Sinking cities: Two ways to fight land subsidence

Artificial recharge and deep soil mixing are two techniques showing promise in rescuing sinking cities

Why innovative cool roofing is becoming popular among Ahmedabad’s urban poor

The city’s residents strategically use shade, ventilation and building materials to keep their homes comfortable; and it does not cost the earth

Divine dwellings

An organisation set up by priests provides inexpensive bamboo houses to people living in slums and on the streets

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. …

Access to drinking water, power has improved in slum areas, says slum census report

63.5 per cent slum dwellers in Indian cities have mobile phone connections, but only 19 per cent have toilets

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 …

The importance of good-neighbourliness

Blow for mud builders

CONTROVERSIAL CONSTRUCTION

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 …

100 per cent FDI in housing

Will Maharashtra boom or boomerang?

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 …

UTTARKASHI

Houses that hold on

COVID-19: What about housing for poor?

Union government’s housing scheme tragets derailed; low-income house buyers face increasingly volatile financial markets