URBAN PLANNING

The pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for safe outdoor areas for children, many of whom have experienced mental and physical health issues due to restricted socialization and activity.

The average minimum temperature in the city has risen by 1.8 degree Celsius over the last seven decades, caused primarily by lack of public transport and loss of green cover.

How can cities manage density? How can planning make cities more dynamic and capable of responding to emergencies? What changes can citizens look forward to in a post-COVID urban settlement?

Many experts have made urban density the culprit behind the spread of the coronavirus contagion in cities. But, it is really more about daily living and working conditions that our cities can ensure.

For too long, we have lived in and accepted cities built by men, for men. But as more and more women need and want access to public spaces within their cities, we need paradigm shifts in design to make these safer for them. Here are some simple first steps.

A wetland of that size with two retention basins has managed to mitigate urban flooding to a large extent in an Australian suburb. And such wetlands can be created even in a congested city, as Japanese examples have shown. These and other innovative solutions from the east merit serious consideration in flood-prone Mumbai.

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.

In Pune, an upcoming elevated metro line poses threat to Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, which houses over 100 species of birds and 30 species of butterflies. Meanwhile, citizen groups are pushing for the sanctuary’s conservation

From devolution of powers to local bodies, to the formation of National Urban Mobility Mission, to the creation of a separate Ministry for Water; what all are the promises made by political parties regarding urban issues in their manifestos ?

Members of civil society organizations, urban poor and worker collectives place their demands that reimagine cities and envision more inclusive and sustainable urban development, so that there is a place for all in these cities.

Roads made out of plastic waste have been touted as a solution to the mounting plastic crisis in the country. What has been the experience of Indian states and cities with this approach so far? And what are the primary challenges?

Scores of cities in the country have been renamed, or proposed to be renamed, over the decades. The recent revival of this spree focuses attention yet again on the relevance and rationale of such exercises.