Urban Update connects digitally for dialogue, knowledge sharing

COVID-19 pandemic impelled poeple to make multiple changes in their daily lives. Going digital for work, meetings and learning was one of many changes. The role of efficient and robust urban development had increased manifold after the COVID-19 as it displayed the shortcomings in the civic services of cities. Urban Update undertook the initiative of organising webinars to promote dialogue and discussion among key stakeholders in uban domain to help build resilient urban spaces

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s part of this initiative, Urban Update collaborated with numerous organisations and put together a total of 50+ webinars as part of diverse series. These Webinars ranged from transportation, health, pandemic management, localising SDGs, women empowerment to disaster mitigation with participation of over 5000 people in audience and 200+ experts. E-dialogues

Urban Update, the magazine published by the AIILSG, organised several webinars on topics including ‘COVID-19 and the Search for a Vaccine’ to ‘Urbanisation in Independent India’. The panelists for the webinars included eminent dignitaries like Dr Animesh Kumar, Deputy Head (AsiaPacific), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction; Dr Sewa Ram, Professor of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi; and Vimlendu Jha, Founder, Sweccha India. Covering a wide range of topics from unemployment to the environment, from the National Education Policy to Housing for All, E-Dialogues served as a platform for detailed discussion and deliberation between experts, policy makers and general public.

Mayors’ Dialogue

Under this series, Urban Update, in collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs, organised two Mayors’s Dialogues online. The main aim of this series was to provide a platform to Mayors from across the country to come together, and discuss and share their experiences of handling the pandemic as severe as the COVID-19. Panelists for this series included Sanyukta Bhatia, Mayor, Lucknow; Sanjeev Bittu, Mayor, Patiala; Dilip Kumar Agasty, Mayor, Durgapur; Uday Madkaikar, Mayor, Goa among others. The topic for the first edition was ‘Making Cities Pandemic Resilient: The Role of Elected Representatives’ and the second edition was ‘Leadership and Pandemic Response’.

Webinars in partnership with LBSNAA

Urban Update collaborated with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Indian Institute of Human Settlements and Foundation EMDA Southasia, to organise webinars on the topics ‘Urban Labour Rights and State Response in time of COVID-19’ and ‘Affordable Rental Housing for the Urban Poor

– Demand, Supply and Management Dynamics’. The panel for these webinars included Prof Ravi S Srivastava, Director, Centre for Employment Studies, Institute for Human Development and Amrit Abhijat, Joint Secretary and Mission Director (Housing for All), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Webinar in partnership with NCW

AIILSG, in collaboration with the National Commission for Women (NCW) and Urban Update, organised a special webinar on the topic ‘Migrant Women Workers: Issues and Challenges’ to talk about the problems faced by female migrant labourers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel for the Webinar consisted of Pravin Bhardwaj, Consultant, AIILSG; Dr Suchita Krishnaprasad, Former Head, Department of Economics, Elphinstone College, Mumbai; Vijaya Srinivasan, Deputy Director, Ambedkar Institute for Labour Studies, Parel, Mumbai; Dr Sneha Palnitkar, CEO, Waste Management Resource Centre – AIILSG, Mumbai; and Aarya Venugopal, Director (research), Jan Sahas.

Webinars on Disaster Management

The AIILSG and Urban Update also organised webinars in collaboration with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and Foundation EMDA Southasia. Aimed at increasing awareness among urban local bodies and local governments regarding disaster preparedness, one edition was organised of the series on the topic “Disaster Risks, Mitigation and Sustainable Communities’. Mihir R Bhatt, Director, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute and Dr Birupakshya Dixit, India Coordinator, Practical Action, along with Prof Vinod C Menon, Former Member, National Disaster Management Authority and Prof Santosh Kumar, Head, G&IDRR, NIDM, were part of the panel. Thus, Urban Update firmly believes in the power of knowledge sharing and discussion and feels that only when people come together with experts and policy makers can both understand the problems that the other side faces and work on the appropriate solutions they suggest for the same.

Further, workshops aided by NIDM, in association with AIILSG, Foundation EMDA Southasia and Urban Update, organised training workshops on “Building Municipalities and Citizen Awareness for Resilient India”. These workshops-based webinars, circled around how Disaster Risk Mitigation is a growing challenge in the present times with frequent incidents all over the country and had become a serious issue during pandemic.

The conclusion of the workshop based on the discussions and presentations that took place during different sessions was that only legislative solutions to the problems are not enough as everyone has to bear the responsibility to make the space around them, viable for living. Moreover, strengthening the local level bodies such as District Disaster Management Authority and ULBs is the most important challenge which needs urgent attention. The panel comprised Mihir R Bhatt, Director, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute; and Dr VS Prakash, Former Director, KSND Monitoring Centre.

Webinars on Waste Management

In collaboration with UN-Habitat, United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD), and 3R Waste Foundation, Urban Update organised webinars on waste management, plastic waste recycling, etc. These webinars on ‘Waste Management and Climate Change’ focused on how organised and responsible waste management can play a big role in reversing the effects of climate change. Trish Hyde, Director, Plasticity, Australia; Prashant Lingam, Senior Project Officer, UN Development Programme, India; Prof Sunil Herat, Associate Professor (Waste

Management), Griffith University, Australia; Dr Ram Tiwaree, Economic Affairs Officer, Environment and Development Division, United Nations Economics and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP); Dr Suneel Pandey, Director, Environment and Waste Management Division, The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), were some of those who were part of the panel in these webinars. The webinars served as a knowledge- sharing platform for municipal officials and other stakeholders.

Webinars On Circular Economy

Urban Update in collaboration with 3R Waste Foundation, conducted several webinars on the theme of circular economy. In celebration of World Environment Day for both 2021 and 2022, webinars were organised in collaboration with United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD). They were the pre-events of UNCRD Japan’s 3R and Circular Economy Forum 2021 and 2022.

Various webinars were organised including the themes of “Circular Economic Utilisation of Plastic Waste in India and the Asian Region”, “Recycling Beverage Cartons and Plastic Packaging in Circular Economy”, etc. The panel of the speakers included Dr Mazumdar, Chairman, IAESPH, New Delhi; Dr Anupam Khajuria, Researcher, UNCRD Japan; and Dr Roshan Miranda, Co-Founder and Director, Waste Ventures. The webinars established that circular economy is at the base of restoring the planet. It also detailed how there is need for better policy framework with circular economy and SDGs at its heart in the fight against increasing air pollution in cities.

On ‘Accelerating Urban Action for a Carbonfree World’, panel included Sanskriti Menon, Senior Programme Director, Centre for Environment Education; Rajeev Vijh, Founder, Kriyanvit Consulting and Sunita Sanghi, Former Advisor, NITI Aayog.

Webinars on Innovation & Women Empowerment

First webinar was organised on ‘Addressing Urban Issues with Innovation’. The discussion was on how innovation has been and continues to improve governance and quality of life of people in cities and how giving space to start-ups can give a new push to cities to achieve sustainable development goals. The session was organized in collaboration with Dream Hatcher Incubation Centre and was attended by Kakul Mishra, National Programme Head, National Institute of Urban Affairs and Deepti Raj, Senior Project Associate, World Resources Institute-India.

Another session was on ‘Empowering Women by Building Skills and Entrepreneurship Development’. It discussed how women entrepreneurs around the world need to be recognised and integrated into the workplace. The panelists comprised of academic experts and NGOs striving towards making womenfriendly working spaces. Several schemes such as PM Ujjwala, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Nirbhaya were discussed.