City Rising: Reclaiming the Future of Our Cities
City Rising: Reclaiming the Future of Our Cities
City Rising begins with a simple truth, cities transform when their people refuse to accept decline. Across South Asia, communities are pushing back and protecting the trees, commons and walking spaces that have long shaped everyday life. Their work shows that the current trajectory is not inevitable . City Rising stands with these residents as they defend what is shared and rebuild streets and corners as places shaped by dignity, care and everyday connection.
The Imaginarium: Dreaming the City Ahead
This work begins in the Imaginarium, a space where neighbours pause and imagine their city without constraints. People speak from lived experience about how their streets, parks and public spaces should feel twenty five years from now. These conversations reveal what communities value and what they want to protect, turning imagination into a shared force and giving people the confidence to claim the city they deserve.
Placemaking: From Imagination to Action
From here, imagination moves into action through placemaking. The ideas voiced in the Imaginarium begin to appear on the ground in the places people use every day. Safer crossings near schools, shaded spaces to wait, clean drinking water, small pockets of green and simple places to rest. Each step may be modest, but together they show how a neighbourhood can rise when people shape their own surroundings. Through imagination and grounded action, City Rising helps communities reclaim their cities one space at a time.
The Cities Are Rising
MYSORE
BENGALURU
DELHI
Mysuru Rising: When a City Notices, It Changes
Rebuilding the footpath outside a national institution for people with special needs, working with vendors to create dignified spaces for their livelihoods, Mysureans are reimagining what their city can feel like. Streets where the movement of persons with disabilities is effortless, safe and respected, where a parent guiding a wheelchair feels supported by the space around them, and where vendors earn their living without fear or conflict. These everyday gestures reflect Mysuru’s calm spirit and its belief that a kinder street is built through care, attention and the steady hands of its people. This is Mysuru rising through small acts that restore dignity to daily movement.
Bengaluru Rising: Reimagining How the City Moves
Reimagining bus stops and shaping smoother everyday journeys, people in Bengaluru are beginning to change how the city moves. Across neighbourhoods, residents imagine travel that feels lighter, safer and more humane. They choose public transport because it offers comfort and dignity, and they ask the city for reliable buses, clear pathways, safe crossings and shaded places to wait. Together, these everyday acts point to a city imagining movement that is kind and shared. This is Bengaluru rising through quiet, people-led gestures that bring dignity back to daily travel.
Bengaluru Rising: Reimagining How the City Moves
Reimagining bus stops and shaping smoother everyday journeys, people in Bengaluru are beginning to change how the city moves. Across neighbourhoods, residents imagine travel that feels lighter, safer and more humane. They choose public transport because it offers comfort and dignity, and they ask the city for reliable buses, clear pathways, safe crossings and shaded places to wait. Together, these everyday acts point to a city imagining movement that is kind and shared. This is Bengaluru rising through quiet, people-led gestures that bring dignity back to daily travel.
Delhi Rising: Delhi Refuses to Give In
Reclaiming missing footpaths, noticing crossings that have long gone unseen and protecting the few green spaces that remain, Delhites are reshaping their neighbourhoods. Neighbours remind drivers to stop for pedestrians. Local groups map unsafe stretches. Volunteers create small places where people can pause and rest. Young people study their parks and ask for shade as the heat grows. Together, these everyday efforts point to a city moving in a new direction, where movement feels safe, public spaces welcome people and dignity sits at the heart of daily life. This is Delhi rising through steady, people-led action that rebuilds the city’s care from the ground up.
