Lecture by Prof. Harini Nagendra on 'Thinking Ecologically about India's Cities'

This lecture offered on 1 March 2023 was part of the series titled ‘Dialogues on Development’ organized by the Baha’i Chair for Studies in Development, DAVV. Prof. Harini Nagendra is a well-known author and Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University.
India's cities are on a breakneck path to growth. Cities are engines of prosperity and promise, as well as zones of pollution, stress, and disease. Episodes of floods, drought, heat waves, and smog tell us why we must begin to think ecologically about our urban future in Indian cities. Many Indian cities were built on a foundation of local ecology, drawing on the rivers, lakes, forests, grasslands and coastal areas around them for food, water and building material. Yet over centuries the human population has grown and transformed the ecology of our cities beyond recognition. This talk discusses how we need to learn from our past urban history, to re-design cities to accommodate ecology, ensuring human well-being as well as resilience to climate change.