The popular urban planning idea is spreading fast, but the gap between the vision and the reality reveals a deeper governance crisis.

The global economy is currently inextricably tethered to seventeen elements buried in the earth’s crust. These Rare Earth Elements (REEs) form the foundational bedrock of modern civilization by powering everything from commercial electric vehicles (EVs) and consumer electronics to advanced missile defence systems. For decades, the global market outsourced the environmentally hazardous and capital-intensive process of refining these minerals to the People’s Republic of Chi

Over four billion people globally are now urban residents, and the concrete infrastructure of their cities is making extreme heat deadlier with every passing summer. India by itself is home to over 513 million of them, nearly 13% of the world's urban population, and its cities are less than prepared for a climate phenomenon that is turning them virtually into ovens.