A series of articles examining the impact and lessons of 2020 and looking ahead to the journey in 2021
It's almost like a relief to be able to say goodbye to 2020, but how different will 2021 be?
We have come to the end of probably the most tumultuous year in the collective history of our cities, a year that has changed almost everything as we knew it once.
In healthcare, education and markets, in formal and informal spheres of work, in our festivities as well as the humdrum existence of regular life, COVID has left an impression that cannot be obliterated ever. Much as we want this pandemic to end, neither can we completely erase its impact, nor should we forget the lessons that this period holds for the future.
As we look forward to new beginnings, we look at how different domains have been transformed by the 2020 experience and the new realities we may expect in our cities and our lives.
Citizens are reclaiming their parks with LYPMumbai, an initiative that encourages the better use of open spaces through art and music.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot/ With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot. These words of the Joni Mitchell classic Big Yellow Taxi filled a corner of Pushpa Narsee Park in Juhu on a bright Sunday morning in March. Though the song was released in 1970, the words resonate in 2026, especially for this park. There have been several attempts to convert Pushpa Narsee Park into a parking lot, only foiled by the vigilance of the locals, says Anca Florescu Abraham, co-founder of Love Your Parks Mumbai (LYPMumbai). This initiative advocates for the…
The WRD's flood fix puts Uthandi at risk. Residents flag pollution, CRZ violations, aquifer damage, and threats to nearby fishing livelihoods.
The Straight-cut Flood Escape Channel project at Uthandi in the southern part of Chennai along East Coast Road was conceived by the Water Resources Department (WRD) as a flood mitigation measure, with a budget of ₹91 crores. The plan proposes a cut-and-cover drain through the VGP Layout in Uthandi, to connect the Buckingham Canal to the Bay of Bengal. The drain is supposedly meant to divert excess floodwater in Buckingham Canal during heavy rains, when areas around the Pallikaranai marsh and Okkiyam Madavu face flooding. Work on the project started immediately after its inauguration in August 2025. However, residents of…