Sustainability - Question of Cities

Influencing change in cities through urban design interventions

Design holds incredible power to influence change in cities, address climate crises, break the prevailing order of exclusion, and renew nature-people relationship. In the re-envisioning of our cities, urban design must dismantle many walls in which it now exists, including…

Rooftop cooling as design intervention to beat the heat
in Delhi’s Sultanpuri

The cramped homes, shared walls, asbestos or tin roofs, and narrow lanes make the indoors hotter than the outdoors in the Labour…

Delhi’s Biodiversity Parks show a face of urban ecological restoration

Delhi’s seven biodiversity parks offer a glimpse into how urban ecological renewal can take shape and why it is critical in the…

‘If the forest and animals exist, so will we. Otherwise,
it’s all over.’

In the fierce debates over protecting the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, its core area and buffer zone, the voices of the Adivasis,…

Fault lines beneath the Himalayan green: Caste, codes, disappearing wisdom

In Shimla, Kullu, Joshimath, disaster is less a surprise than the consequence of “development.” An estimated one lakh hectares of farmland in…

When high-rises occupy Mumbai’s salt pans, where will the water go?

Often forgotten as a crucial part of the city’s estuary formation, Mumbai’s salt pan lands are under threat. Nearly 256 acres were…

Who owns the city’s ecology? Lessons from Amita Baviskar’s Uncivil City

As Delhi’s air turns foul, reading or revisiting Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi is timely. It not only…

Kashmir’s rivers run dry: How mining threatens farmers
and ecosystems

Mining has stripped Kashmir’s riverbeds, eroding groundwater recharge, drying springs, shrinking trout habitats, and endangering the fragile Himalayan ecosystems. As extraction from rivers and streams continues unchecked, springs have dried and entire communities are losing dependable water. Sand and mineral…

‘Ecology is a city’s natural buffer. We don’t see its tipping point, its warning.’

As large swathes of natural ecology in our cities are sacrificed for development and construction, not only do we lose the trees…

The Himalayan disasters point to reckless construction, not merely climate change

As Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab struggle to recover from the widespread devastation this monsoon, it is futile to only…