Urban Development - Question of Cities

Overturning a burden: Privatisation of land and city building

From the ideological framework that determines how land is acquired, held and distributed to people’s access to housing and amenities, land use is the most critical aspect of urbanisation. It is the motherboard on which urbanisation unfolds. After the liberalisation…

Public housing calls for governments to regulate land prices

High land prices in our cities, which do not follow the supply-demand equation, determine how land is used, what kind of houses are built and in which areas, what amenities and infrastructure are accessible to whom. There’s no way that…

‘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…

How children co-created 250 metres of happiness around schools

What started out as a project in one Delhi school to make the area safer for children and meaningful for the community, with children co-designing and reimagining it, has spread to ten schools, touching thousands of young ones. Making children…

Dehradun model of development is unsustainable, ecologically hazardous

Once a quaint hill station nestled in the Himalayas, cradling many public institutions of learning and research, Dehradun has seen rapid growth and construction. Studies show that the town’s built-up area increased, almost doubled, in the past 20-odd years while…

Tag: Urban Development

Overturning a burden: Privatisation of land and city building

Public housing calls for governments to regulate land prices

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

How children co-created 250 metres of happiness around schools

Dehradun model of development is unsustainable, ecologically hazardous

For sustainable cities, begin by ‘seeing’ the unseen people in them

Scorching heat waves demand a review of Ahmedabad’s urban development model

‘This may be the coolest summer. Be ready for
51 degrees C’