, is priceless, a community of trees is what makes the urban green cover vibrant and self-sustaining. The roots of…

Walking for trees, for the love of trees, in Thiruvananthapuram

A botanist’s daughter and early tree activist tells the story of starting the Tree Walk to preserve the city’s green heritage. Alongside…

Tree warriors of Thane and Navi Mumbai on their toes

Activists and environmentalists in these cities, off the Mumbai harbour, have intensified their fight to save trees from being cut for construction…

Tree lessons from the world for sustainable cities

From the Library of Trees in Milan to the Master Plan for Barcelona’s trees 2017-2037 at the centre of local policies, from…

Three trends in cities we will closely watch in 2025

As curtains come down on 2024, the hottest year on record, building sustainable cities has become more urgent than ever. What kinds…

What enraged us and what gladdened us in 2024: An overview

When we look back at the year fast closing upon us all, there was not much to cheer about how our cities…

Move the air pollution needle to smaller and neglected cities

Conversations and policies on air pollution are mostly centred on Delhi and Mumbai but other cities and towns have been facing toxic…

Can India’s National Clean Air Programme ensure good air and environmental justice?

The ambitious National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), in its framework and practice, missed the idea of people’s participation or ‘atmospheric citizenship’. Despite people’s awareness and lived experience of air pollution, their democratic participation in addressing the issue remains minimal. The…

Air pollution hits women informal workers hard and different

Like other aspects of cities, air pollution too affects women and men differently. Besides the usual respiratory ailments associated with poor quality…

City averages not good enough to measure air pollution

The average Air Quality Index shows only the central or typical value. It cannot be an accurate representation of air quality in…