The Bulldozer in the Countryside
Imagine an assembly line construction of 17,000 homes on 3,500 acres of land costing US $135 million. Just on the borders of expanding cities. …
Built to last
A Rajasthan village has cylindrical houses that help people cope with extreme weather events
Stumbling blocks
The Gujarat earthquake struck at the very foundation of urban India. The disaster highlighted the haphazard manner in which the country's towns …
Book Excerpt: Fractured Rehabilitation
Journalist Atul Deulgaonkar's new book in Marathi describes the botched rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the Latur-Osmanabad Earthquake …
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (December 6, 2022)
Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Freebie critics should look at welfare schemes’ transformative abilities to change lives
A large number of people can reap benefits of such schemes if the delivery system is improved and gaps in implementation are plugged
Fix housing and you’ll reduce risks of coronavirus and other disease in remote Indigenous communities
Indigenous Australians living on remote country urgently need additional and functional housing
Takeaways from President Pranab Mukherjee's opening speech during budget session
In his speech, the President gave emphasis on financial inclusion, development schemes and women power
New agenda for Africa’s sustainable urbanisation to be adopted at UN meet in Quito
Weak planning of urbanisation is resulting in lost opportunities for growth and transformation for Africa
Government’s new housing scheme for urban poor leaves vital questions unanswered
According to an unofficial estimate, there is a shortage of more than 40 million dwelling units, with the demand growing at 10 per cent per annum
Building up a dangerous trend
Last October's earthquake destroyed 20 per cent of Uttarkashi's houses. When the rubble had settled, it was found that the older, traditional …
Turkey and Syria earthquake: Long-term funding is needed to support search-and-rescue after major disasters
Until having an effective earthquake early warning, we need to rely on building codes and urban and physical planning
Bad habits drive health risks among Kenya's urban poor
Poverty and stress is prevalent in Kenya’s low-income settings which increases the behavioural risk factors for cardiovascular diseases
High on skyscrapers
Book>> Triumph of the city: How our greatest invention makes us richer, smarter, greener, healthier, and happier • by Edward Glaeser &…
Increased funding for bamboo project
China's stupendous success in exploiting bamboo for economic gains appears to have prompted India to follow suit. The heightened interest in this …
Shaky business
A deadly nexus between government officials and builders reduce most of Gujarat's homes to rubbles
COVID-19: What about housing for poor?
Union government’s housing scheme tragets derailed; low-income house buyers face increasingly volatile financial markets
How 2019 was for an average Indian household and the planet
Latest Government data debunks several tall claims of the government itself; On the other hand, at least 5 reports said the world's currnt …
How we lost the art of manipulating microclimate
The current mass housing construction is in contrast from the traditional urban forms of the city, which had smaller shaded spaces, were more …
Lack of clean water, sanitation facilities put quake survivors in Turkey at risk
Current situation might lead to waterborne infections, which would be particularly devastating to children
Nobody can predict earthquakes, but we can forecast them; Here’s how
Earthquake forecasts are built on observations of past earthquake activity, which may stretch back decades, centuries or even thousands of years
Simply put: The budget amid a pandemic
Down To Earth’s cartoonist Sorit Gupto analyses the budget for the next financial year through his cartoons
Earthquake disaster not limited to death toll
While many affected areas in Afghanistan are conflict-ridden, Pakistan faces administrative challenges
When wind and water run riot
The killer cyclone that hit Andhra Pradesh in 1977 will long be remembered as India's worst natural calamity of this century. But that we still …
Medieval descriptions of an 1114 CE quake in present-day Turkey and Syria feel eerily familiar
Even at a distance of 900 years, accounts of the 1114 earthquake reveal historical societies went about recording natural disasters in terms that …