Aarey Forest - Question of Cities

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 are still some treasures tucked away, as this photograph of flamingos shows. The Vihar Lake, the flora-fauna in…

A community of trees as a social network of greens

While a single tree, especially old and heritage ones like the khirni tree in Delhi or the Baobab in Mumbai’s Bandra, is priceless, a community of trees is what makes the urban green cover vibrant and self-sustaining. The roots of…

The green does not have to lose the battle to the grey in our cities

Large swathes of green cover are being cleared to make way for construction and infrastructure across cities in India. Trees are being cut, large canopies felled, old trees badly and unscientifically pruned. Urban plans and projects do not take trees…

By leaves we live: Finding Patrick Geddes in Mumbai’s Aarey

As trees are cut and trimmed in the lush green expanse of the Aarey forest for the Metro car shed paving the way for more construction, it marks yet another rupture in the relationship between people and nature which informed…