Cities must see water as a strategic tool to balance economy, ecology

As India navigates through the complexities of sustainable development, the blue economy offers a compelling strategy to align urban development with social inclusion and environmental resilience

For too long, cities have treated water as either scenery or sewage — but never as strategy. The blue economy is a hopeful concept that integrates all three. The idea of the blue economy often gets us thinking about oceans, coastal ports, and fishing boats, while the cities of today evoke images of skyscrapers, traffic, and rooftop gardens. This binary, however, misses the fact that several Indian cities are inherently water-bound. With a coastline of roughly 7,500 km, India has major coastal cities like Chennai and Surat, riverine cities like Varanasi and Patna, and lake or wetland cities like Udaipur