With tourism on top of the agenda of the new government of India, Chandan Chawla captures a glimpse of the infrastructure deficit in the religious town of Omkareshwar. While national and state tourism schemes will benefit limited destinations of utmost importance for India, small towns like Omkareshwar will have to look at alternative possibilities to alleviate infrastructure deficits.
The idea of empowering city governments is a thrown around a lot these days in urbanite circles. But where should the line between local and higher levels of government begin and end? Alia Dharssi reports on the debate.
The Mongolian capital is learning how to reduce its air pollution levels, replacing tens of thousands of traditional heating stoves with cleaner alternatives.
With investment capital scarce after the global financial crisis, the UK's localism agenda is starting to look unaffordable, with campaigns to make all sorts of projects look like NSIPs to attract funding.
The 'smart city' concept has existed for several years, but only now, with some trial and error, are we seeing the real fruits of these efforts coming to light.
The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
