Sustainability - Question of Cities

Lessons from independent India’s urbanisation: Plan cities based on sustainability and social equity

The first three planned cities in India were to be reflections of a modern and secular new nation, built form of the new democratic republic. Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, and Gandhinagar could have become the template of India’s urbanisation, strengthening their role…

How Gandhinagar transformed from ‘Gandhian’ city to GIFT City

More than a decade after Chandigarh was built, the planners of Gandhinagar had the opportunity to re-envision a city with different or…

How Bhubaneswar’s master plan was overtaken by unsustainable development

German-Jewish architect Otto Koenigsberger adopted a linear approach in building Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar in which the neighbourhood unit would be “an attempt…

Chandigarh: Seductive and orderly icon yet prophetic for democracy

In the newly-independent and modernising India, planning and building capital cities was the symbol of the nation. Chandigarh, planned by Le Corbusier,…

The city and its discontents: Chandigarh’s alternative story

Despite its proclaimed democratic and egalitarian foundation, Chandigarh has emerged as a city designed for neo-liberal India with its grid hierarchy, segregation…

Chalo Chalein: Learning from the urban ecology of Chandigarh

The planned and designed city is known for its abundant green spaces including parks spread across its many sectors, the greenbelt surrounding…

A compendium on Chandigarh and Le Corbusier

How Chandigarh came to be built is a well-known story, one that scholars and urban planners revisit every now and then. What…

COP27 failed to move the needle on climate action, poor will suffer as cities face climate disasters

Another climate summit is over and after hours of debates and discussions, it’s back to the ground to act on the pledges taken – and also to question whether climate action plans and policies are working. This year’s extreme climate…

Cities have to walk the central government’s talk on climate action

Besides the usual negotiations and national commitments, the recently-concluded Conference of Parties (COP27) in Egypt saw the launch of initiatives for cities…

‘Every rupee a city spends now on projects must have a climate lens’

If cities are at the forefront of mitigation and adaptation against Climate Change, then a network of cities forged across international borders…