Sustainability

Urban India is increasingly embracing sustainable architecture, with architects using eco-friendly materials to reduce environmental impact and support local craftsmanship. Projects featured here highlight how these materials enhance energy efficiency, durability, and aesthetic appeal while promoting traditional skills and reducing carbon footprints.

At The Better India Showcase 2025 in New Delhi, experts from CEEW, Enviu, and The Better India highlighted India’s potential to lead the global green economy by creating jobs through renewable energy, circular systems, and bioeconomy sectors. Supported by Rainmatter Foundation, the discussion stressed how the right policies, capital, and collaboration can turn waste into wealth and drive inclusive growth, with entrepreneurs already shaping a fairer, resilient future.

Through The Mumbai Plastic Recyclothon by L&T and Project Mumbai, over 500 tonnes of plastic waste have been recycled into benches, tiles, school desks, bins, and pathways across the city.

What if furniture could grow, not be built? In Mumbai, architects Bhakti Loonawat and Suyash Sawant launched ‘Anomalia’ to turn mushrooms into consoles, blocks, and textiles — light, durable pieces that challenge how we think about design.

Saraswati Vidyalaya once battled annual floods, broken walls, and dwindling hope. Now, it stands tall on stilts, reborn through local wisdom, low-carbon design, and collective will. Here is how architects at unTAG Architecture and Interiors gave a school and a community a second chance.

The Stone House in Jaipur is built using pink sandstone and lime. Kamal Malik, the architect behind the project, shares how the home is an ode to the legacy of Rajasthan.

This architect from Chennai is showing that homes don’t need cement to be strong and safe. By using earth-based materials and age-old building methods, she’s helped families live in spaces that are healthier and more sustainable. Her work offers a practical path to greener living.

Through the Bio Village 2.0 initiative, Daspara, in Tripura, has become a model for rural sustainable practices and renewable energy consumption. With better agricultural productivity, cleaner energy solutions, and a focus on community-driven development, Daspara is paving the way for a greener, more prosperous future for Indian villages.

In a landmark clean-up, Chennai recycled 1.7 million cubic metres of landfill waste into outdoor furniture, glass bottles, concrete slabs, and more.

Rajesh Mate moved with his family — Smita, Dhruvi and Diti — from Mumbai to their ancestral land in Raigad to embrace a simpler, traditional lifestyle. They practice permaculture and sustainable farming while homeschooling their children.