More than a third of India’s population lives in cities, and within our lifetime this figure is likely to reach three-quarters. With urban India on the frontlines of both climate and development challenges, our cities must transform to meet the needs of our growing population, alongside building resilience to escalating climatic threats like heatwaves and floods.

Contemplating millions of new residents seeking basic services and opportunities is overwhelming. Instead, we could break this down – by looking at improving how we live, work and play – at the basic unit of a neighborhood. Creating people-centric spatial planning and development at the neighborhood level can create a ripple effect, building the city’s confidence by working with diverse stakeholders in scaling up and even institutionalizing the prospect of livable neighborhoods as part of urban policies and planning.

With limited access to public spaces and natural areas, lower-income residents face the brunt of climate risks, highlighting the need to underpin urban development with equity. We assess these social drivers of vulnerability to create equitable and accessible public spaces, and housing, while also improving access to critical resources and services. The Urban Development team looks at alignment across a range of human systems, from housing to infrastructure, to improve access to services and strengthen climate resilience at the neighborhood-level, the city-level and at the regional-level.

By working within communities, we build local capacity and engage with governments to strengthen data capacity and knowledge to support long-term approaches to integrated planning. Our team brings deep expertise across multiple areas to help achieve this goal:

Equitable Public Spaces

Equitable public spaces are central to fostering inclusive and resilient neighborhoods. We assess gaps and engage with communities in co-developing solutions. We also collaborate with city governments and experts towards developing strategies and policies to help institutionalize approaches towards inclusive and climate resilient public space planning.

Resilient Housing

Addressing the inequities in access to housing and basic services in cities, we aim to enable decent, affordable and climate resilient infrastructure and housing for all. By building capacities for planning and implementation and bringing together a diverse coalition, we aim to enable action through integrated national schemes and programs.

Connected Transit

We use data-driven planning, people-centric street design measures and capacity building, to reduce traffic fatalities, promote walking, cycling and uptake of public transport, and creating resilient, vibrant, people-centric streets and mobility systems. Integrating green infrastructure, in conjunction with built form and open spaces, we work to mitigate the impact of climate change.