Focuses on innovative solutions, collaborative efforts for building resilient urban future

The Summit and Mayors’ Forum was organised by All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) at Hotel Aloft in Aerocity, New Delhi from 5-7 April, 2023. Over 400 delegates from more than 25 countries attended the Summit

The 6th Asian Cities Summit and Mayors’ Forum was organised by All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) at Hotel Aloft in Aerocity, New Delhi during 5-7 April, 2023. Over 400 delegates from more than 25 countries attended the Summit.
The inauguration of the 6th Asian Cities Summit was done by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on April 6, 2023. After the lamp lighting ceremony, he gave an enlightening speech on the importance of responsible and sustainable urbanisation in India and Asia at large.
Shekhawat addressed the Mayors of Indian and Asian cities gathered at the Summit to discuss ways to make cities inclusive and climate-resilient. Shekhawat also launched the Urban75 Book written by Indian urbanists tracing the history of cities and urban policy in Independent India. The book is edited by AIILSG’s President Ranjit S Chavan and Abhishek Pandey, Editor of Urban Update. He praised the efforts of AIILSG to bring together local government leaders by providing a platform for knowledge sharing and mutual learning. He also spoke about the importance of women’s involvement in public life. “If women take on any challenge, they can overcome it more successfully.”
Speaking on the summit’s theme ‘Resilient Cities and Inclusive Growth’ he said, “The challenge in Asia is the gap between the pace and capacity for urbanisation.” He also expressed his hope and wished that with behavioural change in the people, we can overcome great challenges.
Rajkishor Modi, Vice President of AIILSG delivered the Welcome Address. Ravi Ranjan Guru, DDG, AIILSG, spoke about the institute’s work in local governance and municipal capacity building. Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor of the institute, said that the role of women mayors is important in building inclusive and gender-sensitive cities. Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) delivered the keynote address and said that building smart cities is not glamorous, but a messy job and needs grit and courage. Dr Bernadia, Secretary General of the UCLG ASPAC, highlighted that building resilient cities to tackle the evolving urban challenges was necessary.
All the country representatives shared their views on urbanisation in their respective regions as well as Asia. It was truly an Asian perspective. Dr SP Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Law and Justice, spoke at length about the significance of the role of mayors in city building. He underlined that mayors can create history and contribute significantly to the development
of a city.
Speakers at the summit underlined that Asia will see rapid urbanisation in the coming years. The cities need to be well prepared to handle the issues emerging from these challenges and strengthen urban local governance systems to make cities resilient.

Technical Session 1: Collective Urban response to Evolving cities

As cities evolve and face new challenges, it is essential to have a collective urban response that involves multiple stakeholders, including government, citizens, and private organizations. A collective response ensures that the city’s development is sustainable, inclusive, and meets the needs of all its citizens. The first session saw an eminent panel of speakers discuss the importance of urbanisation of Asian cities, emerging urban crises, and the measures needed to be implemented in order to create inclusive, sustainable and resilient cities.
“We have moved from the opinion that cities are meant only for economic growth, have to be competent, and should be bankable. [..] Now, what we need is that our cities need to be sustainable, inclusive and resilient,” Om Prakash Mathur, Non- resident Senior Fellow Global Cities Institute University of Toronto, said.
Highlighting the long- and short-term urban crises, Neeraj Mandloi, Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh, mentioned that short term crises are often handled, but it is the long-term crises that are left to the city authorities, or the parastatals which often lead to a huge capacity crisis, like urban planning, environmental challenges, and transport issues.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges for cities which had a devastating impact on the economy and livelihoods of its citizens. The pandemic also highlighted the existing inequalities within cities, with marginalized communities often being hit the hardest. The unavailability of beds and proper medicines had immensely affected the healthcare systems, with hospitals and healthcare workers struggling to keep up with the demand for treatment. Speaking about the post-pandemic effect in the cities, Omar Siddique, a Senior Urbanist mentioned, “The world is facing a series of multiple and interlinked crises and it’s the perfect storm testing our current development paradigm, from health crises, recession to climate and biodiversity collapse.”

Technical Session 2: EU Support to Climate Smart & Inclusive Urbanisation in India

The moderator for the session Laurent Le Danois, Team Leader – Cooperation Delegation of the European Union to India and Bhutan said that the world is facing many global problems today. The aim of this session is to find local solutions to those global problems.
Ishey Namgyal, President, Leh Municipal Corporation talked about the small union territory and how its tackling problems like climate change. Water is the resource that is facing the primary brunt of global warming. Nearly 90 per cent of the villages depend upon glacial water for agriculture, but as we all know glaciers are fast disappearing. Leh signed an MoU with the Greek municipalities of Farkadona, Trikala and Meteora in 2016 under the European Union International Urban Cooperation (IUC) programme to cooperate with Leh on sustainable urban issues. As part of the programme, officers from Leh visited these Greek cities and learned about water management, waste management and other sanitation issues. So, in Leh only segregated waste is collected now and then it’s taken to the waste management plant.
Shashi Ranjan, Municipal Commissioner, Ranchi said that the city is only a 20 years old state capital. With the support of International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) and cooperation of Regio-Emilia in Italy, Ranchi is working on a non-motorised vehicle transportation system. This involves developing safe public bicycle systems and routes. Following Regio Emilia, they’re also developing bicycle sharing systems. This is extremely important in the current scenario of climate change.
Naim Keruwala, Programme Director – CITIIS, National Institute of Urban Affairs. City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain focuses on all three levels – national, state and local. The programme was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2018 and is financed through a 100 million Euro loan from the French development agency AFD and 6 million Euro technical assistance grant from the European Union which makes it possible to disseminate learnings to municipalities. Through the project there are many initiatives taken up by NIUA in many cities like Bhubaneswar, Surat, and Chennai.
Dr Anshuman, Associate Director, Water Resources & Forestry Division, TERI spoke about the project Pavitra Ganga functioning in two locations. It is a consortium of partners across Europe and India which is funded by EU and the Govt of India. In India, out of the total waste water generated, only 27 per cent is treated, rest of it goes into the water bodies. It is however possible to improve wastewater management through the use of better technology and thereby mitigate GHG emissions.
Jai Kumar Gaurav, Senior Advisor, GIZ India spoke about the organisation’s programme being implemented in India – ‘Waste Solutions for a circular economy in India’ which is partly funded by EU. The goal of the project is to be able to support 4,500 tons per day of municipal solid waste.
Pankaj Sinha, Senior Investment Officer, International Finance Corporation (IFC) spoke about leveraging private sector in rejuvenating urban transport infrastructure. Explaining why we need private finance in urban sector, he said PPP model is a potential method to attract investment in the urban sector and solve some of the issues.

Technical Session 3: Urban Transformation- Opportunities and Challenges

Urban transformation epitomises the narrative of providing opportunities for accelerating a change in the local and global diaspora in its movement towards sustainability. Therefore, AIILSG organised a session on India’s Urban Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges, wherein eminent personalities shared their views.
In the session, Shekhar Singh, Pimpri-Chinchwad Mayor highlighted some of the challenges and issues that municipalities have to address, such as the high expectation of people, conflict between the needs of different social classes and balance between development and environment. On the other hand, Pushyamitra Bhargav, Mayor, Indore told the audience how with the help of Janbhagidari (people’s participation) the city has emerged as cleanest city in India for the last six consecutive years. He also highlighted how the city is leapfrogging in scientific waste management. Similarly, Junaid Azim Mattu, Mayor, Srinagar talked about how the participation of local bodies in the policy making process could ensure the success of programs like the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Dr Sanjay Kolte, IAS, CEO, Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd deliberated upon some of the initiatives for sustainable urban transformation of Pune city, including the introduction of smart e-buses, street lighting (LED) and installing PV cells in all buildings of Pune Municipal Corporation. Dr Debjani Ghosh explained the work of the National Urban Learning Platform (NULP), a knowledge-sharing network involving urban officials, academicians and researchers.
SP Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Law and Justice, Government of India briefly talked about the Asian Cities Summit and later spoke about the initiatives and schemes of the government, such as the Smart City Mission, AMRUT, and PM Awas Yojana, to improve the ease of living for citizens along with the progress that India has made towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

Technical session 4: Safe, Sustainable, and Inclusive Mobility

Safe, sustainable, and inclusive mobility refers to the concept of providing transportation options that are safe, environment friendly, and accessible to all members of society, including those with disabilities and economically disadvantaged sections of society. Abhishek Saxena, Public Policy Expert, International Forum for Environment, Sustainable and Technology (iFOREST), chaired this session. He spoke at length about Electric mobility and its role in making a sustainable impact in the environment. “Two –three years back, people used to ask whether EVs are going to happen. Do we really need them? And now questions have completely turned to how soon are we going to have them? What are the policy decisions that we need to take? Why aren’t you doing more?” Highlighting the importance of greater focus on monitoring mobility, Shubhankar Mohapatra, Commissioner, Rourkela Smart City Limited, pointed out that cities need to focus more on safe and secure transportation for everyone. He also talked about the problems faced by the small-medium cities of India in bringing changes in urban mobility and the usage of inclusive mobility for the betterment of the environment and to promote sustainability. “The best about cycling is that its clean, calm, cuts costs and it breaks barriers.”
Parul Agarwal, Country Director, UN-HABITAT, addressed the safety concerns faced by the vulnerable groups due to lack of proper public transportation. She stated, “In many cities, transportation is unsustainable, it’s not safe, inefficient, inaccessible and also unaffordable. We need to put our efforts to make transportation safer and secure to all groups of the society.”
Talking about low carbon mobility in cities, Amit Bhatt, Managing Director of the International Council for Clean Transportation, highlighted the fact that all kinds of vehicles have some kind of impact on the environment and that it is for us to figure out ways to reduce their impacts on the environment. “If we are really looking at the Paris Agreement, net-zero, climate sustainability, we have to reduce emissions from the transport sector, especially from the developing economy.” Rahul Tiwari, Professor at National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, threw light on how having a better transport system has a huge impact on the vulnerable class of the society. He focused on how in most of the families, women still depend on the male for their travel needs. “A change in mindset is required- inclusive, equitable society for both men and women.”While discussing the strategies for inclusion and sustainable mobility, Gaurav Bhatiani, Director of Energy and Environment of RTI International-India suggested that the taxes that are being collected from the vehicles should be invested in electric buses. “Why can’t a part of these taxes be used for funding electric buses [..] in a way we already have high carbon taxes but none of those carbon taxes or taxes on petrol and diesel are used to decarbonize.”

Technical Session 5: Urban Water Security and Management

As urban water security and management are critical issues for cities around the world, the session saw experts discussing the importance of sustainable use of water, initiatives to be taken for long term impact and the technology in urban water management. As the global population continues to grow and climate change impacts have become more severe, cities are facing increasing challenges in providing safe, reliable, and affordable water services to their residents.
In this session, panelists discussed and presented some of the ways for effective water management, involving a range of strategies, sustainable water sourcing, efficient distribution systems, and effective wastewater treatment. Major focus was also on the importance of water quality and the importance of safe management of water supply. “When we talk about children, their growth can only happen if there aren’t any cases of water-borne diseases. Water quality plays an important role here. And also, contaminated water can only be prevented by safe management of water supply,” said Manish Wasuja, WASH specialist.
The experts stressed on the importance of PPP (Public-Private Partnership) funding which can encourage private-sector investment in urban sanitation, thereby promoting innovation and efficiency in the sector. The involvement of a partnership can bring in new technologies, business models, and management practices that can help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of urban sanitation services. PPP funding also plays a crucial role in promoting long-term sustainability in urban sanitation. It includes activities such as wastewater treatment, solid waste management, and sewage disposal, which are essential for maintaining public health and preserving the environment.
The panel also mentioned that cities must consider the social and economic impacts of their water management decisions, particularly for low-income and marginalized communities. Ensuring urban water security requires a comprehensive and integrated approach that considers both the immediate needs of residents and the long-term sustainability of urban water systems.

Technical Session 6: Preserving Urban Heritage & Strengthening Local Identity

Considering the intense pace of urbanisation and redevelopment in Asia, there emerges a need to give special attention to the preservation of urban heritage to maintain the local identity of cities and preserve their history.
The session ‘Preserving Urban Heritage & Strengthening Local Identity’ discussed the close association of Culture, Monuments and Local Identity. Apart from that, the session also talked about some of the key initiatives, including HRIDAY, aimed at preserving the rich cultural heritage of our country. The session also depicted how cities could be redesigned to become citizen and pedestrian-friendly. It showed how cities could create green spaces in the middle of concrete jungles with the help of some brilliant examples from the eastern city of Seoul, like Seoul Plaza, Seoullo 7017 and Sejong-daero’s ‘Pedestrian Forest Path’. The panel discussion also highlighted that monuments and heritage buildings could not be preserved without the active participation of citizens. The panel also highlighted how a simple move such as providing drinkable tap water to all households could drastically cut plastic bottle pollution in Puri. On one hand the ‘Drink from Tap’ scheme ensures the availability of drinking water to the citizens, but on the other hand, it also cuts down plastic bottle pollution. Initiatives also lead to skill development and employment generation, thus boosting the local economy.
The panel of speakers included Praveen Chaudhary, IAS, U20 City Sherpa and Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation; Dr Vibhuti Sachdev, Director, Unitedworld Institute of Design, G D Goenka University; Kyungah Chung, Secondee from Seoul Metropolitan Government; Dr Shikha Jain, Director, Development & Research Organisation for Nature, Arts & Heritage (DRONAH); Sangeeta Bais, Director, DHAROHAR; Dr Mukesh Kanaskar, Director International Center of EQUI-T, AIILSG; Sriparna Iyer, Senior Vice President (Urban Development) IPE Global; and Dr Arunava Das Gupta, Professor, Department of Urban Design, SPA Delhi.
The three-day conference concluded with a valedictory session where closing remarks were offered by Dr. Jairaj Phatak, DG, AIILSG; RR Guru, DDG, AIILSG; Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General, UCLG ASPAC and Satish Upadhyay, Vice Chairman, NDMC. A declaration was prepared and was adopted after a democratic and open discussion.