Sustainable Urban Solutions in India

SUSTAINABLE URBAN SOLUTIONS IN INDIA CEE 244A Winter 2017 Final Report

Abstract This project was conducted under the Sustainable Urban Systems (SUS) program at Stanford University. The research examines urban systems issues in India, specifically focusing on Dharavi, Mumbai and the state of Andhra Pradesh. This research is preceded by additional work under the India Project in the SUS program, forming part of a continuous academic effort to analyze urban systems in India and working with Indian officials and external organizations to implement solutions.

Acknowledgments Research Credit Charu Srivastava, Holly Tullo, Jennah Jones, Yadanar Hnin, Ian Bick, Kevin Keene, Ben Lim, Nani Friedman, Jacque Ramos Course Instructors Dr. Ronita Bardhan, Terry Beaubois Administrative and Advisory Support Jack Lundquist, Derek Ouyang

1

Table of Contents Table of Figures................................................................................................................................. 4 What is Smartness? .......................................................................................................................... 6 Defining Smart Communities in India ............................................................................................................. 6 Survey Design ................................................................................................................................................... 7 Survey Results .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Analysis and Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 10 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 11

Smart Mapping Dharavi ................................................................................................................ 12 Goal and Scope ............................................................................................................................................... 12 Road Networks and Open Spaces ................................................................................................................... 13 Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 Next Steps ....................................................................................................................................................... 21 Why Smart Mapping? ..................................................................................................................................... 21 The Focus ........................................................................................................................................................ 24 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 27

Slum Rehabilitation Act of 1995 .................................................................................................... 28 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 28 The Slum Rehabilitation Act of 1995 ............................................................................................................. 29 The Process ..................................................................................................................................................... 31 Challenges and Areas of Concern ................................................................................................................... 31 Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 33 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 34

Geospatial Analysis for Smart Communities ............................................................................... 35 Project Background and Goals........................................................................................................................ 35 Data Requirements and Sources ..................................................................................................................... 36 Village-Scale Geospatial Analysis .................................................................................................................. 37 Regional Geospatial Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 38 Further Work ................................................................................................................................................... 41 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 41

Shrimp Farming in Mori ................................................................................................................ 43 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 43 General Background on Shrimp Farming in Mori Village ............................................................................. 43 Spring Quarter Class Questions ...................................................................................................................... 47

2

References ....................................................................................................................................................... 48

Energy Access in Andhra Pradesh ................................................................................................ 49 Energy Landscape in Andhra Pradesh ............................................................................................................ 49 Microgrids ....................................................................................................................................................... 49 Integrated Renewable Energy Systems (IRES) .............................................................................................. 51 Implementation ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Economic Strategies........................................................................................................................................ 53 Future Steps .................................................................................................................................................... 53 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 53

3

Table of Figures Figure 1. Demographic results of participants’ gender, education field and birth country. ............... 8 Figure 2. Survey responses for the questions regarding individual perceptions of “smart” and “smart cities.” .............................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 3. Statistical results for birth country as explanatory variable and the meaning of “smart” as the dependent variable .............................................................................................................. 10 Figure 4. Dharavi sector IV road networks colored by traffic density ............................................. 14 Figure 5. Step depth map for open space A (selected in yellow) ..................................................... 15 Figure 6. Step depth map for open space B (selected in yellow) ...................................................... 15 Figure 7. Step depth map for open space C (selected in yellow) ...................................................... 16 Figure 8. Step depth map for open space D (selected in yellow) ..................................................... 16 Figure 9. Land uses in closest proximity to open space A (selected in transparent green) .............. 17 Figure 10. Land uses in closest proximity to open space B (selected in transparent green) ............ 17 Figure 11. Land uses in closest proximity to open space C (selected in transparent green) ............ 18 Figure 12. Land uses in closest proximity to open space D (selected in transparent green) ............ 18 Figure 13. Overlay of major open spaces within Sector IV and connectivity analysis map ............ 19 Figure 14. Total connectivity values of road segments .................................................................... 20 Figure 15. Graphic representation of beacon technology in Dharavi ............................................... 22 Figure 16. Picture of Tech Girls from video of campaign ................................................................ 24 Figure 17. Example of a messaging submission platform through WhatsApp................................. 26 Figure 18. Instagram mapping as an example for live image and/or text feed ................................. 26 Figure 18. Various slums .................................................................................................................. 28

4

Figure 20. Workflow for Slum Rehabilitation Scheme .................................................................... 31 Figure 21. Geospatial modeling data sources ................................................................................... 37 Figure 22. Mori drone-sourced normalized flow accumulation map ............................................... 37 Figure 23. Mori Village USGS Elevation Map ................................................................................ 38 Figure 24. Mori normalized flow accumulation ............................................................................... 38 Figure 25. Amaravati 2050 Development Scenario12 ....................................................................... 39 Figure 26. Amaravati Land Use Timeline ........................................................................................ 40 Figure 27. Amaravati Carbon Storage Timeline ............................................................................... 40 Figure 28. Mg of Carbon Stored in Land Usage Scenarios .............................................................. 41 Figure 29. Schematic of a microgrid system .................................................................................... 50 Figure 30. Schematic of an IRES ...................................................................................................... 51 Figure 31. Swarm aggregation methodology .................................................................................... 52

5

What is Smartness?

Charu Srivastava, Yadanar Hnin

Defining Smart Communities in India To better frame our class research on smart communities in India this quarter, we wanted to come up with a definition for “smart.” While several interpretations of “smartness” exist for cities, no legal body has officially defined the term in the context of communities as a whole. As an academic institution, Stanford is a generator of new knowledge, and we hold immense potential to influence perceptions on a global scale. We combined a brief literature review discussing current definitions of smart cities, with a survey analyzing Stanford students’ perceptions of “smart,” to derive a definition for smart communities that guided our work for the Mumbai slum Dharavi, and villages in Andhra Pradesh. Through this class, we would like to create a “smart kit” for the advancement of smart communities in India. The purpose of the kit is to create a digital toolset for villages and cities to acquire data, that can inform and empower people in urban and rural areas, create jobs, expand infrastructure, prevent environmental damage and increase physical and technological human connectivity.

Current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, proposed to build 100 smart cities in the country, however, due to the lack of concrete definitions of smartness, the vision of creating smart cities remains nebulous. “Despite the increasing ubiquity of the term, there has been considerable confusion around what a smart city is in practice and what the smart city agenda in India represents – with discourses and terminologies used by different actors to serve different ends. Neither in India nor globally is there an agreedupon definition. Smart cities variously include some form of technological, organizational and policy innovation to channel physical, social and ICT infrastructures for economic regeneration, social cohesion, improved city administration and infrastructure management”.1 The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (AP), Shri Nara Chandrababu Naidu, declared, “Not just smart cities, my vision is to make smart villages and smart towns too, thus making a smart state by taking smart decisions, using smart technology and with the help of smart manpower. I appeal to NRIs, NGOs, VIPs, Corporates, Philanthropists, Ministers, MLAs, etc. to adopt at least one village each and develop our state into a Smart Andhra Pradesh." In December 2016, Mori, a “sleepy cashew exporting village in East Godavari district, emerged as the first super-smart village of the state,” by becoming the first fully digital village of Andhra Pradesh.2 Now, CM Naidu wants to exponentially increase the

6

number of smart communities in his state, and his team has been tracking progress through the official CM Dashboard.3 In addition to these political definitions of “smart,” to better guide our recommendations for developing smart communities in Dharavi and Andhra Pradesh, we also distributed a survey at Stanford, to gather academic perceptions on smartness.

Survey Design Objective The survey was an attempt to understand perceptions of smartness and smart cities among students at an academic institution, to help derive an intellectual definition for smart communities. After acquiring the survey data, we hoped to gain a better understanding of how students view smartness. In addition to perceptions of smart, the survey gathered demographic information about the participants, such as age, gender, birth country, current country of residence, duration of residence, education level and field of education. We hoped to find some association between the demographic data and perceptions of smart.

Scope We targeted Stanford students in the Sustainable Urban Systems, Architectural Design and Civil and Environmental Engineering departments, as well as the Indian student population at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as we thought these would be the most relevant student groups. While the exact reach of the survey is not known, it was distributed to at least around 700 people through email and Facebook groups. The responses were recorded through a Google form and results were analyzed using Excel (v,14.5.2) and STATA (v.14.1).

Expected Outcomes We expected to observe a significant difference in perceptions of “smart” based on gender, birth country and education field. In particular, we hypothesized there would be a visible distinction between participants born within the United States versus outside and engineering versus non-engineering students.

7

Survey Results The survey received a total of 68 responses. 62% respondents were female, 68% were born in the US (other countries included Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Lebanon and Pakistan) 67% were studying or had studied an engineering field (followed by 26% natural sciences and 7% humanities). The survey also gathered data on age (70% between 2025 years), current country of residence (93% United States), duration of residence in current country (87% were 10+ years) and education level (75% undergraduate, 24% graduate). However, we felt that gender, birth country and field of education would be the most insightful in identifying associations with perceptions. Figure 1 below shows the breakdown for these three categories.

Figure 1. Demographic results of participants’ gender, education field and birth country.

The first couplet of “smart” questions were intended to capture a shift in the perception between “smart” and “smart city.” Both questions had the same five multiple choice answers - intelligent, efficient, chic, digital and equitable. Although no further description for the choices was given, We viewed intelligent as IQ and education level; efficient as proficient and resourceful; chic as trendy and modern; digital as technology and connectivity; and equitable as fair and just. As shown in Figure 2, the overwhelming majority of people think “smart” means intelligent (81%), but believe smart cities are efficient (69%). Surprisingly, “digital” did not feature highly in perceptions of a smart city.

Future studies could look into the definition of each word choice more closely.

A third high-level question surveyed the most important value for a smart city to have.

There was a tie between efficiency (37%) and sustainability (37%). This shows that students are aware of and value the environment and natural surroundings, but given that many of the respondents may have been from the CEE department, they may have been biased toward this answer. Further research with other department students may yield different results.

8

Figure 2. Survey responses for the questions regarding individual perceptions of “smart” and “smart cities.”

Finally, looking at another couplet of questions - what is most important to have in your city versus a smart city - we also anticipated a difference in responses between the two.

Considering that “smart city” or “smart village” is often associated with digital (for example, the fully digital Mori village) we were expecting free Wi-Fi or e-banking to show up as the most popular choices. Surprisingly, in the first question for cities in general, walkable neighborhoods was highest (43%) and public transit was second (31%). In the second question specifically on smart cities, public transit shot up to 55% and walkable neighborhoods decreased to only 11%. For smart cities, free Wi-Fi was more important (25%). None of the respondents chose e-Banking, despite using apps such as Venmo or mobile banking. Perhaps they did not understand the term, or perhaps it is not used or valued as much as in India. Given the recent demonetization policy, going cashless is a beneficial feature for cities and villages alike. However, it possible that people do not think of these as vital systems of infrastructure on a higher level, and still value social interaction and physical connectivity, such as walkable neighborhoods and public transit, over and above technological connectivity. This survey also brings up the concept of hard versus soft infrastructure, and could be the topic of further research. Areas to look into during the development of smart communities include jobs, housing, energy grids, food and water supply, health and sanitation.

9

Analysis and Discussion In addition to collation of survey data, we decided to run some chi-tests and create twoway contingency tables based on each characteristic of the survey takers (e.g. age, gender, birth country) matched with their responses to each of the perception questions.

After coding the multiple-choice questions in Excel to a format that we could perform statistical analysis for, we used STATA to create these tables. Our analysis demonstrated that there were no significant results to show that any of the survey participants’ perceptions were dependent on their individual characteristics.

Figure 3. Statistical results for birth country as explanatory variable and the meaning of “smart” as the dependent variable

STATA contingency tables showed no significant results at the 5% level. Thus, we cannot correlate birth country, gender or education field with perceptions on smartness. As seen in Figure 3, only the birth country and perception of a smart city was significant at the 10% level (note: P-value of 0.241 indicates failure to reject the null hypothesis that these two variables are independent of each other), so perhaps a bigger and more varied sample pool may reveal more significant differences. Nonetheless, this survey at least suggests that perhaps a more universal idea of “smartness” exists: of an intelligent, efficient and sustainable community, that values physical connectivity rather than technological 10

connectivity (walkable neighborhoods and public transit over Wi-Fi and e-banking). Most importantly, this survey shows that “smart” does not equate to “digital.” As a result, efforts in developing smart communities should not center around imposing technology, but rather, building infrastructure that supports physical human connectivity and social wellbeing, that can be effectively and seamlessly incorporated into the cultural context.

References 1. Hoelscher, Kristian. "The Evolution of the Smart Cities Agenda in India." International Area Studies Review 19.1 (2016): 28-44. Sage. Web. 2. "Mori to Be First Digital Village in Andhra Pradesh." The Times of India. City, 28 Dec. 2016. Web. 3. Smart Village Smart Ward. Smart Andhra Pradesh Foundation, Web.

11

Smart Mapping Dharavi Nani Friedman, Jacque Ramos, Yadanar Hnin

Goal and Scope Our team formed because we were intrigued by the ways in which transportation, openspaces and business vitality would be affected by the Dharavi redevelopment plan. Our professor, Dr. Ronita Bardhan of the Center for Urban Science and Engineering of IIT Bombay, also expressed the inadequacy of maps of Dharavi due to its title as a “special planning area”. Given the lack of formal mapping of Dharavi and the circumstances of the redevelopment plan, our team became interested in mapping as a way to a) inform redevelopment plans and policy through spatial and habit analysis, and b) create a tool to improve everyday life of residents. A common fault in the redevelopment plan referenced by grassroots organizations is an “information gap”, which the government began to address by commissioning a baseline socioeconomic survey and transport study.1 We believe that there would be many benefits to putting the previously existing data, the data collected by redevelopment efforts, and other crowdsourced data in a single, user-friendly map. We call this a “smart map” because it synthesizes data about residents’ habits, a tool that can be utilized by policy makers to create data-driven, intelligent and efficient “smart cities”.

Our vision is to create a map that synthesizes data about transportation patterns, land use, open-space use, existing businesses, economic zones, religious zones, technology use, and groupings of residences that can steer redevelopment processes. The map will also include how habits change over the course of a day, in regards to how transportation, technology and open-space are used differently at different times. We also intend to develop a way for residents of Dharavi to seamlessly submit daily city observations digitally, and build a map-based digital platform to display community statistics and news.

All of these data sets will be layered and viewable based on a simple query-based dashboard. For some of these sectors, the data can be crowdsourced via an online platform and/or partnerships within the community. For others, we depend on existing data or data held by the private sector.

The relevance and importance of the redevelopment plan is clear. As community leaders involved in the redevelopment process state, “The form that Dharavi’s redevelopment takes has implications not only for its tens of thousands of households and businesses but also for Mumbai’s future approach to slum improvement and, by extension, whether the city’s development will include, or process at the expense of, the interests of a majority of its residents”.1 We believe that if Dharavi is well-mapped in its current form,

12

grassroots organizations can use the data to advocate for equitable development that empowers residents rather than taking advantage of them. The government’s adoption of a set of urban design guidelines (installed following extensive community campaigning and the creation of an advisory committee) reflects how community activism by these grassroots organizations can concretely affect the development process. We hope that the data synthesized by the map, data collected through open sourcing methods, and spatial analyses of the data can inform policies such as the urban design guidelines. This data can also be utilized directly by the government to more wisely regulate the redevelopment process. Furthermore, engineers, students, architects, and community leaders can use the data to create innovative design plans for how to create vertical spaces that best replicate the habits and strengths enabled by Dharavi in horizontal form.

A baseline economic survey, including a mapping component and the geo-tagging of survey data, was conducted in 2008 to address the need for more information, increasing government transparency and establishing more lines of communication between local organizations, the government and residents. As Arputham et al. state, “Geo-tagged demographic, socioeconomic and structural information [collected by the survey] will be invaluable for orienting development towards the requirements of Dharavi’s population”.1 The information collected with the survey could be vital to informing our own mapping efforts. The Maharashtra Social Housing and Action League was tasked with the GIS mapping and data geo-tagging components, and their work should be examined further by students working on this project.

We also believe that with a user-friendly interface, this map could be an everyday tool for residents. It is our understanding that upon vertical development, many businesses are losing visibility on the ground floor and are performing more poorly; a comprehensive map of Dharavi’s business resources with a function to enable virtual communication, in addition to its thriving social networks, could serve as a remedy to this problem.

Additionally, a more comprehensive understanding and visualization of roads, alleys and pedestrian routes (as well as habits in the surrounding areas), could increase the safety of residents and efficiency of travel.

Road Networks and Open Spaces To better understand the spatial arrangement of roads and open spaces and what role they play in connecting the community, we layered open source data from Open Street Maps (www.openstreetmaps.org), a Land Use Map of Dharavi that Dr. Ronita gave us, and land use data from Re-Imagining Dharavi. We then performed some spatial analyses.

Given the scope of this project, we decided to focus only on one sector of Dharavi, Sector IV. The goal of these analyses was to find the role in which roads and open spaces will play in future smart mapping projects.

13

We conducted three spatial analyses: 1) ranking existing road segments by traffic density, 2) understanding the accessibility to different land uses from four major open spaces and their walkability, 3) finding the relationship between connectivity and open spaces.

Results Analysis 1: Ranking existing roads and streets by traffic/importance Based on the traffic data index from openstreetmap, we used arcMap to create a categorical representation of just the street networks to identify the main traffic-heavy roads that carry vehicles and multimodal transportation as well as the clusters of residential pathways that consist of only foot traffic. From looking at the result map below, we find that the few primary roads that run through the sector are actually very important in organizing the area into residential clusters, while the commercial and institutional buildings tend to line up on the edges of these main roads.

Though a slum is commonly perceived as sprawling organically with no formal planning, Dharavi shows a concrete structure in sectioning off different areas using the primary Figure 4. Dharavi sector IV road networks colored by traffic density vehicular roads. This highlights the importance of having major roads for the movement of people and things in and out of the slum, and can help the arrangement of certain land uses as well.

Analysis 2: Accessibility of four main open spaces within Sector IV based on walkability With the previous analysis in mind, we then used Depthmapx to create step depth analyses for four main open spaces found within the sector. Each step depth map tells us how many steps it takes to move from the selected area to every other road segment. The following step depth analyses show the range of values for the four main spaces, with dark blue being the least steps needed while brighter reds and greens indicate more steps needed.

14

Figure 5. Step depth map for open space A (selected in yellow)

Figure 6. Step depth map for open space B (selected in yellow)

15

Figure 7. Step depth map for open space C (selected in yellow)

Figure 8. Step depth map for open space D (selected in yellow)

Given these maps, we overlaid them with a comprehensive land use map provided by the SRA to perform a subjective analysis, looking for the land uses in closest proximity to each open space (areas with the lowest step depth values).

16

Figure 9. Land uses in closest proximity to open space A (selected in transparent green)

Figure 10. Land uses in closest proximity to open space B (selected in transparent green)

17

Figure 11. Land uses in closest proximity to open space C (selected in transparent green)

Figure 12. Land uses in closest proximity to open space D (selected in transparent green)

From these map overlays, we can see that the open spaces are strategically located along the main vehicular roads that run down sector four. Each space is accessible to a 18

variety of land uses, particularly the commercial land uses that line along the main roads, as well as the closest residential clusters to each respective space. Subsequently, we can extrapolate that these four main spaces are crucial community nodes that experience traffic of all sorts - ranging from commercial to residential. They may also play a role in helping businesses maintain visibility and connectivity, which leads to the next portion of our analysis.

Analysis 3: Finding the relationship between connectivity of roads and open spaces Also using Depthmapx, we calculated a connectivity map of the road network, which indicated the connectivity values of each road segment (how many other nodes each road is connected to).

In conjunction with this spatial syntax connectivity analysis, we took the connectivity values of the road segments immediately surrounding each open space. From there, we weighted the values by the number of segments there were to see which open spaces were the most connected.

Figure 13. Overlay of major open spaces within Sector IV and connectivity analysis map

The following table calculates the total connectivity values of all the road segments adjacent to each open space.

19

Open Space (top to bottom)

Connectivity value total

Connectivity value average

A

40

2.83

B

34

2.76

C

9

3.33

D

68

2.44

Total

151

2.67

Figure 14. Total connectivity values of road segments

Each open space seems to be equally as connected as one another, although open space C seems to be slightly more connected than others. The similarities could be due to the fact that all four of them lie along one of the primary vehicular roads, which means that they have access to many other road segments. Once again, this reinforces the idea that the connectivity of open spaces is key to helping direct traffic to businesses at the ground level.

Conclusion Dharavi’s roads can be clearly categorized as containing a few main vehicular and multimodal transport roads that section off the slum into a few residential clusters. Within these clusters are smaller and narrow residential pathways that carry only foot traffic. This clear distinction highlights the importance of primary vehicular roads in the overarching movement of people and things. Subsequently, a subjective analysis of the land use map from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority shows that most of the commercial buildings exist on the outermost edges of these roads, where they achieve the most visibility from traffic.

Additionally, the four major open spaces of Sector IV are placed along the primary roads as well, which is significant because based on the step-depth analysis, the land uses in those areas are in the closest walking distance to the open spaces. These land uses consist of various institutions, commercial and residential. We can hypothesize that these spaces act as a bridge connecting businesses and residents. Not only do they act as a community node in the sense that it brings residents from the closest clusters together, it also directs traffic to the businesses. The proximity of major vehicular roads also provides a segway for commercial and residential movement of people.

This has implications for how the vertical slums development project can move forward. In redirecting the activities of the slum to work in vertical spaces, future developers must

20

take into consideration the need for strong, anchoring open spaces and vehicular roads and find a way to make up for the loss of visibility to ground level businesses.

Next Steps In terms of mapping, the immediate next steps would be to continue mapping existing data and to create an online platform for the map with a user-friendly dashboard for queries. In regards to building the online platform for the map, it is also important to note that the online platform will ideally include crowdsourcing capabilities.

In order to maximize usefulness of the map, gain access to more data that has already been collected and to refine the goals for future data collection, we believe it is important for students to have contacts on the ground with grassroots organizations engaged in the redevelopment process. These organizations could include SPARC, Concerns Citizens for Dharavi, Dharavi Vikas Samiti (the local group of the National Slum Dwellers Federation), and the Maharashtra Social Housing and Action League. In order to inform potential community partners and/or corporations that could collaborate with us, we wrote a report -- similar to a project “pitch” -- to outline our vision. This pitch can be used as an explanatory tool in the outreach process.

It is also important for students working on this project to learn more about the economic baseline survey conducted in 2008. What data was collected? What is public? Could georeferenced data be available to us? Is a partnership with the Maharashtra Social Housing and Action League necessary? Or, should the focus of this project to address information gaps not addressed by the economic baseline survey?

Other potential data sources that could be incorporated in the near future are business information on Google Maps, open spaces viewable with Bing Maps satellite view, and maps of different religious zones that Dr. Ronita Bardhan has access to.

Why Smart Mapping?

Current Smart Mapping Initiatives in India There are many ways that people are trying to change the impoverished “slum image” of Dharavi. One way is through creating a place for tech innovation in Dharavi. Just this year in mid-January, India newspapers were teeming with the news of the Internet of Things arriving in Dharavi.2 IIT - Bombay in partnership with Swansea University in the United Kingdom and a grant from Google installed beacons in multiple shops to increase customer engagement, helping customers make more informed decisions as they shop in Dharavi. After this pilot phase, which includes 100 beacons from Google’s IoT Research Award Pilot, the students will report back after five weeks. Most likely, the tech giant will

21

be providing more after this phase. For the first part of the pilot, the team disseminated 30 beacons to leather shops, and for the second part, the team will disseminate 70 to potters and to garment vendors. Because of this project, shoppers are encouraged with signs to turn on Bluetooth on their smartphones. When a customer is within 30 feet of a shop’s beacon, their phone will receive an alert from the beacon about the items and services that the shop provides.

These initiatives in Dharavi is just one way to empower people in the community, but another way that involves digital platforms is through smart mapping. The implementation of IoT in Dharavi is one way to use location-based services, but smart mapping is another. Therefore, smart mapping can be used for commercial means, but there are other uses for this application. This idea is in good company. There are three main projects that showcase the usefulness and empowering effect that smart mapping could have on Dharavi.

Figure 15. Graphic representation of beacon technology in Dharavi

Smart Mapping3 This report covers the basics of what our team believes a smart map should have: a robust data foundation, live community engagement, community practicality. Dalberg highlighted first and foremost that this concept could yield $8 billion US dollars, in savings and value, among other positive externalities. India’s urban growth has been exponential and will continue to grow; there needs to be a mapping application that is able to keep up with the information turnover and upgrades in order to adequately support people in the growing cities. From exposing businesses to their customers, helping people navigate around their city, optimizing city service routes, to informing city government in future 22

planning and building, the inclusion of smart mapping, as Dalberg argues, is necessary to a smart future for Indian cities.

Dharavi Biennal4 Within this project, there are two mapping sub-projects to highlight: Sound mapping with Megapolis India, an online platform to voice innovative urban ideas, and Mapping the Hurt. Dharavi is a cacophony of noises, and this project aimed to spatially understand culture of sounds of two parts of Dharavi: Mekund Nagar, a place with homes and sweatshops, and Sanaullah Compound, where there are many recycling centers. With this particular project, they asked the following questions: ●

What are the sounds that distinguish Dharavi?

●

Which sounds do we love and which do we complain about?

● Amidst blaring horns at traffic-choked chowks and the constant chatter of people, what if you wanted a moment of silence? ●

Where does the Dharavi person go in search of a quiet place?”

Recorder in hand, they were able to experience and record the mixture of kids after school congregating near the vendors and the machinery in Mekund Nagar and the grind of the recycling centers and chatter of people in a nearby restaurant.

Mapping the Hurt was a project in documenting and visually displaying the data and the stories in a meaningful way. Sanginis, community activists were provided with an alert app called Eyewatch. With this app, they are able to report cases of violence against women and children and adequately record what is needed to respond to these cases.

Little Sister worked with the sanginis to collect these data. For this project, Little Sister also invited 150 women to discuss and share their experiences of domestic. Their questions differed widely from Sound Mapping: ●

Why do certain streets have more incidences of eve-teasing?

●

What are the gendered spaces in Dharavi?

●

How can sanginis prevent domestic violence in a particular chawl?”

After discussion, the data was visually represented through fabric scraps put together by Dharavi residents, some being the storytellers themselves.

Tech Girls5 Tech Girls was started by Nawneet Ranjan in 2014 in order to empower girls who want to help out their community through tech. This group has already created many apps that 23

help their community, involving water collection and waste and domestic violence alerts.

One girl identified a pain point in her community in that people were fighting over water collection because the water is only open for two hours a day. The water collection alert app organizes those in the community that receive water during that time and alerts the user when to pick up the water. The second app, Women Fight Back, is an alert system for women who experience domestic abuse. Clean and Green is a way for people to report any waste in their community. This program is another way that Dharavi is trying to shift their image as an impoverished slum to a place of innovation and community. The youth have a say in their community through gaining skills in tech needed to create positive change.

Figure 16. Picture of Tech Girls from video of campaign

The Focus There are many ways to “smartly map” Dharavi, so this application would aim to answer this main question: •

How can the Dharavi community’s digital voice grow?

It is about a process of empowerment. How can we, as students thousands of miles away in an elite institution and a different culture, create relevant questions for the Dharavi community? What kinds of questions adequately position our team in an equal partnership with the community we’d like to work with. From various sources, we know 24

that Dharavi has vibrant, tight knit community with a strong sense of place that doesn’t want to become a monoculture of high rises. This community clearly has a strong community voice. Smart mapping can be a way that the community voices itself digitally.

So more specifically, we ask: •

How can the Dharavi community leverage location-based social media to help with daily processes while strengthening community relationships?

A relationship with first and foremost a grassroots organization in Dharavi (perhaps Tech Girls) and a tech company could provide the means that this is implemented. Because this question is two pronged, it will have to be answered in a two-pronged manner: 1. A way to seamlessly submit daily city observations digitally.

2. A digital platform to display community statistics and community news This could be achieved easily with current technology and because some foundational cultural facts are present in Mumbai. Firstly, with 220 million users, India is now world’s second-biggest smartphone market with only 30% market penetration, meaning that there’s a lot of potential for that number of smartphone users to grow. Secondly, according to Internet and Mobile Association of India back in 2014, the highest amount of internet users are in Mumbai. This could be due as well to the increased number of smartphone users.

A messaging application could have the capabilities to accept observations, news, or alerts from folks in the community. The function could be embedded as a widget or a number into the application, and most importantly, these would then be spatially displayed in a map in an organized fashion as relevant to the filter selected on the map.

25

Figure 17. Example of a messaging submission platform through WhatsApp

Figure 18. Instagram mapping as an example for live image and/or text feed

26

Pain Points6 The large amount of social media users for applications such as Facebook and WhatsApp could lead to privacy and security issues. However, with transparency and a robust privacy implementation process, this project could be successful in its operations. The benefits for smart mapping far outweigh the costs.

References 1.

Arputham, Jockin, Sundar Burra, Sheela Patel, and Katia Savchuk. “Getting the Information Base for Dharavi’s Redevelopment.” Environment and Urbanization, vol. 21, no. 1, April 2009, pp. 241-251.

2.

IoT News in Dharavi Quartz, Huffington Post , The Better India, The Asian Age

3.

Smart Mapping: Dalberg, Press Release, The Hindu, Geospatial World, Business Standard

4.

Dharavi Biennale: Sound Mapping, Mapping the Hurt

5.

Tech Girls: The Hindu, The App Inventor, ZD Net, Mashable, Forbes, Homegrown, Storify

6.

Pain Points: The Hindu, India Today in Tech, Forbes

27

Slum Rehabilitation Act of 1995 History, Implementation, and Feasibility Overview Ben Lim

Introduction Mumbai, formerly Bombay, capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra, is the most populous city in India (4th in the world), boasting a population of 20,700,000 as of 2016.

With a GDP of $368 Billion, it is the wealthiest city in India, home to the highest number of billionaires and millionaires in India. However, this is not the whole picture; it is estimated that up to 4 million people live in the slums of Mumbai. The largest of these slums is known as Dharavi, shown the in the Academy Award winning film, “Slumdog Millionaire.�

The population of Dharavi is estimated to be nearly 1 million, with an estimated informal GDP of $1 Billion. A fundamental misunderstanding of the disparity of housing in Mumbai is not income, but the access to housing that matching occupant income. There are two extremes in Mumbai, the slum/hutment or luxury condominium, this lack of quality affordable housing makes it appear that there is no middle class in Mumbai.

Mumbai has a long history of attempting to reduce its slum population. In 1947, the Mumbai Rent Control Act was introduced to freeze rents at 1940 levels and protect the rights of tenants against evictions, so that people would not be forced out of their homes as the value of land rose. However, these provisions had a negative impact on private Figure 19. Various slums investments in rental housing and adversely affected property tax collection. In 1986, the Rent Control Act was revised, and again in 1993; these revisions were only applicable to new properties. Similarly, the Urban Land Act of 1976 was developed to control land speculation and to achieve a fairer distribution of land by putting a ceiling of 500 square meter on vacant urban land in Mumbai that could be held in private ownership. In retrospect, the restrictions actually reduced the supply of formal land. The Housing board had supplied about 100,000 fully built

28

ownership dwellings to various income groups, 75% of them were Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income Groups.

In December 1995, the government of Maharashtra, implemented the Slum Rehabilitation Act, which intended to relocate those living in slums to modern vertical structures of a sound living standard at zero cost, in-situ, by using the land as a resource. That is to say, a developer will provide these units free of cost to slum dwellers by using the land unlocked by consolidating the previously horizontal slums vertically to construct new profitable buildings to finance the entire process. The government is to incur no cost during the process. The government’s underlying philosophy is “if inequality has to be removed there has to be unequal law� in favor of bringing slum dwellers into the mainstream social, cultural, and economic fabric of the city.

It is 2017 and only 125,907 tenements have been occupied thus far. Estimating that each tenement has 5 occupants, roughly 630,000 people had been relocated thus far. This is great progress, although the act has made no guarantee on the quality of life span of the tenement. Also after over 20 years, there is still much work to be done. The SRA has the potential to bring a city divided by housing together, but the implementation of the scheme needs to be examined more closely and improved, so that equitable change may come to all at a sustainable rate.

While the concept and purpose of the Slum Rehabilitation Act is commendable, it leaves much to be desired. There are very few specifications outlined in the act, which creates loopholes for parties to be lost in during the process. The objective of this study to examine the workflow of a development scheme and identify areas that could better serve the community, the government, and the developers as a whole. The following will go into depth about the features of the Slum Rehabilitation Act and the guidelines for its implementation. Following this, we will discuss points of confusion and potential conflict, and solutions.

The Slum Rehabilitation Act of 1995 The following is the method for the implementation of the slum rehabilitation scheme outlined by the government of Maharashtra.

1.

Every slum structure existing prior to 01/01/2000 is treated as a protected structure

2.

Every slum dweller whose name appears in the electoral rolls as on 01/01/2000 and who continues to stay in the slum is eligible for rehabilitation 3.

Every eligible residential slum structure is provided with an alternative tenement admeasuring 269.00 sq. ft. preferably at the same site, irrespective of the area of slum structure.

4.

Every eligible slum structure that is being used for commercial purposes is granted an alternative tenement having area equal to the structure subject to an upper limit of 20.9 sq. m 5.

29

A minimum of 70% of eligible slum dwellers in a slum pocket come together to form a co-operative

housing society for implementation of Slum Rehabilitation Scheme. (SRS) 6.

The underlying land is used as a resource for the SRS

7.

The slum dwellers appoint a developer for execution of SRS

8.

The developer puts in resources in the form of money, men and material for construction of free houses for the slum dwellers.

9.

The developer is compensated for his efforts in the form of free sale component

10.

The developers are allowed to construct tenements for sale in the open market. The area allowed for sale in the open market is 1:0.75 for City Area & 1:1 for suburbs area of tenements constructed for Floor Space Index (known as FAR elsewhere) up to 3.00 (in situ) is allowed for SRS 11.

Floor Space Index up to 3.00 (in-situ) is allowed for an SRS

12.

The developer is required to construct the rehabilitation tenements on the plot itself. The balance FSI left is allowed for construction of free sale tenements.

13.

The spill over entitlement to the developer is permissible for sale in the form of transferable development right in the open market. These transferable rights can be utilized on other non slum pockets subject to the provisions of D. C. Regulations.

14.

The plots which are reserved for public purposes and which are over run by slums can also be taken up for implementation of a Slum Rehabilitation Scheme.

15.

In case of plots reserved for unbuildable reservations like R.G. & P.G the development is carried out as per the High Court's direction in City Space Matter.

16.

In case of plots reserved for buildable reservations, a certain predetermined proportion of the permissible built up area is to be constructed as per the requirement of user agency and handed over free of cost to the city administration as a part of SRS. 17.

Slum Rehabilitation Authority is designated as a local planning authority to provide all the requisite approvals for SRS under one roof. The authority is mandated to act as a facilitating agency for implementation of SRS. 18.

Along with the free rehabilitation tenements the developers also have to provide space for amenities like a creche (Balwadi), society office, welfare centre.

19.

Facilitating measure in the form of additional 5% incentive commercial area is available to the projects being implemented by either a society of slum dwellers directly or a NGO. 20.

A Maintenance Deposit of Rs. 20,000/- per Rehabilitation tenement is deposited by developer for the society.

30

The Process

Figure 20. Workflow for Slum Rehabilitation Scheme

Challenges and Areas of Concern Through my readings, a nearly endless list of questions began to form. The following are the pertinent questions in relation to the stages of the slum rehabilitation scheme (Figure 20, above).

31

In Stage 1 How can we make the co-operative housing society easier to form and develop open communication between the societies, government, and developer?

What defines a suitable developer?

In Stage 2 How would the sub-engineer know that everyone is accounted for when he is approving plans?

How do we keep the sub-engineer accountable?

To whom is the scrutiny fee paid?

In Stage 3 What incentive does the developer have to draw allotments for non-participating members, as they have no agreement with them, and the SRA does not issue identity cards until the end of Stage 4.

What are the minimum living standards for the transit camps? How can the SRA make the cost of transit camps more affordable for the developers? Is this a significant burden to the project finances?

If members do not agree to participate within 15 days of the approval of the proposal, they are physically evicted from the site under the provisions of Sec 33 & 38 of Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971, to ensure that there is no obstruction to the scheme.

How can we provide an equitable opt-out for those who do wish to participate?

In Stage 4 How can plans for further sale and rehabilitation buildings be approved in a timely manner while maintaining quality of work so as not to delay the process and keep people in transit camps and drive the cost of construction up?

Why is allotment drawn up again in this stage?

How is the architect kept accountable, and how is the completion certificate verified?

Are there any ramifications if a quality tenement is not furnished?

In Stage 5 What are the conditions of the lease that will ensure that the society of slum dwellers can remain on the land?

Systemic Challenges Ultimately, these staged questions began to reveal larger systemic challenges the program faces.

32

Because there is not a specific standards on the quality of the units and buildings aside from 269 sq ft and a washroom. Discretion is left to developers, and without incentive to provide value engineering, slum dwellers may simply be left with a space of poor quality.

Due to cut-off date for eligibility, January 1, 2020, ineligible populations are left without an option other than staying in the area in an unauthorized manner or moving to new slum Developers load the cost of rehabilitation to saleable components. This does not encourage construction of housing at various price levels, thereby increasing housing prices on the formal market and further widening the gap in housing conditions.

Conclusions and Recommendations The Slum Rehabilitation Act of 1995 has relocated over half a million people into new homes over 22 years. While this is a significant amount, there is an extensive amount of work to be done yet. After a look at the entire system, it is clear that there are parts of the plan that could be reworked so that a fair outcome might be achieved by all parties involved. The following is a set of recommendations that may rectify some of the concerns raised in the previous portion of this document.

When the table of house numbers and the names of the occupants is prepared, this table should be reviewed by occupants and then passed to the SRA directly for safekeeping to prevent tampering by the developer. Then SRA should issue identity cards to slum dwellers after the list is made. This list should be then made an official public record and published online. An online interface could be developed to streamline the entire process and make it more transparent so that people do not fall through the gaps, whilst an online forum may promote connectivity and allow co-operative housing societies to better voice their collective concerns.

The role of the SRA should be expanded, from currently only approving developer proposals to becoming a planner, facilitator, and anchor. This would better serve all parties involved. The SRA would be able to streamline the process, reducing construction cost for the developer and displacement time for the slum dweller, guarantee the quality of the product for the occupants, and thereby provide better and longer lasting infrastructure for the city. Ultimately, this would create some more cost for government, but it could boost economic activity in the form of jobs.

The SRA also needs to incentivize the construction of low to middle cost housing or promote rental housing, and the necessity to build luxury condominiums would be reduced. Thus, those who are not eligible for rehabilitation may find a suitable living situation that is affordable. The SRA might also provide an equitable option for opting-out, so that those who do not wish to participate can be paid out and start a new life elsewhere. The non-participants might be bought out at fair market value or be able to formally rent out their rehabilitation unit.

33

There is an abundance of measures that may be taken to optimize the process of horizontal slum rehabilitation, and only a few are outlined here. This paper may be used as a jumping point for those who find this a topic of interest as a primer for understanding the history and methodology of the SRA, while also being exposed to potential risks of the system. A more exhaustive look could reveal many topics and concerns unaddressed here.

References 1. Patel, Sheela, et al. Getting the information base for Dharavi's redevelopment.

Journal. International Institute for Environment and Development. Mumbai: www.sagepublications.com, 2009.

2. Risbud, Neelima. "The Case of Mumbai, India." 2001. School of Planning and Architecture. UCL. 4 March 2017. <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpuprojects/Global_Report/pdfs/Mumbai_bw.pdf>.

3. Sheth, Amey Z., Nagendra R. Velega and Andrew D.F. Price. "Slum Rehabiliation in the Context of Urban Sustainability: A Case Study of Mumbai, India." 24 April 2009. Loughborough University Institutional Repository. 5 March 2017. <https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspacejspui/bitstream/2134/5818/1/Slum%20rehabilitation%20in%20the%20context%20of %20urban%20sustainability.pdf>.

4. Slum Rehabilitation Authority. Features of Schemes. 15 March 2017. 15 March 2017. <http://www.sra.gov.in/pgeSalientFeatures.aspx>.

5. "SRA Presentation 2016." 31 December 2016. Slum Rehabilitation Authority. 10 February 2017. <http://www.sra.gov.in/Data/SRA_Presentation_2016.pdf>.

6. UN-Habitat - For a Better Urban Future. "Streets as Tools for Urban Transformation in Slums." May 2014. issuu.com. 12 March 2017. <https://issuu.com/unhabitat/docs/streets_as_tools_for_urban_transfor>.

7. World Population Review. Mumbai Population 2017 . 1 March 2017. 13 March 2017. <http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/mumbai-population/>.

34

Geospatial Analysis for Smart Communities Ian Avery Bick

Project Background and Goals

From 2001 to 2011, the population of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban centers increased by 31.8% while population in rural areas increased by only 12.2%1. This phenomenon has many causes: growth of urban industry, service and government employment opportunities, migration related to the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, and general population growth2. The large increases in urban population have placed stress on infrastructure and the environment. This is especially evident when looking at the current state of water infrastructure. Urban areas are burdened by poor drinking water distribution, low pipe pressures, intermittent supply, and low quality water6. Unplanned development and increasing impermeability of surfaces has increased the peak discharge from storm events, overloading poorly maintained drainage capacity and causing floods3.

In rural locations, water pollution from silt and fertilizers has occurred as a result of poor agricultural management. Silt runoff has reduced the water holding capacity of streams and rivers and increased flooding. In 2013, silt accumulation at dams, rivers, and canals caused massive floods and deposition of sediment on the top soil and crops in Nagpur district in Maharahstra. It is estimated it will take 3-7 to return the soils to cultivable form4. Runoff also carries unused nitrates and nitrites from applied fertilizer which cause algal blooms, deteriorate the quality of groundwater, and can cause health problems in infants5.

The Paris Climate Agreement went into effect in November 2016 with a goal of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels. According to the World Bank, rising temperatures threaten to reduce Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crop yields, cause regional droughts, and intensify seasonal monsoons8. Rising sea levels could impact denselypopulated coastal cities of Mumbai and Kolkata. While India has committed to generating 40% of electricity from renewable sources by 20307, many other sources contribute to

35

greenhouse gas emission. For example, expanding urban development releases carbon formally sequestered in forests or cropland.

These problems necessitate new techniques to minimize anthropologic environment impact and boost quality of life. Geospatial technologies can address these needs by enhancing data visualization and developing models of nutrient runoff, sediment transport, carbon fluxes, and flow accumulation. Engineers and planners can utilize these models to develop flood risk maps, calculate carbon sequestration from forests and crops, or to optimize impact of passive water treatment systems or rainwater retention basins.

Our group seeks to analyze options for obtaining geospatial data, evaluate existing models, and to suggest methods of integrating geospatial analysis into policy decisions. In this academic quarter, we studied applicability of drones for collection of localized highresolution data and the possibility of generating hydrologically sound digital elevation models from drone image point clouds. Additionally, we evaluated the use of Natural Capital Project (NCP) models as a potential planning tools for carbon sequestration by analyzing how planned development in the Andhra Pradesh state capital region could contribute to climate change.

Data Requirements and Sources

In order to run ArcGIS flow accumulation analyses and the Natural Capital Project Carbon model, the following data was collected and imported into ArcMap:

36

Dataset

Data Source

Model Use

Drone Imagery and DEM

Skylark Drones

Flow direction and accumulation

Elevation

United States Geologic Survey Flow direction and accumulation

Watershed Delineation Stanford Geospatial Center

Flow direction and accumulation

Land Use

Carbon Storage and Sequestration

Oak Ridge National Lab

2050 Capital Land Use Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Carbon Storage and Scenario Development Authority Sequestration Land Carbon Storage Properties

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Carbon Storage and Sequestration

Figure 21. Geospatial modeling data sources

Village-Scale Geospatial Analysis

Drones are increasingly being utilized for capturing high-resolution imagery, performing infrastructure maintenance, and even monitoring crop health. We sought to determine whether the point cloud from high-resolution drone imagery could be interpolated into a local and hydrologically-sound digital elevation model without the use of LiDAR surveying. A village scale DEM could aid in the design of agricultural drainage treatment systems such as denitrifying bioreactors or wetlands. As monsoons are predicted to grow more intense due to climate change, high-resolution elevation information would also support future rural and coastal development and resiliency.

We had previously obtained drone imagery and an interpolated DEM from Bengaluru drone firm Skylark Drones, which had used ESRI Drone2Map to process their maps. After running ArcMap’s flow accumulation tool, we found the output was of high resolution but contained visible errors. As seen in Figure 22, straight dark blue streaks represent possible interpolation errors, even after the DEM was “filled” in ArcMap. Additionally, objects such as houses and bridges distorted the terrain.

Figure 22. Mori drone-sourced normalized flow accumulation map

37

For comparison of resolution and accuracy, flow accumulation was run utilizing publicly available USGS 7.5 arc-second (225m) resolution elevation data. As seen in Figures 23 and 24, the resolution of publicly available data is much more granular than the drone DEM. However, the USGS data is concurrent with the land cover. Areas of projected high accumulation in the southwest and central portions of the village align with existing water bodies and shrimp ponds. We are currently evaluating other potential sources of elevation data as well as further applications of drone technology for development and environmental protection in rural India.

Figure 23. Mori Village USGS Elevation Map

Figure 24. Mori normalized flow accumulation

Regional Geospatial Analysis

Andhra Pradesh is constructing a new capital city at Amaravati, located in the Guntur and Krishna districts along the Krishna River. With an estimated budget of $4 billion dollars and goals of creating an inspiring, green, and smart capital city, the government should 38

protect their investment by ensuring the city is constructed in a sustainable manner. A prospective 2050 land use scenario released by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority, seen in Figure 25, illustrates the magnitude of planned urbanization. As The Economist reported in December 2015, the Amaravati site plan constructs atop existing â&#x20AC;&#x153;paleochannelsâ&#x20AC;?, deposits of unconsolidated sediment from inactive river and stream systems9. These features support infiltration of precipitation and groundwater recharge.10 In addition, the State government has purchased over 33,000 acres of agriculture and is lobbying the Central government to de-notify 19,000 acres of forested land for the project.11 Developing this land could release the millions of tons of carbon sequestered in biomass and inhibit environmental services such as peak storm flow reduction.

Figure 25. Amaravati 2050 Development Scenario12

We aimed to illustrate the environmental and social effects of this land use change by utilizing Natural Capital Project models and publicly available land use data from Oak Ridge National Lab for 1985, 1995, and 2005. To create a future scenario, the 2050 APCRDA prospective development map was traced in ArcMap and converted to a land use raster. These maps can be seen in Figure 26. Land use was simplified to four categories: cropland, built-up land, mixed forest, and water bodies. Based on data provided by the IPCC, carbon storage magnitudes were assigned to each land use type.

39

Utilizing the NCP Carbon model, we were able to map and quantify carbon storage as land use changed across our scenarios, shown in Figure 27.

Figure 26. Amaravati Land Use Timeline

Figure 27. Amaravati Carbon Storage Timeline

Our study revealed that total carbon storage in the region increased by nearly 2 million metric tons (Mg) from 1985 to 2005, largely as a result of increased forest cover.

However, the projected 2050 urban expansion eliminates sequestration of 8 million Mg of carbon in Amaravati from 2005 levels. Annually, this is equivalent to the per capita carbon emissions of 113,000 Indian citizens.13 The 2050 scenario will not necessarily represent the final land use plan of Amaravati. Our analysis is meant to illustrate the environmental consequences as the current plan stands.

40

Figure 28. Mg of Carbon Stored in Land Usage Scenarios

Further Work

1. Obtain more current land use and land cover data for the Amaravati region.

2. Finish refining Natural Capital Project models for Nutrient Delivery Ratio, Sediment

Delivery Ratio, and Water Yield.

3. Continue evaluation of village-scale and agricultural applications of drone imagery.

4. Evaluate methods of incorporating environmental modeling into policy and land use

planning by the Andhra Pradesh government and localities, including the creation of a GIS app.

References

1. Chandramouli, C. "Rural Urban Distribution of Population."â&#x20AC;&#x2030;Censusindia.gov.

Census of India 2011, n.d. Web. 2. Nath, V., and S.K Aggarwal.â&#x20AC;&#x2030;Urbanization, Urban Development and Metropolitan Cities in India. New Delhi: Concept, 2007. Print.

3. Goswami, Urmi. "Urban Flooding: Act before Cars and Bikes Start Floating in Streets Again."The Economic Times. Economic Times, 20 Aug. 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

4. "Silt Application." Green Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

41

5. Verma, Anjali, Amit Rawat, and Nandkishor More. "Extent of Nitrate and Nitrite Pollution in Ground Water of Rural Areas of Lucknow, U.P., India." Current World Environment Journal 9.1 (2014): 114-22. Web. 6. "Report on Indian Urban Infrastructure and Services." Indian Ministry of Urban Development, Mar. 2011. Web. 7. "India Ratifies Paris Climate Agreement." BBC News. BBC, 02 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

8. "India: Climate Change Impacts." World Bank, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

9. "Next Time by Water." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 12 Dec. 2015.

Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

10. Goodier, John. "Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers201279Edited by Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh and Umesh K. Haritashya. Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers."Reference Reviews 26.2 (2012): 40-41. Web. 11. "Capital Project: The Making of Amaravati." The Hindu, June 2016. Web. 12. "Draft Perspective Plan - 2050 for APCRDA Region." CRDA.AP.GOV.IN. APCRDA, n.d. Web. 13. "CO2 Emissions (metric Tons per Capita)." World Bank, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

42

Shrimp Farming in Mori

Holly Tullo

Introduction Our class is working in Andhra Pradesh, India on the Smart Villages Project, a governmental program which aims to create change in rural communities in India through sustainable infrastructure solutions and innovation. Our team is focused on Mori village, a village with a population of roughly 8,000 people located in Eastern Godivari. The purpose of our work this year in the Sustainable Urban Systems program is to improve the general quality of life for the residents in Mori through research and design. Roughly 70% of the population of India lives in villages, the movement from rural areas to the cities is causing overpopulation in urban spaces, and thus reduction in quality of life. In order to slow this trend, it is important to make the rural areas and villages appealing and sustainable areas to live for citizens of India.

Recent Trends in Shrimp Farming In the past few decades, shrimp farming globally has skyrocketed.(source) This specific farming practice assists in food security for a village by providing a nutritious, protein rich source of food, but also provides reliable income to farmers and their families, if shrimp ponds are managed sustainably. Shrimp farming is also critical to many areas as a path to food security. Shrimp themselves are a very protein-rich source of food for local communities and farmers. Additionally shrimp can be an extremely profitable livestock and as such can increase the incomes of farmers and thus enable farmers and their families to be able to afford food consistently.

43

Key Challenges to the Industry There are three specific challenges in the Shrimp Farming industry which are important to consider for the Smart Villages project in Mori and in future expansions of the project. First, Shrimp are are very sensitive to environmental conditions. Specifically, shrimp are sensitive to low levels of dissolved oxygen and low pH levels in ponds. An entire shrimp population in a given pond can be eliminated and die out within 24 hours if environmental conditions drop below appropriate thresholds. Second is the issue of land management. It is extremely difficult, especially in rural areas with limited and crowded land space, to find the best way to utilize agricultural land in a way that optimizes yield and profits. Finally, another issue is the general lack of information sharing between local farmers in rural communities. There is little natural motivation for these different parties to cooperate due to competition with one another. Because of this competition, farmers do not often share good farm management practices, which is a lost opportunity for growth and increased profits. My research this quarter addressed land management and information sharing issues in the shrimp farming industry.

What locations are most effective for shrimp farming? Are there more productive ways we can utilize Moriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agricultural land?

44

Given the work achieved by the Fall quarter class, our team has worked to further research relevant topics for the Chief Minister on Shrimp Farming as applicable to Mori village. In recent years, with shrimp production exploding internationally, many farmers have tried to utilize land more efficiently by installing a dual-crop system where they use existing rice paddies to grow shrimp in the dry season, to enhance profits. Shrimp is known can be three times as profitable as rice cultivation, so many farmers are motivated to take advantage of these opportunities. While some think the dual-crop system could could be a way for farmers to transition into shrimp farming, a more profitable farming investment, this land management technique of interweaving rice farming with shrimp farming has shown to have adverse effects on the ecosystems and rice production(source).

While this in theory this dual-crop system could be a successful approach and enhance the incomes of farmers, in practice, studies have shown that this dual-crop system has detrimental effects on the ecosystems and the long term food security of these regions. These are important considerations for Mori village when deciding how to best manage agricultural land. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While the economic benefit from shrimp is much higher than rice, its negative impacts on rice farming are also alarming...Shrimp farming has reduced the total rice production; and by degrading soil qualities, it has lowered rice yields and threatened the sustainability of the rice ecosystem and thus pushed the smallholder village residents...toward a greater risk of food shortage and poverty.â&#x20AC;?(source). This study performed in southwestern Bangladesh found that shrimp farming on rice paddies increased dramatically the salinity of soils, decreased general soil quality and thus had detrimental effects on rice yields. Given these findings, the study by Abu Muhammad Shajaat Ali recommended that local stakeholders and government groups adopt regulations to prevent planning shrimp farming on important rice fields and to rather invest research into finding local agricultural lands that can be used solely for farming shrimp by local farmers. Our team recommends that in shrimp pond site selection, Mori village (and future Smart Villages) should focus on ensuring that agricultural land is used solely for either shrimp or rice farming.

How can the CM of Andhra Pradesh best promote the sharing of technical information between Mori farmers?

The goal of our project is to improve agricultural practices with Mori farmers, and specifically to research and consider solutions for shrimp farming in Mori village. Aside from looking at location and placement of shrimp pond cites, there are other ways that we can promote sustainable practices in Mori. In our work this Winter quarter, our team has researched how the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and local governance can best promote information sharing between local farmers in order to adopt the best

45

management practices for farms and thus increase yields and profits.

Much of shrimp farming in India and Andhra Pradesh is small-scale fish farming, and with significant growth of the shrimp farming globally in recent years, the industry has been hit with disease and a need for long term sustainability. For this reason it is important to develop best practices looking forward. In 2010, a study was performed on small-scale shrimp farmers in India by N.R. Umesh, and showed significant results. The study grouped shrimp farmers together into clusters or otherwise called aquaclubs. The clusters were formed by regions and proximity, where farmers were often using the same natural systems, for example sharing the same water supply. These clusters were then steered toward cooperation with one another rather than acting individually in order to create greater information sharing and benefits for the general cluster.

The study found that these clusters resulted in improved shrimp yields, better relations among players in the general market, less environmental impact, and improved quality of the shrimp products. Because of this, many of the clusters that were piloted were turned into legally regulated organizations when the National Center for Sustainable Aquaculture was founded in 2007.

Ultimately it was found that bringing farmers of the same region in smaller groups helped with the implementation of better shrimp farm management strategies. On one hand, this significantly reduced disease in shrimp populations, “Implementation of simple, science-based farm level plans (e.g., BMPs) and adoption of cluster farming through the participatory concept reduced disease risks in cluster farms significantly, for example, in the demonstration farms, it was reduced from 82% in 2003 to 17% in 2006.”3 Additionally the cluster system proved immensely beneficial for farmers’ profits. “Economically, for every Rs. 1,000 (US$ 25) invested by a farmer, around Rs. 520 (US$ 13) was earned as net profit in 2006. This was a substantial increase compared to the Rs. 250 (US$ 6) profit made by nondemonstration farmers during the same period”.3 Due to the evidence of the effectiveness of the cluster strategy, this is something that our team recommends the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to consider and hopefully implement on the ground. This is also something that AppScape could promote through their application by creating an interconnectivity and online “clusters” to promote information sharing through technology.

46

These findings and recommendations on shrimp pond site selection and the cluster approach to information sharing would be helpful to incorporate into the Chief Minister’s Dashboard so that local communities can access this information and local governments can best utilize this research to make decisions.

Spring Quarter Class Questions • • • •

• • •

•

47

When we move away from the dual-crop system (weaving shrimp and rice farming), how could our findings and suggestions affect overall happiness for the village?

What environmental conditions correlate the most strongly with the shrimp crop yields?

What are ideal social or economic conditions versus Mori’s conditions?

Physical access to cheaper building materials and inputs.

Analysis of financial components of shrimp farming inputs and evaluate Mori and its ability to compete in the global shrimp farming marketplace. Research economic efficiency of shrimp farming in Mori.

How are other shrimp farming countries approaching the practice? What do the most productive and successful countries do differently?

Some further questions for the Spring quarter class, based off this research would be the following: How do we consider labor supply and job creation (in which shrimp farming has an advantage) in conjunction with the need for rice?

Is there a cost-effective way to grow shrimp, is it more effective to construct the ponds in different ways?

References 1. http://blog.conservation.org/2015/09/from-rice-to-shrimp-how-one-unlikelycrustacean-is-helping-to-save-the-amazon/ 2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837705000049 3. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shrimp Farmers in India: Empowering Small-Scale Farmers through a ClusterBased Approachâ&#x20AC;?; N. R. Umesh et al.

48

Energy Access in Andhra Pradesh Kevin Keene

Energy Landscape in Andhra Pradesh Energy access in India is limited in both urban and rural settings. There is a large gap between supply and demand, and 25% of the electricity supplied is stolen or dissipated throughout its transmission. In rural areas, transmission distances are great and therefore the losses are more apparent.

There have been efforts to improve electricity access in Andhra Pradesh on behalf. For example, in Mori, many households have PV systems produced by the company d.light that meet their electrical demand. However, the many medium and small size businesses go without power for 6-8 hours every day. These businesses are overlooked by government agencies and passed up by entrepreneurs, and they cannot afford to purchase electricity from the grid.

Microgrids A microgrid is a decentralized grid network that utilizes a variety of energy resources and may be connected and disconnected from a larger centralized grid. Figure 29 is a schematic of a possible microgrid configuration.

49

Figure 29. Schematic of a microgrid system

One of the greatest benefits of a microgrid for villages in Andhra Pradesh is that it balances the demand and supply. Since many households have solar panels that may be producing excess power during peak supply, this electricity can be distributed to buildings that do not produce enough electricity to meet their demands. For examples, businesses could buy this excess electricity at a rate much cheaper from the grid.

Additionally, a microgrid provides redundancy to electricity access in India. For example, if the grid experiences a fault, microgrids can act as a backup so that the villages donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t completely lose power. SInce the grid in India is very unreliable, this is a very useful feature.

Since the grid infrastructure in India is still developing, it is important to learn from the weaknesses of the power grid in developed countries, like the U.S. The United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; grid heavily relies on centralized power plants which means transmission losses, largescale blackouts, little redundancy, and reliance on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, India is heading down a similar path, investing heavily in coal and a centralized network.

Therefore, it is important to incorporate microgrids sooner rather than later.

Additionally, microgrids can be connected to neighboring villages to further balance the supply and demand curves. To deal with the stochastic nature of solar and wind resources, microgrids can be potentially hooked up to the centralized grid to cover periods of high demand, or to earn income for the villages by selling excess supply back to the grid.

50

Integrated Renewable Energy Systems (IRES) IRES is an advanced application of the microgrid concept. It combines multiples energy resources (e.g. solar (active and passive), wind, hydro, biomass, energy storage) to provide multiple energy outputs that are suitable for specific tasks. In figure 30, it can be seen that the energy system produces both biogas and electricity as an output.

Figure 30. Schematic of an IRES

This configuration allows the weaknesses of any specific resource to be balanced by the strength of another.

IRES are especially desirable in rural settings, since they tend to have undeveloped electrical infrastructure. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make sense to unnecessarily electrify villages, because there will be a high capital cost, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the most efficient use of energy. For example, in the IRES system you can use biogas to fuel stovetops, instead of installing electrical stoves and using biogas to generate electricity to power it. Or for example, you can

51

construct solar ovens that use passive insolation to cook food rather than installing electrical ovens and using PV panels to produce electricity to power them.

Implementation A popular method is “swarm aggregation”, which begins with very decentralized power sources and combining them and increasing their scale. They can then be connected to a centralized grid, creating a centralized-decentralized hybridization network. This bottomup approach allows expansion until it is no longer economically feasible, while providing a network base for centralized connections. In contrast, a top-down approach doesn’t often provide framework for decentralized resource options.

Figure 31. Swarm aggregation methodology

Figure 31 shows an exemplary method for implementing swarm aggregation. In Mori, many households have solar panels. The next step to begin connecting this households and then buildings that don’t have solar panels, and eventually connecting it to the grid if desired. Grid technology, such as inverters, control centers, batteries, and transformers, can be installed along the way to improve the efficiency of the system.

52

Another step that will be important for the villages it to invest in a more diverse energy profile. Solar is very dominant, but installing my hydropower, wind power, and biogas generators will contribute to the resiliency and reliability of the system.

Economic Strategies From an economic perspective, a microgrid system creates local job opportunities that a centralized grid does not. The system will need technicians and maintenance personnel, as well as engineers and consultants if it the system is to be designed in the village. A microgrid can have a high capital cost, due to the necessary technological parts and infrastructure; however, after the setup there are only costs for maintenance - there are virtually no operating costs. Additionally, the capital costs can be covered with loans, venture capitalist or corporate investments, donors, government aid, or franchisement.

There are many possibilities for making the microgrid economically feasible.

Future Steps 1. Research more into technology and technological solutions 2. Reach out to start-ups and funding sources

References 1. Mathema, Preety. Optimization of Integrated Renewable Energy System Microgrid. Kathmandu, Nepal: Tribhuvan University, 2008. PDF. 2. Subdodh, Manav. Interview. 13 February, 2017. Skype.

3. Sivaram, Virun. "Convergence Toward a Hybrid Centralized/Decentralized Power System Model in Developed and Developing Countries." Centre for Public Policy Research. 30 Nov. 2015. Web.

53