Urban Update March 2018 by Urban Update

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

UrbanUpdate Volume IV, Issue XI

MARCH 2018

World Urban Forum

Implementing

the New Urban Agenda

Leaderspeak

Putting the Citizen at the Centre

More than 25,000 delegates including heads of state and other stake holders gathered at WUF9 to share their best practices and knowledge on how cities are built, planned and managed. The forum selected the theme ‘Cities 2030, Cities for all: Implementing the new Urban Agenda’ to meet the objective of sustainable development goals

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ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate

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March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

Community Safety calls for Risk Conscious Society

rime Minister Modi, in a recent radio address, spoke about public safety. It was a timely call to instill in citizens, individually and collectively, a greater sense of safety. Safety has an element of prevention as in road traffic and fire as well as an element of preparedness in meeting natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes. National Safety Council of India observes National Safety Day on 4th March every year. The day coincides with the establishment of the Council over five decades ago in 1966. The Council works to spread awareness in various aspects of individual and community safety by developing material, methods, systems and procedures and to disseminate these to participants in the organized and unorganized sectors in order to prevent/ mitigate loss of life and economic losses. Safety ought to become a central principle in our lives, of individuals and of the community as can be seen in several societies across the globe. But we have a long way to go. The one place where one can find better focus on safety is the industrial/ manufacturing sector. For several reasonsavailability of trained safety specialists, large number of workmen and assets exposed to danger, regulatory oversight, etc. However, other sectors such as construction which also employ large numbers of people, often less educated and trained, seem to have limited compliance to safety regulations. The activities and procedures in this sector present significant dangers and make those working at the sites rather vulnerable. Therefore, workplace safety, in some sectors needs to move up several notches. Road safety is oft discussed and debated in society and is evident for each of us to see every day of our lives. While authorities have been making several infrastructure upgradations to improve road safety, there is simultaneously a sharp deterioration

in the attitudes and habits of road users, mainly motorists. Safety violations are glaring and visible for all to see. The Group of Ministers constituted by the MoRTH in 2016 to improve road safety noted that road accident deaths in 2015 were 1,46,000 with over 25 lacs seriously injured. While the GoM recommended several institutional and procedural measures, no worthwhile progress is possible without substantial improvement in behavior of road users. India is a signatory to the Brasilia Declarationand is committed to reduce the number of road crash fatalities by 50% by the year 2020. We will all need to work hard towards this. Safety in public settings like trains and buses, auditoria, schools and colleges, and hospitals also calls for sustained campaigns and strict conformance to regulations. There is urgent need for awareness building. Our homes present several potential hazards too. Fires including those caused by electrical gadgets misuse, gas cylinder mishaps and handling of inflammable material, all have potential for big damage and losses. Due regard for safe procedures and standard protocols can prevent disasters. While lauding the roles of various players working in the area of safety and disaster mitigation, the Prime Minister noted the important role ULBsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fire services could play in improving the safety in our cities, through mock drills in schools, for example. The Disaster Management Cell at AIILSG has been working to create awareness, provide training and for capacity building among various stakeholders for over a decade now. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all pledge to put Safety First at the workplace, at home and everywhere.

Rajiv Agarwal Editor-In-Chief dg@aiilsg.org

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

Quotes

PIN POINT BUZZ

Because the Fourth Industrial Revolution runs on knowledge, we need a concurrent revolution in training and education. Here, both government and business must join forces to provide workers with the skills and qualifications they need to participate in the digital economy

Joe Kaeser President and CEO, Siemens AG

Smart Cities Mission @SmartCities_HUA

Vision Zero is becoming a popular policy to embrace, but what it really means is committing to zero deaths and building in safeguards such as reducing speeds in cities to levels which are safe for pedestrians, replacing intersections with roundabouts, and placing median separation on highways to prevent head-on crashes Soames Job Head, World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility

To develop a common minimum framework for cities to assess their existing status & chart their pathway towards providing a better quality of life to their citizens, the MoHUA has developed a set of ‘Liveability Standards’ relevant to Indian cities

Asian Development Bank @ADB_HQ

Urban areas contribute nearly 2/3rd of India’s GDP, even though they account for only 31 percent of the country’s population

UN Environement @UNEP

Smart Cities Mission is setting a new benchmark in terms of project implementation. This remains one of the fastest ever project implementations at this scale and geographic spread in urban sector

Local governments claim to be in the ideal position to identify people living in poverty on the ground, and to target resources and services to help them escape it

Hardeep Singh Puri Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)

United Cities @uclg_org

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Energy is the dominant contributor to #climatechange, accounting for around 60% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. We need to work together for sustainable energy for all to achieve the #GlobalGoals

Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat

How we design streets determines whether or not walking to school, work, play or visit is a real choice. It’s not enough to say that we should walk because it’s good for our health and our environment - we need to design our cities to make this a first, and obvious, choice

Inside

Volume 4, Issue 11

Article

In the next 15 years some 250 million new urban dwellers are expected in India alone with another 300 million likely in China. 380 million more will move to cities in Africa. By the year 2050, about two-thirds of the world population will live in cities

The architecture of resilience If we want our cities to be truly sustainable and resilient, green infrastructure needs to be the foundation for urban planning. It must become an integral part of zoning, together with environmental, and social impact assessment efforts

After the flood: reflection of Assam’s post hoc flood condition

Ganga, Yamuna & invisible Saraswati: Sangam of history, culture & literature: Allahabad The social and religious reform movements of the 19th century gathered roots in Allahabad. The city became an epicenter of our national freedom struggle led by Gandhi & Nehru. Chandrashekhar Azad embraced martyrdom in the Company Bagh here

RegularS Pin Point Equi-City Newscan

36 Cover Story

World Urban Forum Implementing New Urban Agenda

LEADerspeak

VELO-CITY

6 8 10

March 2018

Future Ready Cities; Doing more with less

Assam’s recurrent problems of siltation, erosion and rapid channel aggradation in Upper and Central Assam manifolds the extent of flood damages up to a loss of Rs 1,880 crores on a yearly average (1953-2005) of damage to crops, houses, livestock and public utilities

Inside

13 44 46

City Images Book Review

ONE ON ONE

Urban Agenda

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

feature | Equi-City

NMC, Equi-City organise workshop on Gender Empowerment for elected representatives Equi-City Team

s part of the Capacity Building exercise, Equicity Team along with Nagpur Municipal Corporation held a training workshop on Gender Empowerment and Gender Issues for the elected representatives of the City. The workshop was conducted at Town Hall, Mahal, Nagpur. The Chief Guest for the Workshop wasthe Mayor of Nagpur, Mrs. Nanda Jichkar. Other special guests includedDeeprajPardikar, Dy. Mayor Nagpur, MaheshDhamecha, Asst. Commissioner, GAD, NMC Nagpur andTanajiWanve, Opposition Leader. The Chief Guest was welcomed by the Equi-city team member, ShekharGiradkar of AIILSG who gave a welcome speech discussing the Equi-city project and also the various problems related to Gender Bias issues in and around the city. He also focused on the purpose of the workshop which was to find solutions to the problem of Gender Sensitivity in the city. The major aim of the workshop was to make clear the concepts of elected representatives particularly on laws and various departments working for Gender Bias issues in the system. The Chief Guestthen addressed the participants, thanking the Equicityteam for arranging the workshop and focused upon the problems faced by the women ward members and their displeasure due to the society’s stringent rules and regulations which affect their normal way of work. She also added that women now have a chance of representation in local governance due to various schemes and reservation; hence they should take the chance to work in this sphere

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

The main aim of the workshop was to make clear the concepts of elected representatives particularly on laws and various departments working for Gender Bias issues

Mayor of Nagpur, Nanda Jichkar inaugurating the workshop on Gender Empowerment and Gender Issues

while thinking beyond the walled boundaries of their homes. The workshop was divided into three sessions majorly focussing on the Introduction to Laws, Social and Psychological aspects, and Diet and Health requirements for women.

Session 1

Tejaswini Khade, President, Family Court, Nagpur, addressed the audience and briefed them about laws relating to women rights. The Expert focused on constitutional rights of women and men, and explained that they are equally distributed to both. The expert also focused on the constitutional aspects and society’s views on women’s rights. Article 15-3 states that “nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children” and accordingly

the expert also talked about the various schemes and policies for women and children. The expert spoke about the current scenario of women and differentiated it on the basis of their generation and their awareness in particular to the topic of Gender Empowerment. Further adding to itshe also said that women in earlier times were not allowed to work in any economic, political or cultural activities/events, which is not the case these days. The session further focussed on the gender justice and women empowerment laws, by the Constitution of India, with a particular focus on domestic violence laws and victim compensation schemes of Maharashtra state. She spoke on criminal laws and women’s rights under criminal law. Personal laws

were also discussed pertaining to religion, caste, etc. considering the societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point of view on Women Empowerment and the effect of media along with the activities prevailing in and around the city. She quoted the Gender Gap Index,and Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position therein. Later there was a question and answer session, during which the expert clarified issues related to various laws, schemes and grievances of the ward members in overcoming issues related to gender bias problems.

Session 2

Dr. Urmila Khirsagar, Nirmay Bahudessia Sewa Sanstha, Nagpur spoke on social aspects of gender issues. The expert highlighted the facts and issues of gender bias in relation to society. She stated that women were generally considered as the not so dominant part of society in cases of violence, corruption, and other related issues. The issues of women in the field were discussed such as working at night, balancing work and home especially for women ward members. Then the session talked about the various gender issues found in the local areas and city by the ward members and how these could be tackled. The speaker pointed out the pressure on ward members due to society and

lack of awareness among women. The session was summed up saying that the women have to play different roles which makes them unique in a waybut they are always subjected to pressure due to society and their own thinking. During the session, the expert focussed on the equitable distribution of powers to men and women, and explained the concept of Equality v/s Equity and gave some tips on the behaviour of women representatives in society.

Session 3

Dr Jayashree Pendharkar, CIIMS Hospital, Nagpur focused on health issues of women it her speech. This particular session was on Diet and Immunity of women who are working as ward members in Nagpur city. The session disused the various nutritious dietary practices including time

schedules. The expert, as a doctor and dietician advised the ward members on the type of food, their nutrient values and proper timings to have them. She also dwelt upon the ill effects of having processed food over organic food, and suggested the sources of the food to have, how to have them and at what times. The speaker also solved the problems of the ward members regarding the healthy food conditions of the people in slum areas most of whom are unable to have food as per the standards of healthy diet. She suggested alternative ways to avail the essential vitamins necessary for the human body. This session was useful to both, the ward members themselves and also to enable them solve problems in their slum areas where healthy food was one of the major issues.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

BRIEFS

Sanitary pad vending machine at Patna junction Bihar government is all set to install sanitary pad vending machine at Patna junction.After Bhopal and Pune, Bihar Patna junction would become the third railway station in the country to have sanitary pad vending machine. According to figures, over 50 lakh passengers use Patna on normal days and over 80 lakh during peak seasons. This facility comes as a big help for women passengers who face problems in the absence of sanitary pads with them during menstrual periods in their journeys. NAF officials and Danapur divisional railway manager (DRM) RP Thakur decided to assign NGO, Nav Astitva Foundation (NAF), to install the sanitary pad vending machine in the women washroom. NAF Chairperson, Pallavi Sinha, said that the machine would have a capacity of vending at least 120 pads per day at Rs 5 each.

Now track your garbage online The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has come up with a new plan to manage waste. EDMC released a tender to hire a private agency for developing an e-municipal solid waste monitoring system that would track the real-time location of garbage collectors and even the current status of dhalaos. From a very long time, east Delhi residents were facing problem about the over-flowing garbage dumps and irregular door-to-door collection. “The project will help the residents to track the real time location of auto-tippers and trucks that collect garbage. A central control room is being set up at the EDMC headquarters where the real-time situation of garbage dumps will be monitored.”

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Delhi Government to plant trees along 500km of road to curb dust pollution NEW DELHI: Air pollution in Delhi is at high level marking AQI 414, taking this in mind Delhi Government started the ‘Green Budget’ project. As part of this project, the Delhi government will spruce up 500 kilometers of roads with greenery in a bid to curb dust pollution in the Capital. The responsibility of dressing up and landscaping all roads with a width of over 100 feet is given to PWD. As part of its ‘Green Budget’ the Delhi government will beautify 500 km of with greenery leading to Terminal T3 of the Delhi airport. The CM has given a deadline of one year to complete the task. Plants such as Foxtail Palm, Washington Palm, Tabeuia Argentea, Casuarina Shrub, Chorisia Speciosa, Raphis Excesia, and Ficus Panda will be grown on the divider and near pavements. Officials suggested that planting trees

would confine dust particles to fly as there would be less open space. The projects will be handled by a private agency. Design, execution and maintenance of greenery on these roads will be done under the contract by the agency.Maintenance for two to five years of the roads landscaped will be underthe contract.

Kolkata to get real-time pollution study devices KOLKATA: Pollution is a major problem in India and Environment Ministry is coming out with new initiatives to deal with it. The World Bank will provide funds to the environment department to monitor real-time air quality and the methods to counter pollution. Around 10 air-quality monitoring devices will be mounted on government buses and a few stationary. This information will be analysed to ascertain the source of the pollution, as well as patterns, which will allow the government to adopt corrective measures. The technology partner of Bengal’s transport department, Ideation Technology, has the authority to develop a prototype of ambient air quality assessment devices, which can measure ambient air pollution on the move with the precise longitude and latitude of the place. Each monitoring device will measure sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxide (NO2) and particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5). According to World Bank, in its South Asia Urban Air quality management briefing note 14, very little information is available on sources of fine particulate air pollution. In 2014, a Multi-donor Trust Fund for Pollution Management and Environmental Health was established, to promote more systematic and effective responses to deadly air pollutants in selected low-income countries, including China, Egypt, India, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam. In Kolkata, there has been a huge rise in the count of particulate matter, particularly PM2.5 that goes straight to the lungs, because of a massive jump in automobile population. Earlier 3 automatic air quality monitoring stations were existing in Bengal, out of which only one is working. The air pollution in the city is no longer winter-specific. After winter, when the PM2.5 count should have been low, it stayed five-fold the safe limit of 60µg/m3.

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BRIEFS

BMRCL: First 2 doors designated for women Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) implemented the new system i.e only women passengers will be allowed to enter and exit through the first 2 doors in all metro during peak hours. The BMRCL’s Managing Director, Mahendra Jain said, “The first coach of every train will be reserved for women after the integration. On an experimental basis, from March 1, we will first allow women to enter the two entrances, and then let in the others.” The separate entry for women will be from 9:00am to 11:30am and from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Now use Metro cards for feeder buses too The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) launched a common mobility card which will allow travellers to use it to travel in Metro, take feeder buses and pay for parking at 13 stations. “This is in line with the objective of ensuring last-mile connectivity to commuters,” a DMRC spokesman said. The metro smart card users who travel by feeder bus can now use the card for making payment. The Delhi Metro runs a fleet of more than 200 feeder buses covering 40 routes across different lines. The minimum fare in feeder buses is Rs 5 and maximum is Rs 15. The metro card can also be used to park vehicles at 13 metro stations: Akshardham, Karkarduma, Vishwavidyalaya, NHPC Chowk, Saket, Patel Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Rohini Sector 18, Rohini sector 19, Shastri Park, Mewala Maharajpur, Dilshad Garden,Old Faridabad, and Sector 28 Faridabad — and will cover all Metro parking lots over the next two months.

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

MoU signed for Twin Tower Trade Centre in Guwahati GUWAHATI: Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs has stated that the government has enacted a pro-active “Act East Policy” to elevate and harness the strengths of North-East India and reduce the isolation of the region by improving all round connectivity and civic infrastructure. The Government of India has planned an investment to the tune of approx. Rs 45,000 crore for the development of India’s North-Eastern regions bordering China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. While speaking at the MOU signing ceremony on Twin Tower Trade Centre between the Government of Assam & National Building Construction Corporation Puri informed that Guwahati is one of the 100 Smart cities chosen in a determined bid to recast the urban landscape of the country. It is being established as a Regional Hub for the North East India and a World Class Guwahati City by an-

choring and reorienting the city towards its natural assets. The proposed Twin Tower Trade Centre will definitively add to this transformational plan. “I am truly excited by the prospects and possibilities this trade Centre will generate once established and made operational, by connecting us with South East Nations and being a major trading hub thereby increasing economic interlinkages”, he added.

UP government presents budget 2018-19, worth Rs 4.28 lakh crore LUCKNOW: On February 16, an amount of Rs 4, 28,384.52 crore was allocated by the Uttar Pradesh government in its second annual budget. State Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal said that the amount has been increased by 11.4% as compared to last year. The budget proposed new schemes worth Rs 14,341.89 crore, Rs 13,717 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Rs 6,000 crore for the Swachh Bharat Mission.A provision of Rs 1,650 crore has been made for the Smart City Mission scheme, Rs 1,100 crore for Swachh Bharat Mission (urban), Rs 5000 crore for Swachh Bharat Mission (rural) and Rs 2200 crore for the AM-

RUT Scheme. For the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Rs 2,217 crore has been earmarked for the urban poor, while for rural areas it is Rs 11,500 crore.The minister said that Lal Bahadur Shastri’s Varanasi home will be turned into a museum. Agarwal further said that Rs 650 crore has been allocated for Bundelkhand Expressway, Rs 550 crore for Gorakhpur Link Expressway and Rs 1,000 crore for Poorvanchal Expressway. The government has also allocated Rs 500 crore for the existing LucknowAgra Expressway.Rs 250 crore has been allocated for Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor Regional Rapid Transit project and Rs 500 crore for the metro projects.

CITY IMAGES

A living

archaeological site Home to the ancient Apatani and Monpa tribes and prominent for its pine hills, rice fields and its unique agricultural techniques practiced within the community, Ziro Valley in Lower Subansiri district and Thembang Dzong, a fortified village in West Kameng district of Arunanchal Pradesh, a peace seekers paradise and have made it to the UNESCOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s final list of world heritage sites. State government has declared Thembang Dzong as a living archaeological site in the state. Apatanis are famous for their unique methods of sustainable farming and social forestry. There is no use of machines; instead, the focus is on using nature friendly and sustainable methods only. There is efficient conservation of crucial watersheds, ensuring perennial streams flowing into the valley to meet the needs of the people.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

BRIEFS

NMMT hikes bus fare One can’t imagine life without Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT), Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s local transit system. It operates bus services that connect Navi Mumbai and certain areas of Mumbai including Thane, Dombivli, Kalyan, Badlapar, Taloja, Panvel & Uran. But people traveling through NMMT will have to pay more to travel by buses, as NMMT hike comes into effect. The move is being initiated to cut the NMMT’s monthly losses, which touch around Rs 3.5 crore. Fare for regular buses will remain unchanged upto 12km, beyond it, there’ll be hike of Re1 for every 2 km, and up to Rs 6 for up to 40 km. Whereas, fare for AC buses will be reduced by Rs 5. Earlier the minimum fare was Rs 20, but now it’s Rs 15. Buses running between 11 pm and 5 am will charge Limited service rates.

15 yr old vehicles to be off road by 2018 end A decade and a half old vehicles will now have to go off the roads as national Green Tribunal banned these vehicles. The order says that vehicles older than 15 years should neither be allowed to ply on the roads nor allowed to be parked in public spaces. This rule, which will create a huge impact on masses, will be implemented by 2018 end. The drafted rule states, under the ‘Delhi Scrapping of Vehicles Rules, 2018’ all impounded vehicles, including two-wheelers, will be sent to empanelled scrap dealers for dismantling. Owners will be paid a scrapping charge by the dealer which has not been decided yet. The process will be made online with vehicle owners having the option to choose a dealer using a mobile application.

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Maharashtra receives central grant of Rs 1,378 crore: Smart Cities Mission

NEW DELHI: Under the smart city mission, 99 cities across the country, have proposed to take up projects like smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centers, up gradation of health facilities, and a clean and sustainable environment. The Centre has released nearly Rs 9,940 crore for 99 cities with Maharashtra accounting for the highest amount of Rs 1,378 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh which received Rs 984 crore, according to the Union urban development department. The total proposed investment in these cities was Rs 2.03

lakh crore. Gujarat, with six cities, got Rs 509 crore. Karnataka, with seven cities, got Rs 836 crore. Andhra Pradesh, four cities were selected, received Rs 588 crore, while Uttar Pradesh, with 10 cities, received Rs 547 crore. Tamil Nadu, with the highest of 11 cities selected for the mission, has received Rs 848 crore and Rajasthan, with four cities received Rs 784 crore, according to the data. The Centre released Rs 8 crore to West Bengal, whose New Town was selected for the mission in May 2016. However, the state government had already announced that it would not participate in the Smart City Mission.

Hi-speed rail to turn into metro in Meerut MEERUT: RRTS is all set to make travelling between Delhi and Meerut, easier and quicker once the DelhiMeerut high-speed rail becomes a reality. Official of executing agency said that a high-speed rail corridor from Delhi will double up as a local metro for Meerut and will help save the government Rs 6,300 crore and improve the efficiency of the network. Meerut is the most populated National Capital Region (NCR) town from where 740,000 people are expected to travel everyday once the regional rail transit system (RRTS) is built. RRTS decided travel time to roughly

60 minutes, and help ease the heavy road traffic on the 90-km stretch in between. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC), executing authority for the project, will build six more stations in Meerut and parallel tracks to accommodate the city’s metro trains. “It has now been decided that in Meerut, we will construct parallel lines and metro trains will be purchased for that. While the RRTS train will not stop at these extra stations, there will be interchange facility at six other stations where the rapid train from Delhi will stop,” NCRTC spokesperson said.

NEWSCAN

Kochi to have Urban Pathways The cities of Kochi in India and Hai Phong in Vietnam have started the implementation of the Urban Pathways Project which aims to support Low Carbon Plans for urban basic services. To deliver on this as well as on the New Urban Agenda various stakeholders met in two different meetings in the two countries within the month of January 2018 KOCHI: In Kochi the consultative meeting convened by the Kochi Municipal Corporation discussed feasible interventions on urban basic services focusing on the city’s public transport system, urban energy and waste management. Target participants for the workshop were representatives from Municipal Departments relating to Natural Resources and Environment, Transport, Energy, Waste Management, Urban Planning and Investment, relevant institutions, NGOs and international organizations. The Hai Phong meeting discussed opportunities to implement low-carbon urban energy, mobility and resource management solutions in the city and to identify synergies among the various initiatives and projects. The deliberations in Hai Phong resulted in Urban Pathways concrete action points that include raising awareness of government officials and the local community on sustainable transport, energy consumption and waste management; support Hai Phong to develop action plans to deliver on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to mitigate climate change; provide urban change maker to city leaders, government decision mak-

ers and the local people with training, workshops, e-learning courses; city-tocity partnership thus connecting with the other pilot countries to learn from experiences; and pilot projects, awareness campaigns on sustainable transport – improvement of public transport – electrification of vehicles. Kochi and Hai Phong are part of the four major emerging cities selected for implementation of the Urban Pathways Project. Other cities are Nairobi in Kenya and Belo Horizonte in Brazil. The Urban Pathways is currently evaluating possible replication cities to undergo a set of “Proof of Concept” projects and facilitates city-to-city exchange. The project will be implemented over a period of four years with a focus on urban basic services. This includes develop-

ment of normative guides, support development of low-carbon national action plans, low-carbon local implementation concepts and support capacity building on urban mobility, urban energy and waste management. The Urban Pathways Project was launched in 2017 in Berlin, Germany, by UN-Habitat and its partners- Wuppertal Institute of Climate, Energy and Environment and UN Environment with the objective to discuss concrete low-carbon energy, mobility and wastemanagement solutions to deliver on the New Urban Agenda. This launch showcased activities of cities working together on sustainable urban development and helped taking this further into a joint programme of action.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

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BMC to put steel nets in 1800 manholes BMC has finalized tenders for placing protective mild steel nets below 1,800 manholes located in low-lying, flood-prone areas after five months when gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amarapurkar fell into an open manhole on Senapati Bapat Road on a heavy rain day and drowned. “We plan to place protective steel nets below all drains across the city. In the first phase, we will cover only 1,800 manholes in low-lying areas and complete the work before May 15”, additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said. The BMC will spend around Rs 1.5 crore on these nets. Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said that the design for the nets will be finalized within a month. Citizen-activist G R Vora said that the protective nets should have no resale value so that they won’t get stolen.

Benguluru launched fire safety blueprint Bengaluru became the first Indian city to launch a five year fire safety blueprint. It is a joint effort of the Karnataka fire and the emergency service department and Beyond Carlton, a city based fire safety community that was formed following the Carlton Towers fire tragedy in 2010. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data 29 people died, 251 were injured due to fire accidents in Bengaluru from 2011 to 2016 and property worth Rs 269 crore lost. The blueprint action plan is categorized into four parts: capability building, regulations and compliance, awareness creation and key milestones. At the end of every year goals will be reviewed to ensure the plans are executed.

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

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Janakpuri West metro station becomes interchange station NEW DELHI: Passengers travelling from West Delhi will soon get a direct metro ride to South Delhi once the magenta line, connecting Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden, project gets completed. The Janakpuri West metro station on blue line has been converted into an interchange metro station, connecting West Delhi to Noida. On Blue line it has 28 stations between Janakpuri West and Botanical Garden whereas on magenta line it has 24 stations. “The interchange station will be the first station of the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor of Phase 3 which will connect Line 3 with important locations such as the Terminal 1 of the IGI Airport, Munirka, Hauz Khas, Nehru Place and Botanical Garden in Noida. About 53,700 additional commuters are expected to use the new interchange station by March 2018. Presently, about 15,000 commuters use the Janakpuri West Metro station every day,” said a spokesperson for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Currently, West Delhi residents have to board on blue line then change from Rajiv Chowk on the Huda-city centre

corridor to reach South Delhi. The Magenta Line will bring down the commute time between West Delhi and Gurgaon by thirty minutes.The new station is underground and has come up in a park on one side of the existing Janakpuri West station near the Piccadilly hotel. The station is approximately 17 metres below the surface. For smooth flow of passengers at the interchange station, concourse-to-concourse connectivity is being provided. Extra-long escalators will connect the concourses. This line is likely to be opened by March end.

Delhi Government installs Anti-pollution tower NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is all set to fight air pollution which is at alarming level. Government started testing ‘anti-pollution’ tower on trial basis at the Indraprastha Marg flyover, ITO. “The towers absorb particulate matter from surroundings and release fresh air back into the atmosphere. They have been installed on an experimental basis for demonstrating its effectiveness in the reduction of particulate matter,” said the government.

The anti-pollution tower sucks in polluted air and removes nearly 90 per cent of the particulate matter and releases fresh air out. Officials said that results will be analyzed over short period of time and more machines would be installed if project gets successful. Delhi Environment minister Imran Hussain said that effectiveness of towers will be monitored and the results obtained will be evaluated for checking their efficacy and utility.

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NHAI to Launch Ranking System for Toll Plazas NEW DELHI: National Highways Auority of India (NHAI) launched a countrywide drive on 10 February, 2018, to address issues that affect highway users, such as ease of tolling, electronic tolling/ FASTag lane, cleanliness at toll plazas, behavior of the toll plaza staff, deployment of marshals, cleanliness of toilets, functioning of Highway Nest (Mini), wayside amenities and availability of ambulance and cranes in case of any emergency on the highway. Chairman, NHAI Deepak Kumar directed all field Highway Operation Unit officers through video conference on 09 February, 2018 to visit at least two toll plazas each across the country and check the above facilities personally to improve the users convenience. Ac-

cordingly, a massive drive was launched on more than 300 toll plazas simultaneously across the country by the Highway Operation Division on 10th Feb 2018. The Highway Operation Officers visited toll plazas and addressed issues of user convenience and took feedback from the people. Deepak Kumar has also said that NHAI is going to launch a ranking system of the toll plazas. Every quarter, the three best toll plazas will be identified and their names will be published on the NHAI website. He said he was confident that the competitive atmosphere created by the ranking of toll plazas will improve the amenities and overall convenience for highway users.

Eurostar to reduce plastic waste under new sustainability targets LONDON:Eurostar, the high-speed train operator between the UK and mainland Europe, has set itself a new 10-point plan to fully incorporate sustainability into its business. The new plan targets energy efficiency and reducing plastic waste as key components to making further progress. This includes an ambition to reduce all plastic usage and paper ticketing by 50 percent over the next two years. To kick start this journey it has already eliminated the use of plastic straws on board and in business lounges, which builds on a growing anti-straw campaign in the UK. Cutting all waste is also important to the company’s transition to sustainable practices; it plans to increase recycling rates and continue diverting all waste from landfill. In more modest ambitions, it will reduce energy usage to operate trains by 5 percent by 2020 and commit to finding alternatives to fossil fuels on train journeys by 2030. Its major UK facility will also be run on renewable energy. The new targets build

on its Tread Lightly programme, in operation since 2007, designed to reduce its carbon footprint and support the Paris climate change agreement. The company has already made progress to changing the way it operates having already reduced its carbon emissions by 32 percent over the past eight years. Nicolas Petrovic, Chief Executive of Eurostar, said, “High speed rail plays a pivotal role in encouraging the switch to more sustainable modes of transport and we are committed to increasing our energy efficiency and reducing our waste across the business”.

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“Swachh Bharat Sanitation Park” inaugurated in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in collaboration with the Environmental Sanitation Institute and Tata Trusts, has developed a Sanitation Park which was inaugurated in the Capital by Union Minister, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Uma Bharti, and Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Parameswaran Iyer. The Sanitation Park was developed at CGO Complex in New Delhi with an objective to create awareness on various safe technological options. The Park demonstrates various options pertaining to toilet technologies and solid and liquid waste management technologies, with a brief description of these technologies. The Park also displays information regarding various interventions undertaken under the Swachh Bharat Mission, capturing the success stories and impact created under the Mission across the country. The park presents the opportunity for the visitors to understand the various components and initiatives of SBM and familiarize themselves with different technologies.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

BRIEFS

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NDMC gets first fixed compactor

Cities to have drone survey soon

By deploying fixed compactors South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has turned three of its four zones into dhalao-free zones. Now North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (NDMC) Mayor Preety Agarwal has taken another initiative and has put its first compactor in Rohini zone for better disposal and management of garbage. Agarwal said, “We have taken our first step towards garbage disposal by adopting modern techniques. This would help us achieve our goal of a clean city under Swachh Bharat Mission.” Commissioner Madhup Vyas said, “We are planning to deploy 62 fixed compactors across our jurisdiction before March 31. The corporation has fixed garbage compactors at 32 sites in Rohini zone alone.”

VIJAYAWADA: The State government is all set to conduct aerial survey through drones conducted in Amaravati capital location and Vijayawada city to analyze green cover. The Government has successfully completed the study over the Tirupati Region. According to the recent survey, there is two per cent growth in the total forest area of the state. Now, the proposed survey will reveal the latest greenery position in Amaravati and Vijayawada city. According to officials, the state government is keen to improve green cover in and around Amaravati capital location. “Generally, weather of Vijayawada city is very hot and it touches almost 50 degrees Celsius in summer. The employees especially IT and other related sections of people prefer cool weather. The cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru are in the preferable locations of IT companies due to suitable weather. The weather in Vijayawada city is not suitable for people who have been living in various cities so far. So, they do not like to shift to Vijayawada city,” said V Rami Reddy. The General Manager of Andhra Pradesh Greening and Beautification Corporation, S. Mustafa said, “it will take one week to complete (the survey) in the Vijayawada region, which will be followed by Visakhapatnam.”

Goregaon temple turns its wet waste into electricity The wet waste generated in the premises of one of the biggest temple trusts in Mumbai has shifted towards a renewable energy for its power consumption. The temple has set up a hybrid system, a combination of biogas plant and solar panels to produce electricity from wet waste generated in the temple. In an attempt to make temple premises green, the Ayappa Seva Samgham temple at Goregaon, Bangur Nagar, set up solar panels and converted its existing biogas plant to produce electricity. The temple generates up to 500 kilograms of wet waste including all the floral offerings which will be treated in the premises itself. To ensure the reuse of waste water generated from the temple premises, temple authorities will soon set up water treatment plant.

March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

He emphasized on the corporation’s efforts to improve green cover in 13 districts, and on gardening workshops which were being conducted in the city and 100 candidates were trained in the nuances of the art. “Experts have been roped in to teach in the month-long workshops the art of landscaping, slopping, growing ornamental plants, avenue plants, nurturing parks, bonsai trees, dealing with plant diseases and use of several implements,” Mustafa said. He also mentioned that trained gardeners are now been employed in CRDA, Amaravati Development Corporation, Rose Society, private schools, colleges and universities. A stipend of Rs 300 along with breakfast and lunch would be provided to unemployed youth.

AP signs 734 MoUs for investment, worth Rs 4.39 trillion VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh government has signed 734 MoUs with business houses and individuals worth Rs 4.39 lakh crore for setting up of industries and launch start-ups to boost employment. At the conclusion of the three-day CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that investment is expected to create 11 lakh jobs. Aerospace and defence sectors propose to bring in investments of Rs 9,406 crore and create 6,000 new jobs. Naidu would personally monitor the progress of the projects and make

sure that all clearances will be granted within 21 days. Prominent companies like Reliance, Adani Group, Lulu Group and Google signed MoUs with government. The Reliance Industries Ltd would invest Rs 50,000 crore in the digital technology and oil and gas sectors in the state. “The capital work has commenced. It is going to be transformed”, Naidu said. Minister said that this project is going to transform Amaravati into one of the best capital cities of the world. His aim is to make Andhra Pradeshnumber one city by 2029 and by 2050, to make it most preferred destination of the world.

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Bengaluru may soon run out of water Bengaluru: Is Bengaluru going to run out of water soon? Bengaluru is not far behind to face the threat of water crisis, like Cape Town in South Africa. Bengaluru ranks second in a list of 11 cities, after Brazil Sao Paulo and above China capital Beijing, that are facing the imminent threat of running out of water based on an UN-backed study, published by the BBC. The other cities on the list are Cairo, Jakarta, Moscow, Istanbul, Mexico City, London, Tokyo and Miami. The study found that the city’s infrastructure was unable to scale up to match rising population, particularly water and sewage systems. As a result, a large amount of water was either wasted or is too polluted to use. The city of lakes does not have a single lake whose water is fit for human consumption, the study found. According to a report in The Guardian, Bangalore had 285 lakes in the 1970s, the number of which reduced to 194 lakes in 2017. According to the 2016 city-based Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute (EMPRI) study, nearly 85% of Bengaluru’s surveyed water bodies had water that could only be used for irrigation and industrial cooling, and not a single lake had suitable water for drinking or bathing. According to a study by Indian Institute of Science (IISC), the city is experiencing unprecedented rapid urbanisation and sprawl in recent times due to unplanned unrealistic concentrated developmental activities. This has posed serious challenges to the decision-makers in the city planning and management process involving a plethora of serious challenges such as loss of green cover and water bodies, climate change, enhanced greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, lack of appropriate infrastructure, traffic congestion, and lack of basic amenities (electricity, water, and sanitation) in many localities. “Bengaluru’s lakes had a storage capacity of 35 tmcft of water in 1800 and

Bengaluru ranks second in a list of 11 cities, after Brazil Sao Paulo and above China capital Beijing, that are facing the imminent threat of running out of water based on an UNbacked study, published by the BBC.

the lakes had been interlinked in such a way that water was available throughout the year. Now, a majority of the lakes have disappeared and the current storage capacity is less than 2 tmcft of water, while the city’s current monthly requirement itself is 1.5 tmcft,” found the above-quoted IISc research. One tmcft of water is equal to 2,816 crore litres and it can satisfy the needs of six lakh people per year. The study says that between 1973 and 2016, the city witnessed a 1005% increase in “concretization or paved surface increase.” Since 1981, the city has spatially spread from 221 sq.km (2001) to 741 sq.km (2006, Greater Bangalore). The city also witnessed “dramatic” decadal (2001 to 2011) population growth of 44%. Between 2001 and 2011, the population of the city had grown from 4.3 Million to 8.4 Million and the population density increased from 7880 persons per square kilometre to over

11,330 persons per square kilometre, says the study. KJ George, Bengaluru development minister, admitted that the availability of water per person per day will be 88 litres by 2031 when the city’s population will touch 20 million. Currently, the norm for domestic water usage is 135 litres per capita per day as prescribed the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization. The state government claimed to spend Rs 5,500 crore by 2023 to increase water availability for Bengaluru to 2,175 million litres per day (MLD) from the current 1,391 MLD. In fact, the 1,391 MLD comprises 678 MLD of Cauvery river water, 672 MLD of groundwater and 41MLD of recycled water. The Asian Development Bank stated that India will have a water deficit of 50% by 2030. Other estimates have suggested that the people may evacuate the city by 2025.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

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RCAP discusses urban resilience, climate change adaptation Ho Chi Minh: ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia offices in the Asia and Pacific in partnership with Ministry of Planning and Investment, Government of Vietnam, Asia LEDS Partnership, and LEDS Global Partnership (GP) hosted the Resilient Cities Asia Pacific 2017 in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The aim was to forge partnerships and to identify implementable solutions and creating lasting impacts for cities in the region. The day started with an inaugural session to signify the forum’s commencement and reflect on the key messages and legacy of RCAP 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand and RCAP 2016 in Melaka, Malaysia. ICLEI Secretary General Gino van Begin noted the significance of events like the RCAP as these serve as critical inputs to what is being discussed at the global level. Linkaging the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the New Urban Agenda into prompting resilience in Asia Pacific Cities, Curt Garrigan, Chief of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) pointed out that resilience has a unique way of connecting urban issues together. The first plenary session of RCAP 2017 brought together representatives from various UN agencies to discuss the role of local and sub-national governments in the implementation of the NDCs as per the Paris Agreement of 2016, as well as the impacts of the UNFCCC COP 23 on ongoing dialogues of urban resilience. The increase of urban population has put more pressure on resources which are finite and limited. To counter this, Asian cities have started initiatives to create enabling mechanisms for developing a more resilient city. The session also had secondary cities share their experience in urban development planning in the context of innate vul-

20 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Hansa Patel, Chairperson-ICLEI, South Asia; Emami Kumar, Deputy Secretary General-ICLEI; and Gino Van, Secretary Genral-ICLEI World Secretariat at the inaugural ceremony of RCAP-2017 in Vietnam

nerabilities, disaster risk reduction and management, and basic infrastructure. Emani Kumar, Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI, presented the summary of the two-day conference and leanings from it. Erlinda Creencia, from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, City of Santa Rosa, Philippines described Santa Rosa’s vision and mission, the changes city has experienced from rural to urban, from agricultural to industrial, and their action plans in solid and water waste management, charcoal briquetting facilities, and material recovery. She also pointed out that the city has presented an advocacy campaign with more than 1000 stakeholders to address climate change. Le Duc Chung, Belgian Development Agency (BTC) and Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) Joint Action to tackle Climate Change and Green Growth Finance for Support Programme, Vietnam shared the efforts that have been carried out in three provinces. Some activities undertaken at the central level include establish-

ment of baseline, assessment of institutional and technical capacity, planning climate change action plans, revision of urban master plan. Ajay Kumar Singh, Project Coordinator, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), India spoke about how peri-urban ecosystem is degenerating. He also said that a rich ecosystem and biodiversity is needed for building resilience. Nivedita Mani, Coordinator, GEAG, India emphasized that the peri-urban ecosystem is a critical factor touching upon resilience, economy, gender, food security for both rural and urban area. She also made a point on how peri-urban and ecosystem should be gender sensitive. Talking about ‘Supporting Urban Resilience in Asia Pacific Cities’, Saurabh Gaidhani, City and Practice Management, Asia Pacific, 100RC spoke about the shocks and stresses that can lead to a social breakdown but can also bring opportunities for cities to evolve and in some circumstances, transform above the Business as Usual path of development.

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DG AIILSG inaugurates Jaipur skill centre

Rajiv Agarwal (I.A.S.Retd.), DG AIILSG and Ravi Ranjan Guru, Senior Executive Director, AIILSG inaugurating Jaipur Skill Centre

The new skill development centre in Jaipur set up under PPP model will deliver short-termprograms across industry sectors including renewable energy, electronics and retail. Many of these programs are linked with wage employment and self-employment to set up micro enterprises Jaipur: The Director General of All India Institute of Local Self-Government Rajiv Agarwal formally inaugurated the skill centre run by the Institute at Jaipur on 3rd February. He spent considerable time at the Centre and interacted with the students who are being imparted various skills, and the faculty too. Students are being skilled with the

help of Rajasthan government under the ‘Employment Linked Skill Training Program’ (ELSTP). The students are undergoing training in IT and ITES, apparel, made-ups and home furnishing, electronics and hardware. On the occasion, DG AIILSG said that All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment is committed to contribute its bit in creating a skilled workforce for new India. “We are focusing on empowering youngsters from all sections of the society, particularly the weaker ones. Presently we are working in three states but we are soon going to expand to other states as well”, he said. As ofnow 4 batches of 106 aspirants in IT & ITES, and apparel, made-ups& home furnishing have passed out from the centre. They have all got placement in different companies. Further 169 aspirants are undergoing training at the skill development centre in various courses. Earlier AIILSG had signed aMoU

with Rajasthan Skill & Livelihoods Development Corporation (RSLDC) for implementation and execution of its ambitious Employment Linked Skills Training Program (ELSTP) in Jaipur. The objective of the ambitious program is to train youth from the economically weaker sections of society and help them with exploring wage/ self-employment opportunities within and outside the state. This program will uplift and employ over 900 beneficiaries over a period of three years. AIILSG believes that this project will boost employment opportunities for school dropouts, 10th or 12th pass outs, and unemployed graduates. Implementation of ELSTP courses will create a catalytic impact on the growth of Rajasthan thereby reducing unemployment and underemployment. The courses are specifically designed by experts to nurture and uplift students’ vocational skills, technical abilities, and soft skills.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

COVER STORY | World Urban Forum9

World Urban Forum

Implementing the New Urban Agenda

22 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

More than 25,000 delegates including heads of state and other stake holders gathered at WUF9 to share their best practices and knowledge on how cities are built, planned and managed. The forum selected the theme â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cities 2030, Cities for all: Implementing the new Urban Agendaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to meet the objective of sustainable development goals

Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor

he Ninth World Urban Forum(WUF9) took place at Kuala Lumpur from 7th February to 13th February, 2018. It was the ninth session of World Urban Forum, convened by UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). It brought thousands of stakeholders to share their practices and knowledge on how cities are built, planned and managed. It included national, regional and local governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations, research institutions and academies, the private sector, development finance institutions, foundations, the media and UN organizations and other international agencies. The forum kicked off on 8th February. The World Urban Forum (WUF) is

a non-legislative technical forum convened by UN-Habitat every two years. It was first held in 2002. The theme of the forum this time was ‘Cities 2030, Cities for all: Implementing the New Urban Agenda’. The objective of selecting the theme was to focus on the New Urban Agenda adopted at UN Habitat III and accelerate it to achieve Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals. In the opening ceremony a series of dignitaries addressed the delegates and underlined various challenges that communities across the world are facing. Noh Omar, Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Malaysia, noted that ‘more than 50% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas’ and stated that cities must be reformed to be safe, inclusive,

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

COVER STORY | World Urban Forum9

sustainable and prosperous. He noted that the World Urban Forum (WUF) is hosting a Grassroots Assembly for the first time, aiming to give a platform to local leaders. Magdalena Garcia Hernandez, Women’s Constituency, General Assembly of Partners (GAP), emphasized ‘the importance of good governance and UN frameworks such as the New Urban Agenda (NUA) in advancing gender equality and fighting social discrimination’. S.M. Shaikat, UN-Habitat Youth Advisory Board, underscored the ‘challenges facing urban youth, such as finding employment, affordable healthcare, and education’. He added that the NUA is a ‘comprehensive solution’ to fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and becoming accountable to future generations. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN-Habitat, welcomed the audience to Kuala Lumpur and to WUF9. It was her first Forum as Executive Director. While declaring the assembly open she underscored the NUA’s emphasis on inclusivity and noted UN-Habitat’s role as the focal point for its implementation. Over the next six days the delegates participated in many workshops and panel discussions on a range of issues.

The First Three Days

On the first day three assemblies were opened. After a joint opening plenary, the Women’s Assembly, Business Assembly and the Children and Youth Assembly met in parallel sessions throughout the day to discuss actions to advance the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) on cities. On the second day in the morning, a Ministers’ Roundtable and two other WUF Assemblies were convened, representing local and regional governments, and grassroots organizations respectively. It was in the afternoon of the second day, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak officially opened WUF9 that was accompanied by cultural performances and messages from dignitaries. On the third day two high level roundtables took place. The first session was on Climate Change and the theme was ‘The Urban Dimension in Climate Change Action’.

24 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

AIILSG organises a By Team Urban Update KUALALUMPUR: The Ninth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9), took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 9, 2018 in which All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) organised a session on ‘Indian Cities Perspective on New Urban Agenda & SDGs’. The session was addressed by Ravi Ranjan Guru, Senior Executive Director of AIILSG and Riaz Wani (KAS), Commissioner Municipal Corporation Srinagar. Other personalities who were part of the session were, Anuradha Das (Program Head, Capacity Building and Communication), and Kurshid Malik (Regional Director AIILSG Srinagar) and Paritosh Goel (Senior Technical Consultant, AIILSG). The session exhibited various presentations with case studies from cities in India and their linkages to New Urban Agenda and SDGs, report launch and open discussion. Guru started with introducing the roles & functions of AIILSG as a supportive In the afternoon session the delegates parted in four parallel sessions on migration; land tenure; culture and diversity; and informal settlements and slum upgrading.

The last three days

On the 4th day of the forum, two high level roundtables were convened on ‘Urbanization and development: investing in the transformative force of cities’ and on ‘An integrated territorial approach to sustainable development’. On the fifth day, participants discussed in a special session the issues before the ‘Smart Cities’. The other two important roundtables were on ‘Innovative governance for open and inclusive cities’ and on ‘Sustainable urban development for peace and security’. On the sixth and last full day of the forum many special sessions were convened. The discussions ranged from multi-stakeholder partnerships,

avi Ranjan Guru, Senior Executive Director of AIILSG an R Corporation Srinagar along with Anuradha Das, Khurshid Cities Perspective on New Urban Agenda & SDG’s’ at WU

agency which provides technical support in the form of Research & Consultancy projects, Knowledge Dissemination, Advocacy & Implementation; to the ULBs across India. He highlighted the work profile of AIILSG which involves Urban Planning, Urban Governance, Building Energy Efficiency, Climate Change, Solid Waste Management, Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Public Financing for Urban Infrastructure, and Health & Sanitation.

settlements for displaced persons, and food security through urban-rural linkages, urban ecological landscapes, civic engagement, and ‘housing for all’. The day ended with the host country holding a gala dinner for participants. Throughout the six day event alongside special sessions and roundtables, there were stakeholder consultations, dialogues and networking events on issues such as urban disaster recovery, urban data, and urban mobility with safe and accessible transport for all.Several special sessions, dialogues and side events also took place on various themes including on youth employment, urban labs, affordable housing, and access to basic services.Many other events were organized around the venue, including an art exhibition and several consultations.

The Context of WUF9

The ninth session of the WUF must be

a session at WUF9

nd Riaz Wani (KAS), Commissioner Municipal d Malik, Paritosh Goel organises a session on ‘Indian UF9

Riaz Wani talked about various current projects going on in his municipality and their linkages to achieve SDGs. He also emphasised on many issues related to solid waste management, water supply, sewage and sanitation in Srinagar. After the presentation, there was open discussion round in which various international organisations talked about SDG 11 & 13. While making the presentation on EquiCity Anuradha Das explained the aim of

the project is to promote inclusive and sustainable growth of Indian cities through collaborative multi-stakeholder approach using participatory governance between local authorities and stakeholders, to ensure equitable provision of municipal Services and to promote diversity within and capacity development of local government organisations. Further she explained objectives of the project which focuses on establishing participatory forums where stakeholders and LAs can engage in collaborative solutions and coordinated action for equitable delivery of municipal services. The main focus of the session is to address the major operational challenges such as lack of disaggregate city data, skills, knowledge and capacity to develop new data base and how to transfer results into city programs. A Presentation was made on Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC, a programme of UNDP being implemented by AIILSG) through case studies that emphasizes on Climate Action and other SDGs.

seen in the context of New Urban Agenda adopted at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development- Habitat III in 2016. Before the forum was convened the participating states requested that the report on the implementation of agenda must incorporate inputs from multilateral organizations, civil society, the private sector and academia, and to build on existing platforms such as the WUF, convened by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Themed ‘Cities 2030, Cities for All: Implementing the New Urban Agenda’, WUF9 was the first session to focus on the implementation of the NUA. WUF was expected to provide ‘substantial input’ for the implementation of the first report of the NUA. The forum was also expected to bring together a common vision on Sustainable Urban Development and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by contribut-

ing to implementation of concrete solutions for the commitments made in the NUA, which are fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Kuala Lumpur Declaration

At the end of the forum, the ‘Kuala Lumpur Declaration’ was adopted by the forum. The forum gave a clarion call for the ‘deployment of all efforts, means and resources available towards the operationalization of the concept of cities for all, ensuring that all inhabitants, of present and future generations, without discrimination of any kind, are able to inhabit and produce just, safe, healthy, accessible, affordable, resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements to foster prosperity and quality of life for all’. It emphasized on the ‘global, regional, national and local implementation frameworks of the New Urban Agenda being formulated since

its adoption should be supported by key enablers capable of unlocking positive transformation’.

It further added some concrete points that can enable the cities and communities to achieve National Urban Agenda such as ♦♦ Strengthening the role of subnational and local governments, urban governance systems that ensure continuous dialogue among different levels of government and participation of all actors, and increasing multilevel and crosssectoral coordination, transparency and accountability. ♦♦ Encouraging sharing of creative solutions and innovative practices which enable a shift in mindset necessary to drive change. ♦♦ Building inclusive partnerships and strengthening age and gender responsive environments to ensure meaningful participation and engagement at all levels. ♦♦ Adopting integrated territorial development, including through appropriate urban planning and design instruments, to ensure sustainable management and use of natural resources and land, appropriate compactness and density, diversity of uses, and revitalization of cultural heritage. ♦♦ Deploying monitoring and reporting mechanisms, including assessment of impacts that encourage best practices for effective policy making. The challenges are immense and the forum recognized it. Crisis is increasingly urban and calls for urgent action to make it inclusive. It is important that given the rapid urbanization, managing the influx into the cities calls for more inclusive planning. Almost every city in the world is facing growing social and economic inequalities. If the planning is more inclusive it will create social cohesion and also create new economic opportunities for all. It is imperative that implementation of New Urban Agenda must be followed up very closely and be reviewed periodically with UN Habitat as the focal point.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

Leaderspeak | Cities for All

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

Putting the Citizen at the Centre Citizen consultation is now becoming an important pillar in the governance architecture of cities everywhere. As urbanization gathers rapid pace and city-dwellers swell in numbers, alongwith the mounting challenges of meeting their aspirations, the growing population also presents opportunities for consultation and debate with a wide cross section of stakeholders enabling build more equitable, resilient and sustainable cities Cities for All’ was an important plank of The Kuala Lumpur Declaration adopted at the Ninth World Urban Forum in the Malaysian Capital early last month. It called for deployment of all efforts, resources and means to achieve this concept of Cities for All where all inhabitants of the present and future would be able to produce and inhabit safe, healthy, resilient and sustainable cities. The participants at the Forum recognized the pivotal role of the city-dweller in achieving this objective and implementation of the New Urban Agenda. This thought is well articulated in the measures prescribed including one which calls for strengthening the urban governance systems to ‘ensure continuous dialogue among different levels of government and participation of all actors’ and in-

26 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

creasing ‘transparency and accountability’. There are several dimensions which define the characteristics of cities and all can achieve better outcomes through citizen engagement and consultation. Urban local bodies will need to significantly scale up efforts in all areas to achieve desired outcomes.

Equitable/inclusive Cities

Often the city infrastructure is created around the concept of the ‘average citizen’. This cannot be a long term sustainable option. While one may concede that the city cannot be built to suit every single citizen, it cannot also be designed for the ‘average’ one which could end up meeting the needs of no one. Among some categories are women, children and the elderly. Extensive citizen engagement and awareness building will be

called for so that such citizens are able to secure and then enjoy these facilities with dignity. Urban local bodies need to engage with the community, NGOs and civil society working with these classes of citizens to understand their needs and cater to them. The case of the differently abled is very important too. Regulations require several measures in the built environment to meet the needs of such special persons. Though not all required measures exist yet, regular dialogue and consultation with concerned stakeholders can help identify and address many of these. These processes of involving all groups of citizens can also help secure appropriate behaviour of other citizens respecting these provisions in the infrastructure – for example reserved seating in public transport and in public parks.

Sustainable Cities

Sustainability has several aspects which all call for significant and sustained citizen engagement and constant efforts to secure improved citizen responses. Cities, groaning under the burden of ever-growing populations are already struggling to deliver citizen services such as clean water supply. With a likely harsh summer already upon us in most parts of the country, there is urgent and crying need for all citizens to participate whole-heartedly in water saving programmes. These programmes to save and conserve water through these tough months cannot succeed unless our local bodies engage with citizens. We are aware that several water saving measures can enable conserve this precious resource to a great extent to see us through the hot months. We must constantly look for more ways to engage with all groups of citizens and scale up the efforts to ensure cooperation of all. School and college students for example, can be very powerful torch bearers of community wide participation in such matters. Waste management is possibly the most stubborn of civic problems faced by our local bodies. This is accentuated by unsustainable lifestyle changes and practices which lead to increas-

ing waste. Even elementary requirements like segregation at source which is being espoused for many years, is yet to happen satisfactorily. Measures including persuasion to mandating fines and penalties have all been unable to yield the desired outcomes. The test of our cities’ abilities can be judged on this parameter alone in the future - their success in achieving effective waste management which includes waste ‘management’ such as segregation, composting and recycling, as well as waste ‘reduction’ meaning how effective they have been in reducing waste generation in the first place. It is a tough test; which only the best will pass.

Cities & innovation

According to the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, another key enabler which could support implementation frameworks of the New Urban Agenda is ‘Encouraging sharing of creative solutions and innovative practices which enable a shift in mindset necessary to drive change’. The statement recognizes the important role of innovation and creativity in achieving desired outcomes in our mission towards ‘Cities for All’. Given the increasing complexity of challenges posed by urbanization in several dimensions, there is a need

for devising new ways of addressing these challenges; and of effective sharing of these innovative practices among city managers of different cities. As we can already see, there are many new technological advances and tools available to us, in the area of waste management for example. In addition to new technologies, citizens are coming together in communities in a spirit of collaboration, cooperation and innovation. These efforts will have to be scaled up, recorded, documented and shared as widely as possible, enabling leverage notable contributions among larger populations leading to more inclusive and sustainable planning and decision-making approaches. The World Urban Forum at Kuala Lumpur has enabled bring together minds to debate and deliberate on the approaches to implementation of the New Urban Agenda in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The important pillars of the mechanism are undoubtedly equity and inclusion, collaboration, creativity and innovation. These all call for extensive engagement with all stakeholders, most importantly, the citizen. This is necessary for cities to achieve lasting and sustainable progress. So let’s put the citizen at the centre.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

numerographs | World Migration

people on move M

igration is a key feature of a more interconnected world. Despite significant concerns about its economic and social implications, the movement of people across the world’s borders boosts global productivity. The countries that prioritize integration stand to make the most of this potential—improving outcomes for their own economies and societies as well as for immigrants themselves

Mexico 12M

 Globally, there were an estimated 258 million international migrants in 2017. Of these, nearly 57 per cent lived in the developed regions (the North), while the developing regions (the South) hosted 43 per cent of the world’s migrants.

28 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Migrant

Top five migrant origins Top five migrant destination

Destinations & origins Germany 12M

United States 47M

Russia 12M

Russia 11M

United Kingdom 9M China 10M

India 16M

Saudi Arabia 10M

Bangladesh 16M

Source: United Nation Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Bank, McKinsey Global Institute analysis

90%

are voluntary or economic migrants, while 10% are refugees or asylum seekers

 In 2017, 146 million international migrants living in the North & 112 million in South

 Between 1990 and 2017, the number of international migrants worldwide rose by over 105 million, or by 69 percent.

50%

have moved from developing to developed countries

 Asia-to-Asia (63M) constituted the largest regional migration corridor in the world and Europe-to-Europe (41M) was the second largest regional corridor in 2017

 The corridor from Latin America and the Caribbean to Northern America( 26M) was the third largest and Asia-to-Europe corridor (20M) fourth largest.

35%

are high-skill migrants with tertiary education

 In 2017, women comprised 48.4 per cent of all international migrants worldwide. 14 per cent of all international migrant women were under 20 years age and 55 percent of aged 65 or over.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

one on one | Pratap Padode, Founder & Director Smart Cities Council India

“Self-Sufficient villages becomes a win-win for India’s people” A chartered accountant by qualification, Pratap Padode, has specialised in financial research. He pioneered equity research in India by launching India’s most successful specialised equity journal. He is the founder of ASAPP Info Global Group and his passion for infrastructure over last 17 years is reflected in the innovative thought leadership through ten specialised magazines, conferences & awards organised in the fields of construction, infrastructure & engineering. Since early 2014 he has been promoting the move to smart, sustainable cities and contributing to Smart Cities Council Partners’ business success through advocacy and action, as the Founder Director of the Smart Cities Council India Urban Update Team How do you envision living standards in a smart city? Do you have any idea about what could be essential features in smart cities? The implementation of smart city technology can lead to the comprehensive development of many features in the city. The aim of India’s smart cities mis-

30 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

sion is to essentially build more livable, workable and sustainable cities. This could include creating walkable localities in cities to reduce congestion, promote interactions and ensure security. Roads can be refurbished to encourage walking and cycling, while also adding necessary services within short distances. Smart cities also help preserve and develop open spaces such as

parks and playgrounds, which help to enhance the quality of life of citizens, reduce the urban heat effects in areas, and generally promote an eco-balance. Smart city features allow mixed land use that makes land more efficient, and promotes housing and inclusiveness, by expanding housing opportunities for all. Furthermore, applying smart solutions to infrastructure makes areas less

vulnerable to disasters, by using fewer resources and providing cheaper services. Additionally, it helps in making governance citizen-friendly, by relying on online services, which helps to reduce the cost of services, and increase accessibility. Ultimately, smart city technology gives an identity to a city. Based on the ideals of sustainability and economic efficiency, it has a lasting impact on health, education and culture. What is the significance of smart and efficient villages in making Smart Cities Mission successful? Do you think we need a scheme for making our 640,867 villages smart to compliment the scheme for cities? Thirty people move from rural India to urban India every minute. This causes an immense pressure on city infrastructure, leading to cramped and congested cities. People who migrate from villages to cities keep going back and forth, which is acting as a fetter on speed of urbanization in India. Their lack of job security or a continuity of employment keeps them vacillating back and forth between rural and urban areas. This unpredictability further complicates matters. In order to change this pattern, we need to develop comprehensive schemes that can benefit India’s large rural population – and building smart and efficient villages can help this cause. First, the government could develop labor-intensive manufacturing units under Make In India, so that villagers find suitable employment locally. Second, we need to provide a suitable ICT network in and around villages under Digital India, so that villagers are informed in real time about the latest developments —to help them build their businesses, both in the agricultural sector, as well as the industrial. Lastly, by developing smart villages, dwellers in rural India would no longer face problems — rather, they would become a part of the solutions to various problems faced by cities. If the influx from rural India is checked, smart cities would stop being overcrowded, and India’s smart cities would be able to fulfill their objectives without major impediments.

What do you think should be the priorities of the newly planned smart cities in India? Do you think the cash-strapped municipalities can generate enough funds to implement the proposed projects as submitted the part of the smart city mission competition process? In the approach to building smart cities in India, the Ministry of Urban Development declared that its main priority is to provide cities a core infrastructure, give citizens a decent quality of life, and a clean and sustainable environment. Newly planned cities should also prioritize these ideals, but modify these needs based on the needs of its city. For example, a city with a large urban sprawl should build its smart city model around the construction of a central command centre, which would facilitate the better management of its area. Furthermore, a city facing a water shortage should prioritize the development of a sustainable water resource on top of the holistically preset Indian smart cities agenda. India’s smart cities mission relies on a public-private partnership (PPP) model to fund smart city projects. In the budget outlined by the union government earlier this year, the center has released Rs 9940 crore to states for smart cities, and under the mission guidelines, states issue a grant of the same amount released to them for the development of their cities. Thus, the central government is evidently providing adequate funds to states, and providing local bodies all the ammunition they need to successfully manage their funds. How can our cities improve the urban ecosystem and plan a development agenda that is in sync with nature? In order to achieve urban sustainability, a systematic focus on urban ecosystems, via a planned development agenda is required. Building an ecologically smart city could increase the resilience of cities by providing low-cost, adaptive, and efficient ways to deal with the challenges of providing safe food, pure water, and clean air for a number of people. We need to focus on building ecosystem services that are capable of resisting a

whole host of local and global challenges, from pollution and food shortages to climate change. Using smart city technology for example, Vienna, Austria has been managing its energy better and is working on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other cities worldwide are also implementing connected technology, to reduce the production of carbon dioxide, through the operation of smart electricity supply grids, which increase energy efficiency, and harness low-carbon energy supplies. Smart city technology can help city planners identify places where green infrastructure can improve the urban ecosystem, and lead to the construction of more sophisticated and sustainable projects, which are ‘in sync with nature’. Do you think it is important for our cities to plan their development keeping in mind the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals? What would the role of cities be in making these global agendas successful within the timeframe? The New Urban Agenda offers a normative framwork for guiding India’s urban future. It aims at making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It also outlines that everyone has a ‘right to the city’, and thus does not fall completely in line with India’s urban-centric development agenda. Unlike a few other countries involved in chartering this new agenda, we are suffering from overpopulation in our urban areas, and a ‘right to the city’ approach would not fit well within our policy framework. Additionally, smart cities, which form a lynchpin of India’s urban agenda, only makes a fleeting appearance in the New Urban Agenda, thus diverging in priority from one another. The New Urban Agenda should then only be used as a reference while deciding our own plans, but need not be central to our policies. By utilizing the full potential of ICTs to support urban operations and participation however, India’s smart cities can be key enablers for achieving the main objectives envisioned in the New Urban Agenda, using its own path to development and sustainability, instead of abiding to the UN’s charter.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

Article | Future Cities

Future Ready Cities; Doing more with less In the next 15 years some 250 million new urban dwellers are expected in India alone with another 300 million likely in China. 380 million more will move to cities in Africa. By the year 2050, about two-thirds of the world population will live in cities

V Vijaykumar Sr Advisor, AIILSG

he urban deluge is caused by people wanting to avail of the superior opportunities cities offer. Cities are where 80 percent of all wealth is created and this will likely continue. Here one can access better services, whether healthcare, education, or leisure. Cities need to prepare to meet the needs of this ever-growing number of city-dwellers which will continue to grow putting

32 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

pressure on citiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to meet demands. Of specific concern are city services such as energy, water and other utilities as also public transport, healthcare, education and the environment. World Economic Forum has published on its website an article in collaboration with Business Insider quoting a study done by EasyPark Group in late 2017 to assess which cities are most prepared for the future. The Study assessed about 500 cities on various factors which contribute to sustainability-public transportation, waste management, clean energy, environment protection, traffic, number of Wi-Fi hotspots, online access to citizen services and community participation, among others. This Study ranked the top ten cities - Copenhagen, Singapore, Stockholm, Zurich, Boston, Tokyo, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Geneva and Melbourne -

in that order. Each of these cities has superior metrics for particular aspects of a sustainable city. For example, Copenhagen is ranked high on a healthy startup ecosystem, a large number of Wi-Fi hotspots, and low traffic congestion. The city also plans to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2025. Singapore is found to have the most cost-effective public transport system based on a 2014 Siemens Study and Tokyo is noted for its effective rail transport system which reportedly handles 14 billion passengers each year. As cities strive to become Future Ready, they will have to meet the increasing needs and aspirations of the rapidly growing population of city dwellers. And they will have to do this in a sustainable manner with great care for the environment.

Doing more with less

Better preparedness will call for large

doses of ‘smartness’ to be injected in cities. One way of doing this could include the principle of ‘doing more with less’ by leveraging technology. As we all strive towards a more sustainable planet, this principle could become a central pillar in the lives of citizens of ‘smart cities’. This principle can enable cities to achieve higher levels of sustainability in several dimensions.

Energy consumption

The International Energy Agency notes that energy production and use is the most important source of air pollution coming from human activity. While energy availability and use is a crucial input driving economic growth and social transformation by lifting millions out of poverty, it leaves behind a trail of deadly poisonous gases which causes millions of deaths the world over. The use of energy and release of pollutants includes that from obvious sources such as thermal power plants and automobiles, and not so obvious ones such as cooking with biogas, wood and kerosene. While use of clean energy (wind, solar, etc.) is obviously the way forward there is still some time for this to become a significant contributor in the global energy basket. In the meanwhile, we need to mitigate the ill-effects of energy induced emissions by using less energy. Newer energy efficient lights and appliances not only reduce our power bills, but reduce emissions too without cutting down on benefits. Energy efficient building design which involves using natural light and ventilation among others is being embraced in a big way.

Water Conservation

Water conservation outcomes are believed to be dependent on behavioural aspects of the citizen. While awareness building should continue for securing better performance on this count, technological tools can be deployed too. For example, efficient toilet cisterns, showers and faucets smartly designed to optimize water use can save tens of litres in every household each day. Widespread use of drip and micro ir-

rigation in the farm sector has the potential to save huge quantities of water and nutrients while improving productivity and yields, and reducing farmers’ vulnerability. Leakage in distribution systems in cities can result in big losses while damaging valuable infrastructure like roads. Advanced leak detection systems including acoustic ones need to be deployed to detect and repair leaks early. Several new technologies are emerging for water recycling and reuse. The opportunities will increase manyfold in the future. Water is a key determinant of livability in cities and we need to find many ways of doing more with less water.

Better preparedness will call for large doses of ‘smartness’ to be injected in cities. One way of doing this could include the principle of ‘doing more with less’ which entails use of technology. As we all strive towards a more sustainable planet, this principle could become a central pillar in the lives of citizens of ‘smart cities’.

Urban mobility

Urban mobility affects everyone in the city. Safe and efficient transportation enables millions in the city to access optimal livelihood options, educational facilities and others such as healthcare and recreation. However, mobility in our cities is characterised by the rapid growth in personal transport options such as two-wheelers and cars causing excessive growth not only in emissions but also congestion while compromising safety. We need rapid transformation towards more benign options, meaning public transport options which can mitigate emissions, congestion and enhance safety. Large investments are being directed towards metro and BRTS in our major cities. We need to focus on affordability and efficient last-mile connectivity for

these to succeed. Alongside, new technologies such as elevated pods and the like are reportedly being considered. Till these can contribute significantly, we need to find more ways to promote cycling, walking and non-motorised transport. This will call for wider walkways, reserved roads, more greenery and pedestrian safety systems, all leading to push up the green environment quotient of our cities.

Waste

Waste Management is right up on the top of the agenda of Indian cities. Delhi, which generates over 10,000 tonnes of solid waste each day, is just drowning under this growing mountain of waste. While our cities focus on ‘managing’ the waste, long lasting sustainable solutions could possibly come from ‘generating less waste’ in the first place. For example, use of reusable plates, glasses and spoons by eateries in place of throwaway paper and plastic ones will itself save our cities of many tonnes of stubborn, non-recyclable waste each day. Use of reusable/ recyclable metal and glass containers (as was the practice some years ago) in place of plastic and paper ones will prevent environment degradation. Further, manufacturers could make arrangements for collection and safe disposal (recycling) of the packaging of their products. An effective recycling ecosystem needs to be encouraged by incentivising the participants including rag-pickers, and incubation of technologies. All these need to be mandated and citizens be made aware of the implications of their choices while purchasing products. These and several other dimensions call for conscious, concerted and consistent efforts to ensure that our cities can meet the needs of all, now and in the future -by doing more with less. In our efforts we can find encouragement in the words of Paul Hawken, the American environmentalist and entrepreneur. He said ‘The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous and enduring, and thus more intelligent, even competitive.’

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

Article | Architecture of resilience

Sonia Chand Sandhu Senior Advisor, Asian Development Bank

outhern Meghalaya in far northeastern India is one of the wettest places on Earth, crisscrossed by fast-flowing rivers and mountain streams. Here bridges aren’t built – they’re grown, ensuring connectivity in a remote area. Local tribes identified a species of Indian rubber tree with an incredibly strong root system that flourishes in this region. The roots of the ficus elastic grow on huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers. To make the roots grow in the right direction, local tribes use different techniques from simply pulling the roots to tying or twisting them, until over time the roots formed the desired architectural structure. Root bridges, also used in Indonesia, are a great example of how green infrastructure can provide alternative solutions to deliver sustainable connectivity. The normal course in Meghalaya would have been a bridge, but that would have been difficult and expensive in such areas.

Green infrastructure not yet core part of urban infrastructure planning 34 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Unfortunately, this approach is the exception rather than the rule. Green infrastructure today falls short of being a part of urban infrastructure core planning and asset inventory. It lacks provisions for long-term maintenance and management, as is done for other essential services. When I studied architecture and urban planning in Chandigarh, an Indian city designed in 1966 by the famous Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, I realized that cities are like people. They have interlinked systems with dependencies on nature – land, air, and water. Le Corbusier conceived the city as a human body with all these functions, from head to heart, lungs, intellect, circulatory system, and industries. Chandigarh urban planning thus followed principles of major functions: living (sectors), working (governance, institutions), care of body and spirit (valleys, lakes, parks, green spaces, cultural and educational belts) and circulation (main road arteries). Today, resilience is the new sustainability, and adaptation is the new paradigm in urban development. This demands a balance between green and gray infrastructure in a way that integrates communities, nature, and heritage.

Many parts of South Asia, including Mumbai, experienced severe flooding during the 2017 monsoon season, resulting in many deaths and catastrophic damage. One of the primary causes of this tragedy is the loss of green cover and blockage of natural drainage systems in cities. Green infrastructure uses natural processes and local vegetation to manage water, land, temperature, and air quality to create healthier and resilient urban environments. How a city manages this burden, copes with shocks from unavoidable circumstances while

Green infrastructure

The exponential pace of urbanization, along with increased risk from climate change, has increased stress on urban infrastructure. Asian cities today must grapple with increasingly frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change. These include both extreme weather events, such as floods and typhoons, and slow onset changes like sea level rise.

Southern Meghalaya is one of the wettest place on Earth, crisscrossed

maintaining access to services for citizens and businesses is what determines its level of resilience.

Green infrastructure complements civil engineering, emphasizes nature-based solutions

At the town level, green infrastructure refers to the patchwork of natural areas that provide habitat, flood protection, clean air and water, food, and recreation. At the local level, green infrastructure includes stormwater and drainage management systems that mimic nature by soaking and storing water to improve its quality. Green infrastructure complements civil engineering by including natural components and bioengineering methods. It emphasizes nature-based solutions and use of locally available resources and materials. Examples are green roofs and walls, hard and soft permeable surfaces, street furniture, urban forestry, open spaces such as parks, wet-

d by fast flowing rivers and mountain streams.

lands, and green drainage corridors. These types of provisions can absorb shocks during disasters and foster “safe failure” which is not irreversible and causes less harm to life and property. Green infrastructure also includes a wide range of technologies for adapting and complementing buildings and infrastructure (such as roads, irrigation systems, floodgates, and canals) to be more efficient in coping with floods, storms, and extreme heat. It covers natural water management systems, slope stabilization approaches, and energy conservation measures.

Resilient cities

In some cases, green infrastructure can even replace gray infrastructure entirely, as in the root bridges of Meghalaya. A proper balance of grey and green infrastructure is crucial to enhance the coping mechanisms and resilience of cities. This provides flexibility and diversity, enabling the city to function under a wide range of conditions.

Policy makers at the national and local government levels need to recognize green infrastructure and green action plan implementation as a priority. In Chandigarh, for instance, Le Corbusier envisioned the Leisure Valley as a continuum of gardens tending the body and spirit of the city. The eroded valley of a seasonal rivulet on the original site of the city was retained and sculpted into a 8-km linear park that traverses Chandigarh and is designated a nobuild zone. There are similar examples in other cities in Asia and the Pacific.

Time to push green infrastructure as the fabric that binds a town together

Melbourne, Australia has adopted an urban forest strategy to expand its canopy cover to 40 % of the city’s area. Singapore’s master plan emphasizes water management and greenery, collecting every drop of rain through a network of drains, stormwater collection ponds, and reservoirs. Chiang Rai in Thailand is promoting biodiversity conservation as a carbon sink and food supply. It’s time to push green infrastructure as the fabric that binds a town together, connecting people through parks, preserves, riparian areas, wetlands, lakes, streams, ponds, and more. This approach needs resourceful and responsive leadership to promote close collaboration between developers, local planners and communities. Finally, the value of traditional knowledge and community involvement cannot be underestimated. It is imperative to learn through both formal and informal processes, adapt from traditional and acquired knowledge, and to alter strategies based on past experience. If we want our cities to be livable, truly sustainable and resilient, green infrastructure needs to be the foundation for urban planning and development. Institutionalizing green infrastructure is the way to go. (The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Urban Update. The article was first published as an ADB Blog)

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

artcle | Air Pollution

Pollution: loss of face in Davos!

Abhilash Khandekar Sr Journalist

t the time when the best of economic brains of the world were discussing ways and means to improve global economy at Davos in January 2018, a small report, brought out by two American universities was released on the sidelines of the much-hyped World Economic Forum meet. Known as the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), it is released every two years and shows different nations’ performance not in the field of economy but on the environmental front. In the list of 180 countries, shockingly, India has stood at 177th position. In 2016, India occupied 141st slot, meaning she slid down by as many as 36 ranks to be competing with neighbours China and Pakistan--which

36 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

India is on the edge of environmental disaster. Environmental performance Index released on the sidelines of World Economic Forum has put India at 177th position. India has slid 36 ranks in the last two years. This has happened mainly due to air quality all face public health crisis, as per the report. The major reason for this shockingly poor performance at global level was due to deteriorating air quality all across the country and not just in the national capital region (NCR) of New Delhi. Following the EPI release, in February Jeffrey Sachs, head Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York termed Delhi as “ unliveable city “due its catastrophic air pollution and blamed it on lack of clarity in government strategy. The recent (November 2017) global congregation of representatives of governments from over 195 countries and many NGOs, under the annual Conference of Parties (CoP 23) at Bonn in Germany, once again deliberated upon the uphill task of reducing the imminent

rise in global temperatures, controlling carbon release into our atmosphere and how to cope with the other climate change challenges. Unending greed of humankind and consequent processes of industrialisation and a set of commercial activities, coupled with the advent of newer and newer technologies to meet the multi dimensional needs of millions of people are undoubtedly impacting the environment we all live in, as never before. A lot has been said and being written about climate change, as also about water scarcity the world is facing with fast depleting sources of fresh water all across the continents as well as in India. Scholars, researchers, journalists and domain experts are dutifully presenting the grim scenario that we are

going to witness in just a few years from now. Yet, in India, unlike in Israel, for instance, we have not really understood the looming threat of acute water shortages, including for drinking purpose, let alone for other uses such as agriculture and industrial. I say it from my personal experience of saving a huge urban lake-it took me and my colleagues over 20 years--that people still take it for granted that water will continue to be available to them at will and infinitely. Since I work in the field of environment and have witnessed worst spells of air pollution in the national capital, New Delhi in the past few years. But this does not mean pollution levels are crossing their limits only in the mega city of New Delhi or NCR, the home to more than two crore people--rich and poor ! Be it Lucknow or Gwalior, Kanpur or Raipur, Indore or Singrauli-one finds the deadly menace all over. Unfortunately, our official system is not tracking the air quality in a large number of cities and people residing there are equally exposed to toxic air, as they are in New Delhi.

Brief history

Air pollution or smog (smoke laden fog) that we find in 21st century urban world has had its origin in the West where the world first experienced it in worst form in December 1952 in British capital London. British authorities sat up to realise that they are paying the price of wanton industrialisation. Coal was the early villain, as they found out later. Although, Britain had earlier laws relating to smoke and pollution (The Smoke Abetment Act 1853 and 1926), the Great London Smog of 1952 ( there is also a reference available of such an event in 1873) shook the entire world. British empire was the mighty ruler of the world in those times and under the nose of the King and the Queen, the London skyline got blurred and blackened. Besides the world wide humiliation of British powers, the four-day long smog had more disastrous results for everyone to see--the smog killed as many as 4000 people! Elsewhere, in the world, Mexico, Brazil (Sao Paolo) have had their share of

urban air pollution. But in India, urban pollution is a problem of pretty recent origins and has acquired humongous proportions in the past few years with some senior and responsible medical experts in the government sector saying New Delhi’s continued pollution levels kill some approximately 30,000 people annually. It’s a frightening figure for nowhere in the world a capital is filled with toxic air so much. The figures of other cities are not yet available. The Delhi air pollution was so severe that the air quality monitoring machines almost crashed as the particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) levels crossed 1000 mark soon after Diwali festival of 2017, despite a ban order issued by the Supreme Court on sale and purchase of fire crackers a fortnight before Diwali, India’s most celebrated ancient festival. Since air pollution (as also water or food pollution) is a silent and slow killer, people did not pay serious attention to it earlier, though NGOs and doctors have been raising their voice for more than 30 years now. The Environment Ministry formed the Bhurelal committee in 1998 with wide ranging powers but that has also not been able to do much. With the consistent failure of the political and administrative executive wings, the judiciary stepped in and issued orders from time to time for passing of relevant laws to curb pollution. Now the Bharat-6 standard is being made mandatory for automobiles and that’s an encouraging sign. India woke up to water pollution first as it enacted The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution), Act 1974 by which the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the top pollution control authority of the Government of India, governed. In the wake of the Bhopal Gas Disaster of 1984, the new all-encompassing Environment (Protection) Act 1986 was passed to take care of different aspects of environment and a number of rules were framed under it, including one related to building materials in 2016. What was however, very embarrassing for the nation collectively, was the media reports of 2015 when American President Barack Obama had visited

India and had stayed in New Delhi as the chief guest for the Republic Day parade and related functions. The reports in American media suggested that their President may have lost at least six hours of his total lifetime due to inhaling extremely polluted air of New Delhi during his three-day state visit--meaning two hours a day ! The causes of the pollution in Delhi have been identified--automobiles fuels (Delhi has over a crore registered vehicles plying on its roads) to agriculture stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and UP, to the power plants emissions (now the old Badarpur power plant is being closed down) and building construction activities to the rising desertification--all this combines to create and mix small particles of dust and other elements into the air that people inhale. Forest cover loss is also one of the reasons adding to pollution in the atmosphere. These fine particles result in bronchitis and other ailments and take a heavy toll on human life. Awareness campaigns, fuel-efficient automobiles, making easy medical treatment available and searching alternatives for crop burning are still a long way. For a modern country, launching satellites and missiles into the space one after the other, controlling pollution should not have been a problem. Most of the progressive countries have shown us the way. But the problem in India was of strong political will which is now being shown to fix it with stern implementation of existing laws and a new set of measures, scientific and administrative, both. A budgetary announcement in 2018, shows a ray of hope as the issue of crop burning is now being tackled from the top. But the EPI ratings of Davos should actually jolt the policy makers and the executive into taking quick measures to deal with this monster. (The author is an environment practitioner and a political journalist based in New Delhi. He is also founder of The Nature Volunteers (TNV), ‘an informal pressure group of environmentally restless people’, at Indore. He can be contacted at kabhilash59@gmail.com and on Twitter: @ Abhikhandekar1 )

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

Article | Assam Floods

After the flood: reflection of Assam’s post hoc flood condition Assam’s recurrent problems of siltation, erosion and rapid channel aggradation in Upper and Central Assam manifolds the extent of flood damages up to a loss of Rs 1,880 crores on a yearly average (1953-2005) of damage to crops, houses, livestock and public utilities Fizala Tayebulla

ssam, situated at the foothills of eastern Himalayas is also known as the land of red water and blue hills. Bounded by a vast network of major river systems like Brahmaputra (with a drainage area of 194,413 sq.km) and Barak (with a drainage area of 41,723 sq.km) originating from the hills/mountains surrounding the State frames Assam into a highly flood prone region. Its unique topography coupled with widespread anthropogenic factors (deforestation, construction in upstream-downstream areas of the surfaces of major rivers, intense land-use pressure, high population growth) creates colossal flood devastation. The region’s recurrent problems of siltation, erosion and rapid channel aggradation in Upper and Central Assam manifolds the extent of flood damages up to a loss of Rs. 1,880 crores on a yearly average (1953-2005) of damage to crops, houses, livestock and public utilities. (Flood Hazard Atlas for Assam State (1998-2015)- A Geospatial Approach, 2016). The state’s location and geographical features is both a boon in terms of biodiversity richness, lushness (fertility) and natural resources, and a bane, as because of its landscape, Assam can never be completely flood-proofed. Managing flood situation by the State Government of Assam sets in an elaborately planned range of mitigation and management measures im-

38 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

plemented under two levels: structural and non-structural, by the Water Resources Department of Assam. Chief structural measures include construction of Embankments/Floodwalls/ Flood levees, Dams and Reservoirs, Natural Detention Basin, Channel Improvement, Drainage Improvement, Diversion of flood water, Treatment of catchment area/ Afforestation and other Anti-Erosion methods. The nonstructural measures comprise of techniques to mitigate the extent of flood devastation by applying measures like Flood forecasting and warning, Flood Hazard Zoning, Regulation of reservoirs and Flood insurance. The Disaster Management Support Program in place provides digital database to facilitate hazard zonation, information for close contour information for priority areas, communication backbone for addressing real time flood information and facilitates network for exchange of scientific data and knowledge among various bodies. (Handbook for Flood Protection, Anti Erosion and River Training Works, 2012). With the imagination to successfully implement flood protection frameworks and measures, in India, several government bodies and agencies like National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Department of Space, Government of India, come together with the Assam State Disaster Management Authority to monitor, forecast and plan mitigation and manage disaster prone areas in Assam. Moreover, there are frameworks to facilitate realtime hydrological data among neigh-

boring South-Asian countries. Local communities in Assam are not unaccustomed to flood situations as floods wreak havoc in the region every year. As a result of which people have been able to cope and adapt themselves to living in a disaster-prone area by the use of local knowledge garnered over the years. The localized methods of adaptation can be detected in the type of houses built like changghar(Stilt houses), residing on natural or built high raised platforms, agricultural cropping patterns and small-scale farming, investment in riverboats, construction of spurs using driftwood to prevent erosion and accommodating to a lifestyle of minimum non-permanent assets. Moreover, there are a large number of vulnerable communities residing in flood prone areas that have adapted migration as a coping strategy. (Katyaini et al., 2012). More often than not, communities rely on social networks and local knowledge to secure themselves at a disaster prone area. Assam flood makes national news every year for coherent reasons of how it impairs daily life activities and how much damage it brings. Being a native of Assam and having firsthand experience of both urban and rural flood situations, observations of flood impacts have shown substantial vulnerability of local communities (esp.) in rural areas, in terms of loss/disruption of assets and livelihood. Instances of urban residents using inflated water boats in the middle of inundated city road, deaths due to accidental electrocution, loss

of wildlife in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries are some of the regular news reports that surface during flood season. Unfortunately, these reports are consistent every year. While it is understood that the government seemingly has plans in place to tackle flood, it is however unacceptable beyond a point to lose life, property and livelihood to fault in precautionary measures. In Assam, in addition to overflow of river causing flood, considerable lack in infrastructure of drainage system sustains standing flood in inundated areas. While in non-urban areas, failure in flood warning systems and of creation of adequate highland regions for both people and wildlife seem to be a recurrent cause of devastation for many. State flood mitigation strategies have not been able to secure Assam from its recent havoc raising flood just last year (2017). With over 15 lakh people affected and a death toll of over 100, flood affected both people as well as wildlife (count of loss of 389 animals and 228

poultry) equally, especially in biodiversity rich areas like Kaziranga National Park. Over 3,90,000 hectares of agricultural farms were inundated across Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Chirang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Jorhat, and Cachar districts. Damage to life and property has been accounted to be significantly enormous. Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) provisioned 954 relief camps providing shelter to a total of 4,51,846 people. However, most people had to seek shelter on high grounds (setting camps on National Highways) by themselves. Rainfall and flooding are transboundary national issues of every country. As rainfall in upstream may contribute to aggravated flooding in the downstream with heightened increase in water flow. Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flood forecasting and warning system appends framework of cooperation with neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. Flood related information and hydro-meteorological data in respect

to select sites are exchanged bilaterally under point-to-point communication throughout the year, particularly more frequently during flood season in real time. China shares water flow information of the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers with India during monsoon as a part of bilateral ties. The hydrological data helps understanding water level downstream. However, it is reported by Ministry of External Affairs that in 2017 India did not receive any information from China. While it is true that the deluge situation in Assam cannot be absolutely ameliorated, experts believe there are a few measures that could help reduce destruction to considerable extent. Himanshu Thakkar, water activist and coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People proposes that admeasurements toward rejuvenation of wetlands, reconstruction of embankments and decentralised weather forecast could go a long way for Assamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intrinsic flood problem.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

Article | Climate Resilience

Informal Cities and Climate Resilience: building an inclusive approach Climate change has brought in a unique and complex challenge for cities across the world. While they have to accommodate the millions of immigrants from rural areas because of failures of crops and other livelihood avenues there, their fight against climate change faces immense challenges because most of these immigrants have to live in informal settlements and depend on informal economies and hence remain highly vulnerable to such impacts

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India

t is estimated that about one billion of urban dwellers across the world live in informal settlements often deprived of ‘risk reducing’ infrastructure and services, especially in the low and middle income countries. This is according to a paper prepared by the International Institute for Environment and Development for the IPCC Cities and Climate Change Science Conference, held in the first week of March at Edmonton. The IPCC, in its Fifth Assessment has defined such ‘risk reducing’ infrastructure. Most of these informal settlers come from outside and settle in the vicinity of the urban areas, in shanty locations or slums, and provide various services to the better off urban population. However, their economy is informal and their poverty deprives them of proper housing and other basic amenities. They remain out of the conventional urban infrastructure which are sup-

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posed to be more climate resilient than informal infrastructures. The paper argues, and rightly so, these settlements are more vulnerable to risks associated with climate change impacts. “Many of them are on land sites at high risk from flooding and landslides; these sites are chosen by their residents because they are less likely to be evicted as the land is unattractive to developers”, says this paper. Further, they have poor quality of housing and live with high levels of risk from infectious and parasitic diseases, accidental fires and natural hazards and pollution.

Cities and climate change impacts

Cities in both the developed and developing economies are starting to realise the multiple devastating impacts they are facing due to climate change. A study by CDP, a London based NGO, had found in 2014 that more than two thirds of the cities reported climate change as a major threat to the cities and their businesses. That’s important to note as the cities generate more than 80 per cent of the global GDP and consume more than two thirds of the world’s energy. What is important to note is that cities only occupy 2 per cent of global land and produce a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions and consume more resources than needed. With the kind of environmental impacts the cities themselves create,

we are not sure they would be sustainable anywhere in the near future. A UN report of 2014 said that 54 per cent of the world’s population lived in urban areas at that time. This is supposed to increase to 66 per cent by the year 2050. Projections show that urbanisation combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban populations by 2050, with close to 90 percent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa, according to this UN report. In the CDP survey, most serious problems that the cities anticipated included damage to property and capital, impacts on the residents and employees, availability of raw materials, and the capacity of city infrastructure to deal with the changes. The cities predicted that by 2030 they would be risking assets worth 4 trillion US dollars due to climate change. The concern for us therefore is to see how the informal settlements, which will grow the fastest among all projected populations, will have more vulnerabilities due to climate change unless cities plan out major measures towards both adaptation and mitigation.

Big infrastructural challenge

Informal settlements in cities of the developing world fare very poor under the ‘risk reducing’ infrastructure parameters of the IPCC. That’s the

reason the people, mostly urban poor, living in those settlements have the least resilience to climate change impacts. According to the IIED report, for infrastructure, this lack of provision includes no paved roads and paths to each dwelling, no regular, good quality water piped to homes, inadequate or no provision for sanitation, waste water disposal, electricity, street lights and storm and surface drains. For services, this includes a lack of health care, emergency services, household waste collection and policing. The informal settlers of cities suffer all the above infrastructural and service issues. A little more detail only about water and sanitation would make this evident. According to UN estimates, while more than 700 million urban inhabitants, mostly in low and middle income countries, don’t have safely managed water; more than double of them – a whopping 1.6 billion - lack access to safely managed sanitation. This makes them vulnerable to unsafe and contaminated water and unhygienic sanitation systems which get further aggravated by climate change. Take for example the increased episodes of floods, cyclones and droughts due to climate change. The people in the low lying lands and those with poor services will be impacted first and the most.

Building inclusive infrastructure

Cities are now being urged to lead the climate action from the front. An assessment of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) done by the UN-Habitat found out in 2016 that almost over two-thirds of the countries included urban climate action as part of their national pledges. In fact, many cities are already taking steps to build climate resilience. However, the informal cities, that are growing the fastest, seem to be falling off the map of climate actions for various reasons. And they will continue to do so, if the ‘risk reducing’ capability of the basic infrastructure are not incorporated and supported in the urban climate action plans. For local and city governments, there is urgent need to identify these

vulnerabilities and strategize actions to make them climate resilient. Among the top challenges, that the IIED paper highlights, legal entitlement of properties comes in way of the city planners in many places while making permanent provisions. Ensuring housing has to be the first priority and along with that all other infrastructure and services be integrated in a phased manner.

The India scenario

In fact, many governments are already looking into these aspects. Take for example the Govt. of India and many state governments who have taken up various ambitious targets of building proper housing for all in urban areas and other infrastructure including water, toilets and wastewater management under various schemes. Most of these schemes are not being implemented as part of the climate action of the nation, will nonetheless contribute towards building climate resilience of the cities covering that of the informal settlements. However, the progress of most of these schemes has to be monitored and accelerated in transparent ways with complete involvement of the communities, which is not happening at the moment. A parliamentary panel has just pulled up the housing and urban affairs ministry of Govt. of India for poor utilisation of resources allocated to it for

most of the flagship programmes that could help urban poor build climate resilience. In a report, the parliamentary committee on housing and urban affairs, has said that, “as against a total fund allocation of Rs 48,548 crore for the six flagship programmes viz. AMRUT, HRIDAY, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat, National Urban Livelihood Mission and PM Awas Yojna, the actual utilisation is only 21.6%, ie. Rs 7851 crore out of Rs 36194 crore released since the launch of these schemes.” This means the urban ministry has only been able to spend a meagre one-fifth of funds allocated to it for all these schemes since beginning. There is need for reorienting the way urban infrastructure is being funded and schemes being implemented. The cities should have more say in the same and city governments as well as people – most importantly the poor and vulnerable – should be taken on board for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation – almost all phases of the infrastructure building and thereafter in the process of service provisioning. Some schemes also need to be modified to tune with the NDC of India. Most of them are not talking about ‘green and natural infrastructure.’ That’s a big lacking which needs to be corrected without any further delay if cities want to be climate resilient in the real sense.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

VELO-CITY | Allahabad

Ganga, Yamuna & invisible Saraswati

Sangam of history, culture & literature: Allahabad The social and religious reform movements of the 19th century gathered roots in Allahabad. The city became an epicenter of our national freedom struggle led by Gandhi & Nehru. Chandrashekhar Azad embraced martyrdom in the Company Bagh here. Progressive movement in literature was germinated in its cosmopolitan and composite cultural milieu. After independence, Allahabad has been home to a lot of cultural & literary movements. Hindi and Urdu have flourished equally in the city’s literary environment Kumar Dhananjay | Consulting Editor

strong sense of religiocultural identity still defines the city of Allahabad. Its history has been studied many a time and still fascinates people. It’s a mixture of history, religion and strong literary tradition that attracts people to this fantastic place. And it’s no surprise that the city has made a place for itself on the world’s tourist map. As per the 2011 census, Allahabad is the seventh most populous city in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Its population was more than twelve lakh. It’s numbered at thirty sixth most populous city in the country. On the livability index it was ranked third in the state and twenty-ninth in the country. The city has a number of colleges, research institutions and the iconic Allahabad University that attracts students not only from across the state but from other parts of the country. These students make the city look young and provide much needed vibrancy. You find these students spread across the city. Before I proceed to modern day Allahabad lets briefly look at its history and thus significance.

42 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

The history

In ancient times the city was known as Prayag. The present day Jhunsi area that is very close to Sangam was the kingdom of Chandrabanshiya King Pururava. Under the rule of Vatsa and Maurya nearby Kaushambi prospered. The Chinese traveller Huan Tsang in 643 BC found Prayag inhabited by many Hindus who considered it a holy place. In 1575

Akbar founded the city by name of ‘ILLAHABAS’ which is now known as Allahabad. In 1801 Nawab of Oudh ceded the city to the British. The city was epicentre during the first war of independence in 1857. It was here at Minto Park that the East India Company officially handed India over to British Empire. In 1868 Allahabad High Court was established and became a seat of justice. This

city was the heart of the Indian Freedom Movement against the British rule with Anand Bhawan being the epicentre. It was in Allahabad that Mahatma Gandhi proposed his program of non-violent resistance to liberate India. Allahabad has provided the largest number of prime ministers of Post-independence India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and V.P.Singh. Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar was a student of Allahabad University.

Literature and Culture

From the days of early civilization, Allahabad has been a seat of learning, wisdom and writing. It is the most vibrant politically and spiritually conscious and awakened city of India. The ancient Sangam status of Allahabad as exemplified in the Magh & Kumbhmelas underwent a transformation in medieval times when it also became a home to almost all the sufi and bhakti sects, ganga-jamuni tahzeeb and a syncretic social order. Allahabad played a major role in the anti-imperialist first war of Indian Independence (1857) under the leadership of Maulavi Liaquat Ali. Professor Pranay Krishna Shrivastava, a litterateur at the department

of Hindi, Allahabad University says “The social and religious reform movements of 19th century also gathered roots in Allahabad. Allahabad became an epicenter of our national freedom struggle led by Gandhi & Nehru. Chandrashekhar Azad embraced martyrdom in the Company Bagh of Allahabad. Progressive movement in literature was germinated in the cosmopolitan and composite cultural milieu of Allahabad. After independence, Allahabad has been home to a lot of cultural & literary movements. Nirala, Mahadevi & Pant of Chhayavaad movement decided to make Allahabad their home. The literary movements of ‘nayikavita’ and ‘nayikahani’ flourished in Allahabad. Novelists and short story writers such as Amrit Rai, Shreepat Rai, UpendraNath ‘Ashk’, Bhairav Prasad Gupta, Markandeya, Shekhar Joshi, Amarkant, Doodhnath Singh, Ravinndra Kalia & Manta Kalia came from different parts of the country and settled at Allahabad. In Urdu literature, doyens such as Aqbar Allahabadi, Aihtesham Hussian, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Saiyyad Aqeel Rizvi, Shamsurrahman Farooqui constitute the literary glory of Allahabad. The similar sentiments are expressed by Professor Ali Ahmad Fatmi of Urdu department of Allahabad University. He says that history and character of Allahabad have been very ‘sufiyana and fakirana’. He says that city was known as the confluence of two rivers. The tradition of ‘gyan and dhyan’ attracted Muslims too and a lot of sufi saints came here. He brings forth a very interesting fact that sufis and sadhus alike were against the establishment. It gave rise to a culture of rebellion here. He says “all these put together made the place centre of culture and literature;initially of Hindi and later of Urdu too. Allahabad has been a centre of sufiyanaghazal singing. It formed the character of literature here. Literature and poetry of protest, sufiyana poetry has been a tradition here. The poets of Allahabad took part in freedom movement actively. Progressive writers association was established here. This tradition continues till today”. While the city has produced many

great writers and literary figures, Firaq Gorakhpuri is said to be the most eccentric of them. Though there are many interesting tales about him we must mention one that involved Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Once Nehru was speaking in the Senate Hall of Allahabad University. Ramesh Chandra Dwivedi who was present there writes ‘Nehru often in his speeches used to mention historical facts. The moment Nehru finished his speech famous historian Doctor Ishwari Prasad stood up and told him that he has mentioned the year of an event wrong. Firaq could not take it. He stood up and said ‘sit down Ishwari, you are a crammer of history and he is a creator of history’. Every afternoon he would go to coffee house and people there would gather around him. He would express his opinion on everything. Coffee house in those days used to be den of intellectuals. At times he would pick up a fight during the conversation but lot of people used to come only to listen to him.

Changing with times

When urbanisation is rapidly taking place the city also cannot remain untouched. A fact that is not going down well with the old timers. They say that in the country and also in the world things are changing very fast. Market has spread its wings and consumer culture is rampant. Prof Fatmi says “in this scenario how can Allahabad remain untouched. Now even books and thoughts are being marketed. On top of that party politics has contributed immensely to the situation city finds itself in today. But still there is hope as the literary culture of this city is still vibrant. Even today entire politics is discussed and debated in the coffee house which is not there even in Lucknow or Delhi”. While old timers are still hopeful,the picture is not that rosy. Built structure and urban forms are not only increasing in numbers but also changing the urban fabric. In sharp contrast encroachment in open spaces is leading to haphazard development while regulated development of new city promotes planned urbanisation.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

BOOK REVIEW | GOOD READS

Abhilash Khandekar | Sr Journalist

igers may be living in the jungles but there is a considerable interest in urban India for the lovely predator. Most of the Indian and foreign tourists visit tiger reserves (India has 50 tiger reserves) and they host world’s largest tiger population. Tigers are India’s pride from any which way you look at them. Firstly, they are magnificent creatures of the wild, second they head the food chain and then globally speaking, India is the largest and safest home to this rare species of big cat. India today has close to 2250 (2226 last census) tigers in the wild. The foreign tourists have long been interested in them and have been visiting different tiger reserves since decades. No surprise then that they are labelled as the ‘brand ambassadors’ of Indian wildlife. The latest entrant to the exclusive club of tiger lovers is the new generation photographers and writers who are frequenting the wild jungles of India in search of this shy and elusive big cat. Not that tiger was not written about earlier but books were limited and were being written by either retired forest officials or handful of experts like Ramesh Bedi or Ranjit Sinh or the prolific writer Valmik Thapar. Of course, some foreigners such as George Schaller (The deer and the tiger), EP Gee (The wild life of India) and the world famous Jim Corbett (Why tigers become man-eaters) have contributed to the original and early literature on tiger, there is no dearth of talented newcomers to the trade in the past few decades.

44 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Tigers: India’s brand ambassadors The book I am reviewing for Urban Update readers for the current issue is done by a relatively lesser known photographer-writer Shivang Mehta (I mean he is not among the Bedis of India) who can not be put in the category of the above mentioned Indian and foreign tiger experts or writers or, photographers. But that is surely not to take away the credit of the journalist turned travel writer and nature lover of some repute. He is quite talented. He has brought out a splendid pictorial book focussing on

iconic tigers of a few chosen national parks. The coffee table book is indeed a collector’s item for anyone, even distantly related to our forests or wildlife. Though not text-heavy, this book has a unique mix of beautiful images from Bandhavgarh and Pench (MP), Ranthambhore (Rajasthan), Tadoba (Maharashtra), and Corbett in Uttarakhand with a running text giving the author’s varied experiences of ‘shooting’ the big predators with his high end cameras. Tigress like Badi Maa’s daughter,

the celebrity tigress ‘Collarwali’ of Pench (with 26 cubs, she was regarded by Guinness Book as the most productive wild tiger mother in the world) or Panderpauni female (of the many Queens of Vidarbha, as the author calls them, or Noor ( T-39) or Kalua, Gayatri (T-22) or T-60 and Sultan and other very well known rulers of Ranthambhore tiger reserve (like Machali-T-16) have been dealt with a great interest by the author. Their lesser known stories have been absorbingly woven in this book along with many stunning pictures of the animal. It’s indeed a great joy to flip through the glossy pages to see tiny Cubs, playful mothers and ferocious males and read about them. Shivang Mehta has covered a period of 10 years during which he has criss-crossed these jungles with his expensive Canon camera units fitted with some rare lenses that have captured for the readers extra-ordinary images of India’s national animal under wonderful sylvan settings of different forests. The descriptions of tigers and tigresses is fabulous and shows that the author has not just

Book A Decade with Tigers Author Shivang Mehta Publisher Niyogi books Pages 360 Price Rs 1750/Recommendation Buy for your personal library!

Good

Reads

worked with his shutter speed and watchful eyes but has also dug into history well. See for example, what Mehta writes about a Ranthambhore tigress: “Barely a month after her cubs were seen for the first time, Krishna’s fourth cub went missing. It was assumed that the young cub went down to a crocodile as the family was once seen crossing the Rajbaghlake. Krishna was an astute hunter and possessed the capability to bring down large prey. Unlike her sister Sundari, her success rate when it came to large prey like sambar, spotted deer stags, and wild boars, was much better. Her experience as a mother was an added advantage. Krishna had all the makings of a great tiger mother, capable of providing the required protection, nourishment and training to the young cubs”. Understanding tiger, his behaviour and capturing its images in different jungles is not an easy task. For a tourist, it makes no difference which tiger or tigress he or she may have seen but consistently chasing a particular animal, season after season, keeping track of the family and as cubs grow into formidable males or tigresses giving birth to beautiful small cubs require a high degree of patience and perseverance which Mehta has shown while producing this kind of a book. “Water dripped from all parts of my camera as well as from the tiger’s body as we both got drenched in downpour and I saw the Collarwali who called for her cubs hiding in the thick lantana foliage.....it was a unique photographic moment that made me pull out my cameras even in the heavy rains”, he writes at one place to describe the difficulty of a lensman. It’s not that the author has only given portraits and life sketches of these heroes and heroines who draw large crowds into the famed jungles and are a kind of money spinner for tiger reserves but he has also dealt with the types of forests and other “denizens of the tiger kingdom” like elephants or the swamp deer for which Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha tiger reserve is so famous world wide.

Kanha is among the best maintained nature reserves which is, besides the tiger, the hard ground Barasingha has a secured home. “ The early morning mist in forests like Kanha, Kaziranga and Corbett is distinctly different from that of the swampy mangroves of Sunderbans. The colourful sal leaves and mahua blooms of Bandhavgarh are unique; as are Asiatic elephants bathing merrily in the shining blue waters of the Ramganga in Corbett. The Indian one-horned rhino in the grasslands of Dudhwaand Kaziranga complements the black panther, a character straight out of The Jungle Book, but a rarity in the forests of Western Ghats and Central India, the author says. Although Shivang Mehta has travelled the length and breadth of tiger landscapes, his first love remains the Corbett and the forests of Kumaon. Interestingly, the book has come out in the market at a time the new scientific estimation and monitoring process has just begun across 50 tiger reserves in India and also, outside it. Those who want to know how tigers live in dense forests, how their families are raised, how the females take care of the cubs, how they earmark their territories and protect the little ones from any other predator, which are the main cohabitants of tigers, they should buy this book which makes light and interesting reading. The story telling is quite impressive for a beginner to take interest in tigers and tourism. The book, I am sure, has potential of turning a lay reader into a tiger lover and a protector of nature. Mehta is a former PR professional and not a tiger expert of the category of Rajesh Gopal or Thapar or Ullas Karanth nor is he a certified biologist from the WII, but his excellent camera work has shown that a ‘new tiger’ has arrived in the ‘jungle’ and has clearly demarcated his own territory. So, beware of this skilled gentleman because landscape of tiger photography in India is changing... follow him wherever he goes in the dense forests in search of the King and Queens!

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2018

URBAN AGENDA | World Urban Forum9

New Urban Agenda: Is there a Ray of Hope?

stablished in 2001 by the United Nations the World Urban Forum (WUF) is the world’s most important body to deliberate on urban issues. It discusses the most pressing issue confronting the world today that is rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. The forum is convened by UN Habitat and is one of the most open gatherings to share and exchange views on urban challenges. The forum set off with the objective of raising awareness about sustainable development among all stake holders including the general public. It also seeks to enhance collective knowledge of sustainable urban development and exchange of best practices and good policies. Last but not the least it intends to increase coordination and cooperation between stakeholders for implementation of sustainable urbanization. It is in this context that the World Urban Forum held at Kuala Lumpur in the month of February must be seen. Twenty five thousand participants from hundred and ninety three countries participated in the forum. The forum followed the ‘New Urban Agenda’ adopted by all 193 countries in October 2016 at UN Habitat III conference. But the hard part is the question of implementation and that is why the forum at Kuala Lumpur is important as it was the first since the adoption of the New Urban Agenda and first to take up the specifics of its implementation. No doubt, obstacles are daunting. It’s business as usual at many places; yet we can see that there is ‘good news’ about reaping the benefits of urbanisation, be it improvement in health care, more opportunities for women, better access to services, better resources for human development and so on and so forth. The problem is that these benefits

46 March 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

are not well distributed and that is the biggest challenge. What we need to do is create a form of urbanization that is equitable and must deliver on the promise of cities for all. Statistics reveal that at the present rate world urban population will more than double in the next forty years. That is an unmatched rate of urbanization. It will require the best infrastructure that has ever been created in the history of mankind. At present the sprawl of our cities is fragmented, not fit for walk, hugely resource intensive and car dependent, affecting largely the poor, the aged and the children. Resources are depleting, climate change is an ominous threat and there are other human challenges. It cannot be ‘business as usual’. But World Urban Forum threw up some hopeful trends. And New Urban Agenda is evidence of that. The international community needs to seize the opportunity. We need to change the nature of cities from a place where jobs are to creative engines of human development. We need to leave behind the profit oriented model of development to more sustainable model of 21st century urbanization which is more in tune with human needs and natural complexities. In the words of just retired head of UN Habitat Dr. Joan Clos “we now have a landmark agreement by 193 countries to move in a new direction- a new paradigm”. One can hope this ‘new paradigm’ can be achieved with New Urban Agenda. We are still struggling on multiple fronts like resource depletion, climate change, inequality, geopolitical instability and other issues. We need to move away from ‘business as usual’ and look more deeply to avert the dangers staring at mankind. We cannot wish away cities and towns and look for solutions elsewhere. They are there to stay. Hopefully the New Urban Agenda will throw up the answers

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor bhau1008@gmail.com

Organiser

Co-Organiser

South Asian Cities Summit

New Urban Agenda & Localising SDGs

May 4-5, 2018 India Habitat Centre New Delhi

Contact us AIILSG, Bharat Ratna Sardar VallabhBhai Patel Bhawan, D- 22-23 Institutional Area, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058 Phone: +91-011-28525465, 28521783

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