New Delhi, Aug. 3 -- A recent World Bank study warns that 70% of India's 2050 urban infrastructure is yet to be built. As cities expand, India's urbanization is becoming metabolically unsustainable: a system that produces climate effects as much as it endures them.

Cities function like living organisms, consuming energy, water and materials while emitting heat, waste and pollutants. This 'urban metabolism' has breached ecological limits, creating a 'metabolic rift,' or a disconnect between relentless construction and nature's capacity to regenerate.

In Bengaluru, over 1,000 storm- water drains were encroached in 2024 alone, while Kolkata has lost over 44% of its water bodies in the last two decades. These are reflections of an urban mod...