Urbanisation - Question of Cities

Informal workers brave cruel heat for a few rupees a day

Outdoor and informal workers such as construction labourers, delivery drivers, hawkers and vendors are forced to brave the punishing heat to earn a few rupees a day. Their working conditions are deplorable, living conditions no better. As they bear the…

Heat-proofing cities: Green solutions that helped to cool them

As cities around the world warm up faster and heat waves become more frequent and intense, cities have gone beyond red heat alerts and action plans to cool themselves. Some of the on-ground initiatives to beat the heat range from…

Portraits of Bengaluru neighbourhoods struggling without water

The modest and low-income neighbourhood of Krishnaiyyanapalya in East Bengaluru exemplifies domestic life in the face of acute water shortage. With their one-hour-a-day supply from the Cauvery ebbing this year, residents are forced to rely on tankers and tractors. This…

For five pots of water a day, women of Vyasarpadi mortgage lives and health

Chennai’s water distribution network is lopsided. Its northern areas like Vyasarpadi, with poorer and backward caste households, are neglected. Here, women’s daily gruelling routines revolve around water. Older women, young working women, college and school-going girls queue up for water…

The best of QoC 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, it is customary to compile year-end lists of the work done throughout the year. At Question of Cities, we join the bandwagon not as an exercise in self-congratulation but more as a reflection of…

Festivals in cities, beyond celebrations, shape public place and identity

Cities are theatres of celebration of different kinds of festivals, from the traditional and religious to the contemporary and cultural. People congregate and celebrate, but the story of festivals in cities does not end there. Festivals help to shape –…

How cities subtly changed the flavour of festivals

People in cities celebrate their traditional cultural festivals - with a difference. As city living becomes more demanding and public spaces shrink, festival rituals are adapted. Festival celebrations, altered to suit modern urban living but retaining some rituals that people…

The neoliberal state and the environmental cost of Neopolis

That Hyderabad’s urban planning trajectory is informed by neoliberal logic is evident in the new sub-city Neopolis. This approach sees the urban environment purely through an economic lens which severely affects the natural infrastructure of the place. Despite the government’s…

As climate-related ailments worsen, Dhaka hospitals fail to serve the poor

Bangladesh recorded its worst outbreak of dengue this year, highlighting its crumbling and inadequate healthcare. The poor have been the worst affected – they live in areas with compromised sanitation which worsens the vector-borne disease but the cost of treatment…

Rethink Guwahati’s building bye-laws for net-zero carbon future

As Assam’s largest city Guwahati urbanises rapidly, emissions have increased. Rising temperatures and extreme rainfall triggered by Climate Change have worsened the scenario, underscoring the need for energy-saving practices and making greener buildings. The approach to construction and the materials…