Sustainability - Question of Cities

Reading cities through stories, writers and lenses

Cities unravel layers in their books through trivia, history, lived experiences captured in books, monographs and other pages. The written word matters even in this digitally-driven age and books bring alive people of a city, its streets and neighbourhoods, hidden…

Community filmmakers tell lesser-known stories of
their cities

Cities are often spoken about through master plans, metrics and futures imagined top down. Often lost in these are how people live…

How changing climate and cities influence people’s lives

When the world is confronted with climate change and its intensifying effects, studies and research give concrete shape to the impacts. International…

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.…

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 Uttarakhand have slipped from villagers to land speculation and construction in 20 years. Patchwork code enforcement, caste inequity,…

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…