urban space - Question of Cities

Mumbai’s contested land use and the jostle for space

The pattern of land use in India’s commercial capital has meant that it is among the most dense cities in Asia. This is Mumbai’s reality – visual reality with tall towers packed so closely that breeze does not move between…

Bansilalpet stepwell restoration: Significant placemaking but questions remain

A six-level stepwell, built in the 1930s, was buried under waste and debris in a congested area in Secunderabad for years. Many residents did not know about the historical structure. The restoration work began in 2021 and it was inaugurated…

The rural in the urban: Warli women of Mumbai’s National Park

The women of the Warli tribe living in the protected forest, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, are a unique lot negotiating their pastoral lives with the demands of India’s commercial capital. They have seen their lives and livelihoods…

The right to the Indian city: The need to spatialise human rights in urban India

Informal settlements, despite containing a majority of the people, are treated as an aberration whose marginality is portrayed as ‘the city within the city’. The poor survive in an Indian city because the reach of master planning is weak, granting them space…

Cities, amenities, people: How they stack up

Everyone who lives in a city has the right to the city. It’s a no-brainer but rarely does a city’s infrastructure and amenities become accessible to all, even rarer is people’s participation in city-making. Why do so many in our…