India, July 4 -- As India's urban landscape reaches new heights - literally - its cities are filling up with apartment towers that define modern skylines from Pune to Noida. Yet this rapid vertical growth has come with a heartbreaking cost, especially for the youngest and most vulnerable residents. Balconies, once viewed as spaces of openness, calm, and leisure, are now emerging as hidden zones of danger-spaces where small oversights and structural compromises can quickly turn fatal.
At the heart of this crisis lies a mistaken belief: that objects placed on balconies are safe so long as they are heavy or sit snugly on a ledge. Most people assume gravity is the only force at play. But the built environment is subject to a far more complex r...