Land Use | Agricultural, industrial, residential and recreational land in urban areas

Vending zones add to Bhubaneswar’s beauty, but many wait for kiosks

Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar went on an overdrive to look spic and span for the ongoing International World Cup hockey tournament. As part of this, hawkers were removed from their traditional vending spaces and shifted to dedicated zones. Organising hawkers in…

Placemaking can reimagine public places, connect people with nature, and strengthen people’s movements

In cities, under-utilised or undesirable places are neglected or captured by private interests but placemaking can convert them into vibrant, accessible, and…

Bansilalpet stepwell restoration: Significant placemaking but questions remain

A six-level stepwell, built in the 1930s, was buried under waste and debris in a congested area in Secunderabad for years. Many…

How cities enlivened places to make them inclusive and comfortable

Public spaces are for the people. This is often overlooked and the spaces are either neglected or languish as they are misused.…

The myths of ‘public trust’ and ‘affordable housing’ in speculative Mumbai

The development story of Mumbai rests on the routine breach of the ‘public trust doctrine’ which benefits the elite. The Maharashtra government,…

Nivara Hakk then and now: The struggle for housing rights

As slums were demolished in massive operations and slum dwellers summarily evicted, often out of Bombay (as it was called till 1995),…

“Mumbai’s housing laws maximise real estate potential, ignore people’s health”

The regulations are rooted in the building codes that were drawn up for the city after the plague of 1896 but, over…

(de)Coding Mumbai: A study of the city’s housing regulations

Architect Sameep Padora and his team “decoded” Mumbai by extensively studying houses and residents through Development Plans. The 18 case studies, spanning across a timeline of 1896 to the present, were part of his exhibition, (de)Coding Mumbai, and revealed the…