As cities are developed and redeveloped across India, it is clear that they suffer from several afflictions and raise questions. Why are they super-luxurious homes to a few while millions are forced to live without basic comforts and dignity? What explains the continuing severed relationship between nature and economy? How should the climate crisis be addressed? How do we build just and sustainable cities? What does private capital owe a city? How can city-making and governance be truly democratised? How should gender get represented? What cultures do cities hold and erase? What movements and collectives shape our cities?  

These and similar questions have difficult, complex, and dynamic answers. They can – and must – spark debates and conversations. Some of the answers can be transformative too.

Our journal Question of Cities, foregrounds such questions and seeks the answers.

Question of Cities is focused on cities at the intersection of ecology and social equity. We believe that the two are intrinsically entwined but urbanisation has become synonymous with the ‘build more’ syndrome that governments and ruling classes aggressively pursue, leading to urban life being determined by the market and its profit-orientation. This warped and contentious approach comes at a great cost to nature and people. Cities are vulnerable to ecological crises. Stark inequalities of amenities and wealth challenge people’s Right to the City. People’s endurance is then romanticised as the city’s spirit or resilience.

At Question of Cities, we believe it is possible to plan and make better cities, nature-led cities, that offer social and spatial justice to all. There must be a re-imagination or re-envisioning of cities so that they are ecologically and socially sustainable. We explore cities and city-making through analysis, thought papers, reported stories, research and study projects, questioning authorities, interrogating assumptions, and intervening where we can.

Question of Cities is supported by the Participatory Urban Design and Development Initiative (PUDDI), a trust registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and co-founded by the late Darryl D’Monte. Its current chairperson, architect and activist PK Das, and senior journalist and media educator Smruti Koppikar, are respectively Founder and Founder Editor of Question of Cities. Launched in 2022, the online journal’s core team has Shobha Surin, Nikeita Saraf, Ankita Dhar Karmakar, and Jay Vyas, and counts stalwarts like Dr Indra Munshi, Rafeeq Elias and Gurbir Singh as advisors.