New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- Summer used to mean movement. For many children today, it signals retreating indoors, sheltered under a fan, glued to a screen. Where childhoods were once defined by open playgrounds, dusty lanes, and the orange glow of a setting sun, the outdoors has become, for a growing number of urban children, structurally inaccessible. But the summer break is only the most visible symptom of a deeper, year-round condition. Across urban India, environmental barriers have made an active outdoor life increasingly difficult by design. Gated communities have displaced open playgrounds.

The relentless churn of extra classes, heavy traffic, and shrinking green spaces has drastically reduced walkability. Combined with concrete "heat i...