Revival of cities

With thriving infrastructure, a blooming arts and entertainment scene and an encouraging start-up culture, Kochi has a growing population of young creative millennials, many of them single. But ask them about their experiences with rentals, and horror stories emerge. Especially if they are women.

Around 20,000 tricycle rickshaw pullers live in Noida, mostly migrants from other states, who came here in pursuit of the ‘urban dream.’ But they find themselves constantly struggling to meet all ends, as they lead sub-par lives, far from their families and roots.

The city’s largest infrastructure project ever, Hyderabad Metro was expected to carry about 17 lakh passengers per day by 2017. But with only two partly operational lines, slow expansion and poor last mile connectivity, the targets appear elusive and raise many questions about the project itself.

Countless trees have already gone under the axe and several thousands are at risk in Bhopal’s Tatiya Tope Nagar, where a government housing project under the Smart Cities Mission is in progress. Environmentalists fume at the toll that such projects are taking.

Extreme heat stress caused by high ‘wet bulb temperatures’ and urban heat island effect come into play in Odisha’s capital, that is often the hottest city in the country during summers. But what do these terms imply, and how are they a threat to the upcoming smart city?

In the summer of 2018, Shimla’s peak tourist season, not a drop flowed in the taps of the town for over a week and thousands of visitors had to leave. May 2019 has seen a remarkable reversal in the water situation, but can the town afford to be complacent?

While government disaster response teams focus on roads, electricity and other infrastructure, local community groups and volunteers try to mobilise residents to participate in the relief work being done in their localities, and especially the low income settlements.

Government and policy makers assume solving Mumbai’s congestion and traffic problems solves everything else. But half a dozen new projects could have far reaching impact on the environment and people’s livelihoods.

Kolkata based entrepreneur Niraj Agarwal is contesting the large urban constituency of Kolkata South with a single agenda: To make people more aware of the need for policies to effectively tackle pollution and climate change. True to his mission, he wants to get as close as possible to a ‘zero-emissions’ campaign trail.

Evicted Kathputli Colony residents struggle with water shortage and lack sanitation in their temporary homes in Anand Parbat. As they wait for the new homes, the sordid conditions in the transit space create grave implications for the environment.

Photos of the devastated city and the massive damage to tree cover in Bhubaneswar wrought by Cyclone Fani

Amid the din of the Lok Sabha election campaigns, Delhi witnessed a silent but significant change of baton at the post of three mayors of the South, East and North municipal corporations. However, given the power dynamics in the capital, the road ahead for city administration under the new leaders hardly looks promising.