By Sandeep Kotwal

Imagine seeing Kashmir and Ladakh as a single region, a vast stretch of nearly 75,000 square kilometres. By size, it could fit around 150 full-scale cities, each sprawling over 500 square kilometres. In reality, there’s only one major urban center, Srinagar, and roughly eight million people living across valleys, plateaus, and rugged mountains that shape daily life far more than any city ever could.

This contrast between scale and settlement reveals something important: the Himalayas ask for better planning.

And that planning must emerge from the understanding that mountains thrive on balance, not expansion.

Seen through a planner’s eyes, the two territories, Kashmir and Ladakh, are not separate worlds but parts of one natural macroregion. They share rivers, trade routes, and ecological systems that have connected communities for centuries.

Kashmir provides population, water, and resources, while Ladakh contributes space, sunlight, and energy potential.

Together, they form a complementary whole that could become India’s model for sustainable mountain development.

The idea is to realign mindsets.

If the Himalayas are to endure, they need a framework that combines their cultural diversity with environmental logic. This vision could........

© Kashmir Observer