Urban Update Dec 2014

ISSN 2349-6266

RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

UrbanUpdate Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Volume I - Issue VIII

DECEMBER 2014

One on One

Making ULBs smart Local self-government needs more role and responsibility

Urban Dialogues

Mission Housing

Round table tries to identify bottlenecks and solutions in housing sector

Rolling out the red carpet Easing capitalisation in construction sector boosts Housing for All and Smart Cities

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INSIDE

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Inside Cover story

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Rolling out the red carpet FDI in construction sector boosts Housing for All and Smart Cities

TECH TALK

22 Tensile Structures - emerging construction trend in smart cities It is the emerging of architecture technology in smart city construction one on one

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Making ULBs smart, citizen centric Local self-government needs more role and responsibility

uRBAN dIALOGUEs

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Mission Housing Round table tries to identify bottlenecks and solutions in housing sector

Center stage

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Enabling smart life Has the time of the IoT really come in India?

vox pop

40 Connecting the dots

Cities’ urban transportation is still standing on a burning platform Urban Agenda

46 Planning for sustainability

Sustaining urban infrastructure requires robust policies RegularS

6 Newscan 4

December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

11 Pin Point

44 Events

EDITORIAL

Dr Jatin Modi President-AIILSG Ranjit Chavan Editor-In-Chief & Publisher Director General-AIILSG, dgaiilsg@gmail.com Apresh C Mishra

Construction under construction

Managing Editor, apresh@urbanupdate.in Lojy Thomas, Aiilsg Associate Editor, lojy@urbanupdate.in Prathiba Raju Assistant Editor, prathiba@urbanupdate.in Abhishek Pandey Principal Correspondent, abhishek@urbanupdate.in Jessy Iype Desk Editor & Reporter, jessy@urbanupdate.in Meenakshi Rajput Graphic Designer, meenakshi@urbanupdate.in Volume I - Issue VIII For Feedback & Information Write at info@urbanupdate.in Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self Government. Printed at Cirrus Graphics Pvt Ltd B-61, Sector-67, Noida – 201301 Uttar Pradesh. Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-58 Phone No. 011-2852 1783 / 5473 Despite careful selection of sources, no

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ndian government has prepared a recipe for the construction sector with amalgam of various initiatives. The objective of the government is to boost the sector that has suffered slump in recent years and make it a strong platform that can support the government plans for Smart City and Housing for All. In the revised policy by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the government has allowed 100 per cent FDI in the sector through the automatic route; the change in policy has made the situation flexible for investors. The government has reduced the minimum built-up area, capital requirement and also eased the exit norms. Under the new policy, the minimum floor area requirement has been reduced to 20,000 square metres from 50,000 square metres earlier. It also brought down the minimum capital requirement to USD 5 million from USD 10 million.

The newly proposed reforms in the sector have been welcomed by all stakeholders since it is expected to pump more money, create more jobs, and support government initiatives. The measures would assist the government in creation of much needed low cost affordable housing in the country and development of Smart Cities.

The government understands the ardent need of building adequate infrastructure to meet the demands of ever growing urban population. They are in the process of launching a new urban development mission. This will help develop 500 cities, which include cities with a population of more than 100,000 and some cities of religious and tourist importance. These cities will be supported and encouraged to harness private capital and expertise through PPPs, to holster their infrastructure and services in the next 10 years.

And, it does not seem possible without having a sturdy construction sector that will play a major role in building public infrastructure and help government in achieving the housing for all.

responsibility can be taken for accuracy. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. All right reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Ranjit Chavan dgaiilsg@gmail.com

www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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HRIDAY for retrofitting historic buildings in 7 cities

NEW DELHI: The Urban Development Ministry is all set to launch The Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY). The government has decided to allocate Rs 500 crore for the scheme that would be utilised for retrofitting of historic buildings and promotion of core tangible economic activities. The HRIDAY will be implemented in seven ancient cities—Varanasi, Ajmer, Gaya, Amritsar, Mathura, Kanchipuram and Velankanni.

The main objective of the scheme is to create effective linkages between tourism and cultural legacy in form of heritage, heritage adaptive rehabilitation and enhance livelihood avenues.

Six urban nodes in AP to boost IT HYDERABAD: In order to boost industrial and IT growth in Andhra Pradesh, the state government has decided to build six urban development nodes in the state at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Anantapur, Tirupati and Nellore.Andhra Pradesh IT secretary Kona Shashidhar said that the ‘Sunrise State’ has readymade infrastructure. Apart from the proposed ITIRs in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Anantapur, the mega electronic hub at Vishakhapatnam and an electronic hardware park in Kakinada will be part of the nodes.The state has five million sq. ft of built-up space, and another one million square feet will be available. Electronic bazaars at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati will be part of the urban nodes.

W2E plant to come up in Kolhapur

Kolhapur Municipal Corporation would set up 180-tonne waste-to-energy plant in two phases at the existing dumping site at Kasba Bawda.

Master planner for riverfront project

Vadodara Municipal Corporation roped in HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd as a single master planner for the The Vishwamitri riverfront project.

WB proposes treated water for Ludhiana

World Bank consultants proposed that Ludhiana be divided into two parts and drinking water supply via canal will start after treating water at two new treatment plants.

MBMC installs CCTVs to curb animal cruelty Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation would install CCTV cameras at sterilization centres to curb animal cruelty.

SAARC ties: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inaugural session of the 18th SAARC Summit, in Kathmandu, Nepal

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December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

AP to set up Urban Management Centre

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh government will soon set up ‘Urban Management Centre’ in Vijaywada to guide the state government machinery in its urban development programmes. According to the official sources, it will be built on the lines of the ‘Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore’ (CLC) that looks after urban development activities in Singapore.The state government in association with the Singapore government will set up the new institute for implementing the best urban management practices in the state.

Gujarat to launch new urban vision 2030 AHMEDABAD: Gujarat government would launch its new Urban Development Vision 2030, a blue print to face-lift the cities of Gujarat in the next one and half decade.

The State Urban Development department drafted the vision document in association with the leading management consultant KPMG. It has made the document keeping in view the development of all sectors. It is expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would release the vision document during the upcoming seventh Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit scheduled in January 2015.

ADB to give $350 million loan to upgrade roads in MP MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a USD 350 million loan to upgrade district roads in India’s Madhya Pradesh state in a project which will tackle an important link in road improvements.

“Madhya Pradesh has widely scattered industrial growth centers and agricultural production areas, so an efficient and safe road network is essential for the economy and well-being of citizens,” said Ravi Peri, Principal Transport Specialist, Transport and Communications Division, South Asia Department. The project will upgrade about 1,600 kilometers of major district roads in the state through lane widening, surface improvements, and strengthening of culverts and bridges. This will help to cut travel times, improve traffic flow and road safety.

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Ten point charter for effective, efficient governance: Naidu UD Minister M Venkaiah Naidu gave a ten point charter for effective governance of cities and local bodies. Turning around ‘bureaucratic nightmare’, improve efficiency and implement discipline, he said Team Urban Update

NEW DELHI: Urging the bureaucrats to be pro-active, innovative and move away from the attitude of playing safe a tendency to avert risk, which results in delayed decision making, M Venkaiah Naidu gave ten point charter for effective governance.

He asked the senior officials of Urban Development and Housing and the Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), to reorient their attitudes and approaches and enable the government to fulfill the mandate of rapid and inclusive economic growth given to them by people in the last general elections.

Addressing over 130 Under Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Directors, Joint Secretaries and Secretaries, in a 50-minute pep talk, Naidu stressed that the perception of India being a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’ needs to be changed at the earliest.

The minister touched upon a range of issues like mandate of the government, inhibitive nature of bureaucracy, discipline and punctuality, need for speedy decision making and creating an enabling environment to facilitate the much desired flow of private investments into urban development and housing initiatives.

“All well meaning ful initiatives and innovations by the ‘selected

Ten point charter for effective governance ♦♦ To elevate individual conscience to a higher level in the cause of nation building ♦♦ To internalise the attitudes of punctuality, discipline, dedication and righteousness ♦♦ To unleash the force of initiative and innovation ♦♦ To foster Team Spirit instead of working in silos ♦♦ To enhance domain knowledge to facilitate quick and informed decision making ♦♦ To acquire required skills necessary for speedy decision making and scaling up output ♦♦ To promote delegation of responsibilities ♦♦ To promote transparency and accountability not under duress but as a virtue ♦♦ To ask oneself at the end of the day if one has done justice to the responsibilities given during the day ♦♦ To keep work environment clean and motivating executive’ will be fully backed by the ‘elected executive’. He further noted that there will be no compromise in respect of punctuality and integrity,” Naidu said.

He advocated for unleashing of the force of initiative and innovation and to foster team spirit instead of working in silos and also to enhance domain knowledge to facilitate quick

and informed decision making.

He suggested that ten point charter will enable effective governance. The minister asked them to elevate individual conscience to a higher level in the cause of nation building and to internalise the attitudes of punctuality, discipline, dedication and righteousness. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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Japan, USA promise billions to UN Green Climate Fund BRISBANE: The United States of America and Japan pledged to contribute USD 3 billion and 1.5 billion respectively to the UN Green Climate Fund. “President Obama’s pledge of USD 3 billion is very significant not only because it demonstrates his personal commitment in supporting developing countries to tackle climate change, but also because it will also generate momentum for other developed as well as developing countries to provide funding as well,” says Saleemul Huq, director of research body the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

SAP simplifies urban e-governance with Urban Matters

BARCELONA: To give impetus to its Urban Matters programme, the technology solution provider came up with the application and tools for improving citizen engagement, urban governance and exhibited its tools of simplifying key local government functions at the Smart Cities Expo and World Congress in Barcelona.

SAP’s themes at this year’s SWEWC include citizen participation, accessibility, auditable elections and efficient infrastructure management. With many new challenges facing urban areas today, the SAP Urban Matters initiative helps governments improve the lives of people by delivering smarter, more effective services.

ALMs help civic body in curbing dengue

Advanced Locality Management groups would help municipal workers to inspect possible dengue mosquito breeding spots as they have been complaining about plush societies restricting them entry.

Voting compulsory in local body polls in GJ Gujarat has become the first Indian state to make voting compulsory in local bodies.

Blueprint to solve traffic woes in HR

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar instructed officials to prepare a blueprint to deal with traffic problems in nine cities having Municipal Corporations.

SERI installs eco-filters for Ambil Odha

The Shrishti Eco-Research Institute installed an ecofiltration system at Pune Municipal Corporation’s Indradhanushya Environment Education and Citizenship Centre.

Pensioners relief: PM Narendra Modi with Communications & IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, at the launch of ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ an ‘Aadhar-based Digital Life Certificate’ for pensioners, in Delhi

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December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Urban farming covers an area the size of Europe

ROME: Urban farming is growing rapidly in developing countries and covers an area that is equal to the size of Europe, the first comprehensive study on the global scale of urban agriculture said. “It is surprising to see how much the farm is definitely getting closer to the table,” Pay Drechsel, a co-author of the study and a scientist at the International Water Management Institute, said. Urban farms typically grow relatively expensive foods, like fresh vegetables, compared with the wheat or rice which are usually produced on large rural holdings.

Sterlite to connect 10L homes with internet NEW DELHI: Optical fibre company Sterlite Network has planned to expand its presence to 10 cities and connect 10 lakh homes with high speed broadband by 2017.

“Our aim is to connect one million homes with fibre based Internet network by 2017.

We are currently expanding our business from six cities to 10 cities. We will focus on Internet connection with speed of 100 megabit per second,” said Benoy Varghese, Head of Strategy, Sterlite Network. The company already has presence in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmedabad. It plans to roll out services in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi and Chandigarh by the end of 2014.

‘Green buildings are the need of the hour’ NEW DELHI: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and ADaRSH (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats) organised a Green Tour of the Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, India’s first net zero energy building, which has been constructed through the adoption of solar passive design and energy efficient building material.Speaking about the energy efficiency of the building, Mili Majumdar, Director, Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI, said: “Indira Paryavaran Bhavan is one of the first buildings in India to have deployed energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies at a large scale. It is one of the exemplary projects to be rated under GRIHA.

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Chintan, GOONJ win Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award NEW DELHI: Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, and LSE Cities awarded two Delhi based NGOs Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award–2014 for their out of ordinary solutions to major urban challenges such as recycling, and waste management. The winners were chosen by an independent jury from a pool of 135 entries and a shortlist of nine finalists and were given USD 50,000 each.

Anshu Jain, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alfred Herrhausen Society and Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank, presented the prize to the winners. The award is associated with the Urban Age project, a worldwide

investigation into the future of cities jointly initiated by Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, and LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The jury chose the two projects in order to emphasise the importance of more sustainable cycles of consumption, production and for thinking creatively about locating workplaces and employment opportunities in cities.

The Chintan Material recovery Facility (MRF) project at the New Delhi Railway station manages tonnes of unsorted garbage from the numerous trains that arrive at the railway station every day. While,

India-Nepal bus service launched

Kathmandu-Varanasi to become sister cities

NEW DELHI: With an aim to promote tourism and boost people to people contacts, India and Nepal launched the first ever bus service between the two countries recently.

To begin with daily buses will ply between Delhi and Kathmandu.

Later, there will be similar buses which will ply on two other routes - Delhi-Pokhara and VaranasiKathmandu.

Indian Embassy in Nepal said in a statement: “The officials of Nepal and India held talks in Kathmandu in October to finalise the Motor Vehicle Agreement and other matters related with road transport and infrastructure.” The agreement also aims to simplify the movement of private vehicles across the border.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala flagged off the Kathmandu-Delhi bus service called Pashupatinath Express from Kathmandu, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and tourism minister Mahesh Sharma launched the first bus from Delhi.

KATHMANDU: Both Varanasi-Kathmandu and Ayodhya-Janakpur are becoming sister cities, as they are in similar terms of Hindu culture, art and architecture, an official said. As per Foreign Ministry Kathmandu, where the Pashupatinath temple is located will have sister-city connect with Varanasi, where Kashi Vishwanath temple is situated, as both the cities are rich in Hindu culture, art and architecture.

Similarly, Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram, will have sister-city relations with Janakpur, which is the birth place of Sita as per Ramayan, Hindu epic where the famous Ram and Janaki temple is located.

Two separate MoUs were signed making Varanasi-Kathmandu and Ayodhya-Janakpur sister-cities during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Nepal recently.

As per the MoU during Prime

Goonj was awarded for their mission to re-use vast quantities of untapped old and waste material in middle class households to create secondhand products. Ricky Burdett, a jury member and Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said, “The projects associated with the DBUA Award are about getting under the skin of what is happening in the city.” Anthony Williams, former Mayor of Washington DC, says, “I’ve been on all the juries now, and I really believe that of all the cities we’ve visited and all the projects we’ve reviewed, I actually think that we’ve seen the best set here in Delhi.”

Minister Modi’s visit to Nepal to attend the SAARC Summit. The sister-city relations will enable the Nepalese and Indian cities to be signed making Varanasi-Kathmandu and Ayodhya-Janakpur sister-cities.

“It will enable the Nepalese and Indian cities to promote cultural exchange, sharing of knowledge and expertise as well as develop stronger people-to- people relations between them,” said Khaganath Adhikari, spokesperson of Nepal’s foreign ministry. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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Maiden skyscraper temple at Vrindavan

UTTAR PRADESH: The world largest and a maiden skyscraper temple will be built in five years for Lord Krishna at Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, in a sprawling campus. The temple is set to resemble the verdant forests of some 5,000 years ago. President Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone for the “Vrindavan Chandrodaya (rising moon) Mandir” the temple, which will tower to 210 metres (700 feet), which will have a capsule elevator to take visitors from ground level to the 700-foot-tall viewing gallery and a 3D sound and light experience of different planetary systems described in Vedic literature. The structure is expected to be completed in five years. The cost is 3 billion rupees (about 48.6 million dollars)

Sister city engagement will boost countries: NaMo SYDNEY: Welcoming Hyderabad and Brisbane’s sister city engagement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that relations between countries can prosper fully “only if we bring our states and cities together”. “Both cities can learn and gain a lot from each other in tourism. Brisbane having emerged as a centre of advanced technology and Hyderabad known as Cyberabad. It is natural that the two cities have a sister-city relationship,” Modi said.

He said he was keen to involve states in India in international engagements. He said the delegation of business and academic leaders from India accompanying him on the visit were forging strong partnerships with Australia.

Chandigarh buildings to have solar panels

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation would install solar panels at the multi-level parking being constructed in Sector 17, government buildings, schools, and a few other buildings.

Finnish firm to set up WM plant

Finnish firms are planning to set up animal waste management, solid waste management and sewage treatment plants in Vadodara.

BMC to launch mobile app for civic services Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation would launch a mobile application, which promises to help them access civic services quick and without hassle.

IMC to use plastic waste to build roads

Indore Municipal Corporation decided to construct and repair roads in Indore with plastic waste technology. The roads would be durable and cost effective.

Preserving Ganga: The MoS for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Sanwar Lal Jat looking at a plan on preserving river Ganga at India International Trade Fair in New Delhi

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December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

‘Government committed to Posco project’

BHUBANESHWAR: The government is committed to the $12 billion steel project of Posco India, though there have been delays in the past due to land acquisition and other activities, the project will come up in the near future, Union Steel Secretary Rakesh Singh said. “The Posco project is going on.

Both the government of India and the state government are committed to the Posco project. There have been delays in the past.

But we are very keen and confident that the Posco project will come up in the near future,” he said, after reviewing several steel projects coming up in the state.

NRI should join in Swachh Bharat: Modi SYDNEY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged that the Indian diaspora to participate in the Swachh Bharat or Clean India campaign. “Dirt attracts illness and the poor man suffers, due to which work days are lost and monetarily too. I invite your (NRI) participation in the drive,” Modi said. Addressing nearly 16000 NRI at the Allphones Arena, the prime minister said cleanliness is an area where his government is focusing. He also urged the diaspora to build at least one toilet in the village of their origin in India. He expressed admiration for the dignity of labour he has witnessed in Australia. “ Drivers and doctors get the same respect here. I wanted to give the same message of dignity of labour through the Swachh Bharat campaign,” Modi said.

WiFi enabled in Delhi’s elite market NEW DELHI: The Khan Market, a market favoured by the elite, diplomats in national capital has become the first market to be WiFi enabled. The visitors can avail the facility by filling in details such as e-mail ID and mobile number. After that, a one-time password (OTP) will be received to connect to the Internet. After the free usage time is exhausted, the user will have to do a recharge using scratch cards which will be available at various shops in the area. “The Wi-Fi facility in Khan Market started. It is running successfully,” O P Mishra, who is handling the project, said.

NEWSCAN PIN POINT

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I want to work for the little guy...the common man...to do big things for “small people.” That is my focus.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, during his Sydney visit

Pranab Mukherjee President of India on quality education

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M Venkaiah Naidu Union Development minister on ‘Housing for All by 2020’ initiative

India has shown itself to be a secular, diverse and pluralistic society which is able to deal with the change, challenges and aspirations. Quality education can transform India into leading nation

BUZZ

The IPDS will be implemented within five years in cooperation with Discoms and State Governments. 24x7 power in urban India, soon a reality!

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal

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This humongous challenge can be met only if the private sector becomes a proactive partner. To enable this, the government has taken some initiatives to encourage private and foreign investment

World is changing very fast. India must skill its young workforce in 3D, Nano & Robotic technology -will drive d future of manufacturing.

Amitabh Kant @amitabhk87

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3 billion people are economically underprivileged... thats almost half the population.. this is the urgent concern of today APJ Abdul Kalam @APJAbdulKalam

Ravi Shankar Prasad Union telecom minister on spreading digital revolution in the country

We want ‘Digital India’ to happen the way TV became a rage and spread its wings everywhere, for which we will take help from private companies as well

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FACT: President Obama’s #ImmigrationAction will boost the U.S. GDP by tens of billions of dollars Barack Obama @BarackObama

www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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Capital’s air pollution worse during winter

NEW DELHI: The Delhites might be exposed to significantly higher levels of air pollutants during winter season compared to summer season. Air pollution in the capital is worst during the winter season, as per the study jointly conducted by the University of Birmingham (Britain), the IIT – Delhi, the Central Road Research Institute (India), and the Desert Research Institute (US). The study is likely to assist in the development of targeted policy instruments to control air pollution. According to the researchers, air samples were collected in June 2013 and between December 2013 and January 2014, adjacent to a heavy traffic site on Mathura Road, an area highly influenced by industrial emissions in Delhi.

Soon sail on Yamuna across Agra: Gadkari

AGRA: Soon tourists will be able to go to Agra sailing on the Yamuna as the Centre has sought help from the Netherlands government for the ambitious where they will help in building barrages and water-terminals on both sides of the river.

“Soon people can go to Agra via Delhi through Yamuna...we will float a Cabinet note to specify works for the project by our Ministry and the Delhi Government,” Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said. The minister said that Netherlands government has agreed to come out with a technical report for the project, which includes specifications regarding construction of barrages and two water-terminals at both ends of Yamuna.

RCF, BPCL to invest Rs 200 cr for STP

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd for setting up a Sewage Treatment Plant at Trombay, entailing an investment of Rs 200 cr.

ANTRIX to geo map Surat city

Surat Municipal Corp roped in players like Antrix Corporation and Scanpoint Geomatics for geo-mapping of the city.

Face detection attendance in Thane

Thane Municipal Corp introduced a machine that will recognize the face of employees and mark their attendances. The corporation has introduced the system in ward offices.

GMC plans to make city dustbin-free

Guwahati Municipal Corporation envisages making the city dust-bin free under its new waste management programme that will introduce garbage transfer stations in every ward of the city.

Back to e-ricks: The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari inspecting the modified e-rickshaw, in New Delhi

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December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

More Night Shelters to come up in Delhi: Naidu

NEW DELHI: This winter there would be more night shelters in the national capital and nobody should be forced to sleep in the open at night,Urban Development and Housing Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) M Venkaiah Naidu informed. The minister said the state government is running more than 150 permanent and semi-permanent type night shelters across the city, but it is not enough to take care of homeless and destitute people in Delhi. “More night shelters will be provided in Delhi so that nobody is forced to sleep in open area at night,” Naidu said.

‘Over 18 million housing deficit in urban areas’

NEW DELHI: Our country faces deficit of about 18.78 million housing units in urban areas, and more than 95 per cent of the same pertain to economically weaker sections (EWS) and Low Income Groups (LIG) of the society. To bridge the gap the government has come out with Housing For All objective, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said. The government is evolving comprehensive strategies towards achieving the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022, through active and beneficial involvement of a variety of stake holders including public-private participation and improving governance of housing delivery, the minister said.

GIFT city in Gujarat wins Nasscom award AHMEDABAD: India’s first smart city, the Gujarat International Finance TecCity (GIFT City), was conferred with the e-LETS award for the smart city’s command and control centre from the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). The GIFT City as two parts the command and control centre. The first part, platform, hosts all the utilities and provides a complete view of the city infrastructure. The second part hosts CCTV surveillance and tracking critical parameters like fire and safety, intelligent traffic management system and public address (PA) system for handling law and order in the city.

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Varanasi to be modernised as Kyoto Japan NEW DELHI: An eleven member committee has been set up by urban development minister to modernise the city of Varanasi on the lines of the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto. The steering committee will operationalise the ‘Partner City Affiliation Agreement’ between the cities of Varanasi and Kyoto. As per the agreement culture, art, academics, heritage conservation and city modernisation will be the areas of cooperation. It will also see upgradation of water management, sewage facilities, waste management, urban transportation and drawing upon the Japan’s expertise and technologies.

Smart Cities’ guidelines in two months KOLKATA: Smart cities guideline’s will be framed within the next two months by the central government and the Indian private sector plays a crucial role in it Shankar Agarwal, secretary, ministry of urban development. “The role of the union government is limited. We will put up minimal guidelines so that the state governments and the developers can develop the Smart Cities on their own,” he said. Although the Smart Cities have not been identified yet, the cities will be shortlisted in “proportion to the population” and will include all capital cities and major towns.

Make city roads safe: CSE NEW DELHI: To make cities safer for pedestrians, smaller vehicles and pollution free, the road safety bill should lay more emphasis on deterrence rather than punitive action, an green advocacy group said. “Adopt a ‘vision zero goal’ that no one should die or get injured in the road transport system. In case of an accident, life saving strategies and emergency action should be more explicit as the first one hour is most critical and strong regulatory intervention with requisite infrastructure is necessary,” CSE suggested. It laid more emphasis should be on reduction of speed limits at accident hotspots in cities and linking road safety with road design.

eco-awareness: Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar interacting with the children and students on green features of Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, in New Delhi

DEVEX launches MAMA in Mumbai

Bengaluru to get dry waste processing units

Agartala wins clean and green city award

BENGALURU: Determined to make the city clean from impending waste menace, the collaborative effort of Social Venture Partners (SVP), Wake Up Clean Up (WUCU) Bengaluru and Bengaluru City Connects Foundation (BCCF) has ensured to help the city civic body, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for setting up dry waste recycling parks on the lines of special economic zones. It is likely that BBMP will respond positively by shortly coming up with plans to install recycling parks for dry waste in city which would also process polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and thermocol, according to official sources.

DEVEX launched MAMA India and the mMitra program, which brings timed and targeted health information to women living in Mumbai’s slums.

Agartala has been awarded the clean and green city award by a New Delhi-based urban policy and development experts group.

DMC install rate charts in markets

To control the prices of vegetables and perishable goods, Dimapur Municipal Council installed a daily market rate chart for whole sale and retail sale.

GHMC to install 50 bio toilets

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will install 50 bio-toilets at strategic locations in the city. The toilets will be solar powered and designed in such a manner that advertisement revenue could be generated.

Rs 2,100 cr to be spent on toilets in villages NEW DELHI: In view to keep the surroundings of the pious river clean while initiating step towards sanitation, the Government has assured to build toilets and sewage treatment plants in 1,649 identified villages situated along both sides of the Ganga river in five states. “The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has prepared an action plan to make all the Gram Panchayats free from open defecation to implement in them appropriate Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities,” Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ram Kripal Yadav informed the Lok Sabha. “Over Rs 2,100 crore will be allocated and a total of 1,649 Gram Panchayats in five states have been identified,” he said. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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Norms relaxed for e-rickshaw drivers NEW DELHI: Paving the way for the battery-operated vehicles to ply on the roads of the national capital, the government has finally given a nod to relax norms on licence of e-rickshaw drivers. The vehicle was banned by the Delhi High Court on safety concerns. “Cabinet has approved relaxation in norms for driving licences for e-rickshaw drivers,” a source said after the Cabinet meeting. “The norms have been relaxed for issuing licences for e-rickshaw drivers. The provision that no person shall be granted a learner’s licence to drive a commercial vehicle unless he or she has held a driving licence for light motor vehicle for at least one year has been waived.”

Delhi to get 8,000 new dustbins NEW DELHI: After the casualties of the 2008 serial blasts in the capital, where mostly dustbins were used — will be making a comeback across city streets, markets and other busy spots. The three municipal corporations of Delhi will be putting in place 8,000 new 100-litre bins across the city, according to official sources. Tenders for procuring the bins have been floated by the civic bodies and within a month the first batch will be installed. The erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi had stopped installing bins after the blasts, some of which had been set off by bombs placed in dustbins. The police had raised security concerns while objecting to bins in crowded places.

Microsoft to set up incubation centre

Microsoft has decided to set up an incubation centre in Surat. It will develop applications for civic services. The municipal corporation has agreed to provide space and bear the capital expenditure.

IIT-Gandhinagar designs dustbins

IIT Gandhinagar team has designed new dustbins that has broad base that makes it more stable and not easy to topple.

USIBC up for making Vizag smart

A team of US-India Business Council will visit Vizag December for making Vizag a smart city.

PMC to counsel school bus drivers

To put a stop on increasing crime against children, Pune Municipal Corporation School Board conducted a workshop that included drivers of school buses, parents and principals to talk about rules, regulations and punishment.

Railways starts it green with CNG trains NEW DELHI: The country is gung-ho on shaping its green energy plans through the introduction of its first ever Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered trains, all set to be flagged off. Railways minister Suresh Prabhu’s vision on green mobility are beginning to take shape, with the CNG trains having successfully cleared trials and ready for inauguration. Two sets of the ‘dual fuel’ trains manufactured by Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) — which will use 20 percent fuel in the form of CNG — have arrived and will be used in the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains on Delhi-Rohtak- Rewari section, an official said.

India, Japan join hands on green ICT NEW DELHI: With an aim to help each other in the fields of cyber security and Green ICT (Information and Communication Technology), India and Japan have decided to join hands and enhance the development areas in the sectors. In a statement after India-Japan Joint Working Group Meeting on ICT, in New Delhi on December 4, the two countries announced the decision to work on the following five areas which are to be implemented as India-Japan joint projects such as Green ICT, Cyber Security Cooperation, Cooperative project for detecting symptoms and quick response to cyber attacks (PRACTICE), and many other projects in different sectors.

New Delhi Rly Station to be WiFi-ed

stamps on “UTI”: The Union Minister for Communications & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad releasing the commemorative stamps on “UTI”, in New Delhi

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December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEW DELHI: The busiest station in the capital will soon be open to Wi-Fi mode.

Railways minister Suresh Prabhu will inaugurate the facility to passengers on December 4. The initiative is being implemented by Rail Tel – a railways PSU providing telecom infrastructure, as per official sources. The service provider is finalising the nitty-gritty like free time limit and the charges for using the facility.

The facility would be provided at other major stations in the city after judging the response at the New Delhi station.

NEWSCAN

UD minister ask urban planners to develop child-friendly cities The key focus of the ‘Building smart child-friendly cities in India for 21st century’ conference organised by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation was to highlight the significance of make cities on the basis of children’s requirements Team Urban Update

NEW DELHI: Bernard Van Leer Foundation in association with Urban Development Ministry, National Institute of Urban Affairs and School of Planning and Architecture organised a two-day conference ‘Building smart child-friendly cities in India for 21st century’. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the event. The conference was organised by Bernard Van Leer Foundation.

UD minister expressed his concern over “harsh urban realities” adversely affecting “brain development and perspectives” of youngsters and stressed on the need for child-friendly infrastructure in cities. He asked urban planners, architects and all stakeholders to create an enabling environment for children for their all round development.

According to estimates by McKinsey & Company’s Global Institute (2010), 590 million Indians will live in cities by 2030 where 70 percent of new employment will be generated. This trend represents both an enormous opportunity for India’s growth and leadership in urban development, as well as a great challenge for the country. It is also important to mention that every eighth urban child in India in the age-group of 0-6 years stays in slums, according to ‘Slums in India – A Statistical Compendium 2011’ published by the Government

Around 41 million children out of the 158 million children in the country live in urban areas. Out of them, eight million live in slums. The conference on ‘Building smart child-friendly cities in India for 21st Century’ was organised to understand their needs while building cities

of India.

In the conference, Naidu said, “Time has come for city master plans to incorporate specific chapters to meet the needs of young children.”

Inclusive and children sensitive urban development strategies are the need of the hour.” He said that there is a need for providing adequate open spaces and play centres to nurture creative faculties of children. UD Minister observed that deficient urban planning leads to adverse impact on children, particularly, those from the weaker section.

“These include poor behavioural and academic outcomes, high risk of diseases, inadequate early brain development, high risk of diseases,

impaired physical development and skills, deprivation of adequate parental care as they go out for long hours in search of livelihood,” he said. Gora Mboup, Ph.D., President and CEO, Global Observatory linking Research to Action said that the concept of Child Friendly Cities (CFC) is an embodiment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the local level, where children’s rights are reflected in policies, laws, programmes and budgets. Another speaker Amar Patnaik highlighted the fact that children are threatened by heavy traffic conditions, hazardous pollution, and dirty water, garbage dumps and violence. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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COVER STORY

Rolling out the red carpet 16

December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

COVER STORY

I

Easing capitalisation and norms in construction sector drums up interest of foreign and Indian investors in the ambitious 100 Smart Cities and Housing for All plans envisaged by the central government. The government is making all possible efforts to eliminate bottlenecks and fast pace development of the construction sector that suffered slump in recent years Team Urban Update

ndian government is showing keen interest in resurrecting the construction sector to boost its key plans such as Housing for All and 100 Smart City project. The construction sector has potential of not only helping government in executing these plans successfully but also provide jobs as the sector is labour intensive and provides employment to more than 35 million people. The sector is significant for the financial growth too as it contributes five percent to the nation’s GDP. For improving the fiscal health of the sector, the government is all set to allow 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and ease norms in size and capitalisation in the sector. The USD 157 billion Indian construction sector saw a downward trend in the FDI inflow in 2012-13; it fell to USD 1.3 billion from USD 3.1 billion the previous year.

A recent report by PwC, India’s construction sector is forecast to grow at 7-8 percent each year over the next decade. It suggests that the country will see increased economic growth, and the removal of barriers to foreign investment will spur demand for construction over the coming 12 to 18 months. Major players in the construction sector are hopeful that the government decision of easing norms will improve the fiscal health of the sector and increase opportunities even for the small players in www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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COVER STORY

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Owais Usmani P MD, Presidency Infraheights Pvt Ltd

With the announcement to promote 100 percent FDI in construction and real estate sector, it will definitely boost investment opportunities. Relaxation of FDI limit in construction and real estate development under the automatic route is a clear road map for inviting investments

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the market.

Owais Usmani, MD, Presidency Infraheights Pvt Ltd, says, “Expectations were high, and finance minister tried to live up to it in the Union budget 2014-15. With the announcement to promote 100 percent FDI in construction and real estate sector, it will definitely boost investment opportunities. Relaxation of FDI limit in construction and real estate development under the automatic route is a clear road map for inviting investments.”

He added that relaxation limit for minimum investment is an invitation to small players and increased NRI investment. The reduction in builtup area and size of projects will allow mid-sized and smaller developers with good track records better access to FDI and boost affordable housing in the country.

The change in policy recently introduced by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has made the operation for stakeholders in the industry easier and smoother than before. Many industrialist believe that the situation in the sector would improve.

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December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Neeraj Sharma, National Sales Head, 99acres.com, told Urban Update, “The government eased overseas investment rules in construction to attract money into the funds-starved sector and serve its twin objectives of faster job creation and housing for all. The Union Cabinet approved a comprehensive proposal by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), dropping the minimum 10-hectare rule for serviced housing plots and slashing the minimum floor area for construction development projects to 20,000 sq m from 50,000 sq m to be eligible for overseas investment.

Also, an investor will now be allowed to exit on completion of the project or after three years from the date of final investment, whichever is earlier.”

He added that the sectoral condition of minimum area and capital will not apply if the developer sets aside 30 percent of the project for affordable housing, defined as dwelling units of less than 60 sq m. Finding 10 hectares of land in tier-I and tier-II cities was difficult, so scrapping this rule will encourage investors to bring in money.

It is to be noted that in its July budget, the new government had said it would relax foreign investment rules for the sector. The government is also looking to boost construction of hotels, tourist resorts, hospitals, special economic zones (SEZs), educational institutions, old-age homes and investments by non-resident Indians (NRIs), giving free access in these segments.

Big Push for Govt Schemes

Housing for All, the ambitious plan of the government to make available affordable houses for people, needs a strong push from the growth of construction sector. The investment in the construction development sector has a multiplier effect by way of infrastructure development.

The overall shortage in EWS and LIG housing in India has been estimated at close to 2.65 crores (26.5 million) dwelling units as per a report published by the government and is expected to touch 3.8 crores

(38 million) by the year 2030. Out of current shortage of 2.65 crores (26.5 million) units, EWS alone has a requirement of 2.3 crores (23 million) units.

Demand for real estate has been one of the drivers of construction sector growth over the last 10 year.

Improvement in economic conditions, Housing For All have the potential to drive demand for real estate, as housing continues to be a favoured investment asset among Indian households.

Sharma says, “The move will affect the industry in multiple ways the much starved real estate will get its desperate fund inflow which in turn will bring cheer to homebuyers. This is a step forward to the Govt’s vision of 2022 Housing for all. Relaxation in Area/Investment plus exit norms will create positive sentiments in industry plus will also help developer an alternative route of funding for their project.

The Housing for all is a concept that is doing its round for too many years. Affordability is an important aspect of providing housing for all.

The land acquisition process need to

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Dilip Chenoy Managing Director & CEO National Skill Development Corporation

We look forward to the final decisions on the roll out of the final plans for the Delhi Mumbai industrial corridor (DMIC). It will be a great opportunity for the public and private sector to come together and create more opportunities for employment in India

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COVER STORY more realistic with less intervention for any viable project need to be implemented. Also the ‘Affordable Housing’ needs major support from policy makers in achieving cost advantage. Easy and fast construction techniques are the best suited for such development- which are cost effective, economical and fast.

Suresh Hari, Secretary CREDAI, Bangalore, says, “Any development requires better manageability from all angles. The various stringent norms, with laws and acts that are outdated, need correction. With improved construction technology and automation much more can be done in the available space and time. The relaxation of FDI norm is a welcome step in this direction.”

On the need of change in the taxation policy for the sector, Hari said that the taxation policy should be uniform across the country and easy to evaluate at any given point of time.

The construction sector is taxed at all angels- Service Tax, VAT, Stamp duty, etc., There are almost 30 labour laws that govern the industry. All aspect of industrial requirement should be met with. Some of the raw material used in

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Suresh Hari Secretary CREDAI, Bangalore

With improved construction technology and automation much more can be done in the available space and time. The relaxation of FDI norm is a welcome step in this direction. The taxation policy should be uniform across the country and easy to evaluate at any given point of time

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construction, which are from natural resources should be regulated by Government for better management.

Financial Boost

From the FDI move by the govt to ease the norms of construction is bringing cheer across the board to a fund starved sector. It is serving multiple purposes such as faster job creation and also assisting in swift completion of housing for all schemes. Besides its employment and income generation potential, greater investment in the sector would help to augment the available housing stock including affordable housing and built up infrastructure for different purposes.

Vinay Jain, CMD, AVJ Group, says, “The FDI move by the govt to ease the norms of construction will be raising an across the board cheer from an fund starved sector and serve, its twin objectives of faster job creation and housing for all. Besides its employment and income generation potential, greater investment in the sector would help to augment the available housing stock including affordable housing and built up infrastructure for different purposes.

This initiative will also ensure that the project developers who have taken FDI are not left with more debt. “Home buyers will also cheer the relaxation as fresh inflows raise the possibility of projects that are stuck getting completed and cheaper housing available. Most housing projects are delayed by one to two years or even more behind schedule because of the slowdown and the shortage of funds on account of elevated debt levels”, Jain said.

Asit Koticha, Promoter of Pashmina Developers, said that the recent FDI norms are sure to bring a positive outlook in the long run. With previous limitations on most projects’ ability to avail FDI, the new reforms will bring forth a steady flow of FDI in the real estate sector. This change will benefit the smaller cities and projects alike more with greater access to such investments not available readily earlier.

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Vinay Jain CMD AVJ Group

Home buyers will also cheer the relaxation as fresh inflows raise the possibility of projects that are stuck getting completed and cheaper housing becoming available going ahead. Most housing projects are running one to two years or even more behind schedule because of the slowdown

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Apprehensions

While most of market players are cheering the move by the government to lower the entry barriers for FDI into the real estate sector, this step will open up the investment opportunity for many more players, and give many of the smaller projects access to foreign capital. Some are voicing their concerns that the move may not lead to substantial inflows into the sector.

Rohit Gera, MDGera Developments, is of the view that the management and the transaction costs for overseeing each project are nearly the same and as such the high costs tend to eat into the returns of the investors. Gera added that the other major reason is that the real estate sector is currently reeling with sluggish sales and low consumer sentiment. While more funds into the sector will lead to more supply, unless demand picks up the introduction of supply only leads to more pricing pressure and lower margins for investors. While this is good step, the government needs to boost demand in the sector.

He suggests that one step would www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

19

COVER STORY

Fact file: construction sector

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Rohit Gera MD- Gera Developments

The real estate sector is currently reeling with sluggish sales and low consumer sentiment. While more funds into the sector will lead to more supply, unless demand picks up the introduction of supply only leads to more pricing pressure and lower margins for investors

“

be to lower interest rates however since this is in the hands of the RBI the government can incentivise home buying by offering increased interest deductions so that the effective interest rates are lowered. If we want to see a flood of investment it is imperative that the government simultaneously addresses the demand side of equation as well.

Boon for Smart Cities

While the provision of robust infrastructure would be critical to the realisation of the target, an equal and concerted effort is required towards smart cities agenda. With government estimates of USD one trillion investment requirements for infrastructure over 12th Plan Period, while the GDP of India was USD 1.87 million in 2013, there is a serious challenge on meeting the infrastructure gap with rising cost of financing, inadequate fuel supply, policy bottlenecks and constrained business environment.

The government has estimated an annual requirement of about RS. 35, 000 crore (USD 5.8 billion) as investment requirement for 100 smart cities of one million population each.

20 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

16 % Of the nation’s working population depends on construction for its livelihood

5% Construction sector’s contribution to the nation’s GDP

USD 1 trillion Investment is expected in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) as projected by the Planning Commission

It is obvious that a robust financial architecture with equity from the private sector is necessary to realise the vision, while government can provide the viability gap support.

The smart city concept is anchored around creating robust infrastructure (physical, institutional, social and economic) as its pillars to achieve the desired quality of life in the cities.

Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India, says, “With the recent move on the government’s decision to relax norms for FDI in the construction sector, this step will surely lead to increased investments in new areas and expansion of plots resulting in creation of much needed economical housing and growth of smart cities. Panasonic India and the Japanese government have already

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Manish Sharma Managing Director Panasonic India

FDI in the construction sector, this step will surely lead to increased investments in new areas and expansion of plots resulting in creation of much needed economical housing and growth of smart cities. The greater investment in the sector would help augment the available housing stock

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COVER STORY

7-8 % Is the expected growth rate of India’s construction sector each year over the next decade

67 % Increase in the growth of the global construction market by 2020

USD 2.11 billion FDI inflows in construction (infrastructure) activities during the period April 2000—July 2014 as per data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

USD 157 billion Worth of Indian construction sector for financial year 2014

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Diipesh Bhagtani Executive Director Jaycee Homes

The smart cities plan, will get a major thrust by the FDI policy in the construction sector. An exit after the completion of the project will enable the development of trunk infrastructure, which includes roads, water supply, street lighting, drainage and sewerage

“

made pioneering efforts to create a sustainable, self-reliant and smart city – the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST).

Sharma added that in line with the Indian’s government’s focus on creating 100 smart cities, they are sure that greater investment in the sector would help augment the available housing stock including affordable housing and built up infrastructure for different purposes.

On the employment opportunities with the growth in the sectors and completion of DMIC project that would play a crucial role in industrial growth around it, Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), says, “We look forward to the final decisions and roll out plans for the Delhi Mumbai

“

Asit Koticha Promoter of Pashmina Developers

The new FDI norms are sure to bring forth a steady flow of FDI in the real estate sector. This change will benefit the smaller cities and projects alike more with greater access to such investments not available readily earlier

“

industrial corridor (DMIC). It will be a great opportunity for the public and private sector to come together and create more opportunities for employment in India.”

Chenoy said that the sector which is likely to garner heavy attention from employers is certainly the IT sector as this project will rely heavily on information and communication technology. Technology will be a key enabler for all smart cities -right from centralised systems of control, which provide real-time updates on availability of water, healthcare, electricity and education to effective management of traffic, pollution control, and emergency response. The other two sectors which will see more job opportunities will be construction and manufacturing.

The Smart Cities project of the government would get an instant inflow of the funds with the new policy of the FDI. Diipesh Bhagtani, Executive Director Jaycee Homes, says that the smart cities plan will get a major thrust by the FDI policy in the construction sector. An exit after the completion of the project will enable the development of trunk infrastructure, which includes roads, water supply, street lighting, drainage and sewerage. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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TECH TALK

TENSILE SURFACE STRUCTURES

smart construction technology Smart City is an emerging trend across the globe. It has arrived in India too. The government has envisaged to build 100 smart cities in the country. For our smart cities, the country needs a new language of architecture which is global in nature. Tensile structures are one such very relevant style of architecture for our smart cities Deepti Gupta, Tensile Consultant, Architect

T

he building of tensile structures has grown considerably in the last 20 years. More and more architects are using tensile fabric structures as a solution to roofing as well as façade requirements. This is because of the

manifold advantages and application of fabric structures particularly.

According to the Smart Cities Council of India, “The dramatic growth in urbanism also provides impetus for the creation of smart cities which leverage information and communications technology (ICT)

to greatly improve the productivity, lifestyle and the prosperity of our people. Additionally, green growth strategies can build environmentally sustainable cities”. In the context of architecture and construction technology, it can be interpreted as an approach to building which not

Tensile structures are becoming popular in large public buildings and airports all over the world. One of such structures at Mumbai Airport

22 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

TECH TALK only uses hi-tech construction, but also a suitable technology and style of architecture.

With the changing needs of architecture and the advancing technology, tensile surface structures have come a long way. With research and experimentation in construction technology, the world saw a start of large and wide span structures that were more permanent in nature.

The modern structures were not only just a marvel of engineering feat but they also created a new language of architecture with their highly aesthetic, functional and free flowing forms. Their usage has been constantly increasing as they caught the fancy of the architects and the general public.

The retractable structures like the folding umbrellas at the Prophet’s holy Mosque, Medina are an appropriate option for multi-use spaces and for climatic differences.

The umbrellas shade the courtyards during the day and remain close at night to cool them.

Indian construction industry saw a metamorphosis after economic liberalisation in the early 1990s. In order to compete globally, it became a necessity for the Indian real estate market to create state-of-the-art

adding aesthetic quotient Tensile architecture is a relevant technology today as it enables large free spans to be covered in addition to creating aesthetically pleasing environs. Such structures have been used at various scales especially in large span public buildings. They have been successfully used in airports and sport stadiums all over the world .

Tensile structures allows to have retractable structures like the folding umbrellas at the Prophet’s holy Mosque, Medina

The retractable umbrellas are at the mosque shade the courtyards of the mosque during the day and remain close at night to cool them

Tensile structures are used for iconic structures where special effects are required. Similar use at the Alliance Arena in Munich, Germany

www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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TECH TALK

The structures have been used for sports stadiums for enabling multiple usage. The Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi also uses the technology. When the roofing of the stands was refurbished in 2010 for the Commonwealth Games, it was found to be the best solution

structures in the Indian cities. With the current extensive usage of tensile structures in the developed countries, India has also embraced them with open arms. For the smart cities of the near future, they will find more and more application for various spatial needs.

Tensile architecture is a relevant technology today as it enables large free spans to be covered in addition to creating aesthetically pleasing environs. Such structures have been used at various scales especially in large span public buildings. They have been successfully used in airports all over the world including the Mumbai Airport.

The technology is useful for several reasons. The structures are light weight, and due to a minimal selfweight, not only do they save material but they also give us large free spans. The aesthetic appeal of these structures is unmatched and they are successfully used for iconic structures where special effects are required.

The Alliance Arena in Munich, Germany has a similar structure. The Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) cushion construction has dramatic LED lighting incorporated in the roof 24 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

structure.

The tensile structures have been used for sports stadiums worldwide.

The Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi also has the same kind of structure. The expo pavilion of Venezuela at Hamburg, Germany, which was designed as a blossoming flower, is an example of how architecture can be dynamic rather than static. In addition, its complex structural mechanism breaks all conventional limitations and gives an opportunity for expression of architectural creativity.

Even at a smaller scale, they can be used to create a special architecture by achieving the required ambience by the use of unique elements. This is illustrated beautifully in the entrance to the Sikkim Flower Show, 2008.

Quick erection time and light weight of these structures makes them useful as a solution for emergency space requirements, and these aspects need to be researched more especially in the field of disaster management.

Much work and research is being done in this field by tensile engineers around the world. Light weight architecture suggests an

attitude towards the environment that is needed in our smart cities, as it is concerned with optimal and parsimonious use of materials and effort. Their various advantages make tensile structure technology an appropriate choice for the upcoming smart cities.

Most of the tensile fabrics are recyclable and therefore eco-friendly, making them an appropriate choice for the pertinent issue of sustainability to be addressed. Future fabric structures will harness energy from the wind as well as the sun. Fabric will not only harvest energy but also utilise energy to transmit light and visual effects. This added advantage of energy creation and efficiency is a much needed requirement of our future green smart cities.

This is still only the beginning; and lots of learning and research awaits. Tensile architecture is still in its nascent stages in India. The technology is undoubtedly the relevant technology for smart cities because of several reasons: the structures are light weight thus allowing for large free spans that are comparatively quick and easy to erect and may be collapsible/foldable besides being eco-friendly and recyclable. It causes minimal disruption to sites and surroundings during construction processes. Considering the emerging requirements of smart cities, it is only a matter of time before the world of tensile architecture find firm feet in the Indian architectural and urban landscape.

Direct your queries to guptadeepti07@gmail.com

Deepti earned Master of Engineering in Tensile/ Membrane Structures from Germany, and Architect & Project Manager degrees from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. She has worked on many critically acclaimed projects globally.

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ONE ON ONE

Making ULBs smart, citizen centric Diana A Lopez Caramazana of Local Government and Decentralisation Unit, UN Habitat, and Arnau Gutierrez Camps, Adviser, Multilateral Affairs, International Relations, Directorate of the Province of Barcelona, expressed their views on local self-government’s needs, responsibilities globally in a one on one with Urban Update.

They also laid focus on basic essentials of smart cities and the need of coordination between different tiers of government Prathiba Raju, Assistant Editor

What is your viewpoint on the three tier system of the governance, how to integrate them and boost local government?

Diana: See India is still following the British tradition. We have been working with the United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) for so many years, though it is divided into a three tier system, basically everybody works for the welfare of the common man. When it comes to this system everybody should have clarity on who does what and who does it better. When it comes to immediate necessities of people, it is the local government that knows them better.

The state level should coordinate

with the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and the centre. They need quality coordination and a fair distribution of roles and responsibilities. Though there might be some political conflict in-between, there should always be a sphere to discuss and sort out things.

It is possible that at a certain time the local governments are not talking to the central government and vice versa.

So if there is a lack of coordination or dispute it is going to just affect people.

Synchronisation is needed. Regular dialogues between each tier of the governance are necessary.

How is the local governance here in India, compared to other developing

“

countries like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan?

Diana: Local governance is a focal point for UN Habitat. UCLG is our privileged partner. We have been working together on the global report, which comes out once in three years, on how the different regions globally work with the local governance and an overview on the same. There have been three reports: on democracy, finance and basic services. We had released reports in 2008, 2011, 2014, next would be released in 2017. Every three years we have a Congress by UCLG concentrates on one specific issue. Asia pacific is one chapter in which India is included, next

First of all any country needs a proper legislation to handle local governance, if they don’t have it how can one run a city.

Globally ULBs need legal competence Diana A Lopez Caramazana

26 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

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ONE ON ONE one report will be on housing and sustainable development and the ULBs will participate in a global platform. But India being a wide sub-continent, it is not easy to say that ULBs in a particular country are stronger or doing well or worse.

I think, in general, they are doing better. They will do better if they need better cooperation. Globally there are only few countries which have ULB representatives. Here we are not talking about local governments taking the role of central or state level in international representation. We are talking about urban issues and the ULBs have to totally engage in the global platform. Especially, ULBs’ role globally is getting bigger. For example, in the climate change, the role of local government is going to be significant.

From your international experience can you tell us how could you make the local governance strong?

Diana: First of all any country needs a proper legislation, if they don’t have it how can one run a city. If you have a traffic snarl happening in one area, you need to shift or recreate the space in or out of the city, it becomes difficult for certain ULBs because they don’t have the legal competence. Of course enabling, easy legislation is necessary.

But in many countries the other problem is that they have a perfect law and it becomes difficult to follow it, so it should be flexible. For example, one Act can be applicable to 10 people of a place or 10 million people of a

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megapolis. We need a flexible law along with capacity and resources.

When I say capacities I mean human capacity, technical capacity and remuneration including the local officers. Many a times the numbers are low mainly because the public officers are not financed properly. Most of the GDP is generated in the cities but it is not taken care of well. Cities need more services, but most of the time it doesn’t get back the same. I think this is what we can recommend globally.

What will UN Habitat and UCLG will do to improve women’s participation in the ULBs? Diana: Both UCLG and UN Habitat takes an active role in women’s participation in the local governance.

Women get little support when they get into power, even at the councillor level.

They feel alone. We are developing our strategies on the same. Globally it might be ten percent that women are representing the local governments, I should say it is improving and it takes time. It also depends on country to country basis. It helps when you build a good condition to work, if there is no extra social pressure it will help more women to participate. Perception should change.

Barcelona is a good example of a smart city. As you come from that city, can you brief us about the smart city concept?

Arnau: Smart cities use new technology but it does not use only the modern technologies or

In Indian case, the central government sets a tone or start off with a framework but it is important that the local autonomy is considered, they should be given subsidiary Arnau Gutierrez Camps

machinery. It is also the use of more data and information and putting them into proper use. Data in terms of how many cars are going to be used on a particular street. We improve the mobility accordingly. We know how many cars would be there and we know when the traffic lights will be changed; we improve the whole system. We connect those with public transport, so there are not traffic lights for buses; they have their own tracking system.

It is not only about a new technology but also use of information in a global fashion at the local level. When you ask how to start off with a smart city… then it is difficult to say. We just had a meeting on digital cities in Spain, out of it, I could say in order to start first we have to believe in the idea. You need a political strength, capacity, and commitment for proper execution.

Most important is to be modest and begin with pilot projects which work, and improve them. That shows that such city is possible to be constructed.

Do you think creating new smart city is better or improving the existing city into smart cities?

Arnau: I do not see a big difference there. The current city to be pushed into smart city or creating a smart city are different steps of the same process. Trying to build a smarter city is actually a first step towards the smart city. You cannot say that we are going to build it in next month or year.

It doesn’t work like that. It is a process, cities are alive entities they change,

“ www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

27

ONE ON ONE and they work. So growing smarter or building a smart city are two different steps in which the cities becomes smarter in multiple ways.

How to cope with emerging new technologies?

Diana: Now it is not just e-governance, everything is changing into smart governance. All of a sudden we have everything on hands through our mobile phone via different apps. So we are always running after new things so there is a confusion but we should not forget that in the end governance is nothing but organising ourselves between institutions, people, and civil society. How do we allow or help to better organise this in different sectors of urbanisation needs to be given a thought.

SMART should meet these criteria like Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound. They should be applied to the ULBs for easy living in cities.

What is UN Habitat doing to push forward the MDG and post MDG agenda for enabling the role of local governance and making them stronger?

Diana: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set in 2000 to be achieved in 15 years. There were decided in closed door agreement between member states. Most of them were decided at the last moment.

As UN Habitat was responsible for the cities and the focus was slum redevelopment. The target was 100 million people living out of slums.

That target alone was achieved by China urbanising people. See in many places cities keep growing in the slums and in most of the time slums dwellers keep moving. Now UN Habitat is trying to get more inclusive and more open. Now they are coming up with new sustainable development goals (SDG) which will be universally applicable. The new SDG will also include the civil society groups as the major partners. Of course everybody is trying to bring a lot of priorities, we are concentrating on growth. We 28 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

are also bringing together all the local governments. There will also be urban stand-alone goal, which are sustainable, local and resilient cities.

Sixty percent of the world would be urbanised. Cities should be concentrated as an objective and as a sustainable entity as people are going to live there. Cities are big human settlements; people identify the cities only with places like Delhi but it also includes towns. The question is we see the urban role also as a possibility to reinforce role of local government and the financial aspect too, because in the end urban specialises in basic local services and local dimension of development. When we talk about global agenda we try to forget about the local governments, they are in the agenda now globally. A consolidated voice of local governments is the need of the hour.

How can local self-government improve?

Diana: Many local self-government have less visibility, very few local selfgovernments communicate well, one such is the Barcelona city that is why it is well known. The ULBs should be open for participation in decision making process and they should also implement certain policies that act as well. Sometimes participatory process will give clear cut decisions, and they should also consult people. During the process of decison making, ULBs should be given responsibility.

How long did it take to turn Barcelona into a smart city? What are the new technologies which are coming up?

Arnau: Barcelona is not yet a smart city yet, it is a good example trying really hard to become one and we could say it is a city which is taking an effort to become a good city. There are different dimensions of becoming a smart city, as we said there is the internal dimension, the data processing, improving how the city works for that. In the case of Barcelona we had another important effort, to bring new companies, new technology

to the cities. The mobile world congress brings in every two years the new technology and the companies that can help the cities. One of the new features is an innovative mobile application ‘The Citizenship Inbox’ in which you would get to choose your language. These services help citizens lodge complaints and send them to the city government in a second.

How should the central government bridge the gap while giving a suitable role to the ULBs? Arnau: We have been discussing smart cities, but you cannot become smart without resources. Even for a city we need resources, civil servants and the ability to get laws or regulations in order to better manage the city, new technology, the whole process and data.

Diana: Everybody wants to turn modern, even the city also needs to be changed into smart now. But no one wants to live in a stupid city.

So everybody runs after the newest things or modest technologies but they should also keep their basics right like the local governments as in many places it gets weak - it should be enhanced. I think it is important the central government to push for local development. Many a time we see far good investments in a city but it is not fruitful.

Arnau: In Indian case, the central government sets a tone or start off with a framework but it is important that the local autonomy is considered, they should be given subsidiary i.e. taking each decision at right level and if it comes closest to the citizens it is better. For example, on how to manage mobility at a local level, why should the central, state government take a decision? In case if you have to build a network of streets or communication between 10 to 20 cities then you need a regional plan. Or in order to device or organise a traffic and if it goes to a national train system then the centre can pitch in. So taking decision at each level accordingly is needed. It will ensure the proper utilisation of finances and resources.

COVER STORY

AIILSG President Dr Jatin Modi inaugurating the Urban Dialogues series by lighting the lamp with Dr M Ramchandran, former Urban Development Secretary and Raj Librehan, former Director of India Habitat Centre

Mission Housing ‘Housing for All’ by 2020 is an ambitious goal of Government of India. In order to assess it, and looking at the grim situation of housing and shelter in Indian cities, a one day round table conference—Urban Dialogues on ‘Housing for All’—was organised to mark problems in the sector and find their solutions Team Urban Update

T

he bludgeoning population of India cities poses a major challenge of housing shortage. It is growing large by each passing year and even the policy makers are now finding it hard to fill the gap. India’s urban housing shortage is estimated to be nearly 18.78 million.

30 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Urban Dialogues on Housing for All, first in the series of round table conferences on urban issues, focused on housing and tried to figure out bottlenecks in the sector and find solutions of easing them.

The conference held on November 22 was jointly organised by the All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG), Urban Update magazine,

“

Jatin V Modi President, AIILSG

Housing shortage estimated around 18.78 million dwellings, it is imperative that we have to find out the ways so housing could be provided

COVER STORY

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Ashesh Maitra Former Director, SPA

We are talking about housing for all. This segment is talking about people who are earning 20-30 rupees a month.

How many people in India actually earn 20-30 rupees a month?

and Civic Media group.

The round table covered four broad topics namely bridging the housing gap in India, feasibility of affordable housing, slum redevelopment: an unsolved mystery, and strategies on housing for all.

The conference highlighted major challenge in the sector: availability of land, an ideal model of execution that ensures timely completion, and financial viability of housing projects.

The conference brought together urban experts, planners, architects, policy makers, corporate houses, civil society organisations and other stake holders on a single platform to find viable solution for issues related to housing.

Former secretary of Urban Development Dr. M Ramachandran, while inaugurating the session, stressed on the need of actively involving local bodies. According to him, target oriented budget would serve no purpose because of the complexity of issues. “Different committees projected different estimates,” he said.

Speaking on rebuilding the slums, he said that there were 17.1 percent slums in six states of India. For them

“

M Ramachandran Former Secretary, MoUD

It is not perfect target or definite that housing for all will be achieved by 2022. The task is so complex. The endeavour to achieve naturally goes beyond present govt term also

affordability, size of the house and approval were some problems which the slum dwellers faced. Where is the land in the city and who would pay for the land, he asked.

Similarly the issue of double taxation, relaxation in tax, allocation of land, the need for regulation was raised. Dr. Ramachandran cited examples of other countries like United Kingdom where financial aspects of housing and critical issues like land, road and slums were properly assessed. In Egypt, mortgage finance for housing was adopted and in Singapore people are charged below the cost of construction of their houses, he added.

Housing Shortage

Housing shortage is reality of every Indian city and it is evident by the number of slums, illegal settlements, and unauthorised colonies mushrooming all over.

While disseminating the contours of affordable housing, it is essential to make the 2022 target achievable. Is only the state agency responsible to get low cost houses built and delivered or is there much more beyond that?

Vikram Jain, leader of Low Income

“

Vikram Jain Leader, Low Income Housing Practice, Deloitte

The key challenge today in housing for the developer is they struggle with approval as it doesn’t come out in time. So we started working with the govt so that they get approval much quicker

Housing Practice, Deloitte opined that it is required to create sustainable business model at the bottom of the pyramid so it helps the poor. He added: “I think the government are only talking about the shortage not the need. So while someone is staying in the rental apartments he is not included in the shortage but actually the person want and need the house.

If housing is not provided for the segment then they are bound to take up the housing, which government makes for EWS section,” he added.

Jain explained the role of private sector in bridging the housing shortage in cities saying that “the private sector has the capital and the capability to come in and deliver the solution. There are 132 projects in 23 cities, providing 30 thousand homes in India today which are all under ten lakh rupees. Talking about the government role, Jain said the states should come up with solutions to affordable housing finance.

Asesh Maitra, former Director, School of Planning and Architect, delivered an eye-opening address on the bitter reality of how many people in India earned meagre incomes and their right to housing. “This segment www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

31

COVER STORY

(From Left to Right) Arpan De Sarkar, Shailesh Pathak, PR Jaishankar, and Tushar Pandey during a session on Financial feasibility of affordable housing

Arpan de Sarkar Economist and Analyst, Centre for Social Policy Research

Shailesh Pathak Executive Director, Bhartiya Group

“

“

is talking about people who are earning 20-30 rupees a month. How many people in India actually earn 20-30 rupees a month? Housing for all can only be provided when we adopt the model that had been adopted by the British government immediately after the war. Because they said that your affordability must not eat 50 percent of your income.” He cited a HUDCO study that revealed that it is people’s tendency to sell their houses to people of high income group.

Maitra suggested that people could be provided low cost housing after which the consumers themselves could improve their houses.

The session concluded on the note on three takeaways, that is a good

overview of what is the housing scenario, why is there a shortage, a line of thought on the possibility to provide housing to different groups.

Govt can be a facilitator not a provider for affordable housing for all, where the govt ensures a regulatory framework, where they provide a level playing field for players and consumer perspective as well

32 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

PPP in housing has become more like TTT (Taxpayer Transfer To Tycoon).

In order to make India succeed, there has to be reduced cost of living.

Tragedy of housing in India is state rules cities

Financial Feasibility

The government has come up with the scheme of providing housing for all but it is required proper blueprint on the financial implications of the projects and their modus operandi for timely completion. The second session addressed the feasibility concerns of the housing projects initiated by the state and central government including the Housing for All-2022. The session Feasibility of Affordable Housing was chaired by Shailesh Pathak, Executive Director,

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P R Jaishankar Chief General Manager IIFCL

Tax concession in housing is available only for formal segment and houses for informal segment because of affordability issue. Orderly disciplined transparent primary home loans market will enhance the confidence

Bhartiya Group.

Pathak mentioned that all houses in India were built by private sector only and the private developers were under tremendous pressure in terms of allocation of land, approval and infrastructure development by the government. “If the pressure on developers were reduced they would work efficiently and swiftly,” he said.

Talking about PPP models in housing he informed that it has become more like TTT (taxpayer transfer to tycoon).

Tushar Pandey, Senior President and country Head, Yes Bank spoke on Community Model. He said, “Community Land Trust Model integrated urban development and provision of affordable housing

COVER STORY

“

Tushar Pandey Senior President and country Head, Yes Bank

Public participation in projects is a must. Focus on community centric systems making people stakeholders in the process rather than recipients in the end ensure adoptability and success of smart city

which empowers communities and provides a strong base for sustainable development. This model also offers solution to issues pertaining to sale of subsidised unit allotted to lower income group with increase in price.”

P R Jaishankar, Chief General Manager, IIFCL, said that about twothree decades ago banks did not see housing as an economic activity but today financial companies, housing finance companies including banks is an lucrative option. “Tax concession in housing is available only for formal segment but what about the informal segment,” Jaishankar asked.

Arpan de Sarkar, Economist and Analyst, Centre for Social Policy Research expressed: “An affordable housing is related to suitability of space or location, for example, an affordable housing in Delhi will not be suitable in Kolkata or Chennai, we are always talking about housing shortages, is it the right housing demand as in definition of economics - the demand should be thought by purchasing power.”

The session highlighted the level of feasibility and that of affordable housing. It emphasised that it should also be made comprehensive while considering relaxation of norms, financial institutions and societal implications.

Slum Redevelopment

Slum dwellers contribute to city’s economic life. Sadly the state response has generally been challenged through panel code by saying that they are encroachers and settlers on government land therefore at the earliest opportunity, the government agencies want to get rid of them without any collateral convenience being created.

The third session ‘Slum Redevelopment: An Unsolved mystery’ was chaired by Raj Librehan, former director, India Habitat Centre.

Throwing light on the issue, Librehan said: “We need to search answers for the housing problem for the poor as they are the key part of cities’ lives.”

Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Director, Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan said: “If we are talking about inclusive growth then homeless population is also part.

If you talk about homeless population then one percent of cities’ population falls in that category. Delhi alone has nearly 1.5 lakh homeless people.”

“We need to think to give citizenship rights to the homeless community. If they do not exist in government list then the government cannot start any program for them,” he added.

“

Bharti Chaturvedi Director, Chintan

We are the people who create the demand where will the slum dweller go. There is no place to have slums because of the nature of the urban development and the private development

Bharti Chaturvedi, Director, Chintan gave an insight on the marginalised group and how cities should include them to make it sustainable and equitable. She feels that proximity to livelihood should be given prominence while planning slum redevelopment. “People do not have option. The proximity to livelihood is a major factor. Many of the maids, waterman, data entry operators, ration guys, are slum dwellers. Although, many slums have been demolished in last 14 years there are still many slums in the capital,” she said.

Neelima Risbud of National Housing Bank informed that credible slum data is a miss. “We don’t know how many slums are there.” She stressed that there needs to be a check as migrants are increasing. As we are going to be more urbanised many more guests from the rural areas are trying to come to the cities and non-metros are trying to find a space for themselves.

They are not going to wait. So people themselves are building jhuggi jhopris or unauthorized colonies.”

“In Mumbai the financial capital of the country 60 percent is slum that too in six percent of land that is which really bothers,” she said.

“

Sanjay Kumar Deputy Director, Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA)

A person gets migrated to a city s/he loses his identity.

They do not exist in government list then the government cannot start any program for them.

First they should be given some citizenship rights www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

33

COVER STORY

(From Left to Right) Mukesh Kanaskar, Raj Librehan, Neelima Risbud and Renu Khosla during a session on Slum Redevelopment

“

Mukesh Kanaskar Director, AIILSG International Centre EQUI

Discussions on slums redevelopment hitherto have been predominantly focused on the ‘Quantity’ (adequacy) aspect while there has been hardly any emphasis on the ‘Quality’

Renu Khosla, Director, CURE India, said ,“ Slum redevelopment can’t be an unsolved mystery. It is not solved because we are unwilling to do it.”

“If we want services to move into slums they can’t be conventional manner, we have to see decentralization of water systems, septic tank, something which would allow them to provide with equal services for areas far away from network or the trunk infrastructure,” she said.

Mukesh Kanaskar from AIILSG presented discussions on slums redevelopment hitherto have been predominantly focused on the ‘Quantity’ (adequacy) aspect while there has been hardly any emphasis on the ‘Quality’- Management and 34 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

“

Raj Librehan Former Director India Habitat Centre

Getting 18 million houses is our demand.It only gives us an indication that this is the magnitude of the problem.

And this is size of the problem that needs to be faced in a continuing basis

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Renu Khosla Director, CURE India

Honestly I loved the format of the RAY. I think that it provided us a mandate to upgrade slums, and redevelop slums where they are. It will be very disappointing if we are going to lose that in Housing for All

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Neelima Risbud Director, NHB, “Slum redevelopment has been just a lip service

Skin deep policies which actually don’t trickled down to results which will improve the lives of people in slums.

In fact there is a talk that is we waiting for our cities to be slumified

Maintenance of the Tenements (MMT) i.e. redeveloped structures.

“Owing to this lack of emphasis on MMT, in many cases the redeveloped slums imply horizontal slums getting converted to vertical slums and thus continuances of the same impoverished quality of life for the community,” he said.

He also emphasized the importance of participation of women from the community in all stages of slums redevelopment and MMT. On the slum redevelopment issues, all the panelists voiced the concerns of the poor and emphasised that the government should make such a policy where there is a place for the poor in the cities it is building; particularly in the places of employment.

COVER STORY

Streamlining Housing

Housing experts and architects in the fourth session deliberated on the strategies for the Housing for All scheme and different models for successfully implementing it.

The session chaired by Vijay Garg, architect and design consultant voiced that slums which were located in the heart of the city and serving the people within the city were seen as eyesores. “As per my study of detailed survey in Delhi – to my surprise 80 percent of the people who were given the 25 sq. feet of the land by the government with the clear title to build houses those people had sold off their properties within a period of six months and one year and moved

“

Ashish Gupta Urban planner, First Principle Design Pvt Ltd

For the last 40 years we have been living in an absence of legislation. If a house cost is around Rs 1900. When it hits the market it becomes Rs 3000. how can we make it affordable?

(From Left to Right) Manikandan KP, Vijay Garg, Ashish Gupta and Tarun Sharma during the session on ‘Strategies for Housing for All’

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Manikandan KP Director, Housing for All from Ashoka Innovators Pvt Ltd

The most important stakeholder in this whole scheme of things is PPP that is people, people, and people.

The housing gap exist because there is a failure in understanding the people

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Vijay Garg Architect Design Consultants

My study took me by surprise that 80 % of the people, who were given the 25 sq. feet land by the govt to build houses, had sold off their properties within six months and moved elsewhere

“

Tarun Sharma Head Urban Policy Research and Practice

Netherlands and Singapore have a significant place in social housing.

They moved ahead with a policy regime where policies and institutions ensured that housing shortages were filled elsewhere. And very affluent and rich people are living in those areas like in Gurgaon. To achieve the objective of housing for all we need to address the issue of housing for poor,” he highlighted.

Manikandan KP Director Housing for All from Ashoka Innovators Pvt Ltd remarked that the most important stakeholder in this whole scheme of things is PPP that is people, people, and people. “The housing gap is prevalent because there is a failure in understanding the people,” he added.

Tarun Sharma from Ecorys based his address on global examples of housing. What is there to learn from Western Economies is the clarity and strength of institutions and policies, he said. “Most developed economies including Netherlands and Singapore, which have a significant place in social housing, moved ahead with a policy regime where policies and institutions ensured that housing shortages were filled. We are in the phase where we are still defining our policies. We need to move ahead with an approach where private sector efforts are not stifled but facilitated by clear and decentralized urban policies,” Sharma said. The round table conference opened the floor for stakeholders, policy makers, and administrators to ponder on how to act on the required lines to achieve Housing for All. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

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CENTRE STAGE

Enabling smart life Internet of Things is the latest front runner among technological advancements that intend to change how humans live their day-to-day lives. IoT is already begun making homes, streets, offices and cities smart and efficient in the developed parts of world.

But in the developing countries like India, the question ‘has the time of the IoT come?’ is still relevant Abhishek Pandey, Principal Correspondent

T

he use of Internet of Things in city governance and administration has gained speed worldwide. The basic idea of IoT is that humans can enliven everything by embedding them with sensors so that they can communicate with them through Internet and get things done for them. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless, micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), and the Internet.

The pace of technological adaptation has created an atmosphere in which the industry is expected to grow by the leaps and bounds in the coming years. The latest Ericsson Mobility Report states that 90 percent of households in America have three or more devices pinging the Internet.

Though, internet penetration in India is not as high as it is in the USA but the numbers of devices pinging to the Internet would not be different in WiFi enabled houses.

And, it is when people have

“

Deepak Thomas Co-Founder CarIQ—a Pune based organisation providing smart car solution

CarIQ has developed a gadget that enables people to communicate with their cars. It can help in gauzing driving pattern, tracking of the car, getting critical alerts regarding technical problems with the car, service alerts, crash alert, etc.

“

36 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

CENTRE STAGE not begun using smart washing machines, smart refrigerators, smart TV and other smart electronic home appliances extensively. Practically, Internet of things is a latest trend of connecting everything from locks, home appliances and wearable devices to traffic signals and waste control systems to the Internet.

According to Gartner, a US research firm, the processing, sensing and communications semiconductor device arenas are set to grow at a rapid pace over the coming years, growing 36.2 percent in 2015, compared with overall semiconductor market growth of 5.7 percent. Processing will be the largest revenue contributor, at USD 7.58 billion in 2015, while sensors will see the strongest growth, with 47.5 percent growth in 2015. The firm also forecast that 4.9 billion connected IoT devices will be in use in 2015, which is up 30 percent from 2014. And, this is expected to reach 25 billion by 2020.

Government policy

The Government of India too has taken initiative to develop a favorable atmosphere for developing the Internet of Things (IoT) industry and has come up with a draft of policy document for developing the

“

Satish Jadhav Director IoT, Embedded Sales Group, Intel South Asia

At Intel we have an array of solutions enabled with the backbone of IoT with emphasis on enabling complete end to end solution while keeping in mind connectivity, manageability and security as the most important drivers

“

IoT industry. One of the top most initiatives in the form of Digital India Program of the Government, which aims at ‘transforming India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy’, is expected to provide the required impetus for development of the IoT industry ecosystem in India.

According to the policy framework prepared by the Department of Electronic and Information Technology (Deity), the IoT Policy has been proposed to be implemented via a multi-pillar approach. The approach comprises of five vertical pillars (Demonstration Centres, Capacity Building and Incubation, R&D and Innovation, Incentives and Engagements, Human Resource Development) and two horizontal supports (Standards and Governance structure). This is aimed at empowering governance through adaption of advanced technology.

Many big hardware majors and networking equipment manufacturers have now shifted their focus to Internet of Things and mobile led innovations.

Intel India recently unveiled a sensing platform to come out with consumer IoT devices, focusing on local and frugal innovation. The platform can find applications in various industry segments and is a combination of three technologies - a sensing device, a gateway and cloud. The gateway (which can even be a smart phone) essentially aggregates all the data the sensing device collects and send it to the cloud after filtering it. The idea is to collect the data, analyse it and come to a logical conclusion before responding to it.

Satish Jadhav, Director - IoT, Embedded Sales Group, Intel South Asia said: “At Intel we have an array of solutions enabled with the backbone of IoT with emphasis on enabling complete end to end solution while keeping in mind connectivity, manageability and security as the most important drivers.” He added that the approach is to enable end to end solutions with a focus on smart gateways, because of the advantages they bring from reducing bandwidth

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Dr Keshub Panda Chief Executive L&T Technology Services

We are focused on developing IoT solutions for transport and auto for now.

Our collaboration with Cisco will be fruitful as Cisco’s standard and L&T’s domain knowledge would be used to provide solutions to the customers

“

to local intelligence. By enabling gateway solutions & integrating them with the backbone ICT infrastructure, the intelligence used to extracted data will help arrive at meaningful decision making capability in a safe and secure environment.

Jadhav explained that living a seamlessly connected lifestyle isn’t as far off as one would think: Intel chips can be placed virtually anywhere, from human skin to a running shoe. In line with the vision of ‘Digital Intelligence’, Intel would also be focusing on smart homes, safer driving and sustainable living in the cities.

Intel is working with eco-system partners starting from Original Design Manufacturer’s to SI (System Integrators) who are keys for building intelligent systems, modernising the legacy infrastructure and safer security surveillance solutions. The focus sectors range from providing intelligent transportation systems, digital security surveillance, modernisation of public distribution system, interactive retail solutions with integrated analytics, mobile healthcare platforms, sensor-based environmental sensing platform, energy management, capital goods monitoring to factory automation.

Similarly, Cisco has also geared up www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

37

CENTRE STAGE

“

Nitesh Naveen Co-founder UNICOM Learning

The Internet of Things (IoT) may sound like a business buzzword, but in reality, it’s a real technological revolution that will impact everything we do. The key focus should be stimulate and promote entrepreneurial drive in India

“

to become a leader in the IoT segment.

The company introduced three new partner specialisations focused on the IoT. These specialisations include the Advanced IoT Connected Safety and Security specialisation; the Advanced IoT Manufacturing specialisation; and the Advanced IoT Industry Expert specialisation. Cisco aims to connect

the unconnected. Today 90 percent of things are not connected to the internet. Huge amount of potential could be got out of that. New type of services can be provided. People need not wait for the information to come from a particular site. Life will become smarter. For example, you are going to embark a train then you will get to know whether you can get a seat or not or when is the next train. Our company is building an underlying network that will enable smooth running of IoT in future cities.

In a media statement recently, Cisco announced a strategic engagement with Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA) to develop Asia’s first end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) innovation hub.

The company has also collaborated with L&T Technology Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, to develop solutions for the transportation industry. Dr. Keshub Panda, chief executive, L&T Technology Services, said that the idea behind the association is to get the best of both companies to provide solutions. The Cisco’s standard and L&T’s domain knowledge would

be used to provide solutions to the customers: “We are focused on transport and auto for now. The idea is to stay focused for six months and then take it to the next level.”

“The Internet of Things (IoT) may sound like a business buzzword, but in reality, it’s a real technological revolution that will impact everything we do. The key focus should be stimulate and promote entrepreneurial drive in India in the area of IoT and help new IoT Product Technology start-ups to emerge. This also included, extending support to the venture from the idea to the launching stage, promoting and rewarding the start-up projects and companies” said Nitesh Naveen, Co-founder, UNICOM Learning, which is working on promotion of technological advancements.

Smart life

The technology has eased many areas of day-to-day life. It has enabled humans to interact with their sensorenabled devices, vehicles and other things of daily usage. In South Korea, LG has demonstrated a refrigerator that is aware of its contents and their

IoT in India ♦♦ Cisco with Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA) to develop Asia’s first end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) innovation hub in Bengaluru ♦♦ Blackberry has decided to roll out an IoT project called, Project ION. The company is building partnerships with connecting end points and app vendors in India ♦♦ Intel in association with many technology providers is working on intelligent transportation

project in Punjab, UP and Gujarat. The company is

working on computerization of public distribution

system with complete end to end solution and local

language support ♦♦ Tata Motors began to install new sensors and IoT

devices to it trucks to monitor drivers’ behaviour, fuel

theft, sudden break-in, etc ♦♦ Godrej has launched new sensor-based locks that

can send alarms and can be controlled from a

remote location 38 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

CENTRE STAGE freshness, so it itself can help plan shopping or even communicate with a smart phone while its owner is in a store. Similar, the technological innovation has enabled humans to communicate with the things they use on day-to-day basis.

Deepak Thomas, Co-founder of CarIQ—a Pune based organisation providing smart car solution, says that the IoT s is evolving and it will certainly help in improving lives of people in many ways. He says that his company has developed a gadget that enables people to communicate with their cars. It can help in gauzing driving pattern, tracking of the car, getting critical alerts, technical problems with the car, service alerts, battery monitor & health, ‘headlight on’ warning, towing alerts, crash alert.

It will be quite helpful for automatic parking, automatic toll payment and many other services.

Thomas said that they are planning to engage other stakeholders such as car manufacturers so that they can produce accurate data set for better monitoring of traffic apart from monitoring and analysing performance of vehicles.

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Abinash Saikia Co Founder Smart Buildings

Our company is working on providing solution for energy efficiency in buildings on the basis of usage pattern and communication through sensors. Smart technology will deliver cooling and lighting only when it is needed and where it is needed

“

Many other companies are working on smart solutions for improving day-to-day operation. A few months ago, Oracle initiated IoT Developer Challenge in which they had asked for professionals to build the projects that span across domotics and robotics; authentication, office design and social media. From India, Bot-So, a smart social robot designed by a group of engineers from a Kolkata based Edifixio won the prize. The robot can interact with people via Twitter. User can receive and send tweets to get updates from the home while he/she is away. It can execute commands like pan the room and send a video. Users can change its status to surveillance and get video and pictures when the motion detector is triggered. Similarly, many technocrats are working on IoT products that will be helpful in making the future cities smarter in their operations.

Abinash Saikia, Co-Founder, Smart Buildings said that our company is working on providing solution for energy efficiency in smart buildings on the basis of usage pattern and communication through sensors.

Smart technology will deliver cooling and lighting only when it is needed and where it is needed. The technology accurately senses occupancy, daylight temperature, humidity, radiant, heat and other variables. It also helps in reducing diesel cost up to 30 percent to 50 percent in a case of grid outage. The master controller would communicate with controlled devices to execute desired tasks.

Data privacy

IoT will connect numerous things such as mobile phones, security system at homes, cars and other things to the Internet. They will be sending and receiving crucial pieces of information. The free flow of information via Internet raises security and vulnerability concerns.

A recent study by Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) shows that consumers have conflicted attitudes about the benefits of connected devices. Among the

“

Lalit Chowdhary System Engineer Director Cisco India

Cisco aims to connect the unconnected. Today 90 percent of things are not connected to the internet. Huge amount of potential is in the sector. New services can be provided. People need not wait for the information to come from a particular site

“

top concerns Indian consumers have about the IoT are someone hacking into the device and doing something malicious (25 percent), not knowing how the information collected by the devices will be used (20 percent), and companies being able to track an individual’s actions or whereabouts (16 percent).

It is imperative for industry players and the government to ensure consumers about the safety of their personal information. Consumers must have confidence in how their data are used, stored, and transported for the success of IoT. A datahandling framework that categorizes different types of data and associated management strategies is required to unlock the potential of IoT. Apart from that the government should come out with a clear policy that holds the agencies accountable for the misuse of users’ data. Such steps would make a conducive atmosphere for the industry to flourish.

Direct your queries to

abhishek@urbanupdate.in

www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

39

VOX-POP

Urban Mobility

Connecting the dots Innovation, technology are the trump cards to reform urban mobility systems. The country is still short of best practices in the sector; there is a lack of integrated multi modal transit, proper last mile connectivity, data collection, and streamlining non-motorised transport. Cities’ urban transportation is still standing on a burning platform, as we lack proper framework and best practices‌ Prathiba Raju, Assistant Editor

40 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

VOX-POP

T

he impact on urban infrastructure, particularly in transportation is increasing expeditiously and cities are struggling with congestion, endless jams, long commuting times, noise and air pollution, and increased fuel consumption. In order to make transportation stress-free and comfortable, expert believe, smart and workable solutions is the need of the hour.

As per Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), urban population in India is about 380 million. People accounting for 32 percent of our population are living in urban areas. By 2020, it will increase to 40 percent. In between 1981 and

2011, the population of the six major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad has increased to 2.50 times while the private vehicles shot up 30 times, increasing from five million to 160 million.

Accommodating more population, while expanding its region or redensification of existing urbanised areas, is leading to explosion in number of vehicles in major cities.

Most of the vehicles are owned in the urban areas with a maximum density in the metropolitan cities.

“We need better transport planning like master plans for all cities; there is a compelling need for long term city transport plans. In every city there is a huge increase in private

vehicles in urban areas. The rich are misappropriating the limited urban space at the cost of the poor. Entire civic infrastructure is collapsing under the weight of mounting urban population,” said M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Urban Development.

The minister informed that growing number of private vehicles may be evidence of rising incomes and prosperity, but at the same time, it is an indication of total failure of urban transport planning.

“Location specific transport systems including Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), Light Rail Transport needs to be introduced in cities according to its feasibility. There is a need for integrated planning for urban mobility,” Naidu suggested.

www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

41

VOX-POP

Fortify public transport

M Venkaiah Naidu Minister for Urban Development

“We need better transport planning like master plans for all cities; there is a compelling need for long term city transport plans. Entire civic infrastructure is collapsing under the weight of mounting urban population” O P Agarwal, Director General, Institute of Urban Transport

“We need to plan a very effective public transport system, non-motorised transport. It is not that we have two lines of Metro and all our problems are over.

Focus needs to be on last mile connectivity” C K Khaitan, Joint secretary, MoUD

“Unless we force Urban Local Bodies (ULB), town and country planners to think on a proper land use in urban transport it will not become practical. We need to get a legal notification done” Dr M Ramachandran, Former Secretary, MoUD

“Whenever the government sanctions Metro project in the DPR, there should be an intervention done for a credible data for each and every line. Data generation couldn’t be a tough task” Anjlee Agarwal, Executive Director, Samarthyam NGO

“Smart city should be inclusive and accessible to the common man. We should feel convenient and free. First and last mile connectivity should be comfortable, accessible and safe” R K Singh, Director (UT), MoUD, said

“For proper pedestrians system, a proper system need to be built, we have to channelise things in a systematic manner. Efforts are on the right direction”

, Principal Research Scientist, CSTEP

“Government should consider ways to re-focus on sustainable transport systems. Before any city starts to implement a cycle track or BRTS, they should know whether it is feasible”

42 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

The country need enhanced public transport system for a healthy future of urban transport and foster an environment conducive transit in and around cities. A well organised system, which are a proper bus, train route network, optimum frequency of service, level of comfort are essentials that cannot be ignored.

“We need to plan a very effective public transport system, nonmotorised transport. It is not that we have two lines of Metro and all our problems are over. Each and every aspect needs to be focused, for example, the last mile connectivity. If we have Metro, Mono rail, and BRT in a city, most people—when they take any such public transport services— they do not want to walk, for say, more than 10 minutes. They need an effective feeder system for every Metro stations,” O P Agarwal, Director General, Institute of Urban Transport (India) told Urban Update.

Comprehensive plan required

The experts emphasised that a visible change can be brought in only when all urban transport projects prepare a comprehensive proper land use and mobility plan.

“We need a Comprehensive Land Use and Mobility Plan (CLUMP). The plan will help to streamline the land use in urban sector,” Agarwal said.

C K Khaitan, Joint secretary, MoUD, told Urban Update, “Unless we force Urban Local Bodies (ULB), town and country planners to think on a proper land use in urban transport it will not become practical. We need to get a legal notification done. We also need a think tank at national level for the same. Proper finance is required to regulate public transport in each and every city.”

Urban transit data­‑missing link

To solve the congestion on roads in Indian cities, a proper data collection and analysis is required. In order to understand the proper transport characteristics, and to compare it with various cities, a suitable data

VOX-POP

Mobility Miseries ♦♦ Growing transport demand with rapid urbanisation ♦♦ Inadequate public transport amid fast motorisation ♦♦ Limited road space available for public transport ♦♦ Increasing levels of congestion on city roads ♦♦ Massive loss of hours due to long travel times ♦♦ Rising transport energy demand depleting fuel reserve ♦♦ High rate of carbon emissions pushing air pollution VEHICLE OWNERSHIP UP In between 1981 and 2011, the population of the six major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad has increased to 2.50 times while the private vehicles shot up 30 times, increasing from five million to 160 million.

SNAIL’S SPEED ♦♦ In most of our cities, both large and small, travel speeds are slower than in cities like Singapore, London, Melbourne, New York, and Sydney . ♦♦ In fact, in many of the Indian cities, the speeds are comparable to average cycling speeds (i.e. 15-16 kmph).

SHIFTING FOCUS Transport strategies, budgets and plans do not adequately address these needs. Instead investments in high cost public transport, signal free road corridors, car parking facilities, premium buses, etc. seem to dominate. Thus, mobility planning is not poor focused.

is necessary.

As per urban transport officials such a comprehensive data doesn’t exist.

“Urban data is not easy to collect.

It’s extremely fragmented as we have multiple agencies that make it complex. Going forward we need to set up a platform or follow method to collect. We should start with one city so it can be taken forward with other cities,” Agarwal said.

Lack of data in urban transport sector is a big disadvantage, said Anirudh Kumar Bharti, Director (Urban Transport) MoUD, “The public private partnership (PPP) projects in transport are not a success, due to lack of credible data. We have no

information. We are not able to make the right choices.”

Suggesting ways to come out with a comprehensive data, Dr. M Ramadhandran, former secretary, MoUD said, “Whenever the government sanctions Metro project in the DPR, there should be an intervention done for a credible data for each and every line. With Metro projects being a joint venture and happening in about 13 cities, data generation couldn’t be a tough task.”

and comfortable for the commuters, informed Anjlee Agarwal, Executive Director, Samarthyam NGO, adding that any smart city should be inclusive and accessible to the common man.

“We should feel convenient and free. First and last mile connectivity should be comfortable, accessible and safe,” she said.

R K Singh, Director (UT), MoUD, said, “Integration is happening slowly, we are doing it in bits and pieces, we are in the phase of retrofitting.

When we talk about coming up with a suitable proper pedestrians system, we must realise each and every street is being occupied by vehicles and can’t be thrown away overnight.

A proper system need to be built, we have to channelise things in a systematic manner. Efforts are on the right direction,” He said that integrated public transport systems are now being implemented in upcoming transport projects.

“As of now for any Detailed Project Report (DPR), we are trying to integrate all modes of transport more effective way. In Phase III they are well connected and Phase IV would be the same. For the existing Phase I and II of Delhi Metro there were integration issues, which are being resolved slowly. Urban Transport India (UTP) people are working with Metro and they have identified 68 Metros stations, which will be integrated,” Singh told Urban Update.

“Government should consider ways to re-focus on sustainable transport systems. Before any city starts to implement a cycle track or BRTS, they should know whether it is feasible.

Before implementing such projects, a small study with the locals and the feasibility project is necessary,” said Sujaya Rathi, Principal Research Scientist, CSTEP.

Smart urban transit the way ahead

Smart city concept formulated by the government should get back to basics, and make mobility easy

Direct your queries to

prathiba@urbanupdate.in

www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

43

EVENTS

january Events Techfest 2015 January 2-4, IIT Bombay Mumbai Traffic Infra Tech 2015 January 7-9, NSIC Exhibition Centre, New Delhi

Boost clean technology All stakeholders right from the industry, research units, technical universities, government agencies and pollution control boards from the state and central governments, need to vouch for clean and green technologies to protect the environment and sustain it in the long run

Water Expo 2015 January 8- 10, Manpho Covention Centre, Bangalore Solar Biz January 9, Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad Power On – 2015 January 9- 11, International Trade Expo Center , Sector -62 Noida Vibrant Gujarat 2015 January 11-13, Gandhinagar Gujarat India Water Week 2015 January 13-17, Vigyan Bhawan Delhi 23rd Convergence India 2015 January 21-23, Pragati Maidan Delhi Intelect 2015 January 22 – 24, Bombay Exhibition Center, Mumbai Medi Expo 2015 January 23- 25, Milan Mela Kolkata TechTrade 2015 January 28 – February 01 Ahmedabad Education Society Ground, Bodakdev Ahmedabad

44 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

CHANDIGARH: In order to protect the environment and sustain the same in the long run, clean and green technologies based equipments in manufacturing and services need to be adopted, informed the experts at the CII EnviroTech 2014, organised

by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

“It is highly imperative that the green and clean technologies equipment’s is adopted everywhere, especially in manufacturing and services so as to reduce our carbon footprints in the environment. The industry from the region has to take this responsibility on its shoulders to produce such products at cheaper prices as well as promote the use of such technologies. Our government is fully committed to support you with incentives”, said Dr Avtar Singh, Principal Secretary, Environment, Government of Haryana.

The conference was organised at the CII, Chandigarh and the experts spoke on how to build and explore green technologies for sustainable development. CII EnviroTech 2014 conference was an attempt to initiate

a cascade of events that will take the issues critical to sustainable growth right to their doorstep.

Throwing light on green energy efficiency, Anirudh Tewari, secretary – Power, New & Renewable Energy, said, “To save our future generations from adverse effects of pollution from traditional sources of energy, we need to bring the energy efficient technologies and products in to the mainstream but high cost of such technologies is indeed the biggest bottleneck in promoting its mass adoption.”

“At present, the government mandates the use of certain technologies but since they are too costly, the industry fails to implement it”, he lamented.

CII which has been taking active initiatives towards clean and green environment and the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of the CII which was formed in the year 2001 informed that the vision of the council is, “To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025.”

EVENTS

URBAN AGE

Engaging cities for optimum governance Team Urban Update

New Delhi: Aimed at creating awareness on the spatial and social dynamics of cities through an annual conference, research initiatives and publications, the Urban Age conference was held recently in the national capital. The event was an international investigation that proposed to link urban governance and the future development of cities.

Over 60 experts and policy-makers from 22 cities across 10 countries gathered to explore at the 13th Urban Age conference where the experts compared New Delhi’s urban dynamics to other Urban Age cities — London, Bogota, Lagos, Tokyo, New York, Istanbul and Berlin.

It was observed that Delhi, like other cities in rapidly growing economies, had a high level of income inequality (measured by the GINI Index — the lower the value, the greater the level of social equality; and vice versa).

While London had an index of 0.36 and Berlin 0.29, Delhi was relatively high figure of 0.6, which is lower than Lagos at 0.64 and many African and Latin American cities. India’s capital scored well in having a low level of violent crime measured by the murder rate (homicides per 1,00,000 people), which is lower than New York and Istanbul.

It was found that despite the capital’s relatively low-rise urban landscape, it had an extremely high average density of build up area, nearly twice the levels of the New York metro area and Tokyo. As a result, Delhi only has two square metres of green space per person, significantly lower than London (36 sq metres) and Berlin (39 sq metres). This increases the challenge of tackling Delhi’s average PM10 pollution levels, which

are significantly higher than other Urban Age cities, felt experts.

Organised by LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, the 2014 Urban Age conference investigated the link between urban governance and the capacities to engage with the suitable resources while shaping the future development of cities.

The conference, hosted in partnership with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA),

Neil Brenner Harvard GSO Urban Theory Lab

“The power of agglomeration (urban dynamism) hinges upon broader territorial economies, there needs to be localism consolidates where there is expansion of transnational interurban networks: sharing the best practices in context of global governance volatility.”

acted as a platform for exchange and debate amongst over 350 policymakers, academics, business leaders, urban designers, architects, and representatives of NGOs and local community groups.

Speakers at the conference included key global figures in the field, including UN Habitat Executive Director Joan Clos, leading academics Edward Glaeser, Saskia Sassen, Richard Sennett, Neil Brenner, Benjamin Barber, Ananya Roy, and senior policy-maker Enrique Peñalosa.

As India enters a critical juncture in its development path and embarks on a major new urbanisation initiative, its cities will be key sites of evolution, contestation and opportunity.

The conference showcased interdisciplinary analysis of the major governance challenges facing cities and the strategies that are being adopted to cope with these.

Alongside Delhi, governance structures and dynamics in London, Bogota, Tokyo and other cities were also explored. Discussions analysed the way urban governance operates and shapes the following key interlinked policy issues in cities: sustainable growth, innovative infrastructure, and social inclusion. www.urbanupdate.in | December 2014

45

URBAN AGENDA

Planning for sustainability Apresh Chandra Mishra Managing Editor apresh@urbanupdate.in

Regular monitoring of key indicators of sustainability is essential for Effective planning for sustainable habitats with respect to understanding the status of each parameter, the related issues and actions required to achieve sustainability 46 December 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

A

s the urban population and incomes increase, demand for every key service such as water, transportation, sewage treatment, low income housing will increase five to sevenfold in cities of every size and type. And, if India continues on its current path, urban infrastructure will fall woefully short of what is necessary to sustain prosperous cities.

Urban density presents a greener way to live. Increasing urban density can actually create the possibility for a better quality of life and a lower carbon footprint through more efficient infrastructure and planning.

The two main characteristics that define sustainable development are efficiency and equity: efficiency, in functioning and equity; when distributed within the generation and between generations.

Applied to the context of urban planning and development, the most fundamental elements of sustainability are the utilisation of natural resources in a city region most efficiently, most equitably across sections of society and in such a manner that the resources are conserved and renewed for future

generations to meet their needs and aspirations.

Planning processes exist in one form or another in all states and cities of India. All these processes need to be revisited to integrate sustainability principles. The principles enunciated in the previous sections need to be captured in an effective planning process to ensure that the outcome is sustainable habitat.

It is, therefore, imperative to incorporate provisions for preparing a regional plan so that all master plans are formulated within a regional planning framework leading to sustainable development of both the region and the town/city concerned.

Regular monitoring of key indicators of sustainability is essential for effective planning for sustainable habitats with respect to understanding the status of each parameter, the related issues and actions required to achieve sustainability.

There is a need to establish a robust mechanism for periodic data collection, analysis and publication of outputs. Informed decision making and behavioral changes amongst stakeholders can be facilitated using such outputs.

Urban

Dialogues January 23, 2014 Mumbai

Liveable Mumbai The focal point of the second Urban Dialogues round table conference is transforming Mumbai into ‘Liveable Mumbai’. The city faces many challenges of its own. And, the most demanding being the bludgeoning population that is creating more slums, causing shortage of houses for the middle class, increasing vehicle load on the city roads, and safety concerns

Organising Team

Dr. Jatin Modi President AIILSG

Ranjit Chavan Director General AIILSG

Agenda Session I – Slum Free Mumbai ♦♦ Slums in Mumbai: The present scenario ♦♦ Slum Redevelopment: Learning from the past ♦♦ Ideal redevelopment model and challenges ahead

Session II – Affordable Mumbai ♦♦ Regularising Real Estate ♦♦ Role of local bodies in prioritising housing need ♦♦ Mapping of land for affordable housing

Session III – Mobile Mumbai ♦♦ Traffic load on Mumbai roads ♦♦ Green transport and new technology in transport ♦♦ Alternative transport solutions

Session IV – Safe Mumbai ♦♦ Vulnerability Concerns after 26/11 ♦♦ Safety Mechanism and improved policing ♦♦ Technology and security surveillance

Organaiser

Dr. M Ramachandran Former Secretary-UD Government of India

Raj Liberhan Former Director India Habitat Centre

Co-Host

Apresh C Mishra Managing Editor Urban Update

Lojy Thomas Director AIILSG

For speakers and sponsorship requirements, please contact Prathiba Raju: + 91 9711669512, prathiba@urbanupdate.in Jessy Iype: + 91 9810020938, jessy@urbanupdate.in

www.dialogues.urbanupdate.in