Podcast Trailer: Lessons from Bengaluru

Bengaluru is swamped in problems ranging from waste management to climate change, but the city also has a unique, active citizenry that tries to solve these problems. In this podcast series, we look at four major issues in the city and how citizen activists have responded.

‘Lessons from Bengaluru’ is a special, limited-series podcast from Citizen Matters, exploring four different issues that Bengaluru faces and what citizens have been doing about those.

The city, in the last few decades, has seen a new phenomenon in urban governance. Its rapid development has rendered existing modes of governance ineffective, and numerous citizen groups have emerged, aiming to bridge this gap. Bengaluru is a unique city where such citizen groups are more active and have engaged with matters ranging from misallocation of funds to environmental causes. This, in turn, has engaged a larger number of people in policy discourse. 

In this podcast series, ‘DD’ Grace Madigan, an intern with Citizen Matters from June – October 2019, explores four pressing issues the city is facing, and talks to citizens who are actively working to solve these. These explorations have presented us ‘Lessons from Bengaluru’, which cities around the world can learn from.

Find the full podcast series here.

Find us on SoundCloud | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for updates.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Stormwater, floods and the city: Inside a citizen audit of Bengaluru’s K200 drain

A walk along Bengaluru’s K200 stormwater drain shows shifting conditions every 100 metres, revealing flooding risks and repair possibilities.

I have been following the K100 stormwater drain (SWD) project for some time and had loosely worked on it in the past. Once neglected, this stretch from Majestic to Bellandur Lake has gradually been transformed into a critical part of the neighbourhood’s civic infrastructure. As I have a theoretical understanding of what Bengaluru’s stormwater drains are intended to do and why they matter, a citizen audit of the K200 SWD held on January 31st felt like a chance to move beyond theory and see things up close. The proposed audit focused on a stretch of the K200 running from HSR…

Similar Story

India Civic Summit 2026: Citizens, experts, civic leaders unite to drive urban change

In Chennai, diverse groups and civic communities across India participated in workshops and discussions on citizen-led action to transform our cities.

Better societies lead to better economies, said Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services for Tamil Nadu. He was speaking at the India Civic Summit 2026, organised by Oorvani Foundation at IITM Research Park in Chennai, on February 14th.  "The notion of a life with dignity should be the basis for social equity," he said, adding that citizens must not have to struggle for basic needs like drinking water, toilets, or hygiene. Rapid urbanisation has led to a model where announcements happen, but planning takes time, resulting in large-scale projects where execution may suffer, the minister said.…