Climate Change - Question of Cities

For five pots of water a day, women of Vyasarpadi mortgage lives and health

Chennai’s water distribution network is lopsided. Its northern areas like Vyasarpadi, with poorer and backward caste households, are neglected. Here, women’s daily gruelling routines revolve around water. Older women, young working women, college and school-going girls queue up for water…

Delhi’s buses hold the key to better public transport and climate action

Between 1981 and 2021, motor vehicles in Delhi increased by a staggering 21 times, showing people’s shift away from public transport. This has contributed to the annual CO2 emissions of 69.4 million tonnes, equal to the combined emissions of Hyderabad,…

Sorry, but flyovers will never ease Guwahati’s traffic woes

The scourge of metropolitan cities – congested roads, rising motorised vehicles, growth in private transport – is now in Assam’s largest city too. Guwahati with its growing population and intricate network of smaller lanes connecting to major arterial roads, poses…

‘Move people back into trains and buses, it’s affordable and it’s climate action’

As cities in India see a rise in private transport, the modal share of public transport has declined. This varies from city to city but nowhere is it more stark than in Mumbai which was once famed for its accessible…

Social well-being through open space planning: The Navi Mumbai case study

The new city on a vast greenfield area across the Mumbai harbour was planned in the 1960-70s to decongest the increasingly-dense Mumbai. The master plan for Navi Mumbai, modelled on self-reliant inter-connected nodes, each with amenities for housing as well…

How open spaces impact the ecological health of cities

When urban development, largely understood to mean construction, gathers pace to accommodate more people and commerce, one of the first casualties is open spaces. It is easy to “let go” of open spaces in the name of ‘development’ but this…

Mapping neighbourhoods, one by one, to improve walkability

Except in a few select areas of the city, pavements in Mumbai are a poor apology for walking infrastructure and common space. Their design, accessibility and maintenance needs a close look – and an overhaul. This is despite more than…

India must lead the climate conversation on mitigation, with urgency

Climate change negotiations mean little unless India is prepared to commit to phasing out fossil fuels and evolve a clear framework on mitigation. The annual UN Conference of Parties this year, or COP28, included the phrase “transitioning away” from fossil…

Climate and health: Historic COP28 declaration but India has miles to go

Climate change has wreaked havoc with people’s health all over the world for decades but this theme got its due space at the annual climate summit, the UN Conference of Parties, only in December 2023. As climate impact intensifies and…

The best of QoC 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, it is customary to compile year-end lists of the work done throughout the year. At Question of Cities, we join the bandwagon not as an exercise in self-congratulation but more as a reflection of…