Development Plan - Question of Cities

Mumbai’s healthcare system shows the public, not the private, matters

With its tertiary and secondary hospitals hardly functioning, the pressure falls on the large public hospitals, most of which are located in south and central Mumbai. These also see a large influx of patients from outside Mumbai. As the presence…

The shrinking public open spaces of Mumbai

There are striking examples of vanishing commons. Open spaces such as maidans, parks, and promenades are claimed by governments for so-called public projects. Mumbai’s open space network has been disrupted prioritising engineering over ecology. Every city needs its commons. But…

‘Private interests accumulate land through force or power. That’s a big problem’

If governments want equitable, sustainable and inclusive cities, they should understand how policies and planning can influence land use and the creation of the ‘public realm’, especially for the marginalised. “Governments seem to valorise the idea of private interests because…

‘In India, play is a luxury…parents and teachers should understand its importance’

As cities expand, the number of open spaces and in-between spaces for play are shrinking. Playgrounds and gardens are an afterthought. Mumbai has seen creative ways to resist the erasure of spontaneous play emerge despite the incessant construction, congestion, and…

Play spaces for adolescents: The missing link in our cities

Urban spaces are currently spaces of adult hegemony designed for their work and mobility. Even when play spaces are built, they are for children but adolescents – at the threshold of childhood and adulthood – are usually left out. India…

How urban plans can, and must, value trees

Urban development plans and master plans have traditionally seen trees as impediments to ‘development’, rarely acknowledging them as natural wealth of cities and hardly making provisions to protect and preserve them. This will no longer work in the time of…

Tag: Development Plan

Mumbai’s healthcare system shows the public, not the private, matters

The shrinking public open spaces of Mumbai

‘Private interests accumulate land through force or power. That’s a big problem’

‘In India, play is a luxury…parents and teachers should understand its importance’

Play spaces for adolescents: The missing link in our cities

How urban plans can, and must, value trees

Climate disasters are connected to the way our cities are planned

Insider accounts of precarious lives in a slum and a resettlement colony

Mumbai: The way forward from slums to affordable housing