Urban planning - Question of Cities

‘Deep flaw or blind spot in Indian environmentalism is that it largely ignored cities’

Cities built at the cost of ecology are becoming uninhabitable and unsustainable. Between the Gandhian perspective which is hostile to city life and the other that cities are engines of growth, both flawed, cities face ecological crisis and issues of…

‘Vulnerability mapping directly improves lives of those most affected by climate risks’

The devastation from floods, droughts and heat across India every year has heightened the need for effective strategies and adaptive measures. The report, Mapping India’s Climate Vulnerability: A District Level Assessment, by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, analyses…

Three trends in cities we will closely watch in 2025

As curtains come down on 2024, the hottest year on record, building sustainable cities has become more urgent than ever. What kinds of cities are being built across India as urbanisation picks up pace? What core ideas inform urban development?…

The making and unmaking of Goa’s unique alternative urbanity

Back in 1986, Goa had put in place land zoning plans which ensured that its agricultural lands, ecological systems, and historical sites had protective cover from the fast-expanding land market. It gave the state an alternative urbanity. However, this will…

The spectacular failure of planning cities, as we know it. What next?

The widely-prevalent conventional urban planning framework in India, focused on land use, zoning and building regulations, is out of step with the demands of the time we live in, especially climate change events. Development Plans or Master Plans approach natural…

Redesign: The key to the Gordian knot of Mumbai’s congested and unsafe places

The city’s landscape has been constantly changing but what has remained consistent over the years is the chaotic cluttered mess outside its suburban railway stations used by millions of people every day and unsafe lanes at key locations. Redesigning some…

We, the people, must fight to save our cities and ourselves

Governments and authorities are the custodians of our ecology but, in the past few years, people have resisted and protested actions of their governments to save trees, forests, hills, rivers, creeks, seafronts, wetlands and more. While the prevailing urban development…

To record and remember changing cities is to resist their erasure

As cities transform with breath-taking speed and the shiny new replaces the fading old, resisting the physical change is impractical and untenable. Resistance then takes other forms such as documenting, recording, collecting stories, organising walks, logging the everyday life, and…

Self-policing for safety: Memoir of a weary woman

This personal essay explores, with anecdotes and examples, how young girls are conditioned into behaving a certain way, within frameworks set in homes and schools, to remain safe at all times. This then influences the way women hold themselves in…

How cities are changing from ‘patriarchy in stone, brick’

Innumerable studies have revealed alarming data on the rising crimes against women in public spaces. Aiming to make the outdoors safer, a few cities across the world have taken deliberate steps and adopted ideas to make women feel safe and…