GENRE: Report

Every year, as the north-eastern monsoon approaches, residents in Chennai are on high alert, fearing a deluge. The memories of the 2015 floods, the aftermath of Cyclone Michaung in 2023 and annual flooding continue to haunt citizens even as they head to vote this April.  The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 points out that the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) must provide and maintain a sufficient system of public drains throughout the city. Recently, the GCC claimed that 88% of stormwater drain (SWD) works have been finished and that ₹6,475 crore was spent over four years on this. This covers 1,235…

​“What happens when we remove this natural infrastructure of the city? What happens if it floods? What happens if the air quality (index) goes really high?” asks Pooja Domadia, a member of the Save Mumbai Mangroves campaign. These are questions that many Mumbaikars have as work begins on the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road, which is set to affect 45,000 mangrove trees. In March this year, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the Bombay High Court order to greenlight the cutting of mangroves for the project. Is the SC decision a fatal blow to the movement? The BMC has already begun…

As election day inches closer in Chennai, there is deeper scrutiny of the issues in the city’s 16 constituencies and the changes called for. Waste management is one such problem area that the city has been grappling with for years. The state and local governments have failed to come up with an effective policy and strict implementation of rules, and voters have voiced their concerns and called for concrete changes in their manifestos. India generates 62 million tonnes of waste annually, which is projected to triple by 2030. In Chennai, 6150 Metric Tonnes (MT) of garbage is collected and ferried…

Urban biodiversity is often discussed in terms of tree cover, lakes, or flagship species, but far less attention is paid to pollinators—the insects and birds that quietly sustain urban ecosystems. In Bengaluru, a rapidly urbanising city with a strong culture of citizen science, large volumes of biodiversity data are now being generated by the public. But what does this data tell us about pollinators in the city? This article draws from a data jam hosted by OpenCity in Bengaluru that explored pollinator observations using publicly available, citizen-generated datasets. By analysing long-term observation records and spatial data on land use and…

As cities grow rapidly, traffic, buildings, and loss of green cover inevitably follow. In 1974, the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) covered 1,189 sq. km; by 2022, it had expanded to 5,904 sq. km, bringing with it challenges of governance. Gaps in governance are foremost on the minds of the 28.3 lakh Chennai voters set to elect their Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) on April 23rd. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government made 505 promises in 2021, of which it claims to have met 80%. But as residents and citizen groups come up with their manifestos ahead of the April…

80 kilometres south of Chennai stands the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) — one of two big nuclear power plants in Tamil Nadu  — and its affiliate organizations. These organizations employ around 15,000 permanent employees, who mostly live with their families in the Kalpakkam and Anupuram townships, located approximately 5 kms from the nuclear plant. The distance is said to mitigate health risks from radiation. But they are not the only human resources of the plant. More than 4000 workers, hundreds of them migrants to the state, are employed on a contract basis every year in construction, housekeeping, catering, hygiene…

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.…

"Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) remains poor." "Flights cancelled due to smog in Delhi."  The headlines mostly focus on Delhi’s toxic air, and the spotlight rarely shifts. However, another story often goes untold: the air in South Indian cities. The AQI readings in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and others mostly fall in the “satisfactory” range. Yet, does that really mean the air is safe to breathe? On a busy road in HSR Layout, Kanmani runs a tiffin centre from a pushcart. One evening, she began wrapping up earlier than usual. Just beside her shop, the air was thick with smoke. Garbage…

Street vending represents a unique form of business in which the vendor's day begins and ends on the street. Vendors typically toil from dawn until late at night, often for 12 to 14 hours a day, yet many continue to remain economically vulnerable. Poor economic conditions prevailing between 1980 and 2010 forced a large number of individuals to drop out of school, compelling them to take up street vending of various goods as a means of survival. Today, India is home to nearly 10 million street vendors, accounting for about 15 per cent of urban informal employment. Recognising their contribution…

Urban flooding is no longer a seasonal surprise but a predictable outcome of poor stormwater drainage planning, construction, and maintenance. While crores are spent on building and upgrading stormwater drain networks, there is often little transparency or citizen oversight in how these assets are managed. This masterclass sits at the intersection of these two trajectories: a legacy of infrastructural stress and neglect, and a growing urgency to rethink how urban water systems function and are governed. Drawing from Bengaluru’s context and global examples, the session introduces how cities around the world are rethinking the fundamentals of stormwater management to adapt…