One of the most common refrains that you’ll hear about Bengaluru, is that its future is uncertain. It’s the doomsday scenario: the city is going to run out of natural resources, and it’ll be the beginning of its decline. It’s pretty dystopian.

But if you live in Bengaluru, and you’ve met and interacted with its citizens, you know that it’s not as simple as it’s made out to be. In this final episode of Ooru, we’re asking, what’s the future looking like? Listen to answers from a lawyer, an environmental activist, a water expert and a group of young citizen activists trying to measure just how polluted the air we breath is.

Is it all doom and gloom? Or is there a ray of hope to look forward to? Listen to the final episode of Ooru to find out!

Ooru is brought to you by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Vaaka Media. For more information go to www.bengalurusustainabilityforum.org, or find the BSF on Twitter and Instagram, at @sustainblr.

For many, Bengaluru is a city of dreams, drawing people from across the country who are in search of better jobs and a better life. But what’s the reality of a worker in this city? Is Bengaluru really a good place to work in? Who is it good for? What does good even look like? Easy and safe commutes? Affordable housing? Progressive urban employment schemes? We search for answers through conversations with political activists, senior IAS officers, the head of an ecological restoration foundation and the youth of this city. We also try to look into the future to find out what the city’s working population will have to contend with then.

Ooru is brought to you by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Vaaka Media. For more information go to www.bengalurusustainabilityforum.org, or find the BSF on Twitter and Instagram, at @sustainblr.

Bengaluru once prided itself on being the Garden City, but with more green covers sacrificed for chrome and glass buildings and steel flyovers, how much of the outdoors is left for citizens to enjoy? Despite an active citizenry and comparatively high civic participation, there are challenges in bringing about widespread change. We hear from people who have worked to nurture an interest in the city’s biodiversity, make the city’s parks more accessible, get citizens to spend more time outdoors, and improve accessibility to public space for recreation and play as we ask ‘Do we need to change our relationship with the outdoors?’

Ooru is brought to you by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Vaaka Media. For more information go to www.bengalurusustainabilityforum.org, or find the BSF on Twitter and Instagram, at @sustainblr.

For a city supposedly named after a story about boiled beans, Bengaluru is very much a great food city. From neighbourhood thindis to food trucks to world class restaurants, there’s something for every palate. But as the city’s population grows to embrace people from all over the country, how are the old ways of eating changing? How has urbanisation, water scarcity and climate change impacted the hinterland around the city from where most of the food we eat comes from? Do all Bengalureans have access to the city’s produce? Who’s being left out?

In episode 2 listen to a food entrepreneur, a farmer, a public health expert and a Bengalurean who loves to run for his thindi answer the question ‘What does Bengaluru eat?’

Ooru is brought to you by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Vaaka Media. For more information go to www.bengalurusustainabilityforum.org, or find the BSF on Twitter and Instagram, at @sustainblr.

By 2030, 60% of the global population is going to be living in cities. Bengaluru is projected to be at the forefront of this growth – with an 8.5% increase in economic output and an exponentially rising population. Bengaluru has struggled to keep apace with its rapid growth which has taken a toll on the city, its resources and human and non-human inhabitants.

Despite funding to repair roads, build flyovers and metros and fix water supplies all accompanied by promises to make Bengaluru another Singapore, to some the city seems to be coming apart at the seams.

In this first episode of Ooru we speak to urban planners, water experts, and those who live in and love this city to find out ‘What Should Bengaluru Look Like?’

Ooru is brought to you by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Vaaka Media. For more information go to www.bengalurusustainabilityforum.org, or find the BSF on Twitter and Instagram, at @sustainblr.

Some questions about Bengaluru are very easy to answer. Like what's your favorite place in the city? Other questions are less easy to answer. There's a certain set of questions most people in ths city spent a lot of time thinking and worrying about - is Bengaluru sustainable? Are we going to run out of food and water? How can we become a part of our city's sustainable future?

Ooru is a new podcast about Bengaluru city and its future. Join us as we find out what we’re doing to plan for our city’s sustainability : for our food, water, trees, lakes, streets and our lives.

Ooru is brought to you by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Vaaka Media.