Environment - Question of Cities

Mumbai’s unquenchable thirst: Overestimating water demand to justify dams

Water to the city has been supplied from seven dams, constructed in the neighbouring rural and forested areas, at great socio-economic and environmental costs. More such capital-intensive projects are being planned. But does Mumbai really need these projects? The answer,…

Saving Rani Bagh with women’s power and collaborative campaigns

Women from diverse backgrounds joined hands to save one of Mumbai’s oldest green spaces and botanical garden, Rani Bagh, from construction. Their painstaking and tedious paperwork, awareness campaigns, audio-visual presentations, RTI applications, and archival information gradually ensured that the Brihanmumbai…

Mahalaxmi Racecourse: A public open expanse, threatened by a theme park

One of Mumbai’s largest and most recognisable open spaces, the Mahalaxmi Racecourse, attracts hundreds of joggers, walkers, sportspersons, and yoga enthusiasts among others. The theme park planned here will likely shrink the precious open space, replace the green with some…

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…

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…

Sustainable drainage essential to solve Guwahati’s flood crisis

Assam is highly vulnerable to climate change and its largest city, Guwahati, bears the brunt of it. The change in rainfall pattern has made Guwahati flood-prone over the years but the city is unprepared to deal with the natural calamity.…

Wake-up call: India’s air pollution-related deaths among highest in the world

As winter sets in, the air quality in most cities in India turns critically poor. Triggered by climate change, the situation worsens every year, impacting people’s physical and mental health. More than 2.3 million Indians died prematurely due to pollution…

The silent epidemic: Air pollution infiltrates our lungs, our lives, say people

No one has been spared by the effects of air pollution. A nagging cough, throat infection, lung ailments, breathing problems, and tiredness have become common. Doctors have been seeing a rise in patients with the same symptoms and yet cities…

When celebrations also mean bad air, deafening noise and waste mounds

The glitter and bonhomie of festivals in India bring in unwanted and unhealthy guests in the form of pollution and waste. Every year, in the north of India especially, the winter air which is laden with emissions and is hazardous…