ABSTRACT
Cities need nature to regulate their climate and pollution to provide health for their citizens. The colonial city emerged with the ascent of the European colonial powers. Carrying capacity is an obvious non-invasive principle in nature that applies to our weight, consumption, population and cities as well. The idea of a self-sustaining natural city has evolved as a counter to the ongoing practice of invasive urbanisation that destroys nature and its right of way—rivers, floodplains, waterways, lakes, reservoirs, marshes, etc., making it highly unsustainable. Cities which have populations of less than three million, like Mathura, Agra, Allahabad and Benares to name a few, can source all their water from the floodplains. The Mahanadi, in Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar, has 300 sq km of quality floodplain that is about 40 m deep. Its rainfall, which is 160 cm per year—almost three times that of Delhi—can provide a non-invasive perennial water supply for seven million people.
