Urban Planning | Development and design of urban landscapes

Overtourism has led to touristified destinations, unsustainable ecology, and angry locals

What was once pleasurable travel has turned into a massive global industry of tourism. While its place in the economy of a nation or city is well acknowledged, there are increasing instances, from across the world and within India, of…

Community-based tourism offers hope and sustainability in the Northeast

Away from the colour and clamour of mega festivals, in a few towns and villages of Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya, community-based tourism…

Why annoyed locals are pushing back on tourists
in India

The sheer number of tourists descending into Goa, clogging up roads, raising property prices, disrupting daily lives of locals has taken a…

International tourist hotspots, hit by protests, seek to reduce footfalls

Overtourism in some of the world's most popular destinations such as Barcelona, Mallorca, Venice, and Bali has led to a series of…

Community gardens redefine green, help combat heat

Collectively created and managed by communities in their neighbourhoods, community gardens, more than public or private parks, not only make the space…

The ‘build more’ way has failed. How to build better cities?

The construction industry, India’s second-largest contributor to the national GDP, rules the roost in cities, determining housing and other basic amenities, turning…

Seeing the unseen nature amidst Mumbai’s expanding concrete

A casualty of the build more approach is the erasure of precious natural wealth. Amidst the concrete maze of Mumbai-Navi Mumbai, there…

‘Better dust upon leaves than in the lungs of the citizens’

Patrick Geddes, the Scottish biologist, conservationist, sociologist and town planner who spent long years working in India, believed it was important that the natural assets of a town, and everyone’s fair share of them, are protected, nurtured, and integrated into…

Wayanad rebuilds but discounts people’s needs and
nature-based development

Nearly nine months after devastating landslides flattened large areas in the northern part of Wayanad district, the process of building back –…

How much has your city expanded its footprint of
built-up area?

In cities across India, people speak of how much more construction they see in familiar areas. But how much exactly has been…