Voices from the City: Shaping the Future of Urban Development

The past year has been significant for Indian cities as they had the opportunity to discuss and present their demands and needs before the 20 largest economies in the world through the Urban 20 framework as part of the G20. On the same lines, the AIILSG and Urban Update have also facilitated dialogue discussions and forums to increase engagement with cities. We hosted insightful webinars, thought-provoking conferences, and engaging one-on-one interviews with public representatives and national and international industry experts to foster resilient and inclusive cities across India and beyond through knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovative solutions

E-Dialogues

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG), in collaboration with United Cities Local Governments Asia–Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), organised a webinar on ‘Digital Governance in South Asia’ in January 2023. The webinar highlighted the benefits of digital local governance and challenges before the local governments in South-Southwest Asia in adopting digital technology and sharing its best practices in the region.

In the webinar moderated by Abhishek Pandey, Editor of Urban Update, Nagarajarao Vijayshankar, Founder-Director of Cyber Law College, said that one of the major challenges is that the e-governance tendering system heavily favours IT entities. Mostly, the MNCs and international companies alone can participate in tenders because the tender specifications make it necessary that an organisation needs to be of a particular size and form.

Later in August, AIILSG organised another webinar in collaboration with Infocomm India on the theme ‘Transformation of Indian Cities: Sustainable Strategies for Inclusive Urban Development’. In the webinar, a host of experts gathered to discuss critical strategies for building sustainable and inclusive urban spaces. The event aimed to illuminate a way forward for making India’s urban centres more sustainable, intelligent, and inclusive.

The discussion delved into critical issues such as sustainable infrastructure, affordable housing, transportation, and climate resilience. Experts exchanged ideas to tackle these challenges while ensuring inclusivity in urban planning.

The webinar was a precursor to the main Infocomm event which was held at the Jio Convention Centre in Mumbai where AIILSG hosted a panel discussion on the theme ‘The Urbanisation Challenge in India-Expectations and Roadmap.

Renowned economist and urban expert, Dr Amitabh Kundu, graced the event with his illuminating keynote address. Dr Kundu emphasised the paramount importance of sustainable urban development, particularly as India’s cities continue to burgeon. He said, “Promote urbanisation from the local level, depending on the local demand which is emerging. And national sample survey shows that only 35 per cent of the total consumer durable comes from class one cities. 65 per cent of the consumer durables demand comes from rural areas and small towns and that is something which needs to be captured.”

Events

6th Asian Cities Summit

AIILSG organised the 6th Asian Cities Summit under the theme ‘Resilient Cities and Inclusive Growth’, on April 5-7 in New Delhi. More than 400 delegates from over 25 countries participated in the three-day event. The summit was inaugurated by none other than Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India.

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 since Indian independence. 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 expresses his hope and wishes that with behavioural change in the people, we can overcome great challenges.

Several speakers at the summit emphasised that Asia is expected to experience rapid urbanisation in the coming years.

This means that cities need to be adequately prepared to handle the challenges that will arise from this urbanisation and strengthen their urban local governance systems to make cities more resilient.

U20 Conference, Indore

The AIILSG organised the U20 Conference in association with the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) at the Brilliance Convention Centre in Indore on May 18, 2023. The conference, themed ‘Reinventing Urban Governance for Indian Cities’ aimed to address the pressing challenges faced by cities in India and explore innovative solutions for sustainable urban development.

A series of thought-provoking and insightful sessions were held throughout the day. The sessions focused on ‘Catalyzing Digital Urban Future,’ ‘Reinventing Framework for Urban Governance & Planning,’ and ‘Championing ‘Local’ Identity.’ The sessions highlighted the need for inclusive development, neighbourhood planning, digital governance, and maintaining the unique identity of each urban area.

Speaking in one of the sessions, Neeraj Mandloi, IAS, Principal Secretary, UDHD, MP, emphasised the importance of conferences like the U20 Conference for fostering knowledge sharing. He noted the shift in India’s demographic landscape, where the nation has transformed from being predominantly rural (“gaon ka desh”) to increasingly urban (“shehron ka desh”).

One-on-One

Urban Update organised ten interviews with some well-known national and international experts, elected representatives and experts from the private sector, including Ghanshyam Meena, Municipal Commissioner of Firozabad Municipal Corporation; Normunds Popens, Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy; Eero Ailio, Adviser at European Commission DG Energy; Tomasz Gawlick, representing the Commission, Director General for Climate Action; Dr Amitabh Kundu, a distinguished Fellow at Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries; Lucas Cleveland, Mayor of Cobourg, Canada; Vijay Jagannathan, Secretary General of CityNet; Divya Sharma, Urban Planer and KT Ravindran, Architect and Urban Planner.

Meena highlighted how Firozabad Municipal Corporation has drastically reduced a garbage dump which used to store nearly 2,14,000 metric tons. And now, only one lakh metric tons of garbage remains. At the same time, the ULB is also working to bring garbage production down to zero by segregating and reprocessing it. The Mayor of Cobourg also talked about how they are tackling the issue of waste management in Canada. He also spoke at length about the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP), Great Lakes, and the St Lawrence Cities Initiative and their climate change mitigation plan.
Tomasz Gawlick spoke about how the cities in Europe are leading the climate action path. He said that they have increased their target of at least 55 per cent reduction of emissions for 2030 and would like to be climate neutral by 2050. We also have other EU adaptation strategies, which are more action-oriented and there are also several other city initiatives. Similarly, Normunds Popens spoke about the ‘Urban Agenda for the EU’, established by the Pact of Amsterdam in 2016.