POSTCARD FROM KERALA AND TAMIL NADU: What future for mid-sized cities? May 2025July 2025 Travelling around Southern India in February 2025, which was a pleasant break from gloomy England, I was struck by the visible transformation since our previous Indian Urban Futures conference in Tirunelveli and Chennai back in 2019. Streets were cleaner, rural road surfaces have been upgraded, and new intercity highways have opened with imposing flyovers. Forests…
Indian Urban Futures VI: Garden settlements for the 21st century February 2025June 2025 Urban sprawl must stop so that cities become ‘family friendly’. At the sixth Indian Urban Futures conference held in Tirunveli in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Dr Cletus Babu, Founder Chairman of the SCAD Group of Institutions www.scad.ac.in called for ‘innovative and sustainable strategies in addressing India’s evolving urban landscape’.
Indian Urban Futures V June 2023June 2025 ‘As India becomes the world’s most populated and fastest growing country how can mid-sized cities with limited planning capacity respond to climate change, and learn from experience elsewhere ? The symposium built on the first four Indian Urban Futures events which started in 2017, and explores the challenges of scaling-up innovation with leading experts.
Indian Urban Futures IV: Affordable and Sustainable Homes October 2021June 2025 The fourth in the series of Indian Urban Futures events took place on October 12th 2021, the second day of the Bristol Housing Festival. The expert group of 14 panellists were based in Hong Kong and Mumbai, Tirunelveli and Chennai in Tamilnadu, Southern India, Bristol, London and Newcastle.
Indian Urban Futures III: Building eco neighbourhoods in mid-sized cities March 2019June 2025 The 2019 Symposium emphasised the importance of developing eco-neighbourhoods in mid-sized Indian cities such as Tirunelveli and Chennai. The event was held from March 1st to 4th, 2019, in Tirunelveli and Chennai, India. The format included discussions, presentations, and collaborative sessions focused on building eco-neighbourhoods in mid-sized cities. Participants comprised a diverse group of stakeholders, including urban planners, local government officials, researchers, architects, environmentalists, and community representatives. This multi-disciplinary gathering aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange, share successful case studies, and develop joint strategies for sustainable urban development tailored to the regional context.
Indian Urban Futures II: How should medium-sized cities grow? June 2018June 2025 Indian Urban Futures II summarises the 2018 symposium focused on addressing the challenges of urban growth in medium-sized Indian cities. It highlights the need for cross-disciplinary approaches to tackle issues such as affordable housing, water resilience, and local capacity building. The report advocates for innovative solutions that can scale effectively to meet the demands of rapid urbanisation. It also discusses the relevance of historical concepts like garden cities in contemporary contexts, emphasising sustainable, equitable, and healthy urban development. The initiative aims to translate small-scale innovations into impactful strategies for the future of urban living in India.
The SCAD Eco-House June 2018June 2025 SCAD Eco houses are intended to be affordable to India’s fast growing middle class.
Future proofing India’s medium-sized cities June 2017June 2025 Findings from research in 2017 and visits to Southern india by the Urbanism Environment Design (URBED) Trust, suggest how medium-sized Indian cities-those with populations currently of around half a million people-might cope with the pressures of future growth.
The impact of urbanisation October 2015June 2025 This paper deals with the impact that future urbanisation could have on medium-sized cities, drawing on work by the OECD and others. It has been prepared to help members of the SCAD (Social Change and Development Group) to think about their long-term future, and uses Thirunelveli, a medium sized city in Tamil Nadu, as a case study.(see Appendix) The paper identifies the various forms of infrastructure that will affect growth, different forms of growth, and potential sources of technical and other help. It concludes by identifying the main variables that will affect the growth of cities, and considers the possible environmental impact or sustainability of different sizes and shapes of cities.
