Mumbai Climate Action Plan - Question of Cities

Margins to mainstream: Ambojwadi shows the way to climate vulnerability mapping

Among the most marginalised of informal settlements in Mumbai, Ambojwadi is a picture of climate crisis where heat stress and flooding exacerbate the lack of basic amenities. The ground realities and lived experiences of residents here, as of millions in…

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…

Why Mumbai has failed to become flood-ready

The city of dreams is wading through a flood of problems. The rain photos are the same every year — people negotiating knee-deep water, traffic jams, stationary trains in submerged waters. The rainfall has intensified over the years, increasing the…

See the frayed symbiosis between Mumbai and its shrinking forests

The Adivasis living in Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Aarey Forest, given their deep relationship with the natural forest, struggle to make sense of the intruding city. Natural resources such as water are no longer theirs by right…

Sinking city: Climate risk, adaptation and urban governance in Mumbai

Mumbai’s geography makes it one of the cities most vulnerable to climate change. Mitigation and adaptation should be at the forefront of its governance but institutional actors have largely failed. Top-down policies and the Mumbai Climate Action Plan, a non-statutory…

Cycling in Mumbai: Frail and failed transit plans for the masses

The climate-friendly mode of transport has been sidelined in the city’s mobility infrastructure which backs large automobile-centric projects. The absence of dedicated cycling tracks makes roads unsafe for cyclists who are forced to share the right of way with speeding…

‘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…

Mumbai needs an Ecological Plan beyond the quick fixes for air pollution

Mumbai’s air quality has been deteriorating since November last year but hardly anyone thought it would soon get the dubious tag of the second-most polluted city in the world. Even the Arabian Sea, the city’s natural cleanser, could not help…

Sinking Mumbai: Have we woken up to the climate crisis and rising sea level?

Most parts of South Mumbai will be under water by 2050, drowning prominent landmarks and businesses, warned the chief of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation last year. There are contesting projections of just how much of the financial capital will be submerged…