As air quality has become a growing public concern, the need to move beyond short-term measures towards sustained and coordinated action has been emphasised. In this context, a roundtable titled “Air Pollution in Cities: Challenges and the Way Forward” was hosted in New Delhi.

During the discussion, the focus was placed on building accountable and coordinated city systems to address air pollution. The ways in which future air-quality frameworks could be designed to strengthen city capacity, rather than only provide funding, were examined. The roundtable marked a step towards viewing clean air as a city-systems challenge and initiating dialogue on long-term institutional solutions.

Key perspectives from experts, researchers and civil society organisations were shared to support this shift towards durable and effective urban air-quality governance.