Urban75 | Inaugural
AIILSG launches Urban75 Initiative
Ravi Kant Sharma, Mayor, Chandigarh, lighting the lamp in the presence of the event’s Chief Guest Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, and other dignitaries
Team Urban Update
A
ll India Institute of Local Self-Government, in association with Foundation EMDA South Asia, has started a series of dialogues to celebrate 75 Years of India’s urban transformation, where the focus will be on several pressing urban issues to present feasible solutions to cities. The inaugural Dialogue of the series was organised on October 21 at the India International Centre. Additionally, AIILSG is working on a Coffee Table Book “Urban 75” to commemorate the completion of 75 years of Independence, and it is expected to be released in August 2022. Indian cities are currently witnessing a massive transformation in governance, operational mechanism, capacity building, and adapting to sustainable development practices. Over the years, governments have tried many experiments to make urban spaces efficient, inclusive, and livable. Moreover, the recent COVID-19
44 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in
pandemic has forced policymakers and leaders to rethink the development paradigm of future cities. It is the opportunity to lay a new path for cities in the post-pandemic world. Leveraging on the learning from these experiments, from these policies and programs, AIILSG decided on this series. The inaugural event of Urban75 witnessed an array of experts and people holding key positions in urban sector. Key points of discussion in the event included major learning in India’s urban journey through its 75 years of independence; case studies for efficient municipal governance; future roadmap of urban development and governance, etc. Dr Jairaj Phatak, IAS (Retd), Director General, AIILSG, opened the event with his address to the panelists and attendees. He said, “I now find that challenges in the coming decade will be shortage of water supply, sanitation, air pollution, water inadequacy.” Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG, addressed the audience next
and talked about AIILSG and how one of its strongest verticals is capacity building programmes. Ravi said that the organisation thought about bringing out a publication/book where various experts/officers will share their experiences in the sector of urban development. He mentioned how this publication is being introduced in light of creating an exclusive platform for leaders and experts to thoroughly discuss and present ideas related to urban development. Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, was the Chief Guest of the event. In his address, he said that there are over 3000 cities in our country, but we rarely consider them all when we talk about urban areas. He said the focus should be on developing those young cities sustainably from the very beginning. He emphasized on building capacity of nations’ local government bodies. Talking about how cities create plans for their development and act on
