Sustainable Cities

Over the last decade, Bengaluru has seen tremendous growth. This unprecedented expansion has resulted in urban sprawl, with the peripheral areas of the city experiencing growth rates of over 100 percent. In turn, this has caused inefficiencies in infrastructure and service delivery, lowering people’s quality of life.

WRI India, through its Sustainable Cities programme, assists urban centres like Bengaluru to make informed decisions on land-use and infrastructure that typically have 40-100 year lock-in...

This blog post was originally published on TheCityFix

Around the world, urban leaders including university presidents, renowned architects, city mayors and financial managers are recognizing the need to manage explosive energy demand growth from rapid urbanization. But changing business-as-usual development is not an easy task.

Today, 12 new cities are committing to accelerate their efforts in making buildings more energy efficient by joining the...

Technology has revolutionised daily commutes by providing increasingly efficient transport options in Indian cities. Young and dynamic entrepreneurs are deploying technology-bases solutions to offer more convenient, comfortable, and reliable commutes. For example, ridesharing and similar apps have changed the way people in cities like Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai commute.

Earlier this year, WRI India Sustainable Cities launched the New Mobility Accelerator 2016, offering new and innovative early-stage shared mobility businesses an...

This blog originally appeared on TheCityFix

This series examines the reality and implementation bottlenecks of clean transport initiatives in India, covering areas such as emission standards, alternative fuels, and electric vehicles.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Delhi’s air ranks among the worst in the world. Of course, the situation is not limited to the capital—the WHO ambient air quality database lists 12 other Indian...

This blog originally appeared on TheCityFix

Globally, 1.3 million people die each year in road traffic crashes. India, with only 2 percent of the global motor vehicle population, accounts for more than 10 percent of those fatalities. Further, in 2014 about 1.41 million people lost their lives on India’s roads—which is 3 percent greater than the fatalities in 2013. With one fatality roughly happening every 4 minutes, Indian road are considered some of most dangerous roads in the world.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)...

This article was originally published by the Indian Express.

At the very least, the odd-even policy will initiate a conversation on car use.

Kudos to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and all others in the Delhi government responsible for announcing a car-restriction programme. It is great to see city leaders realise that private vehicles cannot solve its mobility problem and start a diet programme. Even London needed 30 years of debate before a visionary mayor, Ken Livingstone, put in...

This blog post originally appeared on Insights.

Today, as negotiators haggle over the details of a climate agreement in Paris, my home town is literally underwater. Chennai has seen 17 days straight of rain, precisely the kind of extreme weather event that experts say will only become more common in a warming world.

As Indian Adaptation Strategy Head for WRI’s Climate Resilience Practice, I’m in Paris this week for events surrounding negotiations...

The great twin challenges of the 21st century — development and climate change — are nowhere sharper than in India, and within India they are perhaps nowhere more vivid than Mumbai. India’s largest and richest city, greater Mumbai is home to more than 22 million people, including 30 of the...

This post originally appeared on Climate Home

India’s anticipated commitment to climate action will be nothing short of transformational given challenges on the ground. With the world’s third highest carbon emissions [fourth if the EU is counted as one block] to its name, a strong commitment could make a noticeable difference to prevent the rise of global sea levels, extreme weather events, heat waves and other climate impacts.

However, this global...

India is undergoing rapid urbanisation. About 600 million Indians will live in urban areas within fifteen years. Given that cities practically run on water, India must find a way to route clean, reliable water supplies to its citizens, helping meet their needs for drinking, hygiene and sanitation. The 2015 World Economic Forum identified “water supply crises” as one of the top five global risks, and as many as...