Urban planning - Question of Cities

Reimagining Mumbai: From flood-prone to sponge city

Over the years, reckless development has destroyed the city’s ecology, increasing the risk of floods. Mumbai’s lakes, marshes, and salt pans used to absorb monsoon rains and mitigate floods but they have been built upon or covered with concrete. As…

Climate disasters are connected to the way our cities are planned

Cities have completely ignored their natural areas. If mapped and made available on a public database, people can be empowered with the knowledge about them and can decide to protect them. Mapping a city’s ecology can radically change the way…

Trees and urban forests under attack in cities – and what to do about it

This summer saw temperatures across the country, especially in northern states, soar well beyond 40 degrees Celsius. Even cooler hill stations sweated through summer. The searing intense heat has a message – do not cut trees. But, unfortunately, lakhs of…

‘Move from crisis-oriented approach during heat waves to making cities heat-resilient’

Every year, discussions in the public and private domains on heat start around March-April and peak in May-June. These usually focus on short-term measures, a set of dos and don’ts for people, which are important but limited from a long-term…

From nature in cities to imagining cities in nature, for our future

Nature shapes and defines cities, but the prevailing model of city-making equates development with construction at the cost of ecology, purely for profit. This has led to a serious rupture in nature and segregation of nature from people. As the…

Sorry, but flyovers will never ease Guwahati’s traffic woes

The scourge of metropolitan cities – congested roads, rising motorised vehicles, growth in private transport – is now in Assam’s largest city too. Guwahati with its growing population and intricate network of smaller lanes connecting to major arterial roads, poses…

Walk the talk on public transport, invest with sound mathematics

Cities are all about space. Both private and public transport must be seen from this perspective. Private transport is uneconomical for cities, especially like Mumbai, because cars carry fewer people but occupy more comparative space than other modes like buses.…

New cities, old predicaments: Role of planning in climate mitigation

Urban planning and policies play a crucial role in the relationship between cities and the climate crisis. This is evident in the new ‘cities’ or sub-cities developed around Hyderabad, the latest being Neopolis, in the neoliberal framework where the state…

Climate justice eludes the displaced from Karachi’s Orangi Nala

After the heavy floods in 2020, the decision to remove illegal settlements along one of Karachi’s streams, Orangi Nala, to make way for water was a double blow to the residents. Three years later, they await justice. With climate-related catastrophes…

As floods ravage cities, the game changer is to plan with nature

Every monsoon, cities across India witness flood fury. Urban flooding, which is becoming more frequent and intense every year causing devastation and disrupting lives, has spawned mitigation measures. They are essential but are they enough? As Climate Change makes its…