Kenya’s devastating floods expose decades of poor urban planning and bad land management
The impact of floods has become more severe due to land degradation, human pressures & over-extraction of groundwater
Commons: Local bodies must take lead
There is a pronounced lacuna in the governance and regulations of urban commons
Simply put: Land acquisition
Desertification in India: Mining monstrous for Goa, but urbanisation digs a bigger hole
Lack of planning has potential of becoming the biggest degrader of land in Goa
Delhi rain, waterlogging puts the spotlight on urban flooding
Urban flooding has become increasingly frequent in India’s major cities
High time to move away from the master plan approach for Indian cities
Initiatives such as GIS-based master & development plans for 500 AMRUT cities are encouraging but we are still far behind
Urbanisation to cause huge loss of prime farmland: UNCCD
Between 1.6 and 3.3 million hectares of such land could be lost by 2030, estimates the United Nations Convention to combat Desertification report
Developed, urbanised districts have high HIV prevalence: Study
The research finds that there’s high prevalence of HIV in 63 districts in south and north-east regions of the country
Road to cool cities: Codes based on unique ‘urban form’ can be helpful
Urban India is a heat trap, but road orientation, building materials and zone-specific master plans can drastically enhance thermal comfort
The problem with India’s spatial planning: Experts write to PM
Land use planning receives little attention in India, leading to urban sprawl, overcrowding, pollution, traffic congestion, urban flooding
Urban commons: Almost ignored in city planning
Commons act as a nutritional buffer, safety net for migrants; middle-class, wealthy residents no less dependent
Healthy diet means a healthy planet? Not always, says study
Massive amounts of agricultural resources are mobilised to support current diet patterns, including non-renewable energy, fertiliser nutrients, …
Megaprojects in Addis Ababa raise questions about spatial justice
A unique characteristic of Addis Ababa’s urban development is that successive Ethiopian regimes have used new urban projects as …
It rained hard in Delhi; what if all that water did not go waste
The volume of rainwater generated in the past week was almost 13 per cent of the demand for water in Delhi, estimated at 2,765 million litres per …
An every monsoon affair: How to tackle urban flooding
Urbanisation is inevitable as is climate change; the need is for a multi-pronged approach
Urban form and travel to completely change after COVID-19
Central business districts will decline while larger apartments will be in demand as more firms consider making employees work-from-home, a …
What COVID-19 can mean for SDG-11, sustainable cities and communities in India
As urban vulnerabilities are amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of sustainable cities in Sustainable Development Goals needs to be …
COVID-19: How city densities can be managed for post-pandemic recovery
Density seems to be more of a scapegoat than the cause of increasing virus transmission at the city level
