Tackling Climate Change – Planners as an Asset

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and requires immediate and collective action to mitigate its impacts. As cities and communities are responsible for a large portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, planners play a critical role in tackling this issue. Planners have the skills and expertise to design and implement strategiesContinue reading “Tackling Climate Change – Planners as an Asset”

Financial Leveraging Strategies for Urban Transport

Archimedes famously said: “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the Earth.” To lift a heavy object, there is a choice: whether to use leverage or not. A task can be performed, say to plan & implement a metropolitan scale urban public transportation system; directly – riskingContinue reading “Financial Leveraging Strategies for Urban Transport”

Development Paradigm

“Hidden behind city branding exercises through large projects are acts of land capture and slum demolitions by a predatory local state and crony capitalism. In the policy arena, meanwhile, the urban, and particularly the metropolitan story has been one of deliberate confusion, and fragmentation of policy and implementation. The promise of Rapid City transformation hasContinue reading “Development Paradigm”

Chharanagar: Another Rendezvous with the Oblivion

In the journey of life, steering along the crosses and U-turns, we spearhead ourselves unaffected in many ways. Then at a certain turn we encounter a place which influences our preoccupied notions and prejudices, and changes our outlook drastically. This was the turn that i landed upon fortunately on the day of my visit toContinue reading “Chharanagar: Another Rendezvous with the Oblivion”

Inclusion is Exclusion without Empowerment

Introduction Inclusion of citizens in planning processes generally and decision-making situations specifically have become integral to planning practice in India. From plan making to plan implementation, inclusion of people is seen to be crucial as it enhances acceptability of planning policies. To further the ends of inclusive polity, Government of India handed over planning functionContinue reading “Inclusion is Exclusion without Empowerment”