Urban Update March 2022

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VII, Issue XI

March 2022

Thinking

Cities Anew

How to make Indian cities ‘AatmaNirbhar’

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

AIILSG The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Magazines & Journals

Energy Efficiency

AMRUT Knowledge Management

Seminars

Project Management Customised Training

Sustainable Development Goals

Policy Research

Advisory Services

Swachh Bharat Mission

ECBC

Smart City Mission Capacity Building

Skill Development

All India Institute of Local Self-Government No. 6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, TPS Road-12, Bandra-East, Mumbai-400051, Maharashtra Tel.No.: +91-22-26571713, 26571714, 61805600, Fax: +91-22-26572115, Email: contact@aiilsg.org

Quality is just one of our strengths

AIILSG has begun skill development programmes in Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The institute with its 90+ years of experience in the field of capacity building would impart training to youth living in rural areas of these two states to make them employable in various emerging sectorsApparel, Beauty & Wellness, Electronics, Healthcare, IT-ITEs, and Renewable Energy.

As per Mou singed, AIILSG will train 16,000 youngsters.

AIILSG is committed to build empowered India with skilled human workforce For Details, email at delhi@aiilsg.org

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG. Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Dr Jairaj Phatak Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor Hitesh Nigam Ayesha Saeed Reporters

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Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Pooja Upadhyay Trainee Reporter

UrbanUpdate

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384 Volume VII, Issue X

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VII, Issue IX

Arjun Singh Digital Marketing Associate

Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

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Volume VII, Issue XI

March 2022

THINkINg

January 2022

JJM will strengthen roots of local self-governance

Cities need strong local leadership

CITIes ANew

Key Trends To sTeer Urban sTory in

Meenakshi Rajput Senior Graphic Designer Volume VII - Issue XI

UrbanUpdate

February 2022

How to make Indian cities ‘AatmaNirbhar’ How ‘Pink City’ coloured lives during COVID-19 pandemic

Cities must tap local wisdom to solve complex issues: Rathi AIILSG

European Union

AIILSG

European Union

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

AIILSG The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

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European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

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The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Editorial

Dr Jairaj Phatak Editor-In-Chief | dg@aiilsg.org

Safety first, always slew of announcements recently in Parliament by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways bring the focus back on the very important subject of road safety in India. He put the matter in perspective by stating that India has among the highest road accidents in the world with total cases at five lakhs annually. These result in about 1.50 lakh deaths and about 3 lakh disabilities. The matter is therefore of extreme urgency and calls for all round measures. The Minister announced that now the provision of six airbags would be mandatory in all motor cars in India.

The focus on improving safety features of vehicles is indeed a welcome step. While there are initial reports of some vehicle manufacturers expressing concern over the cost impact, the step must be considered positive in the interests of road safety. At the same time, there is need to look at some other reasons for the poor safety record of Indian roads. Among them is the near total disregard for regulations by Indian road users. Two-wheeler rider without helmet is a common sight both in our cities and on highways. In most countries this is unthinkable. Wrong side driving has become commonplace; this has grave risks not only for the offender but other road users too.

There are many other driver related violations that need to be punished. And then there are vehicle related violations. Non-functional headlamps, tail lamps, turn signal indicators and windshield wipers are common ones that have serious implications for road safety.

Agencies entrusted with operation/maintenance of highways and other roads also need to play their role in enhancing road safety. Apart from the condition of the roads itself, other things matter. Signboards and other road furniture are sometimes in bad condition with the messages lost or illegible. How often have we seen posters stuck on such signboards defeating the very purpose they were put up for and in the process endangering lives? Speed limits are sometimes confusing or impracticable.

Going beyond road safety, we must inculcate a culture of safety in all we do – in our homes, at the workplace, on the streets, on the playfield, everywhere. And such a culture has to be imbibed by all from a young age. Many schools include road safety classes – theory and practical - in their teaching efforts. Surely informed children can influence behaviour of their parents and other family members. As we have seen with the Swachh Bharat mission.

Our urban local bodies are doing their bit by creating traffic parks in our cities where children visit and get familiar with traffic regulations, signages, etc. These efforts could be intensified and extended to areas beyond road safety – areas like fire safety, electrical safety, food safety, and so on. They could collaborate with organizations such as the National Safety Council which works in all these areas. Concern for safety will ingrain in us a culture of compliance. This can then help build future generations of responsible, law-abiding, safety-conscious citizens.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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QUOTES

BUZZ

PIN POINT

Connect4Climate @Connect4Climate

Providing women with access to finance is especially crucial. Both financial and nonfinancial barriers, from collateral requirements to discriminatory norms about women borrowers, have hurt women’s access to date, which diminishes their ability to cope with climate change Mafalda Duarte CEO, Climate Investment Funds

Migration, whether internal or international, responds to #ClimateChange. As governments think about investments in climate-resilient #infrastructure, country context is important in choosing the location of public infrastructure

Amina J Mohammed Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations

The recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be driven by a zero-sum game of economy versus environment, of health versus economy or us versus them. This is a pivotal moment to co-create more inclusive and sustainable future for all Achim Steiner Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

@AminaJMohammed

Our Common Agenda aims to provide an effective booster to help countries recover lost ground, address gaps, and deal with new needs that have emerged during the pandemic to achieve the SDGs

Anil Dasgupta

President & CEO, World

Resources Institute

When we invest in nature & we integrate that into climate strategy, into infrastructure standards, into building codes & into planning guidelines, then we make the difference

Inger Anderson Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme

Urban TRIVIA 6

March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

United Nations @AnilDasguptaWRI

The electric vehicle revolution is underway. But we must build on this momentum for a world where cities are compact and connected, and public transit is preferred over cars

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi was officially established on April 7, 1958 as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957. The Delhi Town Hall at Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi was the seat of Delhi Municipal Committee (later named as MCD) from 1866 till late 2009, when offices shifted to the new MCD Civic Centre on Minto Road in Central Delhi

content

Inside

Leaderspeak

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How to make Indian cities ‘AatmaNirbhar’

Volume 7, Issue 11

Articles

March 2022

Numerograph

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Shifting Priorities of Cities

One on One

Shikha Shah, Founder of Scrapshala 40 Scrapshala: Giving life to waste

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Thinking Cities Anew

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Alternatives for Secure Adaptation & Mitigation Strategies

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Electric Vehicles: Driving India towards sustainable mobility

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Shifting focus of cities to sustainable infrastructure Asia’s Cities Need Quality Public Transport Focus Climate Finance on Results

E Dialogue

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Used Beverage Cartons: Experts discuss ways to manage waste

Regulars

6 8

Pin Point Girl Power Project

11 17

Newscan

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Urban Agenda

City Image

www.urbanupdate.in | January 2022

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GIRL POWER Project

Capacitating CSOs for promoting women entrepreneurship TEAM GIRL POWER

W

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

omen empowerment is the key to achieve multidimensional, multifaceted, and multi-layered progress in a region. Developing entrepreneurship and making them financially independent are feasible solutions for empowering rural Indian women. Suitable enterprises for women will not only enable them to get better income, but to make them economically self-reliant. Around 80 per cent of the rural population in Jharkhand is dependent on the agricultural sector for their livelihood.

The effective literacy rate in the Census 2011 of Jharkhand was 67.63 per cent with corresponding figures for males and females being 78.45 and 56.21, respectively. Moreover, at least 10 districts were below 50 per cent. It is estimated that 56 per cent of women, aged 15 to 24, are neither engaged in education, nor training or employment.

Due to lack of female education, it is

estimated that beyond schooling, only 8 per cent of girls participate in some kind of training and only 0.1 per cent secure a vocational training diploma. The state has low level of success in creating women-based social entrepreneurship due to various reasons. Firstly, lack of education has been a major barrier.

Secondly, there is a shortage of supportive ecosystems that can help women to become social entrepreneurs.

Most community-based organisations and civil society organisations (CSO), working on a right-based approach, focus on getting employment instead of instilling a sense of entrepreneurship.

The Girl Power project aims at capacity development of women beneficiaries turned entrepreneurs to contribute towards the benefit and well-being of their families. It tries to enhance the purchasing power, decision making, and dignity of women. The project strongly believes in the transformative approach for economic empowerment in new market conditions, while empowering women to adopt differential roles and internalise and manage the competition in the market. It is imperative to realise that training and handholding in women’s microenterprise promotion would need to address life-cycle issues that are cross-cutting along a spectrum of women’s market engagement because they affect women’s confidence and motivation, ultimately impacting sustainability of women’s empowerment through enterprise. It is necessary for gender sensitive-responsive women enterprise promotion. To promote social entrepreneurship among women and girls, CSOs may act as catalyst.

Therefore, strengthening the ability of Indian civil society and its organisations to perform their role as independent agents of change, implementing actions that bring transformative change into the lives of women and girls is imperative. One of the distinctive components of the Girl Power Project which is funded by the European Union and implemented by All India Institute of Local Self Government in Jharkhand is capacitating the CSOs. Improvement and recognition of their work in the local area of operation

related to skill building for women and girls will have more impact on women empowerment. This project will create a network of CSOs and women, which will act as a support base for fostering rights to women and girls in Jharkhand, specifically to create women social entrepreneurship. Further, likeminded network of CSOs and women social entrepreneurs will be helpful in order to foster a positive support base for women social entrepreneurs. The project aims to establish 1000 women and girl entrepreneurs through support centres to be established in CSOs’ area of work. They will be pioneers for the entrepreneurial activities in their districts.

To achieve the objective, the project team has established Jharkhand Mahila Social Entrepreneurship Market Connect (JMSEMC) in Upper Bazar, Ranchi, which was inaugurated by Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG Delhi. JMSEMC office will act as an innovative nodal centre and a single point window for women and CSOs across the state to connect with the prospective buyers.

It will serve as an information hub for all buyers, sellers, stakeholders, and all concerned department authorities.

Further, JMSEMC will work towards providing end to end services to the women entrepreneurs in the supply chain of the products. Following are its features: ♦♦ Information & Knowledge Centre: JMSEMC will have a knowledge base on the technical aspects of the product as well as information related to expansion, financial and registration of enterprises. ♦♦ Training & Certifications: For building skills, various courses will be offered in which women can get enrolled. Assistance in product certifications will also be worked at JMSEMC. ♦♦ Pool of entrepreneurs: Each entrepreneur will have a separate profile of their enterprises and the services they can offer. This will be an open source which can be accessed by anyone. ♦♦ Forward Linkage: The major aim

of JMSEMC is to outreach the potential products to its customers.

The entrepreneurs will be brought under one umbrella through creation of a brand and promoting the brand. Vendor identification will be done for the potential products, and the database will be prepared for the same. ♦♦ Employment Generation: Building skills of women will open the gateway towards the new opportunities for them as a result engaging themselves in any kind of entrepreneurial/ job activities hence generating employment.

On February 21, 2022, a meeting with the CSOs/ service providers was organised at Vishweshvaraiya Institute of Sanitation and Water Academy (VISWA) in presence of Pashim Tewari, Technical Director, AIILSG Delhi and Dr R.K Gupta, Project Director, Girl Power Project. Several activities which include capacity building training of beneficiaries were discussed with the CSOs. Anita Hembrom, Secretary, Caring and Sharing Foundation; S N Singh, Secretary, Center for Entrepreneurship; and Neelam Besra, Secretary, Jharkhand Mahila Utthan shared the challenges that the women and girls are facing on field, and how the women entrepreneurs already involved in production of particular product are unable to sell the products in time due to lack of proper marketing strategies.

Pashim Tewari also suggested that women can form cooperative in order to sell their products under one brand.

Training of the identified products

will be provided to the women beneficiaries after which the products prepared by the women entrepreneurs will be displayed on the web portal developed by the team to help in marketing of the products. The web portal to undertake three tasks: ♦♦ E-commerce platform: where all the finished products of different nature developed by women entrepreneurs will be displayed ♦♦ Certification course: Women and girls of the state can enrol for specific courses ♦♦ Job portal: It will contain the database of women trained for manufacturing various products The Girl Power team will also explore online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart for marketing of products prepared by women beneficiaries/ entrepreneurs so that there is no geographical barrier and restrictions in selling their marketable products.

CSO members will also share the fast marketing strategy in detail with women beneficiaries as some of the products may have high risk as they are perishable in nature like mushroom, vegetables while some have low risk and are long lasting like lac and bamboo products. Also, they will be sharing the pricing strategy criteria, packaging, and branding and profit percentage to sell products in the market.

The women beneficiaries will be prepared in such a way that they should be capable of supplying the products regularly to the customers so that the buyer’s interest will not shift to other sellers.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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AIILSG Diary

Opening of Aiilsg’s Orchids International School at Mulund, Mumbai 1 4 2 5 1.

Ranjit Chavan Learning Centre, Orchids International School of AIILSG

2.

Ranjit Chavan, President, AIILSG, delivering his speech

3.

Lighting of the traditional lamp by the dignitaries during the ceremony

4.

From left to right- Dr Jairaj Phatak, IAS (Retd.), Ranjit S Chavan, AN Shetty, Hansa Patel, Dr Sneha Palnitkar, three officers of K12, Amit Biswas, Ramesh

3 The inaugural function of AIILSG’s Orchids International School was held on Saturday, 5th March 2022 at Gavanpada, Mulund (East).

The building complex is named ‘RanjitChavan Learning Centre’ to recognize the exceptional contributions of Ranjit S Chavan towards the growth of the Institute which has scaled new heights under his leadership. He has been associated with the institute for over forty years.

Chavan has been instrumental in establishing several new regional centres and many specialized

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Patel, Shekhar Naik 5.

Ranjit Chavan performing the Vastu Shanti Puja

institutions across the length and breadth of the country. In addition, under his visionary leadership the Institute has made a name for itself in the international sphere.

After welcoming and felicitating the dignitaries, Vastu Shanti Puja was performed. Dr Jairaj Phatak, Director General, AIILSG; Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG; Dr Sneha Palnitkar, Director, WMRC, and Devarshi Pandya, CFO remained present during the ceremony. Other senior staff members of AIILSG including A N Shetty, Shekhar Naik,

and Amit Biswas were present. A few representatives of the K 12 Group also graced the occasion.

Inaugurating the School building complex, Chavan in his address, spoke about the genesis of this new venture which has been envisaged to benefit society at large by imparting quality education. He said that by following the tradition of dedication and service at AIILSG, the startingof a new international school to impart stateof-the-art education in this suburb of Mumbai is a significant achievement and a matter of pride.

NEWSCAN India’s unemployment rate falls to 6.57% The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) informed that India’s unemployment rate has witnessed a sharp decline to 6.57 per cent in January. The rate is lowest since March 2021.

Haryana reported the highest unemployment rate in January at 23.4 per cent, followed by Rajasthan at 18.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, Telangana reported the lowest unemployment rate at 0.7 per cent in January.

Mahesh Vyas, CEO and MD, CMIE, in his analysis said that around 35 million people in India were actively looking for a job in December 2021. Out of 35 million, he added, 8 million, amounting to 23 per cent were women.

SDMC to come up with three Jal Shakti Park

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has singled out three parks to be developed as Jal Shakti Parks, which includes Jahaz Wala Park in Bagdola Village Sector-8, Dwarka, a pond near Gokul Garden Sector-7, and Jonapur talab near Aya Nagar. The main objective behind the revival and construction of these parks is to increase rainwater collection and enhance the groundwater level. Besides this, the park also entails swings built in gazebo huts and walking tracks. In order to enhance the green shed, trees and plants will also be laned, as per Mayor Mukesh Suryan.

NDMC opens Jal Shakti Park in Roshanara Bagh NEW DELHI: The North Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) announced that they have built a small park dedicated to rainwater harvesting and other water conservation methods in Roshanara Bagh.

The ‘Jal Shakti Park,’ as it is known, contains thematic 2D and 3D models that help visitors grasp the notion of water conservation. Roshanara Bagh is a Mughal-era Garden named after Roshan Ara, one of Emperor Shah Jahan’s daughters. She died in the 17th century and is buried in the ‘Baradari,’ or pavilion, a section of the park.

“In Roshanara Bagh, we recently opened a ‘Jal Shakti Park,’ which features many 2D and 3D models that explain the concept of rainwater collection and other water conservation methods.

Some of the models are on show in the open, while others are housed in a building on the grounds of the park,” a high-ranking city official stated.

The NDMC looks after the historic garden. The civic body had also envisioned developing ‘pockets of miniature forests’ in the city to promote human-nature harmony, according to a senior official from the NMCD’s horticulture department.

Delhi, India’s new start-up hub: ES NEW DELHI: As per the Economic Survey 2021-22, Delhi has surpassed Bengaluru as India’s start-up hub, with over 5000 recognised start-ups added in Delhi between April 2019 and December 2021, compared to 4514 in Bangalore over the same time.

According to the report, Maharashtra has the highest number of recognised start-ups, with 11,308 in the state.

According to the survey, 555 districts would have at least one new start-up in 2021, compared to 121 districts in 2016-17. In 2021, not only the IT sector but also the space sector, experienced turmoil. In 2021, 47 new firms will be introduced in the sector, bringing the

overall number of start-ups to 101.

According to the survey, India added over 14,000 new businesses in the broader ecosystem in 2021-22, bringing the total number of recognised startups in the country to over 61,400. After the United States and China, India now has the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem. According to the report, India has also surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of unicorns, with 44 companies becoming unicorns in 2021, a new high. The country now possesses the third-largest population of unicorns, trailing only the United States and China. India had 83 unicorns as of 14 January, with a total of $277.77 billion.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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NEWSCAN

Briefs

India makes progress towards SDGs

NHRC directs Delhi to rehabilitate migrants

NEW DELHI: India has made progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the Economic Survey 2021-22, which cited an increase in the overall score of the NITI Aayog SDG India Index & Dashboard.

The importance of balancing rapid economic expansion with conservation, ecological security, and environmental sustainability was also stressed in the survey. “India has made progress toward achieving the SDGs with an increase in the NITI Aayog SDG India Index & Dashboard score to 66 in 202021, up from 60 in 2019-20 and 57 in 2018-19,” the report stated. The SDGs Index measures how much government and union territories have progressed in terms of social, economic, and environmental indicators.

According to the survey, India’s forest area has grown dramatically over the

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has written to the Government of NCT of Delhi, urging it to take “necessary action” in response to migrant workers’ deplorable living conditions in shipping containers parked along a road behind Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in central Delhi. The NHRC said it received the complaint on January 30, in a letter to Delhi’s Labour Commissioner.

“The competent authority is directed to take necessary action within 8 weeks, involving the complainant/victim, and to advise him/her and the commission of the action taken in the matter.”

last decade, and it now ranks third internationally in terms of average annual net gain in forest area between 2010 and 2020. It also emphasised the importance of launching the ‘LIFE’ movement, which stands for Lifestyle for Environment and encourages aware and purposeful consumption rather than mindless and destructive consumption.

India has also demonstrated substantial climate leadership on the international scene through the International Solar Alliance, according to the survey (ISA).

SDMC inaugurates fullydigitally equipped school

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo ranked as world’s leading plastic polluters NEW DELHI: ‘Break Free from Plastic’, a global movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics, released a report ranking world’s leading plastic polluters. For the fourth year in a row, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been named the world’s biggest plastic polluters.

Other brands among the top polluters include Unilever, Nestle, Procter and Gamble, Mondeléz International, Philip Morris International, Danone,

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Mars, and Colgate-Palmolive. The report noted that global plastic production has increased from 20 million metric tons in 1966 to 381 million metric tons in 2015. Referring to the report, Joanne Green, Senior Policy Advisor, Tearfund, said that even though companies have started focusing on recycling and pilot projects, it is not good enough. She added that the companies, and the world, need to reduce their dependence on single-use packaging. She added that companies should collect the items they sell.

The report offered a number of steps to address the rising plastic waste crisis. It called to reduce virgin plastic production, for example by establishing a national cap. Other recommendations included specific actions by developed nations to ensure that their export of domestic waste is minimised and is directed to countries where appropriate waste facilities are in place.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has initiated its first, digitally equipped school. Such schools are fully stocked with digital technology such as tablets, smart TVs, and electronic study material. It’s a primary school located in Najafgarh Zone’s Dwarka Sector-3. This step of opening a fully, digitally equipped school has been fostered as result of collaboration between SDMC and an NGO. The step facilitates the proper and efficient delivery of teaching services and will also provide a robust education and assessment methodology, as per civic body officials.

Briefs EDMC plans to convert 50 public toilets into “Smart Toilets”

The officials of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) said that firms have been invited to submit plans to transform 50 public restrooms into ‘smart toilets’.According to them, the project will be based on a publicprivate partnership (PPP) model.

The EDMC plans to outsource work for the conversion of 50 public restrooms at specific locations in its area into smart toilets, with advertising rights and commercial space in limited or permitted areas at the facilities, on a “design, build, operate, and transfer (DBOT) basis,” as per the statement.

Urban lungs: Delhi earmarks two villages as ‘reserved forest’ The Government of NCT of Delhi has designated the forest property of two villages in South Delhi as ‘reserved forest,’ kicking off the process of establishing legal protection for areas that are yet to be designated.Under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 138 bighas in Chhatarpur and 825 bighas in Rangpuri were recently notified. According to a senior forest department officer, the designated sites in these two villages were clear of encroachments and land disputes.

NEWSCAN

IIT-Madras spearheads ‘Frugal Manufacturing’ CHENNAI: Dr Balkrishna C Rao of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), is pioneering the concept of ‘Frugal Manufacturing,’ which would assure sustainable development in smart factories. The concept of frugal manufacturing can be a critical component of India’s growth because it ensures that good functionality is produced at a low cost.

Frugality will help to reduce product waste because things will be made only with the bare minimum resources.

Dr Balkrishna C Rao, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Design, IIT-M is one of the world’s first frugal engineering researchers.

“Manufacturers aim to cut prices to stay viable,” Dr Rao said. With the world facing the irreversible interconnected

problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, and population expansion, there has been increasing awareness of the necessity for frugal consumption. As a result, there has been a movement in manufacturing mentality from bigger-isbetter to frugal-is-better in recent years, and zero waste goods and processes have been attracting increasing attention.

According to a statement made by IIT M, “As part of frugal engineering, frugal manufacturing aspires for zero waste, while creating high-quality parts with fewer low-cost processes. A single low-cost manufacturing process that produces exact measurements and outstanding surface features of a part or product in a single pass with zero waste would be the best-case scenario for FM.”

Global COVID-19 response generating masses of waste: WHO NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report stating that the amount of waste generated by the COVID-19 pandemic is a threat to the environment and human health. The WHO said that used medical equipment such as needles are posing as a health hazard, and increase in plastic waste is straining the waste management system. It noted that disposable gloves contributed to more waste than any other item procured through the UN’s system.

According to WHO, more than half of healthcare facilities in developing nations are unable to safely dispose of waste. The first eight billion COVID-19

vaccines delivered around the world resulted in 144,000 tonnes of waste in the form of syringes and needles, which can damage health workers if carelessly discarded. The paper also highlighted innovative approaches to repurposing medical waste in a sustainable manner.

Researchers in Australia repurposed discarded face masks as road construction material by shredding and drying them at high temperatures.

The WHO recommended that manufacturers use more biodegradable materials and environmentally friendly packaging in its report. It also stated that there is a “dire need” to change the worldwide garbage disposal system.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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NEWSCAN

Briefs

Aravalli Biodiversity Park becomes India’s first OECM site GURUGRAM: The Aravalli Biodiversity Park, Gurugram has been accorded the distinction of becoming India’s first Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECM) site, which is a feather in the Government of Haryana’s crown. For the uninitiated, OECM is a designation given to regions with high biodiversity for successful insitu biodiversity conservation outside of protected areas such as National Parks and Sanctuaries.

The park’s curator, Vijay Dhasmana, spoke to Asianet Newsable about the feat. He said that the 380-acre property was once a mining and stone-crushing operation site, but that all operations were ceased after the Supreme Court

of India issued a ban in 2004. In 2010, the Municipal Corporation Gurugram took up the repair in conjunction with ‘I Am Gurgaon’. Because Haryana is rapidly losing most of these flora to development and encroachment, the park has become a little sanctuary for endangered and unusual plants of the Northern Aravali hills.

With the goal of showcasing the forest flora, over 300 types of natural plants (trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, grasses) have been planted in the park. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was tasked with assessing the biodiversity of the Aravali Biodiversity Park, as well as the impact of works, according to Dhasmana.

Need to protect workers’ health while working from home: WHO & ILO NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation have called for measures to be put in place to protect workers’ health while teleworking (working from home). The two United Nations agencies released a new technical brief to healthy and safe teleworking, which outlines the health benefits and risks of teleworking. It also elaborates on the changes needed to accommodate the shift towards different forms of remote work arrangements brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital transformation of work.

The paper said that improved work–life balance, chances for flexible working hours and physical activity, reduced traffic and commuting time, and a reduction in air pollution are among the benefits. All of these can boost physical and mental health and social welfare of workers. For many businesses, teleworking can result in increased productivity and cheaper operating costs.

However, the report warns that without proper planning and organisation, as well as health and safety support, teleworking can have a significant negative impact on workers’ physical and mental health, as well as their social well-being. Isolation, burnout, depression, domestic violence, musculoskeletal and other injuries, eye strain, increased smoking and alcohol consumption, prolonged sitting and screen time, and unhealthy weight gain are all possible consequences.

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

NDMC to have 33 new mini forests

Ahead of successfully developing mini forest in congested urban spheres at 17 places, including Karol Bagh and Keshavpuram, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has put forward a proposal to develop 33 more such sites expanding up to 62 acres in Phase II of the initiated project.

These forests will entail saplings of different varieties of trees and walkways on the side for the visitors. Any sort of artificial grassing would be avoided. The idea behind it is to provide a wild look and attract different species, which will, in turn, develop natural flora and fauna, mentioned Ashish Priyadarshi, Horticulture Director.

Largest Suvidha Centre to be set up by HUL and HSBC with BMC In collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and HSBC India established their 7th and largest Suvidha Centre in Mumbai (BMC). The facility in Mumbai’s Dharavi neighborhood—one of the world’s most densely inhabited areas—has 111 public toilets and is one of the country’s largest community toilet complexes.

The Suvidha centres will provide access to water, hygiene, and sanitation (WASH) services to roughly 2,00,000 women, children, men, and people with disabilities in Mumbai every year as part of this project with HSBC India, according to a statement released by the two organisations.

Briefs VMC to amend road infrastructure to prevent water logging The Vadodara Municipal Corporation has planned on revamping the roads by scraping off the existing road surfaces.

This is done to ensure that the roads’ thickness does not create a situation of waterlogging. The material that will be set aside in the process will be reused.

The VMC, so far, has kept on layering the roads with bitumen mix making them thicker and not at all permeable. Hitendra Patel, Chairman, VMC Standing Committee, said that this way of reusing the material after scraping off the road is also a very environment-friendly way of constructing roads.

NDMC to renovate kiosks under Smart City Mission

NEWSCAN

Urban planners seeking to return to old normal: Study

WATERLOO: A recent study by the University of Waterloo suggested that planners of downtowns in mid-sized areas are more interested in returning urban spaces to the way things were before the pandemic. The study named ‘Planning for Post-Pandemic Downtowns of Mid-size Urban Areas’ was published recently in the journal ‘Planning Practice and Research’.

Urban planners were asked to identify the attributes that contributed to the success of downtowns prior to the pandemic along with the attributes that would facilitate their post-pandemic recovery. The study found some urban scholars predicting that recovery will lead to new normal, meanwhile maximum urban planners focused on restoring the old normal.

Even with significant focus being paid to the impact of the pandemic on the greatest metropolitan areas, the findings suggested that the ideal regenerated

downtowns will exhibit many of the same functions in a distinctive physical environment. According to Pierre Filion, an Emeritus Professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Planning, the analysis suggests that there would be no significant changes in the core shapes and functions of postpandemic downtowns compared to pre-pandemic downtowns in the early twenty-first century. Governments were also highlighted as a barrier to the successful rehabilitation of mid-sized downtowns in the study.

Assam to conduct leopard consensus for urban planning

The kiosks in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area would be renovated and given a modern style, as well as display panels for advertisements. They stated that while the NDMC has created the first sample kiosk near the Constitution Club on Rafi Marg in Lutyen’s Delhi, it wants to rehabilitate 30 more in the first phase and up to 250 in the end. The rehabilitation is being carried out as part of the Smart City initiative.

DISPUR: Assam’s forest division has launched the state’s first leopard census to record the spotted cat’s habitat and routes, as well as create criteria for urban planning. The six-month program will include discussions with residents of urban towns and villages in the North Kamrup Forest Division. On the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River, facing Guwahati, the division covers urban, semi-urban, and rural districts.

Because of the increasing man-animal conflicts caused by rapid infrastructure development, Divisional Forest Officer Sunnydeo Choudhary stated that charting the leopard’s territories was vital. Leopards favour the jungle’s outskirts, and they frequently raid human settlements for sustenance. “The goal of this exercise was to study their population, habitat, and movement routes so that human settlements might be better planned,” he explained.

Every infrastructure project, according to Choudhary, reduces the leopard habitat in non-forest areas. “Once we have a good picture of the leopard’s status, we should be able to tell the government how to plan infrastructure investments,” he said. The preparatory work, which includes field visits, a sign study, and a public awareness campaign, has begun. Every seven days, data from roughly 50 cameras that will be installed in crucial locations will be collected.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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Briefs

Renting e-scooters: Delhi to help with first and last-mile mobility NEW DELHI: Killing two birds with electric-scooters, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to provide environment-friendly solutions for first and last-mile connectivity.

The NDMC will purchase 1000 electric scooters under its app-based scooter rental project, announced by the local body. These e-scooters will be introduced in a phased format at over 100 locations in the capital. In first phase, 500 e-scooters will be available at 50 charging stations outside metro stations, bus stops, railway stations, hospitals and other public places hotspots, where people could easily rent out the bikes.

On a full charge, these e-scooters will have an 80-kilometer range and a top speed of 45 kilometres per hour. “A web-based application will manage the e-scooter service. Commuters would be required to use the vehicle for at least 15

minutes for which they will be charged, accordingly,” Shri Upadhyay, ViceChairman, NDMC. He further stated that the NDMC will register these vehicles with the Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi, because they require a permit to operate. It has room for two people to sit, and helmets will be required. These two-wheelers will also be equipped with a GPS device, allowing the NDMC command and control center in Palika Kendra, to track the riders’ movements.

New centres for carbon capture and utilization In a bid to lead innovations in the field of climate change, the Department of Science & Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, has created two centres of excellence in Carbon Capture and Utilisation (NCOE-CCU) in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The Centre of Excellence thus established will explore and unlock the potential of CCU technologies to set India on the path to achieving its climate goals and commitments.

With increasing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), scientists worldwide have been working to develop technologies and processes to effectively capture, store, and re-utilise the CO2 emitted by industrial and energy sector.

Underground tanks to ease waterlogging woes

Delhi to soon convert fossil fuel-based vehicles into EVs NEW DELHI: Vehicle owners in Delhi would soon get an option to convert their old diesel and petrol vehicles into electric vehicles. The Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi has begun the registration procedure for centres that refit outdated diesel and gasoline vehicles with electric kits.

An official from the transport department said that ten electric kit makers have been enlisted to convert outdated petrol and diesel vehicles, that can’t drive on city roads, into electric. Electric kit installers must be approved by the kit maker or supplier to install the kit on their behalf, according to the requirements.

The rules stated that the installation should have trained technicians and the supplier should provide thorough training to the professionals. The installer must keep a record of vehicles equipped with electric kits and make it available to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, when requested. The installer is expected to conduct a vehicle fitness test at least once a year and keep track of the criteria that were audited.

Furthermore, they should evaluate the vehicle’s suitability for kit installation, explain the situation to the owner, and obtain their written consent.

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Waterlogging woes has remained a perennial problem during the monsoon period. Keeping that in mind, municipal bodies of Jaipur have come up with a plan of laying underground tanks with a roundabout capacity of holding up to 2.5 lakh liters of rainwater within the urban area limits.

There are various spots in the city which remains flooded for hours even after the moderate rainfall. Draining off the excess water remains a challenge. Thus, an underground tank will be constructed after recognizing such spots. The excess water would then be released into the drains including the Dravyavati River, informed Jaipur Development Authority officials.

CITY IMAGE

Kenya tries innovative solution to “Harvest the Sun twice” An innovative project officially called “Harvesting the sun twice” is being tried in Kenya for efficient use of solar power.

It uses a special solar panel technique called agrivoltaics, which installs solar panel for the twin role of generating clean energy and giving shade to crops. This technique is the result of a year-long research by the University of Sheffield, World Agroforestry and the Kajiado-based Latia Agripreneurship. According to Stockholm Environmental Institute, 73 per cent of the East African population does not have access to electricity. Hence, the idea was to help solve the problem of energy in the region without putting too much pressure on land space.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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Briefs

Shimla: Development Plan 2041 to have ‘counter magnet town’

SHIMLA: To mitigate the load of urbanisation from Shimla, a ‘counter magnet town’ in proximity to the airport has been proposed in ‘Development Plan 2041’, to make space for approximately one lakh future population.

Following the transit-oriented development proposal of bypass road, satellite towns in Ghandal Naldhera, Fagu and Chamiyana have also been proposed. These will be incorporated in the already existing development proposal.

Shimla Municipal Corporation, Kufri Special Area Development Authority, Ghanahatti, etc. are included in the development plan of Shimla. The town will have a GIS-based development

plan, which will ease down various issues, said Suresh Bhardwaj, Urban Development Minister, Government of Himachal Pradesh.

This plan entails integration of ropeways and rapid transport system so as to reduce the already existing traffic scenario on Shimla roads. In the aforementioned plan, multimodal hubs, tunnels and junction improvement throughout the city will also be involved.

Out of the total land available that is 12.15 per cent, residential land will be allotted 5.51 per cent. The area under public and semi-public use has been increased from 1.15 per cent to 1.39 per cent on the basis of identification of government land available.

Chandigarh EV Policy: Transformative bliss promising skill development CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Electric Vehicle Policy is working for job creation, innovation, skill development, and developing recycling infrastructure for the battery-run-vehicle sector, in addition to the larger goal of a major transition toward electric vehicles (EVs). The EV Policy was announced by the Administration of union territory (UT) of Chandigarh in February, and it is set to take effect on April 1. Skill development, training, and job creation will all be expanded as a result of this, allowing the sector to grow and become more sustainable in the city. “Unlike traditional autos, manufacturing and maintaining EVs necessitates skilled labour.

Special measures for skill development will be conducted to enable a smooth transition to electric mobility,” stated a top official. The education department, in partnership with the Chandigarh transport department, is planning short-term courses in electric mobility, electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), repair and maintenance, and battery production and maintenance under the programme.

For skill development, polytechnics will provide two-week courses on electric vehicle knowledge. In addition, an e-mobility Centre of Excellence (CoE) will be established. To be eligible for financial incentives, a firm must be registered with Start-up India and have a valid central government certificate.

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March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Bengaluru metro contributed to improving air quality: Study

Air quality at six places of the Phase-II Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) increased between 2017 and 2021, found a study conducted by Bangalore University’s Department of Environmental Science. This indicates that the metro project had a significant beneficial influence on improving the air quality in the area. “During the year 2017, PM 10 levels went above the permissible limits of 100 g/m3 and then significantly declined from 2018 onwards.

From 2018 to 2021, the air quality monitoring data show that PM 10 concentrations at all monitoring sample stations stayed below the CPCB’s 100g/m3 standard for industrial, residential, rural, and other locations,” reads the report.

CM Khattar announces ` 1K crore urban infra investment in Haryana Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar addressed a gathering at the concluding session of the two-day Urban Development Conclave in Gurugram. He mentioned that the government has set the target of developing five big cities in an area of 2.5 lakh hectares near the Kundli Manesar – Palwal (KMP) expressway. Each city will be developed in an area of at least 50,000 hectares. He announced the state’s decision to allocate `1000 crore for supplementing its urban infrastructure investment requirements in the coming budget.

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NEWSCAN

IPCC report chalks out “Atlas of human suffering” NEW DELHI: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for climate science, published the second installment of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on February 28. The report titled ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability’ has subtly warned the world of how global leaders have failed in protecting over half of the world’s population, which is on the verge of losing their homes due to uninhabitable conditions.

“Atlas of human suffering”, stated António Guterres, Secretary-General, UN while commenting on the report.

The IPCC report explicitly defines how climate change has the potential of essentially converting the earth into an uninhabitable hotbox.

Impact on city life Climate change, when combined with increased urbanisation, will present

20 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

cities with new issues. “Growing urbanisation and climate change together pose complicated dangers, particularly for places with poorly planned urban growth, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and a lack of essential amenities,” said Debra Roberts, Working Group Co-Chair, IPCC. Several Indian cities and states, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bihar, and Punjab, are susceptible hotspots, according to the IPCC assessment, with a high probability of extreme events ranging from flooding to heat stress. Furthermore, this will result in more people being displaced due to climate change. According to report, the fatality rate from floods, droughts, and storms in Africa, South Asia, and Central and South America would be 15 times higher between 2010 and 2020.

The report warned that India is one of the most vulnerable countries on a

global level in terms of the population affected by the sea-level rise. If the emissions levels continue to soar high, then over 35 million people in India could face annual coastal flooding by the middle of the century. The numbers could rise to over 50 million people and damages amounting up to $24 billion.

Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in damage control from sea-level rise may spend up to $162 billion a year by 2050.

Surge in Wet-bulb temperature The report notes that Indian cities will experience intolerable conditions with increased heat and humidity if the emissions are not rapidly reduced.

Wet-bulb temperatures, a measure that combines heat and humidity, are mentioned in the report. Even for fit and healthy adults, the present wet-bulb temperature of 31 degrees Celsius is exceedingly harmful, while a temperature of 35 degrees is

The report warned that India is one of the most vulnerable countries on a global level in terms of the population affected by the sea-level rise. If the emissions levels continue to soar high, then over 35 million people in India could face annual coastal flooding by the middle of the century. The numbers could rise to over 50 million people and damages amounting up to $24 billion unsurvivable for more than six hours.

According to the IPCC, wet-bulb temperatures in India rarely exceed 31 degrees Celsius at the moment, with majority of the country seeing maximum wet-bulb temperatures of 25-30 degrees Celsius. Many portions of northern and coastal India would attain extremely dangerous wet-bulb temperatures of over 31 degrees Celsius by the end of the century if emissions are decreased just to the levels now promised. Wet-bulb temperatures will approach or exceed the unsurvivable limit of 35 degrees Celsius throughout much of India if emissions continue to climb, with the bulk of the country

experiencing wet-bulb temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius or higher.

What comes with a warmer globe?

Individuals’ physical health may also be jeopardised since illness transmission is expected to accelerate. The greatest threat comes from vector-borne and water-borne diseases like malaria, which are particularly prevalent in Asia’s sub-tropical regions, where warmer temperatures allow diseasecarrying insects like mosquitoes to spread quickly.

In the coming decades, mortality from respiratory disorders, diabetes, infectious diseases, and other diseases is anticipated to rise. On the other hand, a rise in global temperature will result in a dramatic increase of new born mortality. The research emphasises on the impact of the climate issue on cities, which house more than half of the world’s population. Heatwaves, urban heat islands, excessive precipitation, and storms can all have a major impact on the people and infrastructure of the world’s overloaded cities.

Melting glaciers The most vulnerable ecosystems on the planet are expected to be the hardest hit. According to the IPCC, glacial lake outburst floods will become more common in mountain regions, putting

Highlighting water crisis in Bengaluru Bengaluru’s urban development and infrastructural advancements are rupturing the water tank system preserved by its communities for generations, IPCC highlighted. According to the report, urban growth has taken a toll on community-managed water tanks. “Today, Bengaluru relies on long-distance water transfers that cause political tension, as well as a dense network of private boreholes that are diminishing the city’s water resources,” states the report. “The restoration of existing network of community-managed water tanks provides a more sustainable and socially just way to manage water supplies.”

The report stated, “As tanks became underused, polluted, or built over, the ancient network of tanks gradually deteriorated.” In the post-colonial period, more extensive and costly water transfers occurred, supplying water from the Cauvery River in a large engineering project with a high energy cost and entangled in inter-state water disputes. In Bengaluru, scarcity is still a problem.

Despite efforts to mitigate the risks, scientists at the IPCC report stated that human-induced climate change is creating hazardous and pervasive upheaval in nature and disrupting the lives of billions of people throughout the world.

the lives of downstream inhabitants in peril. Recent events like the Chamoli disaster’s ice and rock avalanche, as well as cloudburst-like precipitation in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, have served as sharp reminders of this grim reality. In the future years, the IPCC predicts that glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region would melt at a faster rate. Meanwhile, as temperatures rise above 1.5°C, important river basins such as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra may experience more flooding. It will also have a devastating effect on world plant and animal species, who are already suffering from heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and floods.

Furthermore, with a 1.5°C increase in global warming, nearly 14 per cent of the species analysed in the paper stand a high danger of extinction. If the temperature rises over this level, it will rise to 29 per cent. With cascading climate change, trees, corals, tidal marshes, seagrass meadows, planktons, and many more related communities will be on the verge of extinction.

Deterring global mental health The IPCC stated that climate change and an increasing number of climate catastrophes have an effect on physical and psychological health. For the first time, the IPCC clarified that climate change poses a serious threat to mental health, including stress and trauma from frequent extreme weather events, loss of livelihoods, and even future instability on a much warmer globe.

Cities are the solution Cities can play an important role in combating climate change. The important point is that reducing emissions, keeping a tight eye on deforestation operations, and planting more trees will all benefit the environment in the long run. “Cities also give chances for climate action,” Roberts states, “green buildings, reliable sources of clean water and renewable energy, and sustainable transportation networks that connect urban and rural areas may all lead to a more inclusive, fairer society.”

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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India’s traffic congestion dipped by 23% from pre-pandemic level: TomTom report Mumbai found to be the 5th most congested city in the world, Bengaluru at 10th, Delhi 11th and Pune stands at 21st spot NEW DELHI: India’s traffic congestion levels in places like Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Pune were 23 per cent lower than before the COVID- 19, found a survey by TomTom Traffic Index.

Delhi has emerged as the 11th most congested global city in 2021 despite the pandemic-induced lockdown and restrictions in the city. The 11th edition of the TomTom Traffic Index’s global top 25 list has the names of four Indian cities, with Mumbai at the fifth position and Bengaluru at tenth. Pune ranked 21st among 404 cities across 58 countries, the report said.

The average congestion levels in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune decreased by 18 per cent, 14 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively, in comparison to 2019. According to a survey by TomTom (TOM2), a geolocation technology company, India’s most crowded cities reduced from 13 to 6 in 2021. Throughout 2021, the research examined traffic trends in 404 cities across 58 nations. Istanbul, Turkey will be the world’s most congested city in

22 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

2021, with a congestion level of 62 per cent. While work from home became normal practice for most companies, physical meetings were replaced by zoom calls and teleconferences. The commuters avoided driving and were able to offset their rush hours owing to flexible working hours, dropping the congestion level in the cities.

The TomTom Traffic Index looks at the traffic congestion situation in various cities across the globe. It provides data on real-time traffic management and historical traffic congestion data.

This data is then used by various countries to plan their infrastructure projects and introduce more public transport systems.

The congestion level percentage denotes the extra time a driver has to spend on reaching from one place to another over and above the time needed in normal and free-flow traffic situations. The baseline per city is calculated by analysing the free-flow travel times of all vehicles on the entire road network throughout the year. For

instance, if the congestion level is 30 per cent, then it means that on average, the time taken for travelling was 30 per cent longer during baseline non-congestion conditions.

New modes of transportation have gained popularity as a result of the pandemic; e-scooters and bicycles are becoming more popular, aided by cycle lanes in several cities. While micro-mobility can help with intercity movement, inter-urban traffic is the source of the majority of traffic congestion. During the pandemic, public transportation lost a lot of its appeal as people preferred to drive their own automobiles, which they saw as a safer way to preserve social distance.

According to Sachin Tyagi, Strategic Automotive Business Development Manager, TomTom, the real-time traffic information collected to identify congestion patterns reveals that mobility alternatives are rapidly shifting as a part of the adaptive lifestyles arising from the pandemic. “We feel that authorities must be aware of the good development and promote holistic guidelines targeted at improving the road infrastructure,” he added.

He opined that this will help to reduce traffic congestion and promote alternative sustainable transportation modes, which may help to reduce emissions as well. The key to change is the adoption of better technology that uses real-time data, bold investments, and bold policy decisions. Making traffic information more accessible to both drivers and traffic authorities can aid in the real-time detection and management of traffic congestion bottlenecks. For truckers, logistics providers, and ondemand services, TomTom’s navigation software anticipates traffic and provides enhanced route calculations and precise anticipated times of arrival, saving time and fuel (ride-hailing, food delivery).

NEWSCAN

COVID-19 still remains topmost worry of urban India: Survey NEW DELHI: Ipsos released its monthly survey on ‘What worries the world’ on February 25. Even as India is witnessing a decline in the number of new COVID-19 infections, the novel coronavirus has emerged as the top concern among urban Indians and global citizens. 33 per cent, on average, said that it is one of the biggest issues that their country is facing today. The survey reported Japan as the country most concerned about the COVID-19, followed by South Korea and Australia.

The survey was conducted in 28 markets and analysed the response from 19,022 netizens.

The survey found that 33 per cent of the global citizens pointed COVID-19 as their top worry, 31 per cent said that it is poverty and social inequality, whereas 29 per cent voted for unemployment.

In case of urban Indians, survey showed that 43 per cent of Indians find COVID-19 as the top worry. On the other hand, 40 per cent of Indians said unemployment is the topmost worry and 28 per cent said that it is financial and political corruption. Inflation overtook healthcare to become the sixth most worrying issue worldwide.

The Great Britain saw the greatest increase in concern about inflation.

In case of urban Indians, survey showed that 43 per cent of Indians find COVID-19 as the top worry. On the other hand, 40 per cent of Indians said unemployment is the topmost worry and 28 per cent said that it is financial and political corruption

63 per cent, on average, people from across the globe said that their nation’s economy is ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ bad.

Unemployment remained one of the top worries among urban Indians.

It registered a two per cent increase in worry levels in comparison to the January survey results. Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India, said that restrictions are easing in India and the common man is learning to live with the novel coronavirus and job opportunities are also increasing. “Let’s face it, the coronavirus has not gone away completely and so worry levels continue to stay. While elections are major events and it is important for commercial places to function, crowds should follow all safety measures to avoid infections from going up. Also, the job market needs to keep pace with the demand,” he added.

Adarkar added that the survey highlights the macro issues by markets and what worries the citizens to enable

governments to prioritise them over others. On the other hand, India came out as the second most optimistic market in the survey after Saudi Arabia.

78 per cent of people in India and 93 per cent in Saudi Arabia remain happy with the economy.

India has completed the vaccination of 1,80,19,45,779 citizens and the vaccination drive is in full swing.

The Government of India is making sure that no one is left behind. As a result, the central government has also announced the booster doses for all those who are above the age of 60.

However, the experts from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, have suggested that fourth wave of the COVID-19 will be towards the end of June, 2022.

One after the other, different variants of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has crippled the economy and thus, this still remains the top worry of people across the world.

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C40 Annual Report highlights best practices by cities NEW DELHI: C-40, a global network of mayors to take action against Climate Change, released its Annual Report on March 28, 2022. The present Chair of C40 is Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, elected by the peer cities. In 2021, 68 new climate actions were taken across eight sectors- Transport, Energy and Buildings, Adaptation, Waste, Food, Land Use Planning, Clean Construction and Air Quality. This brings the total implemented actions to 871.

Johannesburg and eThekwini in Durban made policies towards net zero carbon new buildings. Three more cities, including Kuala Lumpur, now require renewables for buildings, and five more cities are reducing use of fossil fuels. In 2021, for the first time six cities have implemented policies restricting use of single-use plastics, including Delhi, in a bid to reduce waste emissions. Number of cities which increased green cover to reduce urban heat risk surged to 17.

Finance

A joint partnership between C40 Cities Finance Facility and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) enables emerging economies to access finance for implementing climate infrastructure projects. This is done for a fair distribution of funds across the global

24 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

North and South. Cities have adopted ‘Climate Budgeting’ as a way to fund climate actions. This has proved to be a successful strategy in the case of Oslo, Norway where emissions are declining.

Other cities like Stockholm, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal, Paris and Tshwane have also adopted Climate Budgeting.

Inclusion is one of the major goals of C40. Inclusion is achieved through participation of multiple stakeholders in the climate action plans. For instance, Accra, Ghana conducted workshops and focused group discussions with the community to understand their needs; Barcelona has created Climate Shelter Network ensuring that vulnerable people can stay cool during high temperatures.

Air Quality and Reduction in Emissions The goals of C40 are aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global heat under 1.5 degree Celsius. By 2030, C40 cities aim to reduce emissions by half. In October 2021, London expanded the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which was introduced in 2019 causing a 44 per cent reduction in NO2 levels in Central London, rose to 18 times the previously covered area, now covering four million people. It also introduced

schemes to support people to switch to greener options for vehicles. Through ‘Cities Race to Zero’ portal hosted by C40, 1000 cities have committed to reduce their emissions by half. Six more cities (Auckland, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Seattle) have joined the list of cities pledging to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and employ sustainable methods, in 2021.

This has expanded the existing list of 18 cities namely London, New York City, Berlin, Bristol, Cape Town, Durban, Los Angeles, Milan, New Orleans, Oslo, Pittsburgh and Vancouver.

Elimination based waste

of

consumption-

In 2021, Milan won the prestigious Earthshot Prize for its commendable efforts in successfully minimising edible waste in the city. It has created local food hubs to collect excessive food from retailers and food providers, and redistribute it to people who need it through various organizations, thus enhancing food security as well as reducing waste. They aim to reduce edible waste by half by 2030.

Incidentally, this proved beneficial during the COVID-19 crisis to meet the needs of people. Milan is also helping peer cities to achieve the same through C40 Food Systems Network which it leads.In 2021, 61 Danish municipalities pledged to take climate action plans through C40 Climate Action Planning Framework. Nearly all municipalities of Denmark are now committed to keeping global heating below 1.5°C. C40 Global Youth and Mayors Forum released a playbook for youth engagement at COP26 (annual UN climate change conference) in 2021.

The playbook presents insights from young climate change leaders, case studies from 15 cities and approaches for successful engagement with the youth.

EVENT

Webinar traces smart mobility initiatives in Sejong and Rotterdam The event was organised

by CityNet on February 7, where the representatives from the cities of Sejong and Rotterdam met for the second time to share knowledge and experience on smart mobility. The focus of the meeting was Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), Intelligent Traffic Lights, and autonomous vehicles.

The cities presented examples of relevant cases in the webinar.

In his presentation, Robert Kooijman, Advisor of Traffic Management and Smart Mobility at Municipality of Rotterdam, expanded on the Rotterdam’s intelligent traffic lights system. The traffic lights in the city are connected to the integrated traffic system, MobiMaestro, which is also equipped with rain radar. This implies that their traffic lights can reflect the weather.

Rotterdam’s presentation also elaborated on the structure and functionality of their intelligent iVRI lights. These lights can exchange information between the vehicles and the traffic lights. The motion control system can adjust the duration of the green light to the intensity of the traffic. iVRI can not only send information (about the red or green lights) but also receive data and see what kind of vehicles come up. The signaling device can direct specific traffic participants (eg. public transport, trucks, cyclists, emergency services). Rotterdam can be aware of different traffic situations in the city with the help of the 24-hour control centre for MobiMaestro. The city is developing lights to prioritise not only emergency vehicles, but also public

transport, logistics, and cyclists. The system in the city currently has 100 lights implemented, but this number will continue to grow in the future.

Presentation of Sejong complemented Rotterdam’s presentation as they talked about the features of their own intelligent traffic lights. These intelligent traffic lights currently target emergency vehicles, thereby allowing traffic lights to prioritise them when they are within 300 meters. Moreover, when there are pedestrians crossing the streets, the traffic lights will not change until after the pedestrians have finished crossing.

The pedestrian-first mentality is taking root in the cities of South Area. The presentation revealed that this system has been applied to 23 intersections in the city of Sejong and has reported to dramatically reduce the passing time of emergency vehicles by 51.5 per cent for an average of 23 seconds.

Presentation of Sejong talked about their service enhancement plan. With the help of Sejong City Integrated Information Centre, the city aims to improve signal control solutions based on feedback through data

analysis after service introduction.

Identifications of problems and improvements in pilot project in the city will provide knowledge for the purpose of expanding to other living zones in Sejong City.

Sejong and Rotterdam further talked about the autonomous vehicles.

Currently, both the cities have employed autonomous outdoor robots for various purposes. It was mentioned that in Sejong, autonomous outdoor robots are used for security, food delivery, and sanitization in city parks.

In Rotterdam, they are being used for grocery deliveries on university campuses. Rotterdam has also begun to implement autonomous shuttles, such as between airport terminals.

The meeting noted that both the cities, with the help of significant data analysis and extensive testing are expanding their central command centres for autonomous vehicles and testing their use in the city.

Towards the end of the meeting, both the cities talked about their intention to visit each other during their study visits to the European Union and Korea.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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COVER STORY | Cities & Climate Change

Thinking

Cities Anew

26 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Cities are a crucial part of modern civilization. Urban activities do create many problems as cities grow but they also offer solutions to many problems. Since cities differ from each other in many ways, they set out diverse strategizes to handle modern day challenges of urban habitations. In this edition, the cover story sheds light on the need for cities to find the right balance between modern-day technological adaptation and building sustainable climate-change-proof cities for making urban living experience better and future of cities safe

Abhishek Pandey | Editor

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COVER STORY | Cities & Climate Change he 21st Century has brought the digital revolution that has changed the world for good. The issue of climate change also began gaining prominence as we progressed in the new century. It is one of the crucial priority areas for urban habitations around the world.

Cities of the world today are seeing the impacts of both, digital revolution and the impacts of climate change, in their daily operations and also on their future prospects. Some cities are smartly using digital technology to address the issue of climate change. Manchester City Council in the United Kingdom is one such city. The city has developed its Digital Strategy for the next five years in a way that is wrapped around its long-term vision of becoming a carbon neutral city by 2038. Back home in Mumbai, the city has come out with Mumbai Climate Action Plan to ensure that the city reduces its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero by 2050.

Manchester Digital Strategy 2021 – 2026

The importance of integrating technology into service delivery and in running cities is becoming crucial.

Understanding the significance, Manchester City Council has laid down its digital strategy for achieving multiple objectives. The strategy stands on four pillars—Smart People, Digital Places, Future Prosperity and Sustainable Resilience. The city council is confident that the strategy will aid their efforts to become a zero-carbon city by 2038.

The city has gone a step further in ensuring their citizens get benefits of smart city ecosystem and to do this, the efforts are on making people smarter.

According to the strategy, “Smart People is about making sure that all our residents have access to the skills, training and employment opportunities that they need to participate fully in the life of the city and benefit from its many opportunities.” The city has charted a list of 11 priorities with a timeline. These priorities include digital inclusion, support under-represented groups, promote digital education from school level, include digital skills as priority in jobs, and encourage digital leadership

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among many others.

Another theme of the strategy is building ‘Digital Places’. “Digital Places is about making sure the city itself, alongside its people, drives us towards a more digitally enabled future.” These will define how public services are delivered to citizens. The basic premise of the strategy under this theme is all kinds of civic services shall be digitally accessible. And the services should be operated in a way that data collected is used to improve service delivery and also allow private players to use data productively without compromising on data ethics, security and privacy concerns. The strategy has laid out basic principles, which are: Privacy First, Open data and interfaces, Embrace open standards, Share where possible, Support modularity, and Accept social responsibility. The third theme ‘Future Prosperity’is closely related to first two themes. The objective of the works under this is to ensure that digital strategy makes a progressive impact on the lives of its residents by ensuring prosperity for all in a sustainable and ethical manner.

The fourth theme is about building Sustainable resilience. It is planned to help achieve Manchester’s commitment to become a zero-carbon city by 2038, and also face the problems evolving from climate change. For this, the city is planning to use digital technology to drive a green and inclusive economy, supporting the transition to a zerocarbon city.

In India, Pune has come out with a similar document titled ‘Rebooting Pune: City Digital Strategy- 20182020’ in February 2018. Kunal Kumar, then Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation, underlined the significance of the document, “The city digital strategy provides a three year action plan for Pune to become truly digital. The purpose of Digital Strategy is to set an agenda with clear goals before the city administration to provide digital ecosystem comprising Digital infrastructure, Digital services and cashless payment ecosystem, Digital platform for collaboration and Digital Enterprise to rank higher on

reliability. It explores the ways in which technology can be used to innovate and find solutions to urban challenges faced by the city.” However, there are not many examples from any other cities which have developed digital strategy for developing a robust digital ecosystem. However, under the Smart Cities Mission, many cities are making efforts to use existing Integrated Control and Command Centres (ICCC) for leveraging the benefits of digital reforms in the country. A lot of the cities are still in the nascent stage and need handholding support for deciding the right trajectory of their digital journey.

The experienced cities like Pune in India and other European cities can guide them.

National Urban Digital Mission

About a year ago, Government of India launched National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) to enhance the ease of living in our cities and towns leveraging IT & associated technologies and support the existing urban ecosystem systems in a ‘citizen-centric’ approach.

NUDM aims to build the shared digital infrastructure that will strengthen the capacity of the urban ecosystem to solve complex problems at scale and speed.

It is built as a public good and provides the ecosystem actors the foundational digital building blocks, ready-to-use platforms, standards, specifications, and frameworks. Under the mission, it has integrated multiple programs of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) that are targeted to improve digital operations of urban local bodies and of smart cities. India Urban Data Exchange and Smart Cities Open Data Portal are promoting cities to upload their data and create a robust digital ecosystem for cities in the country.

Right now, the NUDM is a work in progress but if cities can build their own ecosystems using the existing assistance from the central government and other cities, it can pave a new path for prosperity for cities because digital service provision is surely going to change the way ULBs deliver services to their citizens. The major problem

right now is the scaling of the project as the objective cannot be achieved by just getting limited data sets from the select cities in the country where theurban population is spread over about 8000 small and big towns across the length and breadth of the country.

Cities in India need to be proactive in developing their own digital strategy like Manchester and Pune. These strategies can be in line with the existing programs of the central and state government but assessing their own capacities, resources and local situation is crucial for fruition of desired objectives.

Mumbai Climate Action Plan

The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) was released recently and it laid down a 30-year strategic roadmap for achieving the target of net-zero Greenhouse Gas emission. The action plan details out the city’s long-term plan of mitigation and adaption strategies.

The plan identifies as many as six areas—sustainable waste management, urban greening and biodiversity, urban flooding and water resource management, energy and buildings, air quality and sustainable mobility.

The plan focuses on the challenges the city of Mumbai is currently facing or might face in the future based on its geographical, climatic conditions and changing environment.

Government of Maharashtra, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started the work on the Action Plan in August 2021. C40 Cities network and World Resources Institute India (WRI India) assisted in the preparation of the city’s Climate Action Plan (MCAP). ‘The Climate and Air Pollution Risks and Vulnerability Assessment’ highlights the city’s climate risk based on historic data. Highlighting the situation of Urban Heat in the country’s financial capital, the report says, the city has seen a warming trend since 1973 with an increase of 0.25°C per decade, with 200+ days annually classified as extreme caution events since the mid-90s. Dense settlements, low vegetation cover and reflective building materials increase the risk of heat exposure. The situation of Mumbai

on urban flooding is quite obvious to all considering floods in recent years.

Mumbai has recorded a steady increase in extreme rainfall events. Almost onethird of city’s population lives within a 250m radius buffer of BMC-reported flooding hotspots. The assessment was also done on risks of landslides, coastal risks and air pollution situation of the city. Based on the study, the Action Plan is drafted to ensure that the city that is home to over 20 million people becomes resilient for coming generations and develop an ecosystem that protects it from extreme weather or climate change-induced impacts.

A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) indicates Maharashtra is the third most vulnerable state in India and Mumbai is one of five districts in Maharashtra most vulnerable to the compounded impacts of climate change. The Action Plan has presented a couple of scenarios under which GHG situation is forecasted.

Mumbai has an overarching mitigation target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Interim and long-term targets include 30% emissions reduction by 2030, 44% by 2040 and net zero by 2050 against base year emissions (2019).

Way forward for cities

Cities are ever-evolving. They need to keep themselves updated to remain relevant and thriving. There is a need for cities to prosper and for that they have to adopt digital tools and technologies for upgrading their services and facilities.

They have to provide their residents a suitable environment where they can connect with the world effortlessly and conveniently.

Cities will keep attracting people because cities help people achieve their dreams. Cities need to be future-ready for businesses and aspiring citizens.

And, at the same time, cities need to become strong to face the challenges evolving because of climate change and environmental degradation because of unabated and at times unregulated industrial and urban activities. In the new world, cities have to find a balance between the growth, prosperity and sustainability.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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Numerograph | Sustainable Development

Cycling Infrastructure

Electric Vehicles

Pedestrian Walkway

Green Cover

♦♦ Ranked as world’s best city for cycling, Copenhagen cycles an estimated 1.44 million km daily. 49% of all trips by bicycle. ♦♦ With more than 400 kilometres of dedicated cycle paths, the city of Amsterdam is a cycling haven. There are almost 900,000 bicycles in Amsterdam (more than people!) and over 50% of all city journeys are made on a bike. ♦♦ Tokyo is the only Asian city to come in top rankings of bicycle friendly cities in the world. ♦♦ Chennai citizens stood first in cycling as they clocked 72,458 km on bicycle between January 1 and January 26, 2022 as part of nationwide Freedom to Cycle Challenge.

♦♦ Electric car sales globally broke all records in 2020, surge of 40% from 2019. ♦♦ By 2040, 53% of new car sales in India will be EVs, 77% in China and a little over 80% in Europe. ♦♦ There are currently over 425,000 electric buses in operation worldwide, 421,000 of which are in China. ♦♦ Norwegian capital Oslo has the highest proportion of electric vehicles in the world. ♦♦ Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Karnataka are the top three states in India in terms of electric vehicle registration with over 453,591 registrations by December 2021. New Delhi is leading the way in infrastructure for transition to EVs in India with 400 public EV charging points across 170 locations.

♦♦ London outranks almost 1000 cities around the world on citizens’ proximity to carfree spaces, schools, healthcare, and overall shortness of journeys. ♦♦ Seoul is reinventing itself as a walkable city with 24 pedestrian-only streets and planning new car-free streets in several districts across the city. ♦♦ There are 12,750 miles of sidewalks in New York. ♦♦ The Pune Municipal Corporation in January 2022 announced its decision to add 100 km of pedestrian-friendly roads. The project will include building wider footpaths and installing street furniture at different locations.

♦♦ London is the world’s first National Park City. 3,000 parks of varying sizes designated by the boroughs as ‘public open space’. Currently at 18%, the government wishes to make more than 50% of the city green by 2050. ♦♦ World’s greenest city Vienna has over 50% green areas. ♦♦ The capital city of India, New Delhi has the largest per capita forest cover of 9.6 square metres (23.1%). ♦♦ In 2021, Chandigarh reported green cover of over 50.05%. ♦♦ The Government of India in 2021 conceived a project to develop 400 city forests across the country to increase the green cover in urban areas.

Source: trafalgar.com, Bloomber NEF Electric Vehicle Outlook 2021, Global EV Outlook 2021 by International Energy Agency, BNEF Economic Transition Scenario, kazam.in, HERE Technologies Report, Hindustan Times, nmttoolkit.itdp.org, farandwide.com, euronews.com, london.gov.uk, Times of India, India State of Forest Report 2021

30 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

Size of EV fleet

EV share of sales

Global EV Scenario - as of 2020

1

4

39

44

Vans & Trucks

Passenger Cars

Buses

2 & 3 Wheelers

400K

10K

600K

260K

Shifting Priorities of Cities With rising woes of climate change, cities are incorporating sustainable solutions in their urban planning and design approaches. The numerograph traces some of these new initiatives by cities, globally, in their attempt to build a sustainable urban ecosystem Pooja Upadhyay | Trainee Reporter

Cycling Infrastructure

Electric Vehicles

Green Cover

Pedestrian Walkway

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Leaderspeak | AatmaNirbhar Cities

How to make Indian cities ‘AatmaNirbhar’ The actions and initiatives of nations and their cities are closely connected. The fate of cities will depend on how they align their activities with national programmes to generate employment for their population, provide them opportunities to prosper, become resourceful, self-dependent for their requirement of energy, food and water, and tap the opportunities on offer in the circular economy activities. Indian cities, in particular, can look at the programs under AatmaNirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant) to make themselves AatmaNirbhar

Ranjit S Chavan | President, AIILSG

ur cities are more connected than ever.

It has numerous advantages for cities.

They can join hands with other cities to tackle similar challenges, share their experiences, learn from each other’s experiments and improve the quality of life for their citizens. The connected world has also resulted in a change in consumption patterns that have indeed provided people with several options to choose from but it has also increased carbon emissions considerably.

Today, people can order any product from anywhere. People’s food choices have implications for the environment.

Cities need to take responsibility to make people aware of their choices and consequences. If cities can achieve the goal of becoming self-sufficient in terms of their requirement for energy, food and resources, cities will be able to contribute positively to global goals.

Although it may sound unreasonable because cities cannot have everything they need, they can surely reduce

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their dependence on other regions and countries for a majority of things their citizens require.

The Indian government has been promoting the use of local products as part of the Make In India and AatmaNirbhar Mission. Cities can take this movement further by becoming self-sufficient. The mission is simple but not easy. The engagement and collaboration among government, private corporations and the public is essential to achieve the goal of selfreliant cities.

Reduce food miles

Eating locally produced food is a win-win for everyone—consumers, growers/producers, cities and also the environment. If citizens choose to eat local, the food has covered less than 150 km from the farm or processing unit to the consumers’ plates.

Cities can promote the concept like that of the farmers’ market in which

local food growers and producers get an opportunity to tap the local market.

By doing this, cities can reduce their carbon footprints considerably. For example, someone in Delhi wants to eat peanut butter, it is not necessary that the product has to come from a multinational FMCG company that is producing peanut butter thousands of miles away. There are many local food processing companies which are producing the same quality closer to the consumer. The role of local government comes into play. The city governments can assess the needs of their citizens and build an ecosystem for related food processing industries that can also be linked with other activities to close the loop of circular economy and support resource efficiency of local industries and reduce waste.

If people begin to choose locally grown or processed food items, the people will contribute to reducing carbon footprinting by reducing food miles. If the food is travelling less, the carbon emission involved in the entire supply chain will be considerably reduced or can also be made zero.

However, the amount of emission varies on many factors. For example, one ton of food shipped by air emits approximately 70 times more than a similar quantity shipped by cargo ships.

It means an item shipped by air from Mumbai to Delhi will have a bigger footprint than an item shipped from Mexico to Delhi by a cargo ship.

There are several reasons why people choose to shop in the supermarket or online stores. These stores provide all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and eatables all year-round that people may not get in the local markets in the offseason. People buy watermelons in the

winter without giving a thought about where it came from. Indian traditional wisdom also suggests eating local and seasonal food to remain healthy.

Local governments can encourage local growers by making available the land for organizing local farmers’ markets, spreading awareness about reducing food miles, and talking to the people about their choices. Apart from municipal governments, other government departments have to pitch in to assure people about the quality of the local food items. Building the trust of people will be the key. This will surely aid the efforts of the Government of India to achieve the objectives under the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Mission.

Satellite cities can help

The increasing population and its uneven concentration in metropolitan cities are becoming a problem for these cities. State governments in India will have to work out a model under which the burden on their most thriving urban agglomeration is reduced to make them more efficient. The concept of satellite towns, which was tossed around in 2007, tries to address the issue.

Indian cities, taking a cue from Delhi, can think of developing the ‘Hub and Spoke Model’ wherein independent satellite towns like Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, and Meerut are well connected with the main city.

These cities on one hand support the main city by lessening the population burden by providing job opportunities and also building supporting industries to help them in their circular economic activities and promoting resources efficiency at the industrial and municipal levels. The main city can

The COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us that the cities should have the capacity to sustain themselves in case of sudden supply-chain disruption or any other emergency. Since cities are the hubs of economic activities, they can transform themselves into self-reliant cities. No city can become 100 per cent self-reliant but they can find ways to meet their energy, water and food demands to begin with. The satellite towns can surely assist them in achieving their goals. Cities have to take their citizens along on the journey of becoming self-reliant

complement the facilities and services available in the satellite cities.

According to a report published in a European publication, one such example of the hub and spoke model is the city of Paris, which has to a large extent been able to control the urban migration by creating self-sustainable towns at the periphery, which are wellconnected to the main city with a highspeed train network.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us that the cities should have the capacity to sustain themselves in case of sudden supply-chain disruption or any other emergency. Since cities are the hubs of economic activities, they can transform themselves into self-reliant cities. No city can become 100 per cent self-reliant but they can find ways to meet their energy, water and food demands to begin with. The satellite towns can surely assist them in achieving their goals. Cities have to take their citizens along on the journey of becoming self-reliant.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

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aRTICLE | Mitigating Climate Change Woes

Alternatives for Secure Adaptation & Mitigation Strategies “Oh that house? It’s in the sea now- there!”, a story on the Pari website describes the engulfing of a house and many other houses in Uppada village, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. T Maramma’s joint family lived in that house until the early years of this century. The sea levels are rising, the impact of climate change is real!

Tikender Singh Panwar | Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla

ehold, it is not just the sea levels that threaten the thousands of kilometres of receding coastline in India and other continents; the mountains are also facing the same wrath of climate change; frequent flooding, receding of the snowline, increase in vector-borne diseases etc., have become a common phenomenon.

The effort to keep atmospheric temperature not more than 1.5 degrees C above the pre-industrial levels is not heading very progressively. The largest contributor towards global warmingemission of carbon gases, and the global response for sustainable development is rather tardy.

IPCC VI, Working Group II report

The latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was released on February 27, 2022. This is working group 2 (WG2) of the 6th Assessment Report(AR6). A large number of scientists across the world were engaged in writing this report.

The report is voluminous; it runs into 3,676 pages. The report points out the

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interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies.

It also integrates knowledge across the natural, ecological, social and economic sciences, which is a departure from earlier IPCC assessments. This is good.

The impacts and risks, and adaptation are seen in concurrence to nonclimatic global trends: biodiversity loss, overall unsustainable consumption of natural resources, land and ecosystem degradation, rapid urbanisation, human geographic shifts, social and economic inequalities and a pandemic. This is quite ambitious work done.

Another critical observation is: “Current unsustainable development patterns are increasing exposure of ecosystems and people to climate hazards.” So, the development patterns are unsustainable and need a complete rethinking and reimagining to ensure a secure future linked to mitigation and adaptive strategies. Such a formulation has come for the first time.

The WG2 lays immense emphasis on the cities. Why? The simple answer is that nearly 4.2 billion people, i.e., more people, now live in cities across the world. Cities are major contributors to climate change. According to UNHabitat, cities consume 78 per cent of the world’s energy and produce more than 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Globally urban populations have grown by more than 397 million people between 2015-20, more than 90 per cent of this growth occurring in Less Developed Regions. And the most rapid growth, according to the report, in urban vulnerability has been in unplanned and informal settlements and in small to medium urban centres in low-and middle-income nations where adaptive capacity is limited.

Therefore, any paradigm shift in meeting the challenges of climate change must consider cities as the core areas. Not just that, only 25 megacities of the world produce 52 per cent of the carbon emissions, exhibited in a study of 169 cities.

The most welcome formulations of the report are that it goes beyond the prism of technocentric solutions and speaks about systemic changes. The

main areas that it touches upon are: planetary urbanisation and climate risk; risk creation in cities, settlements, and infrastructure; dynamic interaction of urban systems with climate; infrastructure interdependencies; compound and cascading risks in urban areas; impacts and risks of urban adaptation; cities in fragile and conflictaffected states; enabling conditions for adaptation action in urban areas; etc.

The chapter on cities also mentions concrete case studies -urbanisation and climate change in Himalayas-increased water insecurity; Semarang, Indonesia; Xi’xian New Area in China; etc.

Key Impacts

The WG2 identifies three key impacts on the urban area. First, exposure to climate-driven impacts, such as heatwaves, urban heat islands, extreme precipitations and storms, in combination with rapid urbanisation and lack of climate-sensitive planning affecting marginalised urban populations and key infrastructure to climate change.

Second, COVID-19 has had a substantial urban impact and generated new climate-vulnerable populations.

Impacts on health, livelihoods and well-being felt disproportionately by economically and socially marginalised people. Third, urban areas and their infrastructure are susceptible to both compounding and cascading risks arising from interactions between extreme events and increasing urbanisation. Losses become systemic.

Coastal cities across the globe find a special mention owing to the disproportionate impact on them.

The report points out some of the adaptation plans that are made by the cities. According to the Sendai Framework - disaster risk reduction (DRR), preparing the disaster atlas of the city is the most quintessential work. Unfortunately, most cities have not even measured their disaster risks, and those who have their documents prepared are seldom taken to practice.

What is to be done?

There are many things. For long term

mitigation challenges, the entire urban development process must be revisited.

I recall this interaction with John Closs in Quito in 2016 during the UNHabitat III conference; he vociferously pointed out that the current model of laissez-faire driven urban development is completely unsustainable and that we must go back to the basics of planning. Now, what does it mean?

In simple terms, it means that the free-market economy driven model of treating cities as “engines of growth”, and anything, but growth is sacrosanct; such logic is plundering the social and ecological fabric through processes like land monetisation; privatisation of service utilities, usurping of urban commons.

Historically it is proven that this is incorrect. Samuel Stien a US-based planner in one of his seminal works“The Capital City”, points out the combination of this nexus between urban planners and the big real estate capital giants like ‘Blackstone’. Also, how such models are completely unsustainable both ecologically and socially, creating humongous inequity in the social system also ruining the cities’ urban ecology and resilient capacities.

Let me share two anecdotal experiences explaining the above.

The first one is an interaction with the mayor of Montreal in a world mayors’ congress. She pointed out how the federal government-driven mobility system of more highways and cars (because of push from oil and automobile capital) had even jeopardised their city mobility and did not focus on public transport. She said they were revisiting the entire strategy and bringing in a shift from a private automobile driven mobility to public transport, thus reducing their carbon footprint. The second one is from the building typologies. The push from glass capital to ensure “dead walls” in the building typologies made of glass.

This did not just increase the energy intake for cooling and heating purposes in respective climatic scenarios, this typology has also proven that the glass is the worst form of health hazard,

particularly noticed during COVID 19.

Instead, more ventilated houses must be the way forward. Hence, to imagine a secure and better adaptability-led urban system, one must focus on urban planning driven by people’s interests.

Such planning must focus on health, decent, affordable and sustainable housing and infrastructure.

The Indian Scenario

The Indian cities are considered to be one of the most vulnerable from a climate change impact perspective.

The coastal towns and cities are already facing the perilous danger of receding shorelines. In addition, the towns in plains and mountains are experiencing both heat island effects and frequent flooding.

The vulnerability has increased due to faulty city development processes in the last few decades. Akin to the global trend, Indian policy decisions were also adapted to make cities competitive and attract investments from global capital.

For example, in the mobility sector, the push was and continues to be for more flyovers, expanding the road networks in the cities, instead of public transport. Likewise, the desired trajectory was waste to energy plants, large capital-intensive water and sewage treatment plants, more real estate development without giving ample space for open green areas, and urban commons.

The latest addition of such reforms is the “smart city plan”; these cities were supposed to be lighthouses for BJP’s model of urban development.

However, most of the smart cities chosen for development have proven to be the ones where urban flooding has increased.

So, India needs to revisit its planning strategy, which should be peoplecentric. Simultaneously, it should empower local governments to meet their adaptive capacities, but at least support them to prepare their disaster atlas to ensure minimum damage to lives and assets.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

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aRTICLE | EV: Revolutionising Mobility

Electric Vehicles: Driving India towards sustainable mobility Right from the arrival of the first car in India in 1897 to the latest automobile technology driving transportation, the country has come a long way in moving people and goods. For instance, Delhi has more than 33 lakh cars on its roads, as per the Economic Survey of Delhi 2020-21. No wonder, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) analysis suggested that more than half of the air pollution in Delhi is contributed by vehicular emission. Cities are the major hubs of most of these technologydriven mobility options and, as a result, bear the brunt of its consequences such as pollution, consumption of non-renewable resources, and road congestion. It is high time mobility is made sustainable to lessen its impacts on environment Hitesh Nigam | Reporter

o address these challenges, sustainable development has taken centre stage, and electric vehicles (EVs) present the solution to some major issues. Presently, India has more than 8.7 lakh EVs on its roads and is set to achieve an almost 30 per cent share of private vehicle sales by 2030, as per the statement of Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India.

Due to their environment-friendly feature and skyrocketing fuel prices, EVs are quickly becoming the choice of the urban population. A survey

by CarDekho, an online auto portal, assessed that 66 per cent of Indians are willing to switch to EVs as they are ecofriendly and don’t require traditional fossil fuels. The path to sustainable mobility has begun but there are some challenges on the way.

Shortcomings in EV adoption

A major challenge to adopting EVs

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in India is the lack of charging infrastructure. With the launch of state EV policies in Delhi and other states such as Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala, the pace of installing charging infrastructure has increased. Nine cities - Surat, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai, account for more than 55 per cent of the total charging stations in the country. Equitable provision of charging infrastructure is necessary to take the country towards sustainable mobility.

Another critical roadblock in the mass acceptance of EVs in India is the pricing. For instance, if a middleclass citizen wants a four-wheeler, he can buy a used one for around `2 lakh but for an EV, the cost shoots up to `10 lakhs and above. State governments are trying to plug this loophole with initiatives like subsidies to cut the prices of EVs. The Government of India has also extended its support by allocating `2908 crore to the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME), a central government initiative to accelerate the adoption of EVs. This is three times the fund allocation of the last fiscal year. It will help incentivise the governments to innovate and build the infrastructure for alternate sustainable mobility options.

EV is the future

As per a report by RBSA Advisors, the Indian electric vehicle market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 90 per cent in this decade and will reach the mark of $150 billion by 2030. Presently,

Presently, India has more than 8.7 lakh EVs on its roads and is set to achieve almost 30 per cent share of private vehicle sales by 2030, as per the statement of Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. Due to their environment-friendly feature and skyrocketing fuel prices, EVs are quickly becoming the choice of the urban population EV sales amount to 1.85 per cent of total vehicles sales in India (202021), but the numbers are expected to grow exponentially. (refer to the graph below) Globally, EV sales in 2021 have more than tripled as compared to the number two years earlier, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates. This suggests that EVs are gradually becoming the preferred choice for mobility around the world.

A survey by EY of 4000 people from around the world, including Indians, suggests that 90 per cent of them are willing to pay a premium price to buy EVs in future. This reflects the willingness and seriousness of the

community to contribute to mitigating the environmental woes.

350,000

cities, but it has also set the stage and presented an opportunity for the urban spaces to evolve. Innovation is one way of doing it. Delhi is taking this forward by introducing smart electric buses in the capital’s public transport system.

The blue e-buses on the roads of Delhi provide a sustainable option for public transport and are equipped with smart QR codes so that people can pay the fare digitally, without any physical contact. Sustainability is not limited to one or two modes of transport; all forms should adopt it.

Air transport constitutes a significant chunk of public mobility, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) provides a good option. Indigo, the largest airline of the country, recently received the first sustainable aircraft from Airbus, which consumes SAF.

300,000

Conclusion

EV and public transport

As per the Socio-Economic Survey conducted by the Government of NCT of Delhi, 70 per cent of people in Delhi use public transport. Sustainable public transport will help take the idea of sustainable mobility to the masses.

As per the 2011 Census, 18 per cent of people travel to work by public transport. Thus, opting for sustainable mediums in public transport would take a heavy load off the environment.

The COVID-19 induced pandemic crippled the public transport sector in

Year-on-Year Sales trend of EV in india

250,000 200,000

311,364

150,000 100,000

132,076 161,312

0 2018

157,537

119,662

50,000

2019

2020

2021

2022

Sustainable mobility is an essential component that can help cities achieve SDG 11. EVs are crucial for cities to achieve this goal. With a 198 per cent jump in EV sales as compared to last year in India, they are slowly becoming the face of sustainable mobility.

India’s urban spaces are evolving every year and so are the mobility options. Adoption of EVs in private as well as public transport is crucial for transforming mobility scene in the country.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

37

aRTICLE | Smart Cities & Smart Infrastructure

Shifting focus of cities to sustainable infrastructure

Infrastructure is a set of structural elements that support dayto-day functioning and influence human society’s direction. It refers to equipment and systems that are designed to meet the population’s essential service needs, including roads, bridges, and houses. As cities continue to grow, citizens gain opportunities and prosperity, but that growth has reportedly upset the social, economic and environmental balance. A report titled ‘Infrastructure for climate action’ co-published by UNOPS, UNEP and the University of Oxford in 2021 highlighted how infrastructure is responsible for 79 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide Pooja Upadhyay| Trainee Reporter

he concept of sustainable development was first introduced in 1987 by Bruntland Commission Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” It includes development of a society where environmental, societal, and economic considerations are balanced at every level. Since infrastructure is an essential component of development, it becomes vital that cities introduce the idea of sustainability in the infrastructural development.

According to the United Nations Habitat, cities produce more than 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, even though they account for less than 2 per cent of the Earth’s surface.

Experts have cited large population and infrastructure growth as its reason.

An added challenge is that another 2.5 billion people will reside in urban areas by 2050, as projected by a UN report.

As the world moves closer to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, cities look for ways to integrate sustainability in the urban ecosystem.

The ‘Infrastructure for Climate Action’

38 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

report called on governments to regard infrastructure as a priority sector for climate action. In a bid to develop sustainable and liveable cities, urban planners and governments have started rethinking on how infrastructure is planned, delivered and managed.

Remodelling cities with green buildings

Buildings and houses are significant parts of urban space. However, the building sector is responsible for a significant share of energy-related carbon emissions worldwide. World Green Building Council in 2020 had noted that around 28 per cent of buildings across the globe utilize heating, cooling, and lighting systems that are responsible for energy related carbon emissions.

Most builders or owners are used to traditional building methods and are unaware of the maintenance savings from constructing houses and complexes with design strategies that make them sustainable and reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and natural environment. With a longterm perspective of making buildings green, planners have been introducing solutions in this space with energyefficient cooling devices, optimisation systems that streamline energy use and building coatings that save energy.

Leading the way in green buildings, Singapore’s administration has approved features like improved glass insulation to reduce solar heating through windows, energy-efficient lighting devices and equipment to control lighting; energyefficient cooling plants and ventilation systems for air conditioning; building management systems to monitor and control equipment and optimise energy use; and use of photovoltaic cells. As of 2020, 43 per cent of Singapore’s buildings were reported to have been greened. In addition, the Singapore Green Building Council has been trying to create certification and outreach programmes, capability development, and innovative solutions that can support the city’s building industry transformation.

India had established Indian Green Building Council in 2001, to facilitate Indian cities in introducing the concept of green buildings. Bank of India in Goa, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, Olympia Tech Park in Chennai, are some of the significant structures which turned green. However, the concept awaits its implementation at grass root level in Indian cities.

In an interview with Team Urban Update, Gaurang Rathi, CEO of Aligarh Smart City, said that the institutions of Smart Cities across India are becoming a major force in including sustainability in infrastructure development. He cited an example of how ACC bricks, made of fly ash, have been used instead of conventional bricks during the construction of Aligarh Habitat Centre.

The ACC bricks are eco-friendly building materials from industrial waste and are made of non-toxic ingredients. He said that such small steps reflect on the changing priorities of planners and architects.

For the most part, India has a tropical climate. Therefore, including infrastructure for rainwater harvesting or/and solar panel installations can make a building self-reliant for its water and electricity needs, saving energy and decreasingthe burden on cities for water and electric supply.

Rooftop solar installation has witnessed a significant rise in Indian cities due to multiple grant schemes launched by governments. For instance, Delhi government’s MukhyaMantri Solar Power Yojana provides incentives and tax breaks to promote rooftop solar installations in commercial and residential buildings. Although adapting the solar power infra has been more popular in commercial buildings than residential buildings due to lack of rooftops space. As of 2021, New Delhi was far behind meeting its target of generating 2762 MW of electricity through solar energy as it has managed to complete only 7 per cent of the set target. On the other hand, Los Angeles had reached the landmark of having 1 million solar rooftops in 2019. The local government body in Los Angeles

achieved this because of rigorous awareness programmes and cost reduction, thereby making it a mass movement.

Infrastructure can convert waste to resource

Most human activities generate waste asa byproduct or residual in a solid, liquid or gaseous state. The population and economic burden on urban spaces have carved cities into warehouses of waste. According to World Bank Group, world’s cities generated 2.01 billion tons of solid waste in 2016, which is expected to rise by 3.40 billion tons in 2050.

Centre for Science and Environment in 2021 had stated that out of around 62 million tonnes of waste generated annually in India, only 68 per cent is collected, out of which only 28 per cent is treated by the municipal corporations.

After facing the consequences of inadequate infrastructure ofwaste management in the form of polluted water, garbage piles, GHG emissions, cities and their local bodies have started working on renewing the system with appropriately designed collection vehicles and treatment plants.

Cities like New Delhi and Chennai have already started supplying tap water to houses from sewage treatment plants. A NITI Aayog Report in 2020 had established that 21 Indian cities will soon run out of groundwater. Properly managed sewage treatment plants with adequate capacity can help cities meet their ever-growing demand. To remove hesitancy in using recycled water from sewage plants, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal had once drank recycled water at a treatment

plant in Delhi.

In 2020, the Centre for Science and Environment had informed that urban India alone generates nearly 0.15 million tonnes per day of solid waste. The enormous amount of waste in cities is now turning into an opportunity to create something new and help every element reenter the cycle of consumption in society with the help of relevant infrastructure.

The city of Osaka in Japan used to remain covered in the blanket of smog and polluted air. Building a number of sewage and waste treatment plants has changed the entire character of the city.

The most special feature of these plants is incinerators. Much waste is now burned in high-tech plants that use the heat to produce electricity for 125,000 households.

On a similar ground, The Government of Karnataka launched a Rs 260 crore mega waste to energy plant project on the outskirts of Bengaluru city. Expected to be fully functional by this year, the plant is expected to scientifically utilize 600 tonnes of segregated waste out of the 5,000 metric tonnes from the city to generate 11.5 megawatt of power each day.

Cities have started focusing on introducing the factor of sustainability in infrastructural development. It is no longer about providing just a particular service. Every structure, element, and result is now being checked for sustainability component. Indian cities have started taking initiatives, but they will require rigorous awareness programmes and incentives at the grass-root level to properly introduce the idea of sustainability in the design of cities and the lives of their people.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

39

One on One | Shikha Shah, Founder of Scrapshala

Shikha Shah, Founder of Scrapshala

By 2030, the global middle class or the consumer class is expected to reach 4.8 billion, as per the European Commission. With increasing consumerism, the world is exhausting its resources and creating cumbersome amounts of waste. The only way to deal with this challenge is to recycle and make a resource out of waste.

Started in 2016, Scrapshala bases its business model on giving a new life to waste and used materials. The brand has got recognition after it featured in Shark Tank, an entrepreneurship-based reality show. Shivi Sharma, Editorial Assistant, connected with Shikha Shah, Founder of Scrapshala, to understand the growing industry of upcycling which could play a crucial role in making our cities smart and sustainable.

Excerpts from the interview….

Illustrated by: Arjun Singh, Digital Marketing Associate

Scrapshala: Giving life to waste At Scrapshala, how do you incorporate sustainability in your brand promise?

All the products made at Scrapshala are designed from its conception to its end of cycle to ensure that they don’t create new trash. That way we maintain zero waste cycle. Our products, from the creation to trashing, don’t create new waste. Moreover, whatever resources we procure in the form of raw materials are combined with fresh material to form a product, which are also sustainable, for example, while making tyre furniture, we might add stand on the tyre or a wooden leg to the tyre. So, we combine materials together in a way that makes the final product sustainable. Our products are made of upcycled materials, from mixture of old and new materials, while sometimes we procure completely sustainable

40 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

materials which are not upcycled. For example, if we are making Holi colors (we are doing that right now), we do not use waste materials but we find sustainable ways of doing it, like they are made from vegetables and flower stains using natural pulse powder as color base, so that when they are washed off and reach the rivers, streams or soil, they won’t cause any sort of pollution.

Lastly, all our products are handcrafted, and the more orders we get, the more artisans we can recruit, so we are trying to maintain a sustainable approach here as well.

How do you procure these raw materials? Are the municipal corporations involved in the process?

We are a small-scale company right now, and as we all know that almost

every place has heaps of garbage gathered here and there, and people are more than happy to get rid of it, so we procure trash/raw material from few industries, domestic users and at times we take it from municipal corporations and local “kabadiwala” as well, as per our requirement.

Can we as consumers also send over our scrap so they can be used as raw materials?

Yes, people do that. At times they donate it, and if they wish to sell it to us, that is also possible.

Let’s talk a little bit about Varanasi because it is often said that Varanasi is a “City of Art”. Apart from involving the artisans and process of product manufacturing, how else do you incorporate the rich history of Varanasi into your products?

We are currently based in Varanasi and because a lot of tourists and local people shop from our retail stores, the manufacturing of majority of our products is inclined towards Varanasi.

So, we produce a range of products inspired from the illustrations of Varanasi and are made by the local artisans. The artisans are also very comfortable in creating a real image of Varanasi in our products.

Usually while travelling, whatever souvenir tourists buy from the market, be it plastic keychains, plastic calendars, or anything else, people will eventually throw it. Because of this, we have introduced a full sustainable range of souvenirs with illustrations of Varanasi on it. So that’s how we take the advantage of the city we are based in. And as it is one of the oldest cities of the world, obviously the culture rubs off on the people. And for the kind of aesthetics we maintain, a lot of credit goes to Varanasi.

Generally speaking, Upcycling is a very expensive process, and building a business model around it could not have been easy. So, do you have any tips for young entrepreneurs who want to

venture into this industry?

You are right about the difficulty involved in upcycling waste products, and it is still a tough process for us.

Hopefully, someday we will have a policy for standardizing this entire upcycling industry, because there is no certification or standardization from the government. So right now, we are establishing standards, and therefore I believe that people who will come after a few years will find it much easier because a brand like Scrapshala would already have standardized various things. There is also a lot of uncertainty involved in upcycling which always keeps you hanging. For example, if you are buying fifty tyres for making furniture for a café, all those fifty tyres might be different. Our raw materials are almost always uncertain in their look. This whole thing is very unique and almost everything is a challenge, till somebody standardizes it. We are waiting for Scrapshala to reach that level and standardize upcycling.

In terms of enhancing the Scrapshala’s sustainability, what business avenues do you plan to incorporate to help it grow in the next five or ten years?

We are already reaching out to investors, who can invest and mentor us to make Scrapshala’s manufacturing a standardized process and scale up our business. We plan to start with production workshops in three to four regions of India, where people can come and learn. We also have a servicing wing where people can get their junk materials or unused old stuff lying in their storerooms and we upcycle them to make interesting, usable things. So basically, we are giving a second life to a redundant product, but we can only do this when we have enough production.

We are also looking towards expanding our retail stores to create a brand experience because when you bring such uncommon products into the market, you have to communicate with people and make them aware of its benefits, so that they become comfortable in buying an upcycled or

sustainable product as they are with any other commercial product. For the next few years, we are planning to scale up, become standardised, make production more affordable and make our products accessible to the maximum number of people in India.

Scrapshala has been in the industry of upcycling and sustainability for a considerable amount of time. Have you witnessed a shift in consumer patterns with people becoming more inclined towards purpose driven brands?

Yes, definitely. In fact, we could continue our journey from 2016, because people supported us in various ways. And if you make a good product, it will definitely sell. Indians are more inclined towards brands with a purpose and Scrapshala is somehow reaching there. With more consciousness and visibility of climate change and health hazards, like the COVID-19 which we fought and endured for two years helped Scrapshala and upcycled products to become more acceptable.

My last question is, what inspired you to get into the industry of upcycling?

My mother had been doing this since I was a child, and it was very normal for me to see products getting upcycled either for home décor or school projects. So, upcycling was nothing new to me, and when I was pursuing my post-graduation in a foreign country, my mother was alone at home.

I suggested to her to start this, so that she can build something for herself.

And when I returned to Varanasi in 2016, I realized that she has a lot of limitations as she is a mother as well as a housewife. Therefore, I joined her venture to help her and we were able to build a company like ScrapShala. My mother was my inspiration.

Thank You Shikha for connecting with us and sharing your journey from the “scrap”.

Transcribed by Pooja Upadhyay, Trainee Reporter

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

41

aRTICLE | Reviving Public Transport

Asia’s Cities Need Quality Public Transport About 44 million people are being added to Asia’s urban population every year, equivalent to 120,000 people a day.

ADB estimates that 80 per cent of Asia’s new economic growth through 2050 will be generated in cities, where most jobs and employment opportunities are located. These trends are placing an enormous strain on transport and mobility in these areas James Leather | Chief of Transport Sector Group, Asian Development Bank

ublic transport is the main mode of transport in Asian cities. Together with walking and cycling, it accounts for 70 per cent of urban passenger trips.

However, motor vehicle fleets are already doubling every 5 to 7 years. If public transport is to keep pace with demand and avoid an unsustainable shift to private modes of transport, substantial increases in investments will be needed.

Rapid motorization is a major cause of congestion and pollution.

Road congestion already costs Asian economies an estimated 2 per cent–5 per cent of gross domestic product every year due to lost time and higher transport costs. The region’s cities suffer from the highest air pollution levels in the world, with as much as 80 per cent attributable to transport. Globally, transport accounts for one-fifth of carbon dioxide emissions.

Construction of urban roads alone is not the answer since it encourages a downward spiral of increased purchases and use of private vehicles, which eventually cause yet more congestion.

Moreover, urban areas face practical limitations to further road building in terms of escalating costs and shortage of land. One of the solutions is more, and better, public transport. This is especially true in Asian cities where the population densities and the number of large or mega cities make mass public transport systems the only viable option to move large numbers of people in such limited

42 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

public space. So, how can we capitalize on this moment to improve and expand public transport in Asia and the Pacific?

By changing the way we measure the value and impact of public transport.

Professional services firm Deloitte, in its recent Infrastructure Asia report, explains that spending on infrastructure may be the best way for governments to stimulate their ailing economies.

This is because, first, infrastructure development has a strong multiplier effect in terms of boosting economic activity and creating jobs. This means that the final impact it has on economic output is greater than the initial injection of spending. Second, infrastructure investment is crucial to create a positive legacy of economic growth that is more resilient, sustainable, and productive.

Public transport is so much more than simply a way to get round; it is a key economic driver that can improve the liveability of cities across Asia and the Pacific. Urban transport not only supports economic activity but is also a major source of employment in many Asian cities. Economic activities cluster around areas with good accessibility.

Land values typically increase along public transportation routes and that value can be captured by governments through taxes and used to further support transport, thereby reducing the pressure on fares.

Bangkok is improving its public transport with a large expansion of the metro lines and enhanced integration of the various public transport modes including the buses, metro rail systems, and ferry boats on the Chao Phraya River and the Khlong river networks.

Cities are realizing that public transport investment and operational improvements not only provide access but also support the cities in many other ways. When considered in this light public transport is so much more than simply a way to get round. It is a key economic driver that can improve the liveability of cities.

[The article was first published as ADB Blog] [The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

aRTICLE | Result-Oriented Climate Action

Focus Climate Finance on Results Climate finance investments need a clear purpose, showing how these investments will help climate mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions or how they will help climate adaptation by improving the resilience of infrastructure, communities, and livelihoods Garrett Kilroy | Principal Evaluation Specialist, ADB Nathan Subramaniam S| Director, Independent Evaluation Sector, ADB

M

obilizing greater climate finance was one of the four key outcomes promoted at COP26. That is an important positive step towards greater climate action but it does not in itself guarantee improved resilience or a reduction in emissions. Climate finance investments need a clear purpose, showing how these investments will help climate mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions or how they will help climate adaptation by improving the resilience of infrastructure, communities, and livelihoods. Opportunities exist for better targeting and design of climate finance. The emphasis of climate finance accounting is on identifying at the design stage how much of an investment will likely contribute to mitigation or adaptation. The actual climate results that are expected to be achieved should be reflected in the results frameworks of individual investments and of country programs. However, the link between climate finance and climate results is often poorly defined. Without a clear causal pathway towards climate results, there is a risk of distorted incentives that reward large volumes of climate finance for heavy infrastructure irrespective of the levels of climate outcomes that may be achieved. In particular, this may incentivize less attention to adaptation, where project size is typically smaller than for mitigation.

Recent evaluations point to weaknesses in the tracking of climate finance towards intended outcomes.

One found that while country strategies are increasing attention to the country or region’s climate change challenges, they are not underpinned by sound climate diagnosis and robust results

frameworks. We must look beyond climate finance and keep our eyes on the prize, climate results.

Climate risk assessments of proposed investments are critically important in identifying climate risks and proposing measures to manage these risks.

However, these assessments do not always result in changes in design and when these actions are not reflected in results frameworks they are not well tracked. There is often no systematic ex post analysis of performance against agreed measures. While 70 per cent of recent approvals are being subject to climate risk assessments, only half of mitigation projects and less than a third of adaptation projects have an outcome level indicator in their results frameworks. Similarly, another evaluation found that the depth of impact made by its interventions cannot be monitored with the set of indicators currently used. Climate finance tracking has been instrumental to identify financial flows in a more systematic manner and raise climate ambitions. A similar level of rigor is now needed to bridge the knowledge and evidence gap between climate finance and climate results. By developing the causal linkages between finance and results, with the systematic capturing of lessons learnt, climate finance can be directed more efficiently toward climate action that works and delivers results.

COP26 is receding in our memory, but to keep its achievements and the goals of the Paris Agreement alive we must look beyond climate finance and keep our eyes on the prize, climate results.

[The article was first published as ADB Blog] [The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

43

E-Dialogues

Used Beverage Cartons: Experts discuss ways to manage waste The All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) in partnership with United Nations Center for Regional Development (UNCRD), Action Alliance for Recycling Beverage Cartons (AARC) and 3R Waste Foundation organised a webinar titled “The Road to Beverage Cartons Recyclability- Pre-event of UNCRD Japan’s 11th 3R & Circular Economy Forum 2021” on 1st February, 2022 he webinar addressed the issue of consumed beverage cartons as a significant portion of the waste generated worldwide. The participants discussed the magnitude of the

44 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

problem, possible ways of reducing the waste generation including reuse, recycling and best practices in the industry. The introductory note was given by Dr Kulwant Singh, CEO, 3R Waste Foundation, who was also the moderator of the session. He enlisted goals of the webinar - disseminating information among different target groups on beverage carton recycling, enhancing capacity of policymakers, to mend any misconception regarding the recycling of used beverage cartons (UBC), assessing regulatory policies which affect recycling of UBCs, challenges faced by stakeholders and improving the recyclability quotient of UBCs. The first speaker, NB Maazumdar, an international waste expert, specialising in municipal waste, discussed about ‘Recycling Beverage Carton: Policy and regulated issues’.

Discussing the composition of the tetra pack – 75 per cent long fiber paper, 21 per cent plastics and 4 per cent Aluminum, he said the strength of the carton is derived from the long fiber which gets shortened during the recycling process.

Therefore, UBCs can’t be reused to store food items because of contamination. One solution is limiting the use of recycled material, with strict quality control since recycled cartons may contain harmful chemicals. The current policy framework divides waste into three categories - biodegradable, non-biodegradable and domestic hazardous; there is no separate category for UBCs. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Government of India has prepared National Resource Efficiency Policy 2019, which focuses on UBCs as a separate category of waste. What makes this policy effective, is the creation of a dedicated institution National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA) to provide regulations, and a National Resource Efficiency Board (NREAB) to implement them.

Dr Anupam Khajuria, UNCRD discussed ‘Opportunities for Recyclability and Circular Economy’.

In the waste hierarchy, priority should

be given to minimisation, reuse, and recycling; disposal should be the last resort. We can move towards circular economy and sustainable development goals (SDGs) through the 3R approach, that is, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. She stresses the need to recycle, as it protects ecosystems and wildlife, conserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces carbon emission, thereby mitigating climate change.

She then goes on to explain the concept of circular economy which is an ‘upstream’ solution (at the source), which involves reducing use of raw materials, reuse, repair, etc. while recycling is an ‘end-of-pipe’ solution.

The implementation of a circular economy is not possible without the use of technology. The four technological needs are interactive platforms like apps, websites and databases, production to support design for circularity like repairability and disassembly, efficient collection, sorting through sensors and apps and efficient material processing using AI. AI can be used to collect data efficiently, analyse it and recommend action based on algorithms. Apart from circular economy, Bio Economy and Green economy would also help achieve sustainability.

Sumit Jugran discussed about how Tetra Pak, the biggest company which creates beverage cartons, has established a recycling ecosystem for UBCs. Used cartons are not waste, rather a valuable raw material for new products. There are two main recycling processes used in India.

One is ‘Pulping’ wherein the paper component of the tetra pack can be used to create other paper-based products like stationery.

Aluminum components can be used to make roof sheets which reduce the temperature of a building. Polymer and aluminum can be used to make pellets which can further be used for making toys, etc.

The second process is ‘Full Carton’ wherein tetra packs are compressed thermally and turned into boards.

They created a recycle ecosystem by investing in partnerships with

environmental NGOs and waste collectors. According to a survey conducted by The Energy and Resource Institute in 20 cities, nearly half of all the paper cartons are recycled by virtue of Tetra Pak’s efforts during the last 18 years.

Ashish Shah, MD and CEO, Deluxe Recycling Pvt Ltd. discussed how the company recycles pre and post consumption multi-layered packages into various products like boards, doors and pellets.

Dr KD Bhardwaj spoke about need to incentivise producers and business owners to take responsibility for recycling UBCs. This is possible through Extended Consumer responsibility (EPR) which is a policy option to make the producers and brand owners responsible for disposal of waste generated post consumption. So far, urban local bodies have been handling consumer waste unsuccessfully. The main issue, according to him, is that waste isn’t being collected. There are multiple stakeholders in the EPR system, like the Center for Pollution Control Board, recyclers, retailers, etc., who are working independently. In order to be effective, all of them need to come together on one platform including the community and ensure transparency of working.

Ravi Singh Beniwal, Environment Planner, Waste to Wealth Mission, GoI presented on ‘Beverage Carton Recyclability: Waste to Wealth Perspective’. Talking about the steps of ‘segregation’ and ‘processing’ in the recycling process, he discussed various technologies. Some of the recycling options for UBCs are making construction materials, pyrolysis (generation of gas, oil and char) and recovery of paper fibers through pulping, while recycling options for PolyAl residuals are mechanical, chemical and thermal. Beniwal then shed light on the ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission which is one of the nine scientific missions of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council (PMSTIAC) and will maintain a repository

of the best waste technologies.

Sahithi Snigdha, a social entrepreneur, spoke on ‘Challenges in Collection of Used Beverage Cartons for Recycling’. She introduced the work done by Waste Ventures and the role of social enterprises in UBC recovery and recycling. They connect the informal sector to the formal part of the supply chain, by enabling source segregation. They partner with waste pickers and incentivise them to collect waste and also partner with brands with EPR requirements. She stressed the importance of waste pickers, who are mostly neglected, in this entire value chain.

The last speaker in the session was Dheeraj Kumar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Karnal (Haryana). He presented on ‘Role of Urban Local Bodies in facilitating collection of Used Beverage Cartons for Recycling’.

His presentation encapsulated some of the key points mentioned in earlier presentations. He proposed an action plan for local bodies to manage UBCs, which involves segregation at source (separate bins for UBCs), effective collection, cost-effective recycling and collaborating with start-ups in the sector.

The session concluded with a Q&A session. Dr Kulwant Singh gave the closing remarks, thanking all the participants .

The panel comprised of Dr NB Mazumdar, Chairman International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH); Dr Anupam Khajuria, Researcher United Nations Center for Regional Development (UNCRD) Japan; Sumit Jugran, Sustainability Manager, Tetrapak for South Asia Markets; K D Bhardwaj - Regional Director National Productivity Council, Government of India; Ashish Shah, MD and CEO of Deluxe Recycling Pvt Ltd; Ravi Singh Beniwal, Environment Planner, Waste to Wealth Mission, GoI; Sahithi Snigdha Bhupathiraju - COO and Director, Waste Ventures India; Dr Praveen Kumar, CEO AARC project; and Dheeraj Kumar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Karnal.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2022

45

URBAN AGENDA

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

Need to build better and sustainable cities ities all over the world are moving forward with a renewed focus on sustainable development to make them better prepared for any unforeseen situation. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for sustainable and resilient cities in terms of infrastructure, transport, etc. To achieve the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the country needs to build ‘Atmanirbhar’ cities.

Resilient infrastructure is crucial in making resilient cities that can absorb, recover and prepare for any future shocks. In 2017, the Rockefeller Foundation selected four Indian cities – Pune, Chennai, Surat and Jaipur – to be part of the “100 Resilient Cities” initiative. It is high time that the Government of India comes up with similar initiatives for every city in the country keeping in mind the unique challenges of the region. For instance, Chennai, which was one of the four cities, was reeling under the burden of ageing infrastructure and is prone to various natural disasters such as typhoons, and cyclones. Apart from this, one of the important and common challenges of almost every city is the increasing quantity of waste. Accelerating urbanisation in the country has led to the need for infrastructure which can deal with the menace. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Mumbai and Delhi generate almost 11,000 and 8700 tonnes of solid waste per day. Waste to Wealth mission of the central government aims to address this by identifying, developing and deploying technologies across the country to treat the waste and extract the resources of value. Creating a circular economy structure by leveraging science, technology and innovation will help the cities to construct a sustainable model and enhance their liveability.

In the words of Professor Edward Glaeser, Harvard University, “There is no higher calling in the 21st Century than to fight to make cities of the developing world more liveable.” Sustainable mobility is a key component when we talk about improving the liveability of cities. Not just developing countries but governments around the world are putting maximum effort to introduce electric vehicles, which is quickly becoming the face of sustainable mobility. Traditional vehicles using fossil fuels are putting immense pressure on non-renewable sources of energy. Experts are finding new ways to tackle the dual problem of vehicular pollution and fossil fuel dependency, especially in cities. In 2018, Toyota unveiled the world’s first flexible-fuel hybrid vehicle prototype in Brazil, which can run on both gasoline and alternative fuels such as ethanol. India is the third-largest user of transport automobiles and 70 per cent of transport energy need is fulfilled by importing fossil fuels. The Government of India is also planning to achieve 20 per cent ethanol-blending with gasoline by 2025, to reduce this dependency. Cities are evolving giving birth to new trends, be it digitalisation of services or increasing adoption of EVs.They present an opportunity for countries, especially cities, to move towards sustainable development without putting too much pressure on climate. Climate is taking a hit in the global race for development and supremacy. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report stating that the limit of increase of 1.5 degree Celsius in earth temperature will be reached within next two decades at the current pace. The situation is alarming and cities need to take the lead in delaying this as far as possible.

46 March 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in

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