My recent article, “Srinagar Cannot Breathe Forever,” published in Greater Kashmir on June 28, argued that the challenges confronting Srinagar - traffic congestion, environmental degradation, shrinking public spaces, housing shortages and overstretched civic infrastructure - are not isolated urban problems. They are symptoms of a deeper structural imbalance. For decades, Srinagar has grown not merely as the capital city but as the Valley’s dominant destination for governance, commerce, education, healthcare, tourism and employment. Every new institution, office, shopping complex or commercial establishment has added another layer of pressure to a city whose physical limits are increasingly defined by its lakes, wetlands, floodplains and fragile ecology.