In a swelter over shelter
Besides highlighting some of the enduring concerns faced by today's urban planners, what else has the Istanbul 'city summit' -- Habitat II -- …
High on skyscrapers
Book>> Triumph of the city: How our greatest invention makes us richer, smarter, greener, healthier, and happier • by Edward Glaeser &…
Not so safe cities – role of urban planning
This blog highlights that besides other factors that contribute to lack of safety in Indian Cities, a particular approach to urban planning and …
Night under a winter sky
As night falls in Delhi and mercury dips, Meeta Ahlawat ventures out with her camera to make a warm conversation with the homeless in the city. …
Trapped in a quagmire
Pollution, disorderly urban growth and inadequate basic services are plaguing the Kathmandu valley and adversely affecting tourism, the valley's …
Homing in
After 20 years of non-performance, heads of states will finally sit down to decide where, when and how they will provide people with roofs over …
Preserving India's pachyderms
The recently-concluded 'Gaj Mahotsav’ in Delhi celebrated the Indian Elephant, an animal that is fast losing its habitat in India
Helping children find work at home
Gramashrama, a children-based organisation in Karnataka, is trying to understand the causes of migration and prevent the exodus of youngsters …
Embodied energy demystified
Building materials are much more energy-intensive than perceived. India lags in taking steps to reduce their use
Small towns Big mess
India's urban environment is a ghastly cocktail of prosperity, poverty and pollution. A study of eight towns moving towards the precipice of disaster
Exploring India's rural market potential
With rural disposable incomes outstripping urban ones, there is a lot of scope for the expansion of the rural market base.
Pumas adapt behaviour to save energy for mountain survival: Study
Finding important as many top predators are being forced to move into areas where they have to expend more energy to travel
Give landscape its due
Ravindra Bhan is one of the country’s pioneer landscape architects. From establishing a programme in landscape architecture at the School …
Interview with Ujiyar Singh Dhurve, a Baiga tribal leader from Madhya Pradesh
What is the significance of habitat rights for the Baiga tribe? Will this move benefit the degrading jungles? A local leader tells Down To Earth
Hurricanes, wildfires further endanger these threatened species in US, Caribbean
With extreme climate events showing no signs of ebbing, preservation of species can no longer be left to the whims of nature
Too cool for comfort
How rising incomes are lowering room temperatures at the cost of energy, health and comfort
Building dreams for homeless
Government promises land to the homeless in its draft Homestead Bill, but where’s the land?
Private project in public park
Residents of Vadodara protest construction of a multimedia laser fountain in a heritage park
Waking up to the horrors of child labour
Several groups are working among child workers in India, seeking to improve their working and living conditions
Farmers' long march to the city
A cash-strapped Chinese government is trying to prevent unpaid farmers from moving to the cities in search of more money.
DENMARK
People collect rainwater without any support from the government. This saves the avoidable overuse of drinking water
The value of a raindrop
Rainwater is as usable to the industrialised North as to the underdeveloped South. As important to the poor, rural household as to the gardens …
Lighting up hearts
A hospital for cardiac patients in Ahmedabad is sunlit to cheer up patients. It saves energy, too
Playing with sea
Flouting laws, over 90 hotels have mushroomed on what once was a pristine beach in West Bengal
Luna's law
The discovery of water will make it possible to set up a colony on the Moon. But will there be a repeat of the East India Company?