Civic | Citizen Matters

City buzz: A bus strike, cycling plans and…flying rickshaws!

January 11, 2018 News Desk

What’s happening in our cities? If you’ve missed some of the key plots in the urbanisation narrative in India over the last week, here’s a chance to catch up.

In schools, hospitals or shrines, you can’t escape fire risk in urban India

January 5, 2018 Revathi Siva Kumar

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.

Travelling to Mangalore by Rajdhani? Here’s what you may expect!

December 25, 2017 Akash K

With poor access and connectivity and glaring infrastructural gaps, the Mangalore Railway Junction station is crying out for attention, but apart from usual election season promises, there has been little action on the front.

This January, 10000 families will join hands to make their city greener

December 21, 2017 Sidharth Naik

Pimple Saudagar, a suburb of Pimpri Chinchwad, sister city of Pune, has kickstarted a focused campaign among all citizen stakeholders to ensure that no one uses plastic bags from January 1st.

Rain, chill or heatwave, homeless poor have few places to turn to

December 13, 2017 Navya P K

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.

Relook at transport policy a must to ensure Delhi residents’ right to clean air

November 14, 2017 Pawan Mulukutla

Emissions from transport constitute one of the primary pollutants leading to the shocking levels of air pollution in the capital region. Reducing this through an overhaul of transportation policy should therefore be top priority.

Where are India’s top five smart cities putting their money?

October 26, 2017 Navya P K

India’s smart cities aim to provide essential infrastructure, decent quality of life, sustainable environment and smart solutions for citizens — to do more with less! Take a quick look at what the top 5 chosen cities are prioritising in the process.

Is Bengaluru’s bus system an intelligence failure?

October 25, 2017 Darryl D'Monte

Although Bengaluru’s Intelligent Transport System for buses has been nominated for the prestigious C40 Cities award for sustainable transportation, the reality on the ground leaves much to be desired.

Meet the Good Samaritans helping Mangalore’s understaffed traffic police

October 16, 2017 Harsha Raj Gatty

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.

Can ‘open street’ events lead to fewer cars in our streets?

September 25, 2017 Navya P K

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.

Zumba on the streets: A new trend in Indian cities?

September 18, 2017 Navya P K

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.

The story of a Gurgaon community that has kept 50000 kilos of waste away from the landfill

September 13, 2017 Monika Khanna Gulati

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?

When Gurugram citizens took charge of cleaning a stormwater drain

September 6, 2017 Latika Thukral

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.

Pilot redesign of Mumbai’s Nagpada junction shows the way for busy intersections

September 1, 2017 Amit Bhatt and Dhawal Ashar

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.

Behind Mumbai’s darkest clouds, the silver lining: The human spirit!

August 30, 2017 Tejaswini Patwardhan

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.