What’s the point of a city without people? How can a city be sustainable without the walas? The fruit wala, the kabari wala, the chaat wala, the press wala, the cobbler? Many of these people are increasingly being forgotten in the defination of sustainable cities. We forget that an urban ecosystem has trees and ponds, clean air and birds, but also, people and the infrastructure they need. People in the public space make it safer. They are also key to running our city, with the fewest resources. Many live in sub-standard settlements, without enough water, electicity, mobility.

In this section, we merely ask you to be mindful of people as part of urban sustainability. The inequities and institutional inadequacies make it hard for individual and community actions to make a significant difference to the overall picture. Yet, Chintan optimistically presents this far-from-enough action sheet for the middle classes. Check it out here.