NAGAR’s work began in 1997 through its three constituents, CitiSpace, Clean-Air, and Clean-Sweep, addressing issues of open spaces, air pollution, and waste management in Mumbai through legal interventions and advocacy campaigns.

NAGAR, through its constituent CitiSpace, intervened in the Bombay High Court hawker matter and later in the Supreme Court case to ensure proper implementation of the Supreme Court’s 1985 directions on designating Hawking and Non-Hawking zones. This was NAGAR’s first legal intervention, and the organisation continues to remain actively involved in the matter to date.

NAGAR registered as a not-for-profit organisation, born out of the passion of several citizens with a goal to improve life in the city of Mumbai.

NAGAR initiated a hands-on pilot project in Solid Waste Management in collaboration with MCGM and the Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment (ICPE). The project brought together the BMC, NGOs, residential associations, and citizens to create a replicable model for the collection, storage, and recycling of dry waste, integrating ragpickers into a safer and more efficient waste chain.

CitiSpace (constituent of NAGAR) challenged the 1992 State policy that allowed slum-occupied lands reserved as public open spaces to be redeveloped, arguing that it led to a net loss of already scarce open areas in Mumbai. In 2002, the Bombay High Court granted a stay on the policy’s implementation, directing that such plots should ideally revert entirely to open space, with land realignment considered only where full restoration was not feasible.

NAGAR registered as a Charitable Trust, giving it a formal institutional framework to advance its civic, environmental, and policy-driven work for Mumbai.

NAGAR led citywide campaigns to protect Mumbai’s Reserved Public Open Spaces. In 2010, it conducted a comprehensive survey of 1,429 public open spaces, with findings on 600 sites published in Breathing Space.

NAGAR filed a PIL objecting to the installation of 4G cell towers on plots reserved as Public Open Spaces and secured a stay from the Bombay High Court on such installations.

NAGAR documented Mumbai’s eight forts in the illustrated publication Abandoned Treasures and also prepared a comprehensive rejuvenation plan to guide the restoration and sustainable activation of these historic sites.

NAGAR has been appointed as a member of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) for Zone 1 and is actively involved in addressing issues related to street vending and the management of public spaces. Through this platform, NAGAR works to highlight citizen concerns, promote transparency, and ensure that vending regulations are implemented fairly and sensitively on the ground.