Air pollution is one of the defining public health crises facing Indian cities today. High population density, combined with the close proximity to pollution sources such as vehicular emission, construction, and waste burning, has left many urban areas trapped in a persistent mix of pollutants affecting human health.

India’s national discourse and policy frameworks remain heavily focused on ambient air quality data generated by the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) that are usually situated far from where people live, work, or commute.

Studies indicate that people living in denser urban spaces face higher average pollution exposure than residents of less dense areas, with vulnerable populations, like children, pregnant women, people with respiratory issues, and low‑income families, getting impacted the most.

Emerging from this cycle requires a paradigm shift in how we manage urban spaces. One such promising solution is the adoption of healthy air zones (HAZs) that shift the legal and administrative focus from broad city monitoring to targeted, area-based interventions. Globally, the concept has also been adopted as ‘clean air zones’ and ‘low emission zones’. However, this approach focuses exclusively on the transport sector by restricting polluting vehicles and implementing other traffic-control measures. Indian cities could lead the way by going beyond transport interventions and addressing other sources of emission such as construction, road dust, waste burning, and industries.

HAZs can be implemented in central or other parts of the city where both population density and floating population are high. These zones include high-transit nodes, central business districts, markets, tourist hubs, and large public spaces. Cities can further work towards identifying high density

spaces, pollution sources, and exposed populations for intensive air quality management. This will enable the city to develop localized, area-specific interventions that can feed into a larger city-wide air pollution mitigation plan.

To control emissions from vehicles, HAZs can prioritize fostering a transition to cleaner modes of travel by prioritizing and subsidizing electric vehicles, enhancing the frequency and reliability of public transport and redesigning streets to make walking and cycling the preferred option for short-distance commutes. Within these zones, authorities can also impose stringent controls on highly polluting freight vehicles and older commercial vehicles, including restricting their entry to these areas.

Other measures, such as integrating edge-to-edge paving and creating dedicated non-motorized transport lanes, reduce tailpipe emissions by streamlining traffic. This infrastructure intervention minimizes the resuspension of road dust, which is one of the key contributors to particulate matter. The focus on infrastructure and regulation ensures that the benefits of emission reduction are felt immediately by the residents who live along these high-traffic corridors.

Within these zones, mandates can include rigorous on-site monitoring and enforcement of clean construction practices. Focused actions such as water sprinkling during demolition, implementing vehicle wheel-washing, and covering construction materials and debris are essential to prevent dust and particulate matter from engulfing neighboring residential areas. In dense industrial clusters or areas with a high concentration of small-scale units, a shift towards cleaner fuel will further help strengthen pollution mitigation actions. 

Open burning of municipal waste is one of the contributors to localized air pollution. The HAZ approach can address this by creating local management plans, raising awareness through community engagement, and creating decentralized infrastructure to bridge waste management gaps. By integrating existing CCTV networks, authorities can identify hotspots of waste burning along with fostering a shared responsibility for maintaining a litter-free zone. 

Focused greening initiatives also play a critical role. By strategically planting urban forests and green buffers between industrial or road sources and residential blocks, we can create natural filters that minimize the impact of pollutants on the community.

For too long, air quality management has been viewed as a top-down, bureaucratic exercise. HAZ can provide opportunities for the communities and local people to engage directly with ward councilors, leaders, and the authorities in charge of neighborhoods to reduce air pollution exposure and can further strengthen air quality solutions that sustain.

HAZs can serve as living laboratories where innovative solutions can be tested and demonstrated. Authorities gain the opportunity to prove the effectiveness of these solutions in a smaller, controlled geography before attempting to scale them across the city.

We already see successful precedents in the Global South that provide a foundation for this idea. In Agra, the restriction of private vehicles around the Taj Mahal has shown how targeted zones can preserve both heritage and health. Similarly, Bogotá’s Clean Air Zones in Colombia have successfully integrated clean mobility with community health outcomes, cutting emissions by focusing on the most polluted corridors.

Mumbai Climate Week is an important step towards discussion on healthy air zone as it creates spaces for accelerating climate action in cities as well as empowering Mumbai, India and the Global South to develop transformative, citizen-driven climate action. 

By placing health, specifically the reduction of exposure to vulnerable communities, at the center of the conversation, HAZs offer a pathway to transform our cities. Clean air is not just a policy goal but a fundamental right for every citizen. 

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