CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Kodambakkam’s bustling food scene and shopping are experiences enjoyed by visitors. But long-time residents of the area have found that this has led to an increase in encroachments, affecting our quality of life. Since a large part of the locality has turned mixed-use, with commercial establishments coexisting with residences, encroachments have become a common issue in the area. Residents have banded together to raise the matter with the Greater Chennai Corporation to make the locality more livable and navigable. But the many years of working on this issue have shown that with a lack of proper will on the part…

Bengaluru is now increasingly witnessing the combined effects of climate change and rapid urbanisation in varied forms. Be it the heat island effect, or increased intensity of rainfall over a shorter duration of time, flooding different city areas. Yet, climate responsive strategies largely remain obscured in developmental strategies as well as governance models. Impact on informal settlements The harshest brunt of this situation is borne by people living in informal settlements across Bengaluru. The city has almost 2000+ slums spread across, with only 25% of these slums having access to some basic services. These settlements are constructed using heat-absorbing materials…

Like many suburban areas of Chennai, Chitlapakkam has seen tremendous growth but the civic amenities and services have failed to keep up with the needs of the people. Residents of the area have banded together to fight for their rights and ensure that they are able to enjoy a better quality of life.  It is because of the spirit of the residents that the connectivity in the area has improved in recent times. Our campaign has brought back the S3 minibus to Chitlapakkam, along with the introduction of another minibus, the S100.  Buoyed by this success, residents have begun to…

School is where children learn, play and have their first encounter with the actual world. An informed teacher who encourages curiosity in children can do wonders for students with the proper guidance. A suggestion by a school teacher to attend a curated walk titled ‘ComplexCity’ for a school project led us to a resettlement colony in Mankhurd, Mumbai.  We got to know about the ComplexCity walk by YUVA for the first time through our school teacher, Ms. Deepti, at the Bombay International School. This was possible as she is in touch with various NGOs such as YUVA. The walk's theme, conducted…

The Chennai Metropolitan Area has seen rapid growth in recent decades. Industries have been clustered in various areas in the neighbouring districts of Chengalpet, Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur. For those who live in these regions and are employed here, connectivity to Chennai is a major hassle that has not been comprehensively addressed. The hardships faced by those commuting to and from Chennai to Gummidipoondi are examples of this.  With many industries, a SIPCOT complex and upcoming industrial parks, Gummidipoondi sees many commuting to the region for work. But poor rail connectivity is a problem that forces them to spend more time…

Do you remember the last time you took a closer look at your neighbourhood? During the last weekend of April, I strolled through my neighbourhood in Mumbai, my eyes attuned to the subtlest motions of nature - a butterfly fluttering in the distance, and birds and bats foraging on love apples in a roadside tree. A sea of golden-yellow copper pod blooms filled some roads while others, seemingly bare, had fig trees sprouting through concrete walls. I particularly made it a point to visit parts of Mumbai’s coastline, each of which was bustling with intertidal activity. As I peered eagerly…

In the first of this two-part series, we discussed the quality of the building plans sanction dataset on the BBMP website. The data is potentially crucial in informing, visualising and guiding the built-form in the city. Thus, the imperative to streamline and quality-check the data collation exercise cannot be over emphasised. In the second part, we illustrate the insights from this data. The publicly available data was used to understand the direction and typology of built growth expansion across time at the city, zonal and ward scale. These insights, we argue, are critical inputs for planning and managing the city.…

For urban planners, visualising a city’s growth requires determining the extent and nature of urbanisation that the city has and is experiencing. While satellite imagery is often relied on for comprehending the built growth, this data does not provide insights on what is the ‘nature’ of the built form: i.e. residential, commercial, industrial, among others. Unscrambling the data on building plan sanctions can potentially bridge this gap in understanding. In urban areas, the built growth or construction of buildings is managed and monitored by local bodies through its Town Planning Department, the first of such management being sanctioning a building…

Bas saaru and massoppu. These curries made of mixed greens are staples in homes of Bengaluru residents. But these greens are not always bought in the market. They are also gathered from sidewalks, little strips of soil beside the road, from drains, and around lakes. The act of gathering such edible plant species, from private or public spaces in the city, is called urban foraging, and it is a common practice across the globe. Honagonne soppu (Alternanthera sessilis) foraged from lake beds in Bengaluru. Pic: Seema Mundoli Experts on local wild plants In Bengaluru, it is mainly middle-aged or older…

Chennai’s decentralised waste management system has been designed with the aim of reducing the quantum of waste that reached the landfills in Perungudi and Kodungaiyur. Dumping of unsegregated waste is a serious detriment to this goal. The mixed solid waste dumped in the dumpyards generates methane, which is one of the greenhouse gases. Methane is 25% more potent than CO2 in trapping heat in the atmosphere. With the looming effects of climate change, every stakeholder in the process must participate in managing their waste effectively. This includes the city’s many large apartment complexes and gated communities that have been deemed…