India
Pedestrians in the Sky
Pedestrians, street vendors, scooters and squatters all compete for space on the gridlocked sidewalks of Mumbai, where nearly 60% of the population travels by foot. Solution? 50 elevated walkways, or "skywalks."
TheCityFix.com
Skywalks Sprout in Mumbai
The streets of Mumbai are packed with pedestrians. With few sidewalks and little room for the growing masses of walkers, city officials are looking to beat the pedestrian congestion by building overhead "skywalks" to bring people above the street.
The Wall Street Journal
Fighting Mumbai's Demand for Car Ownership
The demand for personal transportation is quickly growing in Mumbai. This post from The City Fix looks at what the city will need to do to prevent the negative impacts of what could be a growing storm of car ownership.
The City Fix
Beyond the Corbusian Cult: Reflections on Chandigarh's Capitol
Vinayak Bharne pays a pilgrimage to Chandigarh, India, memorialized in planning literature as Le Corbusier's utopian vision for Indian modernity, as well as a blunder of modernist insensitivity. Six decades since its conception, the city has been magically appropriated by its people, while its infamous Capitol complex appears like an abandoned ruin.
Learning From India's Ancient Water Engineers
This discussion from TED looks at the ancient water engineering techniques used in the Golden Desert of India, and argues that these centuries-old methods offer lessons for water planners today.
TED
Delhi Gets First Pedestrian Guidelines
The Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) has for the first time created pedestrian design guidelines to ensure that walking in the city is a safe and a pleasurable experience.
Hindustan Times
The Forgotten River of Kolkata
The Hooghly River runs right through Kolkata, India, but it remains largely behind the scenes and caved in by factories and industrial uses. Some voices are calling for the city to embrace its river and reorient itself around the amenity.
The Times Of India
Are Prefabricated Overpasses the Answer?
Writer Sarah Lacey, stuck in hours of traffic in Bangalore, decides that prefabricated highway overpasses are the solution to the world's overcrowded, traffic-choked cities.
The Washington Post
Penalosa Critical of Gujarat BRT
Enrique Penalosa, famed as the "Father of Bus Rapid Transit," pays a visit to the Ahmedabad BRTS in Gujarat, India. Penalosa was positive, but doesn't think it goes far enough in catering to pedestrians over cars.
DNA India
Problems Loom for Urbanizing India
Two sets of graphs from show demographic trends in India that are likely to create a heavily urbanized country. But they aren't building the infrastructure to back up the growth, according to Thomas Crampton.
Thomas Crampton
Solar Power to the People
A new program in India is teaching women in tribes that live in remote areas how to make and use solar panels.
Inhabitat
Smaller May Be Better in Developer Biz
While a number of mega retail developers crashed and burned during the recession, some smaller developers have thrived.
Retail Traffic Magazine
Cactus City
HOK is designing a brand-new, 8,000-acre city in India, and is taking design inspiration from a desert cactus.
ASLA's The Dirt blog
Rising Wealth and the Emergence of New Global Cities
New world cities are emerging, and the "first truly urban century" will be shaped by the way increasing wealth is handled in places like Mumbai, Bangalore, Shanghai, Beijing, Sao Paulo and Dubai.
Forbes
Growth of Asian Cities Means Growth in Greenhouse Gases
A new study from the Asian Development Bank predicts that 20 years from now, Asian cities will be responsible for more than half of the world's greenhouse gases.
Common Current
A Biological Approach to City Building
Architecture and biomimicry are joining forces. A new city being planned in a flood-prone region of India is using the concept of mimicking nature to build a city that better responds to its environmental conditions.
Harvard Magazine
Super-Cheap Housing Booms in Mumbai
Despite tumbles in the housing market, low-cost housing is undergoing a boom in Mumbai, India, where the need for affordable housing is high.
The Globe and Mail
Calcutta Removes Old Cars to Clean Air
In order to clean the air in Calcutta, officials have begun enforcing a rule that removes all vehicles manufactured before 1993, mandated by the city's High Court.
BBC
India Rejects Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions
An announcement by India that it won't reduce its carbon emissions is sure to capture the attention of climate treaty and energy legislation opponents in the Congress.
Bloomberg News
Reinventing America's Cities: Discovering Opportunities by Challenging Biases
Dr. Aseem Inam takes writers on urbanism and architecture to task for spreading stereotypes about "third world cities", particularly when used to generalize about urban form.





















