We exist to make Indian cities last longer
By using their land, energy and movement so well that growth stops eating the resources it depends on.
Sustainable, circular Indian cities where urban land, mobility and infrastructure serve people first, and where every policy choice is measured against its climate cost.
We research how cities use their scarcest resources, turn that evidence into policy city governments can adopt, and build the skills of the people who run cities to act on it.
From the global goals to one city's streets
WA Foundation began with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and a simple question: how can Indian cities grow without using up the resources they depend on?
The answer kept coming back to land. Land is the urban resource that runs out first, and a large share of it is given to parked cars. Parking decides how people travel, how much carbon goes into every new building, and how much space is left for homes, trees and public transport.
So we start there. We aim to become the most trusted source of evidence on parking and urban land in India, and to widen from that base into mobility, land use and climate resilience.
Our positioning
Climate action through urban land and mobility.
- Start where we know more than anyone else in India
- Frame our work with SDG 11 and SDG 13
- Widen only on the strength of results
How we work
Open by default
Methods, data and findings are published so others can check and reuse them.
Local before global
We study Indian streets with Indian data, and borrow international practice only where it fits.
Practical over theoretical
Every study ends in something a city can adopt: a code, a bylaw, a toolkit.
Research that can reach inconvenient conclusions
Our work is only worth something if it can reach conclusions that are inconvenient for anyone, including people close to us. These safeguards protect that.
- Independent board member. At least one director with no commercial interest in parking or mobility.
- Conflict-of-interest policy. Directors and their relatives disclose related business interests and step out of related decisions.
- No product endorsements. We recommend policies and design principles, never products, brands or suppliers.
- Arm's-length data. Data from any company comes under a written agreement and is disclosed in the study that uses it.
- Open methods. Every study publishes its methodology and data sources.
- Not-for-profit discipline. No surplus or benefit goes to members; all income is applied to our objects.
Leadership
Mangesh Wankhade
Founder and Secretary
Mangesh founded WA Foundation to bring evidence and practical policy to how Indian cities use land and move people.
An independent director with a background in academia, urban planning or public finance is being appointed to the board.
Organisation details
| Legal name | WAFOUNDATION |
|---|---|
| Legal form | Not-for-profit company, Section 8, Companies Act 2013 |
| CIN | U85300PN2022NPL210615 |
| Incorporated | 21 April 2022 |
| Based in | Pune, Maharashtra, India |