Madhav Pai

Executive Director – WRI India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

Bio

Madhav Pai is the Executive Director of WRI India Ross Center. He spearheads a large urbanization policy research and prototyping support program that informs key areas of India’s urban growth story. For the last two decades, Madhav has led, designed, and implemented urban programs and projects, across continents, in over a dozen countries.

Madhav is a systems thinker and combines his academic training in engineering and transport planning, with his acumen to find systemic solutions to complex and wicked urban problems. India’s urbanization challenges are the key research focus of Madhav’s exploration. He joined WRI India in 2008 and has pioneered several new, and innovative methods to overcome barriers to implementation of environmentally and financially sustainable infrastructure.

Madhav has mentored senior researchers at WRI India, in building sustainable, low carbon and resilient prototypes for Indian cities which can be further scaled across the country. He has led several projects around emerging urbanism ideas such as the use of tactical urbanism and public campaigns around pedestrian/social infrastructure, geospatial and other big data analytics to create data driven conversations and innovation challenges/competitions to address service delivery challenges. Notable successes include project design and implementation of Indore BRT, Mumbai Street Lab, the Raahgiri campaign for democratizing public streets, and solution design for last-mile connectivity, clean tech, etc.

Under his leadership, the team has also informed several policy discussions, at the national-, state-, and city-level, on road safety, urban transport, transit-oriented development, electric mobility, urban and regional planning and clean air. Today, WRI India Ross Center engages 100+ professionals in offices across India and supports over 50 Indian cities.

Madhav is a published author and has written several research papers for renowned journals, articles, and books on urban transport, urban planning, resilience, and clean air. He is a civil engineer from Mumbai and holds a master’s in Transport Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Madhav lives in Mumbai with his wife Chaya and their daughter Ahilya. He is often seen bicycling with Ahilya on the streets of Mumbai. He is a believer in public transport, loves green open spaces and credits his interest in urban planning to the constant loss of playgrounds, to buildings, that he witnessed growing up, and his regular commutes on Mumbai’s suburban trains.

Blog Posts

Tackling Transport Emissions
by Madhav Pai - January 06, 2021
This blog was originally published on NIUA.org.

Transport sector is a significant contributor and hence tackling emissions from this sector will go a long way in reducing the overall air-quality problems of the city and the region.

Let’s look at Delhi, a range of emission
Physical Distancing on Mumbai’s Trains Is Nearly Impossible, and Station Design Is a Big Reason Why
by Leona Nunes, Lubaina Rangwala e Madhav Pai - September 17, 2020
This blog was originally published on TheCityFix.

Mumbai’s suburban rail system is the world’s busiest, serving
From My Window: A View of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mumbai
by Madhav Pai - April 23, 2020
Inequality is shaping how people are experiencing COVID-19 in cities to a startling degree. The vulnerability of the urban poor is striking
Planning for People: Agenda 2022 for an Inclusive and Sustainable Bengaluru
by Jaya Dhindaw e Madhav Pai - July 20, 2018
Recognised as a city offering an abundance of opportunity in India, Bengaluru has witnessed significant increases in business investments and urban migration over the last few decades. Today, it is home to over 10.45 million people, contributes nearly
The Mumbai rail stampede was waiting to happen. Here’s how we can prevent a similar tragedy
by Madhav Pai - October 16, 2017
This piece was originally published on scroll.in.

Friday’s stampede at the Elphinstone Road railway station in Mumbai was a tragedy waiting to happen. I speak from my own horrifying experiences of being stuck in dense queues at Lower Parel
Unlock Bengaluru: Driving the Next Wave of Urbanisation
by Madhav Pai e Jaya Dhindaw - July 07, 2017
From Bangalore to Bengaluru

In 1970, Bangalore had 1.6m people. Within the decade, the emergence and expansion of public sector institutions such as the Indian Space Research Organisation, Bharat Electrical Limited, and Hindustan Machine Tools caused a sudden growth spurt, followed quickly by more growth owing to the
Delhi’s Diet Plan
by Madhav Pai - December 14, 2015
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
Don’t Miss The Bus
by Madhav Pai - July 27, 2015
This piece originally appeared in The Indian Express

No responsible city government can afford to ignore the benefits of rapid transport. As cities grow, investments are needed to ensure that the majority of citizens can travel safely and rapidly. Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) systems are best
Urbanising India: A Closer Look
by Madhav Pai - April 15, 2015
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
Cities & Energy: Two things India must get right to improve the economy
by Madhav Pai e Bharath Jairaj - February 13, 2015
If one looks at the way India is currently growing, it is hard not to see the stress on cities and the rising energy insecurity. Congestion, urban sprawl and poor access to reliable energy make for daunting challenges to the development of the country. Course corrective measures, which focus on compact and connected cities that use more renewable energy and plan for universal energy access,

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Madhav Pai

Tackling Transport Emissions

Physical Distancing on Mumbai’s Trains Is Nearly Impossible, and Station Design Is a Big Reason Why

From My Window: A View of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mumbai

Planning for People: Agenda 2022 for an Inclusive and Sustainable Bengaluru

The Mumbai rail stampede was waiting to happen. Here’s how we can prevent a similar tragedy

Unlock Bengaluru: Driving the Next Wave of Urbanisation

From Bangalore to Bengaluru

Delhi’s Diet Plan

Don’t Miss The Bus

Urbanising India: A Closer Look

Cities & Energy: Two things India must get right to improve the economy

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