During a community visit to informal settlements in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur a few months ago, a woman pointed out that “it gets as hot as 120 degrees”, when describing the heat stress she experiences in her tin-roof house. At first, we tried to rationalise her comment before realising she was describing the severity of her daily reality.
Inching closer to environmentalism, Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation’s (MBMC) School No. 11 has gone green by reducing energy and water consumption while keeping its building cooler. The civic-run school, which accommodates over 60 students, has been coated with heat-reflective Solar Reflective Index (SRI) paint to ward off heat, with support from the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, […]
Rahim Karovalia halts briefly between the two floors of a building in Mira Road to demonstrate the small wonder above us: A motion-sensor dimmable tubelight. As we approach it, its pale glow intensifies and lights up the landing.
Even as the recent deluge turned most of MMR into a wetland, a community-led campaign in Vasai (once home to actual wetlands) has been steadily working to revive a centuries-old system of water bodies in a bid to improve the region’s ecological health, restore its biodiversity and, most crucially, mitigate floods.
With rapid urbanisation and the increasing spread of residential and institutional buildings, architects and urban planners must prioritise retrofitting over demolition of the buildings
Climate change is not just an environmental crisis; it is a social justice issue. Nowhere is this more evident than in informal settlements, where rising temperatures disproportionately impact those with the least resources to adapt. The lack of cooling infrastructure, reliance on heat-trapping materials, and economic vulnerability turn extreme heat from a seasonal discomfort into […]
As India urbanises rapidly and climate impacts intensify, it’s crucial to ensure that new cities are built sustainably from the start. A climate action plan can be the first step in this direction.
On January 29, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) and Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) launched a Mira Bhayandar Climate Action Plan (MBCAP) to accommodate energy and water sustainability along with heat resilience.
