URBAN PLANNING

Aruna runs a tiffin stall on the footpath along Hosur Road, close to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). Her setup is temporary—just a foldable cot to lay out her dishes, partially shielded by a blue tarpaulin. The stove and dosa tawa sit exposed to the elements. “When the sun is out, the heat becomes unbearable, and when it rains, we can’t make dosas at all. That directly affects our earnings,” she says. Every day, she spends nearly two hours setting up and packing down this makeshift stall, even though the tarpaulin sheets offer little protection from…

Bengaluru’s floods keep getting worse each year. Even before the monsoons arrived, the city was already submerged this year, raising serious questions about mitigation measures. While the state government continues to toot horns about more construction projects, like elevated corridors, tunnels and flyovers, basic storm water drain (SWD) infrastructure remains inadequate and incomplete, leading to urban flooding. For 2024-25, the Karnataka government has allocated ₹2,000 crore to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) under the ‘Karnataka Water Security and Disaster Resilience Initiative.’ In a press release dated May 17, 2025, BBMP had identified 209 flood-prone areas in Bengaluru, with mitigation…

‘We don’t want white-topped roads, as they increase waterlogging and don't allow water to percolate’ is a common sentiment among many Bengalureans. While drawing more and more water from Cauvery river, Bengaluru is doing little to recharge its groundwater. With the city extracting 100% of its groundwater, citizens don't get water even after drilling down to 1,800 feet. Yet BBMP is white-topping our roads over the existing asphalt, without structures like rain gardens or bioswales to capture stormwater. But are Bengalureans right in believing that white-topping worsens flooding? The answer is complicated. Do white-topped roads hinder water recharge? Hearing a…

Ragiri Sankara is a cab driver based in Bengaluru. “Tackling the heat is a huge task these days,” he says. To be driving all day in the heat is very tiring; the car heats up very fast. “I pack different juices daily to keep myself cool,” he adds.  Gig workers, street vendors, waste pickers, construction labourers, and the urban poor face a higher risk of heat stress than the general population. Now that summer has ended and the monsoon is setting in, the government has once again failed to effectively manage heat stress in Bengaluru. The need for a localised…

Who would have thought that an innocuous product invented 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia would add to the heat island effect in Mumbai? Glass: it’s here, there, and everywhere, not just in our homes, but in our city too. Where space is at such a premium, high rises are becoming the norm. And increasingly, these skyscrapers have facades of glass.But glass is not the only culprit. Thermal resilience should inform the way we design our buildings. However, it often takes a backseat, as developers prioritise faster construction methods and maximising the number of apartments over long-term sustainability.Few of the existing…

Once celebrated as the 'Garden City' for its lush greenery and rich biodiversity, Bengaluru is grappling with the realities of urbanisation. Now, residents struggle to find a spot of shade amidst the onslaught of concretisation. An Indian Institute of Science (IISc) study suggests that Bengaluru has lost a staggering 80% of its forest cover since the 1970s. Trees are the first casualties of the rapid development and mega-construction projects of Bengaluru. That's why conducting a tree census in the city is crucial. Such an exercise regulates tree felling and helps monitor tree health, assess species diversity, and inform resilient urban…

In August this year, the Karnataka cabinet approved the construction of a 250-metre high sky deck at Rs 500 crore. The state government claims that this would be the tallest structure in South Asia. The proposed sky deck will give tourism a boost as it will offer a 360-degree view of Bengaluru. The sky deck, as per the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), will offer “breathtaking views of Bengaluru city”. However, in this city struggling with traffic and myriad infrastructural issues, this seems to have aroused excitement among very few. In general, the question on most minds seems to be,…

Mehul Patel is a harrowed commuter working at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai’s central business district (CBD) stretched over four sq km that was supposed to be an alternative to Nariman Point. Every evening, he stands in a long serpentine queue waiting for a bus that would allow him at least standing space. Bumper to bumper evening traffic is a daily reality for him. And it has only gotten worse since the work on the bullet train commenced, not to mention the ongoing metro construction work.  What upsets him is the lack of practical solutions. A few years ago, he…

“Does Mumbai feel the need to conserve water?” asked Sanjay Ubale, executive board member of Mumbai First at a conclave about water in Mumbai. With easy availability of water from seven reservoirs, the city has the best per capita water ratio in India, and so, there is less incentive to conserve water or practise rainwater harvesting, he explained. Why would societies spend funds to store water for future use when they are getting water at highly subsidised rates round the year, he asked. Statistics too suggest the same.  Approximately only 3000 societies of the total estimated 20,000 societies in Mumbai…

“It used to flood a couple of years ago. Water would get into the bank on the ground floor of my building. But now there is a pump to clear out the water. So it doesn’t flood, unless there is a lot of rainfall,” says Shubhalaxmi Burde, a resident of Sleater Road in Grant Road. But she remembers a time, when she moved as a new bride in 1978, she discovered that people in the area had to use small boats to get around because of the flooding. Nana Chowk  at Grant Road and the area around it, has been a…