670 results found
There is a need to provide access to safe and affordable rental housing complexes in urban areas to economically weaker sections of society.
Goal 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” Its targets include the promotion of resilience to disasters such as earthquakes. Many of India’s cities that lie in high-intensity zones—determined by ‘seismic microzonation’—are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. Such cities, therefore, must move towards developing and adopting policies that pro
Cities have not adopted land use, zoning and fiscal policies that encourage and support development tailored to meet the housing and healthcare needs
The city of Mumbai is almost synonymous with its train network, the backbone of its bustling public life. Mumbai suburban trains are said to be the most efficient railway systems in the world. Its eminence & growing dependency has belittled the high price of human lives, the city is paying. In 2002, the Mumbai suburban railway system claimed 3773 lives, injuring 3,297 from the total 7070 accident cases.
Building one hundred smart cities, towns or townships will not change India's urban landscape much. India needs an overall smart, well-discussed, thought-out, and lastly effective and efficiently implemented urban development strategy in a holistic urban policy framework. Now is the time to shape it.
Social protection is crucial in tackling extreme poverty and ensuring equitable development, thus catalysing the transition to a more stable and robust economy. About 50 percent of India’s economy hinges on its informal workers, who comprise 90 percent of the country’s total workforce. Yet, these informal workers continue to be excluded from current social-protection schemes, leaving them with no social or financial safety net and trapping th
The adoption of astroturf in sporting facilities poses a health hazard to humans and aggravates climate issues, thus, urban planning must focus on gre
A healthy respect for China's power under Xi and an appreciation of what it means for international relations, rather than romantic notions about building an Eastern Bloc against the West, must guide Indian diplomacy in Durban.
It is necessary to detail the steps that our transit agencies can take in the face of the restart after 17 May.
The question of municipal leadership is of great significance in urban governance in India. There are various models of the position of chief executive of an urban local body (ULB), predominantly tilting towards the ‘strong mayor’ model either through ‘presidentialisation’ of the office or through a ‘mayor-in-council’[1] system. In India, it is the ‘state appointed municipal commissioner’ model that holds sway, sitting over a popu
A collective will to integrate climate resilience into urban water governance and embrace innovative management strategies is imperative to secure con
Safer cities are a product of technology, policing, community participation, education, and planning and architectural design. In the policy frame, focus should be on inclusive development, participatory approaches, identity mainstreaming, and sustainable urban development to create a more equal and tolerant urban society.
The unending densification of cities rob all the initiatives from making a visible positive impact
The apparent hydrological paradox is natural, but its impact is man-made.
The pandemic has presented a window of opportunity to reimagine the way we work and imbibe the flexibility to try new ideas such as telecommuting.
With commercial drone operation just around the corner, relevant guidelines need to be introduced to ensure the smooth and safe functioning
India’s decision to abolish cantonments after carving out the military areas, announced in April 2023, has been met with scepticism and support. Cantonments, primarily created during the British rule to station and house the military, evolved to include civilians as residents and staff to provide support and logistic services. Over time, cantonment boards, with some civilian members, were created to manage the civil areas, but the rights of civ
India’s increasing urban population is getting concentrated in its large cities.
The Smart Cities Mission in India, launched in 2015, is a unique experiment undertaken with the aim of improving people’s quality of life in cities. It bypasses traditional institutional approaches and employs innovative methods to achieve its targets. This brief provides an overview of the work initiated under the mission since its inception and explores the gains so far. It documents sectoral reforms and conducts a critical appraisal of the m
The Indian government’s “Smart Cities Mission” aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through “smart” solutions for the delivery of infrastructure and services. This is expected to transform living spaces, enhance quality of life, and provide employment opportunities, in turn helping reduce crime rates and promoting law and order. Among the challenges to the “Smart Cities” programme is terrorism—especially in ur
In the global urban context, cultural identity is becoming increasingly synonymous with the nature of prevalent collective activities.
The Indian municipal financial pie is woefully narrow, and a large unfunded mandate is the city’s sad fate.
India’s rising urbanisation in recent years has triggered unbridled construction activities to meet the needs of the growing populations in these cities. Not all of these constructions abide by existing laws, however, leading to adverse consequences on governance systems, the environment, people’s health, transportation services, and overall citizen well-being. In extreme cases, illegal constructions have resulted in loss of lives and propert
The female workforce in India is changing as younger women with higher levels of education enter the workforce
Defining safety in urban spaces as just one of physical protection is self-defeating as it presupposes the existence of only reactive action. The construction of safety in sheer physical terms reduces, and often completely eliminates, the possibility of proactive action.
Land acquisition remains at the centre of many controversies and public policy paralysis in India. There are very few public policy issues in India that rival land acquisition in terms of its complexity, challenges and significance to country's growth and transition to more urbanised and industrialised status.
Caring for street dogs is misplaced kindness that comes at the cost of citizen safety
A shortage of staff and funds and an outdated municipal governance system weigh the ULBs down, disabling them from properly executing their duties
In the long⎯term, new cities can adopt a ‘decentralised urbanisation’ approach, where stronger linkages between urban and rural areas should be
The National Rural Livelihoods Mission was launched in June 2011 to create institutional platforms for the rural poor, enabling them to increase household incomes through livelihood support and access to financial services. This brief evaluates the achievements of the programme in its first 10 years. It finds that the Mission has met with some successes in improving the lives of rural women, who are the backbone of the programme, and consequently
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) must account for the possibility of interstate migration, rapid urbanisation and possible changes in the social fabric as populations react to new job opportunities.
For better quality of life, city planners need to take into consideration the additional population that will flow in due to greater urbanisation whil
The inability of the urban centers to provide a high quality of life has caused a rise in gated communities in India
Recent research has drawn attention to the potential link between air pollution and diabetes, indicating that environmental factors may play a crucial
As the world faces unprecedented challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and disparities, sister-city relationships can help nurture a harmoniou
Both manifestos have made laudable assertions regarding city problems, however, the issues of the financial domain of ULBS and certain pending urban r
Teenage pregnancy is almost double in rural areas, 9.2%, as compared to urban, 5%, in India.
India’s trajectory towards becoming a powerhouse economy is only possible by reconciling between the irreconcilable trinity of equity, efficiency an
India’s hill cities are unique poles of development. While they have managed to record some degree of economic growth, increasing urban population and unfavourable topography have also made such growth haphazard and unsustainable. In turn, this has threatened the quality of the built environment and of urban life in these cities. This report studies the case of the hill city of Aizawl, the administrative capital of Mizoram, which is part of the
