Blogs

How can Mumbai become a Smart City that the nation is proud of? The recently published Draft Development Plan (DP) for Mumbai was so poorly received by various stakeholders that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis scrapped it on the 21st of April, 2015. It has to be reworked in just four months – an opportunity to bring in much needed change in the planning discourse.

Since the DP followed a traditional process of proposing land uses and development control regulations, it is no surprise that the plan did not deliver on the local needs, sentiments and aspirations of citizens. This...

India has a relatively low level of motorization as compared to developed countries, and yet accounts for 10 percent of the global road traffic crash fatalities (Photo Credit: Neha Mungekar/WRI India)

On 20 May 2015, over 50 participants — including road safety experts, urban planners, research think thanks and media houses from India, USA, Colombia, Mexico, UK, Brazil, Belgium, Canada and Namibia —engaged in a global conversation about Road Safety on Twitter following the Third UN Road...

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix

India has the highest number of accident fatalities in the world. But the pressing issue of road safety is rarely taken seriously. This is particularly apparent, given the high frequency and intensity of risks that motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists take on a daily basis.

Statistics of road...

This blog post originally appeared in RTCC.

Cities exist in a region and cannot be defined by their geographic or municipal boundaries alone. The future trajectory of urban growth is often defined by migration patterns from surrounding regions, which in turn, is substantially determined by the relative socio-economic opportunities. It is therefore critical to understand the economic geography of land, water, and energy resources of the region, to be able to properly...

India will be one of the last major countries in the world to experience the urbanisation of its population. In 2010, 31 percent of India’s people lived in its cities. By 2030, this is expected to rise to 40 percent. This means that an additional 220 million people move to cities across the country.

Which cities will these people go to? Is it possible to create jobs for these people? Will they have a good quality of life?

An enormous challenge

Approximately 100 million people will go to or be...

The year will see global leaders make some critical decisions for the world economy and the environment, impacting the future of current and future generations. India’s newly elected government represents a unique new opportunity to deliver this. The country’s economy, now valued at $2.1 trillion, needs to follow a trajectory of robust, equitable and sustainable growth that includes all of its 1.25 billion citizens. All eyes have been on India as it announced its Union Budget for 2015-16, an important vehicle for transporting millions of its citizens out of poverty. Being the new...

This post originally appeared on RTCC.

India’s rail network is a significant growth engine for the economy. But it’s not very green. An estimated 60% of its 65,000 kilometres of railway tracks are still powered by diesel. This makes it India’s largest consumer of diesel at 2.6 billion litres last year.

It is also the largest consumer of electricity at 13.8 billion kWh and its energy consumption is rising by 5% every year.

Electric power in India is...

A frontrunner in bringing in innovative mechanisms such as Accommodation Reservation (AR) and Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) in 1991, the expectations from the Mumbai Development Plan are very high. The Greater Mumbai Draft Development Plan 2034 does not disappoint on many levels. Several commendable recommendations are visible such as hinging FSI increases to transit served areas, halving parking requirements within transit...

Climate change has drastic implications on societies, locally and globally. It affects social development factors like poverty, infrastructure, security, and economics. In impoverished communities, the co-relation between climate change and social vulnerability and inequality is particularly evident often resulting in reduced food security and access to safe drinking water, amongst other things. It is clear that the burden of climate change will be borne differently by different people, based on geographies, generations, age classes, income...

This blog post originally appeared on Insights.

Tamil Nadu, India’s sixth-most populous state, has emerged as a major hub for renewable energy over the last decade. More than one-third of its installed capacity—about 8,000 megawatts—now comes from renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Still, the state’s clean energy markets can go further—...