Climate Change - Question of Cities

How development control regulations erode the idea of cities

City-making has come to epitomise exclusion and commodification where open spaces and natural environment have been sacrificed to benefit private interests. City planning is given the short shrift and the Development Control Regulations (DCR) approach is used by politicians and…

‘We get flash floods but we have never experienced this type of flood’

Assam, and its neighbouring region, was lashed by the harshest monsoon rain in years, resulting in massive inundation and floods across 32 of the state’s 36 districts, displacing lakhs of people and destroying crops and property. Weeks later, people continued…

Assam floods: Infrastructure-led ruptures in the ecological landscape

The extreme rain and floods in Assam last month hit international headlines. As stories of loss and destruction tug at heart and the state continues to reel under the aftermath of the calamity, various causes are being put forth to…

Climate migrants: From cyclone-hit Sundarbans to Kolkata’s miserable shanties

The real struggle for those battered by cyclones starts after the calamity when they are forced to leave behind their home, land and fields as villagers living around the Sundarbans have had to do. As Climate Change led to more…

Techno-fixes for flood risk mitigation in Mumbai: An ecological critique

Monsoon has displayed its fury this year once again, spreading havoc and flooding cities such as Guwahati, Nashik, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Hyderabad. The grim situation has put the focus on systemic and structural causes, and on how we build our…

If Aarey shrinks, Mumbai will gasp for breath

Aarey Colony, also called Aarey Forest, at the northern end of the city has long functioned as its lungs, providing the city with fresh air and a vast expanse of green amidst grey concrete. A portion of Aarey was finally…

To build sustainable cities, keep nature and people at centre of urban planning

The rampant destruction of natural areas and biodiversity is significantly contributing to frequent and intense climate events threatening not only our health, but our very survival. The loss of life and property owing to extreme weather events bring forth responses…

Walk through Mumbai’s oldest dock, meet its fishing community

At the 147-year-old Sassoon Dock, at the very tip of Mumbai, the organised mess and noisy routine involves thousands of people who live off fishing activities. The morning drill, from 3.30am to 10am, starts from catching fish to selling and…

The right to the Indian city: The need to spatialise human rights in urban India

Informal settlements, despite containing a majority of the people, are treated as an aberration whose marginality is portrayed as ‘the city within the city’. The poor survive in an Indian city because the reach of master planning is weak, granting them space…

Brace for impact: Brutal heat due to unsustainable urbanisation will wallop the urban poor

Extreme weather events including intense heat waves, among other manifestations of Climate Change, were flagged off years ago in the reports by scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The intensity and frequency of heat waves increased this…