Civic

The Kamala Mills tragedy in Mumbai has suddenly led to fire safety inspections in restaurants and eateries in many cities, but there are reports aplenty to show that fire preparedness anywhere in these cities is abysmal.

From a fire in Mumbai’s Kamala Mills complex to IOT-powered smart cities and plans for a high speed 24×7 Metro corridor — here’s what our cities have been talking about this last week.

Even though the National Urban Livelihoods Mission prescribes permanent, 24X7 shelters for the urban homeless, most of our cities can accommodate less than six percent of such population in the official shelter homes.

As the Mangalore traffic police force struggles to manage the explosive rise in motor vehicles, traffic wardens and civic volunteers step in to make their work easier and the city commute smoother.

Cycle days, Raahgiri, Pathotsav — events that promote pedestrian-only zones are catching on in a big way, but the larger question of whether they can have a real, sustainable impact on how people commute in cities remains to be decided.

From Mumbai to Chennai and Gurugram to Kochi, many Indian cities are hosting car free days when streets or stretches are closed to motorised vehicles and become a stage for recreational events. Here’s a look at these and the thought behind them.

In just nine months, waste segregation by residents of the gated Nirvana Country community has achieved the above, and yielded five tons of compost. What does it really take to go green?

Solving many of our everyday civic issues does not involve rocket science; all it takes is for citizens and administration to work together, as the successful cleaning of this Gurgaon stormwater drain shows.

The new design by WRI India, implemented on a temporary basis, intends to change the current approach of designing intersections – from one that prioritises motor vehicles to one that considers all road users.

A city is not about all that crashes and crumbles. A city is what people make it. This was perhaps the most important among the many lessons learnt by this citizen on the day that Mumbai went under water.

There are problems galore plaguing our cities, towns and villages but they can be solved by collective action of a responsible citizenry, if only every one commits just three hours a week, says Naresh Sadasivan.

From AMRUT to Swachh Bharat to Smart Cities, the wide range of schemes in place reflect the government’s thrust on urban development. But how will these schemes be financed? Here’s a primer on the options available and some recent policies meant to help cities improve their finances.