Sustainability - Question of Cities

Trees and urban forests under attack in cities – and what to do about it

This summer saw temperatures across the country, especially in northern states, soar well beyond 40 degrees Celsius. Even cooler hill stations sweated through summer. The searing intense heat has a message – do not cut trees. But, unfortunately, lakhs of…

1.5 degrees Celsius lifestyles and the city

For cities, addressing the lifestyle choices of their inhabitants is not merely a luxury but an imperative. By framing 1.5C lifestyles in…

Blue green infrastructure: The commodification of nature

As climate change-related extreme events such as heat waves and unprecedented flooding become common, the concept of blue green infrastructure is catching…

Urgent heat conversations and actions we need in India to cool down cities

As millions of Indians struggle through an relentlessly scorching summer with never-before high temperatures, Heat Action Plans have become critical to people’s…

A new urban agenda for India built on reflections of the last decade

Since 2014, cities have found a special focus in the government’s policies and programmes. But how did some prominent programmes like Swachh…

Green talk: Included in party manifestos, excluded from campaigns

As slugfests and fiery speeches take centre stage throughout the campaign in the 2024 general elections, environmental issues and climate change which…

Smart Cities Mission: Reflections on gains and losses, nine years on

Most of the 100 cities chosen under the Smart Cities Mission, launched with great fanfare in 2015, have spent or allocated funds…

M-East Mumbai: Votes don’t improve lives but they vote anyway

The cramped, polluted and neglected civic ward in the city, which houses migrant workers and project-affected persons displaced from other parts of Mumbai, shows the failure of politics to respond to people’s needs, in a sense. The triad of roti-naukri-makaan…

Reading the Supreme Court judgment on the Right to Life and climate change

In a judgment that flew below the radar, the Supreme Court of India brought the impact of climate change into sharp focus.…

Mumbai’s urban forests are missing and unrecognised: Report

Around 1,400 hectares of urban forest across 18 locations in Mumbai, from Sion and Trombay to Powai and Goregaon, is almost forgotten…