Urban Update August 2017

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume IV, Issue IV

AUGUST 2017

Close to Unique public places in

Urban India

nature

The project is funded by the European Union.

Rs 100

Public Spaces along water bodies in India have been a special feature of urban landscape and the mere presence of water bodies makes these places multi-functional. ULBs must look inwards to reintegrate rivers into the image of our cities

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 — a project funded by European Union’s ‘Equi-City’ programme for India.

Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Ashish Deosthali Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor

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Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor Arzoo Arora & Akash Mandyal Editorial Assistants Meenakshi Rajput Graphic Designer Seemab Tasneem Marketing Associate Volume IV - Issue IV Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

Printed at Artz & Printz, 208, DSIDC Shed, Okhla Industrial Area Phase-I, New Delhi-110020 Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area D-Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy of the contents. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. The views expressed in the articles are the personal opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

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The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

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

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August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

Efficient public spaces call for intention, innovation and inspiration Principle 100 of New Urban Agenda says: We will support the provision of welldesigned networks of safe, inclusive for all inhabitants, accessible, green and quality public spaces and streets, free from crime and violence…….

I

t is an unambiguous statement recognizing the central role of urban public spaces in sustainable urban development. The effective design of public spaces can contribute towards addressing various aspects of city management which affect residents with respect to health, safety, mobility, economy and commerce and environment protection. Thus public spaces can go beyond parks and gardens to include all other infrastructure elements that touch citizens’ lives on a daily basis.

A key feature of urban space design is the quest for inclusiveness. Principle 100 puts is right up at the top. All too often several segments of the citizenry get left out while conceptualizing, designing and during implementation of public spaces. Among the special groups are women, children and the aged. All these have special needs. And then there is the significant number of physically challenged persons. Persons with mobility challenges and those with visual impairment are particularly vulnerable and call for special design of urban public spaces. While it may not be possible to design all public spaces for every category of citizen, spatial injustice to any significant group needs to be consciously avoided. There is a tendency to create facilities for the ‘common’ man or the ‘average’ citizen.

But inclusive cities call for greater care in design of urban public spaces.

Crime prevention and safety objectives can also be built into design of public spaces. Obvious actions like adequate street lighting and encouraging mixed usage will foster safer outdoors. Other measures including road and kerb design and efficient signaling systems can promote road safety and protect both motorists and pedestrians.

Many of our cities have now taken up

building elevated walkways/skywalks which can provide anxiety free access to public spaces for pedestrians. Coastal cities and hill stations offer great opportunity for leveraging natural assets to create vibrant, attractive and tourist-friendly public spaces. However they also call for special efforts to address safety aspects.

There are other cities which have unique assets and such cities need special design in infrastructure and of their public spaces. Cities with heritage assets and pilgrimage centres call for innovative measures to enable handle large numbers of visitors through the year where the visitors can move around and stay in comfort and safety.

The design of public spaces also needs special attention from the point of protection and preservation of the monuments and related assets.

This issue of Urban Update delves into several aspects of urban public spaces. In the cover story we carry a feature detailing an experiment in the USA in which community participation infused vibrancy and colour to a dying beach centre. The story also explores how Indian cities have so many colourful public spaces along the water bodies. This also underlines the traditional significance of public spaces along water bodies and their present state of affairs.

Ashish Deosthali Editor-In-Chief dg@aiilsg.org

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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Quotes

PIN POINT BUZZ

Development of a nation does not depend on its size, but on the spirit of its people

People around the world want leaders who can deliver results, and cities are stepping up to be those leaders

Narendra Modi Prime Minister, India

Rajiv Shah President, Rockefeller Foundation

Erik Solheim @ErikSolheim Head of UN Environment Programme

Over 1/4 of world’s original mangrove cover gone. Earth & humanity cannot afford to lose these vital ecosystems!

Jim Yong Kim @JimYongKim President of World Bank

Data is one of the most powerful tools to #endpoverty. Technology helps us collect data better and faster.

Smart Cities Mission @SCM_MoHUA

Use of Rooftop Solar Panels on NDMC Buildings, as part of the #SmartCities Mission, is under implementation in #Delhi. #Transformation

I just think you’d be foolish not to address flooding, drainage and sea level rise as one of the most serious challenges...

John Tecklenburg Mayor, Charleston, South Carolina

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All over the world, businesses are increasingly realizing that “green” investments can generate great returns

Achim Steiner Administrator, UNDP

Irina Bokova @IrinaBokova Director General, UNESCO

Education is the most powerful force for transformation, for sustainability & resilience. #G20HAM17 #G20

Inside

Volume 4, Issue 4

Inside August 2017

event

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ASEAN Mayors commit to augment city development with sustainability lens United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) and City of Taguig jointly organised the 3rd ASEAN Mayors Forum at Shangri-La The Fort in Bonifacio Global City on July 26th and 27th, 2017. The foremost objective of the Forum was to empower local governments and city leaders in the development process of their respective cities by working together

Article

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Revitalization of Urban spaces through Urban Renewal The Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Project has initiated the conservation and development of urban heritage of Delhi.

Apart from carrying out meaningful conservation efforts, this project has started various programmes which aim to cater to the needs of the local community

Velo-city

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Cover story

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RegularS Pin Point Equi-City Newscan

15 28 46

City Images Numerographs Urban Agenda

Close to nature

Public Spaces along water bodies in India have been a special feature of urban landscape and the mere presence of water bodies makes these places multi-functional. ULBs must look inwards to reintegrate rivers into the image of our cities

LEADerspeak

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Dilwalon Ki Dilli: A city found and a few lost over time Delhi is present, past and history. Present may symbolize the modernity but it’s the history that defines Delhi. Many towns were established over the centuries, some lost some survived, and today we know them as Delhi

6 8 12

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Vibrant public spaces enhance urban safety A city with isolated, dark public spaces raises concerns of safety. Urban public spaces become appealing or uninviting depending on how safe they are. Many fine-looking public spaces in our cities remain unused after dusk or in early wee hours and a few of them even at peak hours because people do not feel safe there. City governments, which are responsible for the upkeep of public spaces, need to integrate safety with inclusivity and accessibility

one on one

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European Union driving sustainable urban cooperation between cities Pier Roberto Remitti, Team Lead, International Urban center, European Union speaks to Urban Update editorial team about the significance of climate change and impact on cities. Remitti stresses on exchange of information and cooperation between cities is the only solution to get effective results

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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feature | Equi-City

Insights of diversity in municipalities

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ncreasing globalisation requires more interaction among people from various backgrounds.

People now live and work in liberal environment; they are now part of an extensive economy competing within a global framework which makes profit and non-profit organisations need to become more diversified to remain competitive. Maximizing and capitalising on workplace diversity is an indispensable issue for management.

Managing diversity is a remarkable organizational challenge, so to accommodate a multicultural work environment it is crucial to acquire managerial skills. Diversity not only involves how people perceive themselves, but also how they perceive others. Those perceptions affect their interactions.

Diversity in the workplace refers to the variety of people in an organisation in terms of race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organisational function, education, background and more. For a wide range of employees to function effectively as an organisation, human resource professionals need to deal effectively with issues such as communication, adaptability and change. Diversity increases significantly with time.

Successful organisations recognize the need for immediate action andare prepared to spend resources on managing diversity in the workplace.

Benefits

Diversity in an organisation is directly proportional to the organisation’s success. Diversity is beneficial to both associates and employers. Although associates are interdependent in the workplace, respecting individual differences can increase productivity.

Diversity in the workplace can reduce lawsuits and increase marketing opportunities, recruitment, creativity, and business image.

When organisations actively assess their handling of workplace diversity

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August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

issues, develop and implement diversity plans, multiple benefits are reported such as:1. Increased Adaptability Organisations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources. Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands.

2. Broader service range A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g. languages, cultural understanding) allows a company to provide service to customers on a global basis.

3. Variety of viewpoints A diverse workforce that feels comfortable communicating varying points of view provides a larger pool of ideas and experiences.

The organisation can draw from that pool to meet business strategy needs and the needs of customers more effectively.

4. More effective execution Companies that encourage diversity in the workplace inspire all of their employees to perform to their highest ability. Companywide strategies can then beexecuted; resulting in higher productivity, profit, and return on investment A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and marketplace.

Diverse work teams bring high value to organisations. Respecting individual differences will benefit the workplace by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity. Diversity management benefits associates bycreating a fair and safe environment where everyone has access to opportunities and challenges.

Management tools in a diverse workforce should be used to educate everyone about diversity and its issues, including laws and regulations. Most

workplaces are made up of diverse cultures, so organisations need to learn how to adapt to be successful.

Challenges

There are challenges to managing a diverse work population. Managing diversity is more than simply acknowledging differences in people.

It involves recognizing the value of differences, combating discrimination, and promoting inclusiveness. Managers may also be challenged with losses in personnel and work productivity due to prejudice and discrimination, as well as complaints and legal actions against the organisation.

Negative attitudes and behaviors can be barriers to organisational diversity because they can harm working relationships and damage morale and work productivity. Negative attitudes and behaviors in the workplace include prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, which should never be used by management for hiring, retention, and termination practices. To take full advantage of benefits of diversity, organization must be aware of these challenges which are as follows:1. Communication Perceptual, cultural and language barriers need to be overcome for diversity programs to succeed.

Ineffective communication of key objectives results in confusion, lack of teamwork, and low morale.

2. Resistance to change There are always employees who will refuse to accept the fact that the social and cultural makeup of their workplace is changing. The “we’ve always done it this way” mentality silences new ideas and inhibits progress.

3. Implementation of diversity in the organisation policies This can be the overriding challenge to all diversity advocates.

Armed with the results of employee assessments and research data, they must build and implement a

customized strategy to maximize the effects of diversity in the workplace for their particular organization

Diversity Trainings

Strategic Planning Leadership Commitment

Required Tools for Managing Diversity

Diversity management in the organization

Diversity management strengthens associates by creatinga fair and safe environment where everyonehas access to opportunities and challenges.

The changing world and marketplace exhibit diverse workforce. Diversework teams bring high value to organizations.

Respecting individual differences will benefitthe workplace by creating a competitive edgeand increasing work productivity. Management tools in a diverse workforceshould be used to educate everyone aboutdiversity and its issues, including laws andregulations.

Most workplaces are made upof diverse cultures, so to be successful organisations need tolearn how to adapt and manage diversity.

The process of planning, directing, organising and applying all the comprehensive managerial attributes for developing an organisational environment can be termed as Diversity Management, in which all diverse employees irrespective of their similarities anddifferences can actively and effectively contribute to the competitive advantage ofan organisation. The components of diversity management are as follows.

1. Leadership Commitment Effective managers are aware that certain skills are necessary for creating a successful, diverse

workforce. First, managers must understand discrimination and its consequences. Second, managers must recognise their own cultural biases and prejudices. Diversity is not about differences among groups, but rather about differences among individuals. Each individual is unique and does not represent or speak for a particular group. Finally, managers must be willing to change the organisation if necessary.

Organisations need to learn how to manage diversity in the workplace to be successful in the future.

Unfortunately, there is no single recipe for success. It mainly depends on the manager’s ability to understand what is best for the organisation based on teamwork and the dynamics of the workplace.

Managing diversity is a comprehensive process for creating a work environment that includes everyone.

When creating a successful diverse workforce, an effective manager should focus on personal awareness. Both managers and associates need to be aware of their personal biases. Therefore, organisations need to develop, implement, and maintain ongoing training because a one-day session of training will not change people’s behaviors.

Managers must also understand that fairness. Social gatherings and business meetings, where every member must listen and have the chance to speak, are good ways to create dialogues. Managers should implement policies such as mentoring programs to provide associates access to information and opportunities. Also, associates should never be denied necessary, constructive, critical feedback for learning about mistakes and successes.

2. Linking Diversity to Strategic Planning Diversity strategic planning focuses oncreating measurable ways diversity cansupport the strategic direction, goals, and objectives of the organisation.

Strategic levellong-range planning for diversity is a more recent

development. Previously, diversity was not seen as an integral part of strategic planning. Diversity initiatives were often poorly conceptualized, lacked specificity, andwere not linked to strategic organisational plans. Today’s leaders realize that in orderto be effective, successful diversity planning must be aligned with and provide support for strategic business objectives and operational decisions.

An Organisation’s strategic planuses a four-step approach for establishing and implementing diversity: ♦♦ Creating a strong foundation (values, philosophy, dedicated resources, and commitment) ♦♦ Building a solid internal structure (initiatives to support and educate employees) ♦♦ Building a solid external structure toinfuse diversity into the community ♦♦ Measuring the progress and results (goalsetting for all efforts).

3. Accountability By making appropriate leaders responsible for diversity by linking performance evaluation elements and compensation to the successful implementation and progress of these initiatives, accountability can be achieved. Accountability helps to ensure that “everyone is on board” and actively engaged in the diversity process.

4. Employee Involvement The leadership believes that employee involvement and feedback are necessary components in achieving these goals. Thus, our partners actively seek employee input.

5. Diversity Trainings Formal training programs are established to inform and educate management and staff. Trainers are used to help assimilate new employees into the organisational culture. In others, trainings involve the willingness ofleaders to accepttrainees & introduce themto new and more challenging aspects of the organisation.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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Event | 3rd ASEAN Mayors Forum

ASEAN Mayors commit to augment city development with sustainability lens Abhishek Pandey | Editor

Taguig (Philippines): United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) and City of Taguig jointly organized the 3rd ASEAN Mayors Forum at Shangri-La The Fort in Bonifacio Global City on July 26th and 27th, 2017.

The foremost objective of the Forum was to empower local governments and city leaders in the development process of their respective cities by working together. It was reflected in the two-day Forum that witnessed participation from a host of mayors from all ASEAN countries and beyond.

The mayors committed to connect the ASEAN’s vision for city development with the global approach for good city

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governance. The significance of peopleto-people connectivity, institutional connectivity and physical connectivity among ASEAN as highlighted in Master Plan ASEAN Connectivity 2025 was also deliberated upon in detail. The focus was on opening the borders and ‘prosper together’ so that the regioncan flourish as a single community.

Mayor of Taguig Maria Laarni L. Cayetano the Host of the 3rd AMF welcomed the participants in her City.

She said: “We at the local governments are confronted with opportunities and challenges at daily basis. It is definitely hard to do it alone. I think it is the best that we learn from each other, collaborate and cooperate and work in synergy with one another.” [sic.]

UCLG ASPAC Secretary General Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, in her opening remarks, said: “This event underlines the critical role and participation of local governments in the process of regional integration.

In this Forum, we aim to enhance the responsiveness of local governments on ASEAN, and to be a valuable platform where the governors, mayors, vice mayors, and other local stakeholders can learn from their peers and grow a supportive network for local governments in South East Asia.”

“In the face of growing global disorder and straining of ties between nations, the ASEAN is an ideal example how nations can prosper together with strategic collaborations at multiple

level. The fundamental question has become unescapable: can it be done without cities and the pro-active role of their leaders? The obvious answer is: no.”

She further added that a large population lives in cities in ASEAN countries and more are expected to arrive; cities also generate a huge portion of national wealth. Moreover, ASEAN countries would have over 250+ new cities. They would require technical, institutional and financial support and handholding from the existing cities to direct their growth trajectory in the right direction.

Mayor Edgardo D. Pamintuan, Angeles City, LCP National President, said that the Forum is organized to explore ways and means to promote cross-border interactions between local governments. It is acting as a platform to establish partnerships to improve the quality of life and environmental sustainability within the region in accordance with the ASEAN Blueprint.

Secretary Catalino S. Cuy, Department of the Interior and Local Government of the Philippines also stressed on collaborations and cooperation between nations and local governments for building better cities and bringing prosperity for all.

He added it was nice to know that our counterparts from other ASEAN nations share the common desire and aspiration advanced by mutual support and cooperation persistent about peace and development in the region.

The forum discussed key policy frameworks and instruments, ways to facilitate knowledge sharing and mutual learning among mayorsand a number of international organizations, working in the field to foster sustainable development and achieve stronger community in ASEAN region.

The mayors signed an agreement with counterparts from private companies.

The agreement acted as a message to the leaders in the region on the importance of engaging corporations in local sustainable development. The Forum also agreed to establish a Secretariat of Mayors Network. It functions as a platform for mayors and local

governments to learn and connect, and also works as a supporting mechanism for cities and local governments to plan and implement their joint projects or programs.

At the 3rd AMF, UCLG ASPAC, and one of its newest members, Bogor City in Indonesia also signed a memorandum of understanding to augment the pace of development by prioritizing the city needs and improving service delivery mechanism and capacity building of its municipal personnel. Several other MoUs were signed between cities to improve knowledge sharing and improve relations between respective cities. Dato Maimunah Mohd Sharif, President, Municipal Council of Seberang Perai, Penang (Malaysia) and Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General, launched a publication ‘Borderless Mobility and Connectivity in ASEAN’ during the event. It contains best practices and strategies executed in ASEAN cities that foster peer to peer learning, as well as address different urban challenges.

With local government leaders and champions in mind, its readers are sure to find practical and engaging content in the publication.

A series of sessions at the Forum covered multiple sets of themes, issues and agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), New Urban Agenda, Local Economic Development, Resiliency, Youth and Women Leadership, keeping people at the center.

In conclusion, it was agreed that AMF would be held on annual basis and in line with ASEAN Chairmanship.

Participants adopted the Taguig’sAction Agenda that is designed to strengthen local government participation in the realization of ASEAN objectives through concrete actions at the local level. City leaders and representatives of local governments from various ASEAN cities committed to organize an entity dedicated for ASEAN local governments that will serve as regional platform for collaboration that will be accredited and supported by the ASEAN Secretariat. Everyone also agreed to participate actively in formal ASEAN

“In the face of growing global disorder and straining of ties between nations, the ASEAN is an ideal example how nations can prosper together with strategic collaborations at multiple level.

The fundamental question has become unescapable: can it be done without cities and the proactive role of their leaders? The obvious answer is: no” Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi Secretary General, UCLG ASPAC meetings and processes to articulate issues and challenges besetting local governments across the region, in order to improve alignment and coordination for policy implementation, and to build stronger partnerships.

All the participants collectively agreed to review the progress of the Taguig Action Agenda and undertake to convene as a unified body every two years. The Action Plan also for forging a more resilient future by reducing disaster and climate related risks, preventing the generation of new risks, and adapting to a changing climate through the implementation of economic, social, cultural and environmental measures which address exposure and vulnerability and strengthen resilience. The Agenda also stressed on establishing a cadre of innovative and inspiring local leaders that will continuously engage key stakeholders and members of the communities to participate in the realization of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 that highlights peoplecenteredness in its growth agenda. The Agenda also underpinned the resolve to implement key areas of existing global commitments that call for an active role of local governments including the Sustainable Development Goals, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, New Urban Agenda, and Financing for Sustainable Development.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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BRIEFS

Access civic services in Delhi online South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has launched a new website to provide better, efficient and transparent services to citizens.

The site will offer services online and will reduce the paper work. The citizens will get benefits in online tehbazari fee payment, hawking fee payment, hackney-carriage registration and different fee payments.

Residents in Delhi Development Authority (DDA) can now access the timeline of construction, material management and the quality of construction as the DDA has also gone online.

The e-MB software facilitates quick payments, dispute- free measurements and permanent record of measurements along with latitude and longitudes of the place.

Track affordable house allotments online in Raipur

NEWSCAN

No clearance required for SWM Projects NEW DELHI: In order to facilitate the Swachh Bharat Mission of the NDA Government, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has declared a blanket exemption for all Solid Waste Management (SWM) Projects in the country. This is being done in order to reduce the time waste management projects take to get off the ground. After its implementation, the processing time will be cut down by at least six months.

The biggest hurdle for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MHUA) in implementing waste management projects was that there were different rules for different facilities. Environment Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha intimated the MHUA about the decision. In his letter, he said, “It has been seen that locating a landfill site or municipal solid waste disposal site is a contentious issue and there is a tendency to locate them far from the habitation but near forest, rivers, ponds, wetlands and low lying areas etc which are ecologically sensitive sites and require proper environmental management. It may not be appropriate to exempt this activity of municipal solid waste disposal

site or landfill site from the requirement of prior environmental clearance.”

According to the provision, waste to energy plants up to a capacity of 15MW would not require any environmental clearances. “Municipal solid waste management involves various steps like door-to-door collection, segregation, composting, refuse derived fuel making, waste to energy generation through waste to energy plants and disposal in scientific landfills.

The above activities, except landfill site, if proposed as standalone activities do not require prior environmental clearance,” the ministry has clarified.

PMC adds 34 villages in its limit

Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) launches an online portal to keep track of the vacant houses and its allotment process which are under the scheme of Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP). These houses allotmentsto slum dwellers are executed by the zone commissioners by the central server located at RMC. The civic officials believe that the portal will bring transparency in the process of allotment and maintain clear records.

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PUNE: The Maharashtra government gives green signal for the merger of 34 villages within the limits of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), after the directives of Bombay High Court (HC). However, the state has approved of merging 11 villages at present, while the remaining in next three years. Among the 11, only the two villages: Uruli Devachi and Phursungi, 20 km from Pune city, are to be immediately assimilated while the remaining nine villages will be incorporated in phases by December 31 2017. In 2014, members of citizen group called the ‘Haveli Taluka Nagari Kruti Samiti’ have filed a petition in the High Court seeking the expediting of the merger of the villages. Pune Guardian Minister Girish Bapat opposed the move citing that the move would put great pressure on the finances of the civic body. “The proposed merger benefits neither the urban pockets nor the villages. It is vital to first set forth the infrastructure like roads and drinking water facilities. A number of pending projects have to be completed first to ensure development in these areas,” Bapat said. The HC directed the state government to act after hearing the PIL filed.

State government appointed a committee headed by Girish Bapat who suggested the merger in phase wise manner. Considering the panel’s suggestion, the decision came up for merging of 11 villages and the rest in next three years.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has made new development plan, with an expenditure of around Rs 5000 crore, for development and merger of these 34 villages into the limits within three years. However, the annual budget of the entire PMC for this year is almost the same estimated budget.

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BRIEFS

India flags its first solar-powered train In a ground-breaking move, Union Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu flagged off India’s first solar powered train with a battery bank which ensures sufficient power in the absence of sunlight. The train will make its first journey between Sarai Rohilla, Delhi and Garhi Harsaru Junction, Haryana.

The fares for the one and a half hour ride remain the same as the diesel powered trains. A total of 16 solar panels, each producing 300 Wp, are fitted in six coaches.

The trains will also result in the reduction of CO2 emission equivalent to 9 tonnes per coach per annum and will save about Rs 672 crore yearly.

Garo hills to get new tourism circuit Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma announced the construction of a new circuit in the scenic Garo hills. During the visit to the Educere Higher Secondary School at Williamnagar Sangma said, “The state government is focusing on developing the Mairang-RongjengWilliamnagar route including the Duramarange as a tourism circuit and as such the government will be making a huge investment in the East Garo Hills”. At the same occasion, he also inaugurated the extended building of the school which was constructed under the chief minister’s Special Urban Development Fund. “Instead of opening more schools and institutions the state has pushed the students of the northeast to go for their studies outside the region. This has not benefitted the state. We should look at education as a one-time investment, open more schools with quality education and ensure their sustainability,” the CM said.

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NEWSCAN

Bengaluru to have IoT enabled roads

BENGALURU: As part of the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMC) is aiming to develop at least 7kms of roads as ‘Smart SURE’ roads. ‘Smart SURE’ is a term coined by the civic corporation to refer to streets that will have IoT enabled solutions for citizens.

The high streets in the vicinity of Vidhana Soudha including MG Road, Brigade Road and Commercial Street will be covered under this plan. These roads will have 50 smart card-enabled public bicycle sharing points, 30 e-rickshaw stands, 35 e-toilets, water ATMs, 420 sensor-based smart dustbins and 50 designated vending kiosks -all of which will be connected to 1,250 smart telecom towers that will double as street light poles. The plan is a part of a Rs. 2,090 crore plan to make Bengaluru a

smart city. The city’s core area comprising the historic Pete and Cantonment with old markets and commercial hubs of MG Road, Brigade Road, Chickpet, Avenue Road and Commercial Street under AreaBased Development (ABD) will get Rs. 1,166 crore in the Smart City Project. This share is one of the largest to be ever given to a single group of localities.

According to an official involved with the Smart City project, Smart SURE roads are essentially Tender SURE roads with a touch of technology. About 51.6 km of roads in the core area will be redeveloped as per Tender SURE guidelines. “Smart telecom towers will control IoT based solutions such as smart parking and smart dustbins. For example, we are going in for smart street lighting, whose illumination will be controlled by the towers,” he said.

Automatic parking in Bhopal soon BHOPAL: Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has given the green signal to the modernisation and automation of parking.

It includes all the parking spaces in the city whether it is open parking, enclosed with boundary wall or multilevel parking.

After delaying for long BMC has given this project to private operator on revenue sharing basis.

‘Smart parking’ spaces will be implemented at 58 locations across Bhopal, the first of which is to be ready

by August 15 said BMC parking wing incharge Rajeev Saxena. Civic body expects major commercial areas to be under

CCTV surveillance with automatized boom barriers in another three months.

New Model of parking spaces in the city will boost the earning of civic body and will limit the number of people employed.

The BMC earns 11 lakhs per year from its 42 parking spaces across the state capital but after the implementation of new scheme BMC might earn minimum Rs 25 lakh per month.

Not more than 25 cars at a time can parked in old city area and thus people park their vehicles on the road. ‘Smart parking’ is the unified city-wide parking solution and also offers cashless transactions.

CITY IMAGES

Ahmedabad Heritage Walk

A walk to ancient heritage of India

The Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad popularly known as the Journey of Mandir to Masjid has some of the finest Indian-Islamic monuments and the wooden houses are of unique architectural tradition. The walled

city consists of the Jama Masjid, the Teen Darwaja, the Bhadra Gate and the Tombs of Queen and King located in the historic core, the remaining sections of the original fort and 12 original gates protected by

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has been attempting to revitalize the walled city. The walk is a part of a conservation drive to save the invaluable heritage of the old city.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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SDMC issues over 40 VIP challans

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) recently issued more than 40 VIP challans to the offices and monuments in the city for mosquito breeding in their premises. The various establishments challaned include MTNL office, Delhi metro project site, PWD office and Humayun’s Tomb, which is listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. At least 26 fresh cases of malaria were reported last week, taking the total number of people affected by this vector-borne disease this year to 210, according to a municipal report released recently.

Vadodara sanitation workers to get houses

NEWSCAN

Smart Transport

Kolkata launches smart mobility cards, app KOLKATA: West Bengal (WB) government introduces an integrated Smart Card, the ‘West Bengal Transport Card’ and ‘Pathadisha’ application for easy commutation in Kolkata city. The card can be used to swipe and pay fares across various transport modes in the city which include state-run buses, ferries and trams.

Launching the ‘Pathadisha’ mobile app, West Bengal Transport Minister, Subhendu Adhikary said that the launch was a part of the initiative of the Vision 2016 of Transport department to provide smart, transparent and simple way of commuting.

Like Ola and Uber app-based cab services, where a commuter can verify the position of an approaching vehicle, ‘Pathadisha’ will from now on enable a commuter to see location of a bus, its next destination, the availability of seats, how much crowded it is inside - in short everything, the minister said.

Being sold at five major locations in the city, currently, the card service is limited to 700 buses which will be increased by addition of 300 buses ina few months.

For women safety in the buses, transport department has started installing GPS, CCTV cameras and a panic button in case of any emergencies. The app also facilitates ‘accident management’ by sending alerts to the police, fire stations and hospitals during any mishaps.

The project, having World Bank and a Korean Green Growth fund as development partners, will also be extended from West Bengal Transport Corporation-run buses in city to two other state undertakings in next six months and will cover the entire state, the minister said. The minister further said with the guidance of IIT-Kharagpur drivers of state undertaking will be trained to fulfill the WB CM’s safe drive, save life campaign.

‘Concrete’ solution for air pollution The civic body of Vadodara is to provide houses to its sanitation workers under the housing schemes meant for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the society. Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) will be giving preference to those who apply for these properties.

VMC commissioner Vinod Rao said, “We are providing housing to the needy across the city and want that even ‘safaisevaks’ should get their own houses”.

The criteria for the scheme are that the workers should have salary below three lakh annually and not owning any house in the country.

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August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEW YORK: Concrete is one of the most widely used substances in the world. It is mainly used for construction purposes. Every year, millions of tonnes of waste concrete from demolition sites are disposed of or left unused. However, according to a research performed by scientists at the Stony Brooks University, including one of Indian-origin, concrete can be used as a method of reducing air pollution. Experiments were conducted at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source and Center for Functional Nanomaterials, and the National University of Singapore. The findings appear in the Journal of Chemical Engineering. The National Science Foundation CMMI program supported the research. The concrete in buildings acts as

a sponge and absorbs harmful particulates (particularly particles of Sulphur Dioxide gas) from the air around it. This can be a major step towards promoting the concept of reusing waste materials from construction sites.

“Even though producing concrete causes air pollution, concrete buildings in urban areas can serve as a kind of sponge adsorbing sulphur dioxide to a high level,” said Alex Orlov, associate professor at Stony Brook University in the U.S. Cement kilns also produce about 20% of all sulphur dioxide industrial emissions. However, if used widely, this environmental hazard of producing concrete may soon be negligible as compared to the protection it provides to the environment by reducing air pollution-one of the major environmental problems of the 21st century.

NEWSCAN

Indian cities get more water ATMs

In order to provide relief to their people, various state governments have decided to install/upgrade water ATMs across their respective states NEW DELHI: The New Town Kolkata Development Authority recently installeda second water ATM in Eco Park. The first ATM was set up by the state public health engineering department and the second water ATM has been sponsored by a private company as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity.

One can get a litre of chilled pure drinking water by inserting a 2 rupee coin at the ATM counter. Bottles or glasses have to be brought in.

The initiative of installing these ATMs has so far been extremely successful and is being adopted by more and more state governments.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi is the most recent municipal corporation to have implemented the idea of installing water ATMs. The North and East Municipal Corporations will be installing close to 200 water ATMs throughout their areas of jurisdiction.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation started this project in June itself and has received overwhelming response

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August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

for the same.

In Assam too, Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal inaugurated the first water ATM in May this year.

According to the Chief Minister, people will now be able to avail the facility of safe drinking water which meets the standards of World Health Organisation.

Similarly in a small village called Rahera near Greater Noida in NCT Delhi, the lives of villagers have been transformed by one of these water ATMs. The idea, however, belongs to twenty eight-year-old Rahul Sharma.

He, in collaboration with Safe Water Network-an NGO working towards providing safe water to all, installed the Water ATM in 2015. It now serves 250 families. However, Rahul now aims to provide the entire population of the village with clean, potable water.

The biggest role in installing water ATMs has been played by Tata Trusts, a philanthropic organisation. The Trusts, through its water initiatives, has touched 4 million people as of now,

and intends to reach 12-15 million in the next three years. “The 10 states we are working now are mostly underserved. So, we are trying to enhance our footprint within these states,” DivyangWaghela, Head-TWM at Tata Trusts, said adding the firm intends to venture into Uttar Pradesh and Telangana. At present, TWM covers about 4,000 villages in the country.

TWM, which has already installed 75 water ATMs (50 in Bengaluru and North Karnataka and 25 in Delhi), is doing a feasibility study to install these across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. In 2016, Tata Trusts had partnered with Jaldhaara Foundation to set up water ATMs that dispense drinking water in urban slums.

The initiative has therefore gained some momentum over the years while achieving tremendous heights.

The Water ATM is in essence a modular Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) controlled standalone water dispensing unit. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information.

It is very simple to use, and like any usual ATM, the customer swipes a prepaid card on the screen and chooses the amount of water one wishes to dispense.

The RFID device sends a GPRS message to the managing organization’s server which authorizes the transaction instantly. This server keeps a record of the user’s transaction and deducts the amount used on the card.

The plant works on a reverse osmosis and UV based filtration technology.

The water is filtered through 5 stages and the quality is in accordance with the international drinking water quality standard, IS 10500. Two patents for this technological innovation have been filed - one for the RFID based remote sensing & quality control and the second for the ATM dispensing system.

NEWSCAN

Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim to implement Climate Change adaptation

NEW DELHI: The Environment Ministry approved three projects for climate change adaptation in three states. The National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC), under the Chairmanship of Secretary MoEF&CC, Ajay Narayan Jha, approved the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) submitted by Governments of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim for funding under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC).

Current projects address a range of climate change vulnerabilities in the states which are not addressed under the ongoing schemes of the Central and State Governments.In Rajasthan, the project builds on work carried out under Phase-I of the Mukhya Mantri Jal Swavlamban

Abhiyan to enhance the adaptive capacity of villages by making them self-reliant in terms of water requirement. The project in Gujarat seeks to enhance the adaptive capacity of natural resource dependent communities to climate change in targeted villages of Kachchh district. In Sikkim, the project aims to address the issue of water security which is directly identified as climate resilience building intervention under the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC).

NAFCC is a flagship scheme of Government of India, which provides 100 per cent grant to the State Governments for implementing climate change adaptation projects. The Scheme is designed to fulfill the objectives of National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and to operationalize the SAPCCs. During the last two-year period, 21 projects were approved at a total cost of Rs 435.72 crore.

The project outcomes are expected to increase resilience and adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities and ecosystems against climate change impacts.

BRIEFS

Free parking in Gurugram Malls Municipal Corporation of Gurugram has come up with a solution to tackle the problem of illegal parking and alleged paid parking service in many city malls by posting banner and sign boards of free parking at malls and other buildings.

“We have started placing notice boards on the entry of malls which reads ‘The basement parking of this mall is free as per declaration of mallowner’,” MCG Commissioner V Umashankar said. After receiving several complaints, the free parking banners have been installed outside Sahara Mall, MGF metropolitan, City Mega mall, Ambience Mall, Platinum Mall, First India Place and DLF Corporate Park among others.

NDMC to plant 10 lakh saplings this monsoon

700 local men, women revive Kuttamperoor river THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the Swachh Bharat mission aims at cleaning major rivers like the Ganges and Yamuna, the people of Kerala undertook the responsibility of reviving the long neglected Kuttamperoor River.

It was once a 12 kilometre long stream, stretchingover 100 feet at places, had now become a nearly stagnant, shrunken dump site.The river, which used to be 100130 ft wide, had shrunk to 10-15 ft at many locations due to encroachment.

“Waste materials such as plastic bottles, containers and food refuse dumped by unscrupulous cateringunits had ruined the flora and fauna,” said P. Viswambhara Panicker, Budhanoor panchayat. Illegal mining in its river bed, rapid urbanization reduced the river to a garbage dumping

site for the hotel industry and common people.But for the will of over 700 local men and women, the stream would not have been resuscitated. The project was implemented under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

No machines were involved in the process. Environmentalist N K Sukumaran Nair exclaimed that fish had started to reappear in the water. Thousands of people have begun to use the water of the river again for washing and bathing.

Thepanchayat now plans to clear the clogged ducts along the sides of the river to take water to the fields. It has led to a substantial increase in the water level of wells and ponds up to a distance of 5 km from the river.

With the target of increasing green cover from existing 48% to 50%, this monsoon the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is all set to plant 10 lakh saplings including sisham and peepal (30000), neem and many more fruit plants like mangoes and jamun in their area. In collaboration with the NDMC, 28,000 school children will plant saplings in their school premises and surrounding areas.

Stressing on the importance of ecological balance, NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar said, “NDMC is trying hard to transform its green heritage at par with the international green standards”.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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After Ludhiana, now Amritsar to have another 55,000 toilets In the presence of Union Finance and Defense Minister, Arun Jaitley, the philanthropic Bharti Foundation has announced the completion of its ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’, a rural sanitation initiative to promote the eradication of open defecation in Ludhiana.Speaking on the occasion Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Co-Chairman, Bharti Foundation, said, “We are proud to have contributed in our small way to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission and now we have decided to construct 55,000 toilets in district Amritsar which will be built at the cost of Rs 125 crores and it will take 2 years to complete this project.”

Largest global skill park to come up in Bhopal

NEWSCAN

Six-month jail for littering in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The civic bodies of Delhi recently planned to make littering in public and allowing mosquitoes breeding in households a criminal offence with appropriate jail terms. This move has come up after the Delhi High Court instructed the municipal bodies to increase the penalty for littering in public places as the amount of fine was inadequate and asked the centre and state government to consider amending the law in this regard.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has already issued orders and the two

other agencies will follow suit, officials have warned. Municipal magistrates will keep a check on violators and ensure they are prosecuted. Those caught trashing the city will risk a maximum jail term of six months for such an offence.According to MCD officials, the existing penalty on violating sanitation bye-laws is too weak to deter people and so it was decided to slap criminal charges on them. The imprisonment would vary from one month to six months depending on the severity of the violation.

150% salary hike for BMC corporators On July 3, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy laid the foundation of a global skill park in Bhopal. State Minister for Skill Development, Deepak Joshi saidthat the park will b established at an estimated cost of Rs 645 cr. It is being established with the support of Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education and EducationServices (ITEES).

With the upcoming skill development park, India would be able to prepare skilled youth who wouldbe able to seek employment from both Indian and multinational companies.

20 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

MUMBAI: After eight years of standing demands, Government of Maharashtra recently decided to hike the honorarium of the corporators in the state. Mumbai corporators get a hike of 150% which is going to cost Mumbai’s taxpayers an extra Rs 4.18 crore annually.

This honorarium that is paid to the municipal corporators over and above other expenses like their phone bills will cost the public exchequer of the city Rs 6.96 crore now, as opposed to Rs 2.78 crore in the past. 27 Municipal Corporations across the state got the hike and all of them are classified into five categories, as A+, A, B, C and D on the basis of population, its revenue generation and other basic infrastructure. Monthly honorarium of corporator in BMC is Rs 10000, which has been increased to Rs 25000; other corporators in the state have lesser honorarium. According to

Mumbai Mirror, for those falling under A class, like Thane Municipal Corporation, the figure has been set at Rs 20,000. For B-class corporations, the revised amount will be Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 for those elected to C and D class municipal bodies, the Mirror says. The honorarium is given to elected corporators to meet expenses related to purchase of stationery and phone bills. The BMC has 232 coporators and their salary was last finalised in 2010, but there have been regular demandsfor hike.

“The demand was made saying that the cost of telephone, stationary and postage has gone up considerably since 2010 and so the decision to give them a hike was taken,” said an official.Whereas Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport unit’s employees are not paid salaries on time, saying that it is running in losses.

NEWSCAN

Civil Society Report on SDGs critically examines India’s progress NEW DELHI: The Civil Society Report on SDGs:2030 is a civil society initiative anchored by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), wherein large number of civil society organisations and networks working on SDGs have prepared a report. NITI Aayog has been identified as the nodal agency by the government of India for implementing SDGs in India and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has drafted the National Indicators for the SDGs. The report has used the lens of ‘Leave No One Behind’ and ‘A Life of Dignity for all’ as proposed by theSDG framework. More than 62 organisations took leadership in preparing this report and 300 civil society organisations have endorsed it. The report aims to highlight the status of SDGs in India with the UN and different stakeholders and tocreate traction on SDGs. Executive Director

of the National Foundation for India (NFI) and convener of the Wada Na Todo Abhiyaan, Amitabh Beher said, “The report is an initial attempt to map the existing government interventions at national, state and local levels as well as to identify the gaps and challenges to achieve the SDGs inorder to actively engage with the government to create a platform for dialogue between the civil society, the government and the stakeholders on SDG’s”. “‘Leave No One Behind’ will continue to be the greatest challenge in achieving the SDGs in all emerging economies, particularly, in India, a land of great inequalities, and therefore, Goal 10 and Goal 16 needthe greatest attention”, said Thomas Pallithanam, Director at People’s Action For Rural Awakening, India (PARAIndia).

The main findings from the report highlight are the implementation of

SDGs and their present status. The report points out that, despite the implementation of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme and several programmes run by government around river development and rejuvenation of Ganga River, there are still 76 million people who do not have access to safe drinking water in India today.

The chapter on Good Health: SDG three points out that out of the total expenditure on health in India, 62.4 percent is borne out of pocket. Another point highlights that while government has formulated policies, developed missions and programmes aimed at ensuring universal access to housing and basic services, a significantly large proportion of the urban population continues to be homeless or lives in under-serviced and low-quality housing in settlements referred to as slums. The report has been released in 10 states.

Amended Mumbai DP open for public suggestions MUMBAI: In a move to promote public participation, Brihanmumbai Corporation’s Development Plan (DP) 2014-2034 is likely to be kept open for two months for Public suggestions and objections. BMC recently ran a marathon session of work for more than seven hours to pass this DP. The first version of the DP was released in February 2015, when the Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis ordered for a revision post a public outcry over the DP being ‘builder-friendly’.

BMC accepted public suggestions and observations at every phase. During 2016, the DP was released in four different phases. This plan is a crucial document for determining the city’s land use and infrastructure development in next 20 years. 227 corporators across the political parties moved around 269 amendments.

Out of the 269 suggestions, BJP came forward with 114 of them, followed

by Shiva Sena with 87, NCP gave 21, Samajwadi Party (SP) 13, MNS 9 and Congress put up 25 changes. However, after seeking extensions for four times, the civic body coincidently finished its work on its 125th birthday. The DP will now be sent to the state government’s Urban Development Department (UDD) for final scrutiny and it will take another six months to pass the bill, which has been pending since 2014.

BJP’s Manoj Kotak said the party’s suggestions were made in relation to Mumbai’s development only. He said, “We said film city of Goregoan should be kept as film city only. The draft DP has divided the plot into different reserved categories which includes No Development Zone (NDZ), Natural Area

and DP road development. Therefore, in order to avoid any future issues which can affect the livelihood of the film fraternity, the amendment has been suggested.”

Kotak stated that the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPt) is planning to develop the eastern waterfront as recreational and tourism district through development of parks, gardens and promenade and make it accessible to public.

“Today, there is hardly any scope for tourism in the city. We want the city’s waterfront to be developed like other world-class cities”, he added.

The state government will take a minimum of six months to scrutinise the 600-page document along with nearly 2,500 recommendations of the planning committee that conducted citizen hearings and the corporation’s amendments,” said a senior BMC official.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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PMO instructs NMC to provide better facilities in parks After the RTI query by an activist Abhay Kolarkar, Prime Minister’s Office takes note of the absence of toilets and drinking water facilities in the gardens maintained by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The RTI states that out of 93 gardens in Nagpur, 47 did not have toilets and 31 did not have drinking water facility. The move came after a vigilant citizen, KD Dabholkar noticed the RTI query published in the media and wrote to PMO. He brought to fore that Nagpur, which is to be turned into a smart city, is full of garbage everywhere.

Narendra Singh Tomar given additional charge of MoHUA

Narendra Singh Tomar has been given additional charge of the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). The MoUD has now been renamed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

He is currently holding the portfolio of Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. This decision was taken after the previous minister of MoUD, M Venkaiah Naidu was picked to be NDA’s Vice-Presidential candidate. Simultaneously, the Information and Broadcasting portfolio has been given to Smriti Irani. In a tweet, the Prime Minister Office informed about the decision.

22 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Town hall to become cultural centre in Chandni Chowk NEW DELHI: In an attempt to develop more public spaces in the city, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) recently approved redevelopment of the 150-year old building, the Town Hall, in Chandni Chowk. The corporation aims to restore the historic building and convert it into a cultural and social centric place.

There is a plan to develop a craft bazar, a dancing fountain, a maze, light and sound programmes, street food, children activity area, a boutique hotel, food court, courtyard and sculpture garden, digital library, lecture rooms and a fine dining area in its premises. Due to lack of funding from the Union Ministry of Tourism, the redevelopment of the Town Hall will take place through public-private-partnership (PPP) model.

“The Town Hall will be developed as an attractive tourist destination of international standards, following which, the Town Hall would emerge as a centre of culture and social heritage — depicting the history, culture and the life of Delhi,” said Preeti Agarwal, NDMC Mayor.

There is a proposal for a museum,

displaying historical and cultural artifacts, to be developed at the venue which is likely to cover an area of about 1500 square meters. North Delhi Commissioner Praveen Gupta said that the project would be taken up in the next nine months and is likely to be completed within two years. “Apart from depicting the history of Delhi, the project is also expected to earn revenue for the corporation,” the commissioner added.

NDMC owns the Town Hall after the splitting of the body in 2012. “The process has already begun. We have prepared the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the project for inviting bids from consultants and the tender for selecting the consultant should be out by next week,” a senior official of the North MCD said.

AMRUT households in Delhi to get water taps NEW DELHI: All the seven Union Territories accounting for 16 Urban Local Bodies including the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi will become Open Defecation Free (ODF) by March 2018.

The review held was chaired by the then Minister of Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Venkaiah Naidu. During the review Delhi Government officials informed that 6.22 lakh households in Delhi will be provided with water taps over the next two years under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

At present 23.78 lakh households accounting for 58 percent of the total 41 lakh households have water connections and this will be increased to 73% under AMRUT. Sewerage connectivity will be

increased from the present 57% to 65%.

Naidu requested LG of Delhi to sort out issues related to forest and ridge lands and unauthorized colonies to ensure full coverage under water supply.

Progress of works under AMRUT in Delhi for which the UD ministry approved an investment of Rs 802 crore for the five-year period 2015-20 has been reviewed in detail.

Noting sanitation as a major area of concern in Delhi, Naidu asked the Delhi Government and municipal bodies to focus on solid waste management and segregation of municipal waste at source. It was assured that South and East MCDs will become ODF by October this year while North MCD will do so by December this year.

Varanasi and Ganga | news feature

Ganga is sick, needs immediate therapy Varanasi and Ganga are inseparable. Thousands of devotees throng the city for pilgrimage and take a holy dip in Ganga every day. Their faiths are entwined with the river that runs across the country. A believer takes away so much from the place. From life to death, pilgrims travel along sacred routes and finally achieve the last resort. But today the holy river is sick and crying for treatment VARANASI: Namami Gange is one of the most ambitious programs launched by the Modi government. The project is also known as Integrated Ganga Conservation Project. The government made its seriousness clear with the budgetary allocation of over Rs 20,000 crores to clean up Ganga in its maiden budget over five years. The government has lasted more than three years of its term but everybody has a question to ask. What happened to Ganges? The flagship program of the government is not showing the results. In fact the situation has deteriorated in the last three years. Central Pollution Control Board says that water of Ganga is not even fit to take bath, forget about drinking that water.

Who is killing Ganga?

Worst is the case of Varanasi whose ghats and water are worst affected.

Water level in the river has receded drastically. Ganga is drying, shrinking, going far away from the ghats. Its water is becoming black. Sewage water is still flowing in the river unabated. There is no velocity in the water and it is dynamically ill. The depth of the river is not even two meters now. The river bed has expanded from seven kilometers to nine kilometers. A proof of shrinking of the sacred river.

People are saying the situation is getting worse by the day. The challenge is how to clean Ganga. Faith and science are at loggerheads. What we also see is that there is a conflict between scientists and sadhus on how to go about it. The other problem is that through barrages water is being taken out and its stream is getting empty. Water is being taken out and pollutants are continuously flowing into it. Scientific management of the river is the need

It’s a sad time for Varanasi that today we are being taught lessons of cleanliness. Thirty years back Varanasi was so clean and everybody used to talk about it” Bishambhar Nath Mishra President Sankat Mochan Trust

of the hour. Otherwise, the danger is even the new efforts could fail. The entry-level project activities included ghat and crematoria construction/ repair, river front beautification, installation and repair of sewage treatment plants (STPs). How much of work has been done and has the target been met? There is no answer coming forward. There are concerns

at the local level. Former professor of BHU, UK Chaudhary says “today Ganga is diseased, polluted and quality wise most poor. I came here in 1976. Its forty one years. Ganga was never so polluted.

Professor Bishambhar Nath Mishra, President, Sankat Mochan Trust, echoes his sentiment and says “it’s a sad time for Varanasi that today we are being taught lessons of cleanliness. Thirty years back Varanasi was so clean and everybody used to talk about it”.

But efforts are being made afresh.

Combined efforts by centre, state and local government. Mayor of Varanasi, Ramgopal Mohale says “there can be no excuse. Earlier there used to be an excuse that because there are different governments at centre, state and at the local level, there is no coordination. But today at all three levels the same party is in power”. Even if arguments are made that that there can be no excuse, when probed, they come in abundance. One only dreads the fact that if the situation is so bad in the Prime Minister’s constituency what it must be at other places.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

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COVER STORY | Waterfront and Public Spaces

COVER STORY | Waterfront and Public Spaces

Close to

nature

24 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

Most of the mega and metropolitan cities of the world evolved alongside rivers or seas. Public Spaces along water bodies in India have been a special feature of urban landscape and the mere presence of water bodies make these places multi-functional. Juhu Beach in Mumbai, Ghats of Varanasi, and artificial water bodies like Kankaria Lake and Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad are some of the popular public places of Indian cities. Are cities giving due attention to the upkeep of public spaces on waterfronts?ULBs must look inwards to reintegrate our rivers into the image of our cities Arzoo Arora Editorial Assistant

M

umbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Varanasi, Allahabad and many other Indian cities developed and prospered because of having advantage of increased business activities due to water transit that was the most popular mode for transporting goods and people almost a century ago.

In landlocked areas, in ancient times, a river was the only available passage in otherwise impenetrable landscape. Rivers gave a boost to agriculture, trade relations and social connections between people of different regions. Proximity to water bodies helped people in growing food produce conveniently.

India has more than 70 cities built along the water bodies with more than 200 popular publicly accessible places in those cities. Researchers have underlined that urban waterfronts represent the magic point where the city as a purely human product meets the element of water as a purely natural component. Water bodies provided favourable conditions for establishing a human settlement and that was why permanent human settlements were concentrated along watercourses. This could be the reason the world has seen most of the cities along the water bodies, not just in India.

In the present era, municipal corporations in these cities have an opportunity of turning these public spaces into tourist spots to generate more revenue and at the same time a challenge of maintaining the sanctity of water bodies ensuring cleanliness and free flow of water.

Traditional public spaces along water bodies

What is an urban public space? There is no water-tight compartment where public spaces can be fitted in. An urban public place can be any space in a city; a space where people find comfort and which provides a sense of belonging to them. It can be small or large, heavily or thinly crowded or sometimes nicely or badly managed. From market centres to colony parks, from roads to ports, from temples to stadiums, places with which people can connect, utilise them and enjoy themselves are known as urban public spaces.

Ancient Indian cities such as Varanasi, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Allahabad, Ayodhya, Ujjain, Nashik, Rameswaram and many others have been specifically known for attracting thousands of people at one place on any given day for religious reasons. These may be not well kept places but these are good examples of how accessible and safe they are.

People in large groups, irrespective of their economic status and caste, throng to these places on daily basis. These religious sites on the banks of rivers become thriving and vibrant public spaces and contribute significantly to revenue of the city. Most of these places grew organically.

Another good example of temporary thriving public space along water bodies is Kumbh Mela. It draws millions of visitors to a temporary pop-up metro city along the banks of river Ganga and Yamuna every twelve years. The world’s largest religious festival lasts 55 days.

A multidisciplinary team of over 50 faculty, staff and student researchers from Harvard University travelled to Allahabad to document and analyze the processes involved in creating of a temporary city along the rivers.

Water bodies and public spaces

Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad is a considerably popular public space for Amdavadis and is one of the major river development projects of the Government of Gujarat. The Kite Festival, Gaurav Utsav (Foundation Day) and Flower show are organised by Ahmedabad

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COVER STORY | Waterfront and Public Spaces

Sun, Sand, and Sidewalks Project Public Spaces (PPS) elaborates upon the transformation of a beach center in Salisbury, Massachusetts (USA) with community collaboration. Local artists pitched in with their creative skills to make this particular public space a vibrant hangout zone for youngsters and elderly alike This June, the Town of Salisbury, Massachusetts launched an ambitious program to improve and activate its beach center. They brought in a carousel, reclaimed a lane of traffic to create more space for pedestrians, installed a parklet, and set up programs like free outdoor movies — but it might be Salisbury’s garbage cans that best show how this community came together to take ownership of their public spaces.

As visitors walk through the area, they are greeted by more than 60 garbage cans decorated by local artists with mini murals; a statement that colorfully shows how excited locals are to engage in a collaborative experiment to imagine what their town can be.

Salisbury, Massachusetts has the classic story of a New England town, incorporated in 1640 and historically powered by boat manufacturing and trade facilitated by northern railway lines. Salisbury’s beachfront soon emerged as a regional highlight, rich with a mixture of carnival traditions, its famous ’beach pizza’ and old New England charm. However, in recent years, the town’s Beach Center was losing ground as a destination.

After successfully securing funds to construct a boardwalk along the beach, Salisbury began the process of sitting a new comfort station to accommodate summertime beachgoers. But as possible locations were discussed, the conversation expanded. With assistance from PPS, locals began re-imagining the entire beach center, which consists of two commercial blocks with a large center esplanade. The area had all the ingredients of a great urban space; the dimensions were ideal for walking and social activities, and the surrounding restaurants and amusements added life and energy to the space, day and night.

26 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

The new lawn area is full of lots of things to do – day and night

But still, the space lacked the range of activities and inviting environment that would transform it into a true destination.

Stakeholders, ranging from the Salisbury Beach Partnership, to local staff working in senior services, to environmental conservationists and entrepreneurs, hoped to extend the ’feel’ of the beachfront further into town. This vision of greeting visitors with a welcoming atmosphere as soon as they set foot into the beach center became the central goal of the working group.

Creating this ’off-beach oasis’ began with including a lawn area with synthetic turf, Adirondack chairs, string lights, and giant building blocks.

Some of the recommendations that arose were aimed at experimenting with ’Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper’ options like a mini ’parklet’ with spaces for eating and socializing instead of parking spaces. The working group was also able to see the streets in the town center as more than just a corridor for cars. Focusing on streets as places led to the idea of converting one of the street’s travel lanes to a pedestrian area, enhanced with planters and benches for the enjoyment and safety of summertime visitors.

Photo Credit Philip Winn

One of the most striking elements of the transformation was the installation of a classic carousel in the beach center, hearkening back to the earlier days of Salisbury’s fame as a destination for summer vacation.

Together all of these elements create an appealing place where everyone has a range of activities from which to choose. Now even on formerly quiet weeknights, families can be seen strolling the beach center again with ice cream cones in hand, or playing a game of corn hole on the lawn.

With this transformation, Salisbury has shifted a sometimes contentious debate about the location of a new comfort station into a broader and more productive conversation about the life of the entire beach center. It all started with community members asking each other a simple question: What do you want to do here? By contributing their time, passion, and creativity to the beach center, and fostering a new vision of what streets can be, community members are finding lasting solutions and uncovering vibrant new spaces that have been hiding from plain sight.

‘Project Public Spaces’ assisted the community in the process of redevelopment and redesigning of a beach center in Salisbury, Massachusetts (USA)

Municipal Corporation. The riverfront project also involves many water sports like Zip-line and Para-sailing. People use the riverfront for daily yoga, exercising and jogging. But there are some spaces or parks on the riverfront itself which are gated and have paid access. The Chaupati beach in Mumbai city is an openand more accessible public space.

Thousands of people visit the beach everyday. Unfortunately, ad-hoc and unplanned commercialization, without a cohesive and comprehensive vision, has destroyed its natural environment.

Well, now the beach is neither peaceful nor walkable space. However, Mumbai’s Marine drive, also known as Queen’s Necklace, hosts a significantly cleaner and happening pathway for joggers and visitors. It allows the sea-shore to breathe by disconnecting the beach area from the crowd. For maintaining a public space, involvement of local communities can be helpful.

All the coastal cities need to come together and share their experiences to maintain natural components of public spaces along the beaches. Maintaining cleanliness and ensuring safety does appear to be the biggest challenge.

The flip side

Are the new and existing public spaces causing danger to eco-system of water bodies? Experts feel that unmindful patterns of development on natural waterways, wetlands and waterfronts are damaging the environment. When the river flows down the valley it takes a huge amount of fertile soil (alluvial soil) which is essential for agricultural purposes along the foot hill cities.

Trees and saplings do not allow them to flow with rivers to ocean and hold them with their roots, thus reducing soil erosion. When soil erodes along the river it expands by opening its arms and slowly creates a disastrous situation for the cities around it. This is one of the major reasons of floods in urban areas, while the other reason for calamities is stopping or diverting natural flow of water bodies. Thus, flora along the rivers conserves them and helps to sustain ecological balance. As the 14th SDG says ‘Conserve and sustainably use the

oceans, seas and marine resources’, but we are just using them, are we up for conserving and restoring them too?

Sabarmati is the third most polluted river of the nation, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) even though in one kilometre of riverfront area, hawkers are not allowed.

Riverbank development is a concept meant for transforming rivers into accessible, neat and clean public spaces for city dwellers, and claims to provide protection from floods and also reducing sewer pollution. A riverfront parkway might best utilise the river’s visual resource by integrating the featureless open space. No doubt, the aesthetics of the place is well appreciated by the Amdavadis and tourists visiting Ahmedabad, while the project made many people to go unsheltered and resulted in damage to eco-system.

According to Beena Jadav, Director and social researcher at Shelter Right Foundation, the riverfront was a home for 40000 families, which encompassed 70 formal and informal settlements, whereas the project has officially evicted 14,000 households. A process of re-housing made them to shift and accommodate in the city area and those who could not, forcibly shifted to open outer areas of the city with least basic services, while thousands of the residents were descended to poverty.

The riverfrontwas a model with an investment of around Rs 1200 crores.

Ironically, the project was aimed at having better flood management in the city and due to its concrete boundaries for the river, Ahmedabad, in the month of Julythis year, happened to face high rise of water level after heavy rain fall in the city. Deputy Commissioner R B Barad talking to media said, “Flood waters submerged lower walkways of the Sabarmati Riverfront. Normally, this river handles around 1.8 cusec of water. This is the first time when such a large amount of water was released in one instance after the riverfront was built. Almost 2800 people were shifted to nearby safe urban and rural areas according to Mukesh Kumar, Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad. After the Sabarmati Riverfront, a project of Gomti

Riverfront started in Lucknow with a budget Rs 1500 crores. A certain amount of money flowed for construction but did not include installation of foundation, greenery, construction of intercepting drains, diaphragm wall, barrage underpass which requires Rs 325 crores more for completing the project. The CAG report which studied the pollution levels in Lucknow and Varanasi from 2011 to 2015 has revealed that the Gomti River is more polluted than the Ganga. The city connected 23 openings of rainwater drainage system that feeds the river. It is again a heavily concreted design and due to diaphragm wall on both sides, sand banks are lost and so are the breeding grounds for turtles. The city river development was supposed to be centric for cleaning river and protecting its ecology. UP government or for that matter any government must undertake assessment of already existing riverfront projects before implementing them for just improving the aesthetics of river fronts.

Better utilisation of spaces

Improving public spaces along water bodies is not just an Indian phenomenon.

It is happening all over. For hosting the Olympic-2024, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo permanently closed down the roadway along the right bank and turned it into a park and has promised to clean the water by 2024. Transforming Public spaces ‘for the people and with the people’ is an important key to be focused, a project of enhancement of public space in Karachi, Medellin and Honduras used such transformation process for including citizens into it.

London Olympic Park or Washington DC’s Anacostia River Waterfront, for instance, brought about economic development to the neighbourhoods around them.

Public places should not be concrete centric, but be helpful in conserving the water and preserving the ecology of the riverbank. In addition to being social, comfortable and accessible, public spaces should make people feel safe and included and thus foster economic development. They should be full of uses and activities for the people.

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Numerographs | Open Public Spaces

Public Spaces

the way forward!

One of the targets under Goal 11 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals focuses on the importance of urban public spaces. The share of open spaces in different countries is highly diversified.

Indian cities, inspite of having a little less than average share of open spaces, lag far behind in terms of quality of these spaces. An overview to underline the progress so far and what more is needed to be done Compiled By: Ashley Paul Designed By: Meenakshi Rajput

28 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

The Five Principles of Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods 1. Adequate space for streets and an efficient street network. The street network should occupy at least 30 percent of the land and at least 18 km of street length per km² 2. High density. There should be at least 15,000 people per km², that is 150 people/ha or 61 people/acre 3. Mixed land-use. At least 40 per cent of floor space should be allocated for economic use in any neighbourhood 4. Social mix. The availability of houses in different price ranges and tenures in any given neighbourhood to accommodate different incomes; 20 to 50 per cent of the residential floor area should be for low cost housing and each tenure type should be not more than 50 per cent of the total 5. Limited land-use specialization. This is to limit single function blocks or neighbourhoods; single function blocks should cover less than 10 per cent of any neighbourhood

‘Open space per person’

What Is ‘Public Open Space’?

S No 1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

‘Public open space’ is defined as the sum of the areas of the built up areas of cities devoted to streets and boulevards including walkways, sidewalks, and bicycle lanes and the areas devoted to public parks, squares, recreational green areas, public playgrounds and open areas of public facilities. ‘Public Open Space’ does not include the areas voted to public facilities e.g. schools, stadiums, hospitals, airports, waterworks, or military bases that are not open to the general public.

It also does not include open spaces that are in private ownership or vacant lands in private ownership.

Indian Cities

Per capita Open Space Mumbai, Maharashtra 1.1 sqm/person Chennai, Tamil Nadu 0.81 sqm/person Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 278 sqm/person Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 18.62 sqm/person Trivandrum, Kerala 0.55 sqm/person Cities-Around the World London, UK 31.68 sqm/person New York, USA 26.4 sqm/person Chicago, USA 17.6 sqm/person Tokyo, Japan 6.1-8.5 sqm/person Curitiba, Brazil 51.5 sqm/person WHO standard 9 sqm/person

It is clear from the data that Indian cities lag far behind in terms of provision of recreational/green open spaces to its citizens as compared to other cities. This points to the fact that while being partially or completely unplanned, cities in India need major revamps in order to make them sustainable for their citizens.

MUMBAI Mumbai, India

BEIJING

Beijing, China

2014

2000

65%

2014

49% 42%

38%

22%

25%

Suburban Built Up Area

Urbanized Open Space

58%

18%

Urban Built Up Area

Suburban Built Up Area

Urbanized Open Space

NEW YORK

London, United Kingdom LONDON 2000

15%

10%

8%

Urban Built Up Area

35%

New York, United States of America 2000

2014

2014

69%

60%

31%

70%

29%

22% 10%

Urban Built Up Area

10%

Suburban Built Up Area

8%

Urbanized Open Space

BEIJING Urban Built Up Area 2000

Suburban Built Up Area

Urbanized Open Space

2014

49%

The UN’s 2016-2030 SDGs Goal 11 is ‘Build cities and human settlements inclusive, 38% safe, resilient and sustainable .’ One of the targets of this goal, is “by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, 18% 15% particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”

Urban Build Up Area

21%

8%

Suburban Build Up Area

Urbanised and rural open space make up the entire 42% 35% open space within a given area while built up area is utilised for commercial or residential purposes and does not provide unrestricted access

Urbanized Open Space

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SOURCE: Atlas of Urban Expansion, UN Habitat

69%

2000

Leaderspeak | Safety in Public Spaces

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

Vibrant public spaces enhance urban safety A city with isolated, dark public spaces raises concerns of safety. Urban public spaces become appealing or uninviting depending on how safe they are. Many fine-looking public spaces in our cities remain unused after dusk or in early wee hours and a few of them even at peak hours because people do not feel safe there. City governments need to integrate safety with inclusivity and accessibility

P

ublic spaces add colour to life of any city yet they have not received enough attention in global policy framework and discussions.

Security and safety related issues have remained key issue of discussionand hog the space at national and international discourse for several reasons. It involves terrorism threats, disaster risks and negative impacts of climate change on a city.

Physical design aspect of urban public spaces is often missing in such discourses.

If people do not feel safe in a particular public space, they will abandon it. All of us have seen such places in our cities where people do not prefer to go, no matter how beautifully they are designed.

There can be many factors involved in making a space popular among masses but

30 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

the sense of safety is among the top factors. Mumbai High Court has intervened when the government floated the idea of making Mumbai 24x7 by allowing restaurants and shops to remain open 24 hours. The High Court asked the government to ensure safety of citizens first before taking such an initiative.

Safety and public spaces

The question is how to make people feel safe in urban public spaces and how to transform them into welcoming spaces. The methods to counter them do not necessarily have to result in sterile, alienating places as this trend is picking up fast in many Indian and global cities as many localities, especially high-income areas, are coming up with gated colonies and exclusive spaces.

It is not rocket science to

make a place safer through including components of physical design elements.

Adequate lighting, well-kept paths for smoother movement inside the public space and easy-to-read signs to help users find their way are some simple steps. There are many urban parks in a city like Delhi that are used by many users during the day-time but no one uses them after the dusk. One such example is Deer Park that is located in upscale Green Park area of South Delhi. It has dense forest. Paths are not well-lit and clear. It is quite popular during daytime but even locals do not prefer to wander in there after dark because of safety concerns. It is to be noted that it is very close to most popular hangout zones for youngsters Hauz Khas Village where youngsters not only from Delhi but nearby cities throng for partying.

The introduction of adequate lighting and mixed usage is likely to bring more usage and social interactions amongst residents with positive impacts on the sense of safety. When municipal corporations or any development agency is planning any public space then it becomes imperative for stakeholders to consider who is using the public space, when and how. Another effective decision could be engagement of various users in planning and redesigning of these spaces. Engaging women, children, elderly people and frequent users while designing public spaces will be helpful in addressing the features that may cause feeling of insecurity among citizens.

Most of the streets in India are good examples of multiple usages of public spaces. During early morning hours, newspaper hawkers use the space for sorting and bundling newspapers. In the morning, these become places people use for morning walks, in absence of parks and gardens in any given locality. During the day time, people use it for commuting. And, late in the evening, these become places where youngsters hangout.

Such streets or say ‘unplanned yet vibrant public spaces’ are a feature of most of our cities.

These places may have informal set-up but such places have increased social interaction considerably among denizens.

Cities need to look inwards for solving the issue of safety and belonging.

Image Source UN Habitat

From Fear to Freedom: Learning from South Africa According to ‘Global Public Space Toolkit: From Global Principles to Local Policies and Practice’ by UN Habitat, public spaces contribute to defining the cultural, social, economic and political functions of cities.

They continue to be the first element to mark the status of a place from a chaotic and unplanned settlement to a well-established town or city. In one of the case studies, the report highlights how a ‘criminal’ area can be turned into a thriving public space. This example comes from Durban city in South Africa where maintaining safety at public spaces has been an uphill task.

The first experience chosen to embody the principles on citizenship rights is not a square or a park but a city market— Warwick Junction Market, Durban, South Africa. The Warwick Junction Urban Renewal Project is a multi-agency holistic redevelopment project that turned a problematic area into a vibrant business centre and a popular tourist attraction.

The Warwick Junction Market project is appropriately labeled ‘Including street traders in urban plans’. Located in the city’s primary transport hub, Warwick Junction housed informal markets set up by street vendors and traders. Unsanitary and unsafe conditions gave rise to high amounts of

criminal activity and violence. Rather than clearing the informal traders out of the area however, the city administration recognised the importance of the informal economy and decided to work with street traders and other key stakeholders. The Traders’ Association, an umbrella traders street committee, was established to enable them to discuss their needs and space requirements. The city identified a section of elevated city highway that had never been utilized and it was agreed upon to construct a bridge and pedestrian access way along with a functional Herb Traders Market. Multipurpose centres were also created for street traders. Organizations such as Traders against Crime were also established to resolve disputes using conflict resolution. Since the implementation of the project, there has been a marked improvement in trading, commuter safety and living conditions.

Crime rates have declined (from 50 violent deaths reported in 1997 to 6 in 2002) and the annual turnover of the Herb Traders Market has increased enormously. In addition to becoming a major tourist attraction, an employment chain of an estimated 14,000 jobs in Durban has been created.

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Article | ULBs and Public Spaces

Unique public places in

Urban India ULBs, in addition to exisiting public spaces and tourist spots under their jurisdiction, can utilize other unused or under utilized spaces such as land fill sites to create new public spaces. This is not just an environment friendly move but also helpful in increasing per capita open spaces that is considerably lower in Indian cities than most global cities. The article highlights the key public spaces in Indian cities and their significance and also present a visual imagery of evolution of a landfill site in Gorai, Mumbai into a beautiful public park

M

Dr Jairaj Phatak Former Municipal Commissioner Mumbai

32 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

aintenance of public open spaces has always been an important function of the local bodies.

William Robson, In his famous book, ‘The Great Cities of the World’, lists the numerous functions of the Cities. ‘The most widespread services administered by the municipalities are public health, hospitals, city planning, water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal, public cleansing, education, highway construction, street maintenance and lighting, public assistance, welfare, police forces, fire-fighting, the provision of public housing and housing regulation, parks and playgrounds, recreational and cultural amenities, public transport, markets, abattoirs, cemeteries and crematoria.

These services form the central core of the local government; although all of them are not everywhere entrusted to the municipal government of the great city.”

Although many of these activities require urban open spaces, for the purpose of this article we will define urban public spaces as parks, playgrounds, gardens, riverbanks and beaches meant for recreational and tourism activities. Sports stadia, cinema halls, cremation/ burial groundsand toilets/ urinals are also important urban public spaces but we can say that they are more or less similar in all important cities. Major Indian cities can be grouped in the following categories for a comparative study of their urban open spaces. ♦♦ Seaside Cities and towns: Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Pondicherry, Kochi-Ernakulam ♦♦ Hill Stations: Abu, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Kullu-Manali, Mahabaleshwar, Mussoorie, Ooty, Nainital, Shillong, Shimla, Srinagar ♦♦ Religious Places: Allahabad, Amritsar, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Varanasi, Mathura-Vrindavan, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai ♦♦ Cities with historical monuments: Agra, Delhi, Vadodara, Khajuraho, Lucknow, Mamallapuram, Mysore, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur ♦♦ Metro-cities other than on sea-side: Ahmedabad, Patna, Nagpur, Pune, Bhopal, Guwahati, Kolkata

Seaside cities and towns

India has a vast coastline and several cities and towns have developed on the coast, some of them as port-cities. The sea is naturally the main attraction in these cities and beaches like Chowpaty in Mumbai, Marina at Chennai, Rishikonda beach at Vizagand Cherai beach near Kochi have become famous.

Some beaches are away from the city.

However, when a popular beach is located within the city, it becomes a popular tourist attraction and has a fair-like atmosphere in evenings and on holidays. A large number of eating joints develop on the beach and it becomes an important centre for solid waste creation in the city.

In Mumbai and other seaside towns in Maharashtra, the GanpatiVisarjan (submersion of Ganesh idols on the

Evolution of a dumping ground into public park in Gorai August 2007

January 2009

February 2009

last day) takes place on the beaches and cleaning of the beaches on the following day is an annual but still a major cleaning drill for the municipal administration.

In Chennai, a wide road and an elegant promenade are both an intrinsic part of beautiful Marina, now almost two centuries old. This beach drive, the Kamraj road, runs between magnificent stately buildings on one side and a wide sandy beach on the other.

Well-constructed seaside promenades are also important public places in thesea facing cities. The Gateway of India and the Marine Drive are well-developed promenades in Mumbai, where large number of people assemble every day.

Pondicherry’s 1500-metre long promenade bordering the beach is neat and beautiful. Two monuments of historical importance on this Bay of Bengal beach are the 4 metre tall statue of Mahatma Gandhi and the War Memorial constructed by the French in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War. The Pondicherry promenade is kept for the exclusive use of pedestrians in morning and evening by controlling the traffic flow of automobiles. The Vembanadlake, formed due to presence of numerous islands on the sea coast could be considered the unique public place in Kochi.

Hill stations

June 2009

Gorai Landfill site: Scientific closure of Gorai landfill site in which 3.5 million tonne of MSW was scientifically closed and converted in Green Zone of land about 19 Ha. The capital cost was approx. Rs 50 cr

In India, which is generally a warm country, the hill stations, typically with altitudes of 3500 feet to 7500 feet, offer a cool and enjoyable climate in summer months. In view of the dominance of non-agricultural activities at these places, most states have converted the hill station village panchayats to municipalities. Although the normally resident population of a hill station may be small, it increases many fold during the summer months.

Many non-resident rich persons construct their properties at hill stations.

So usually a hill station municipality is quite rich. In fact, Mahabaleshwar and Matheran municipalities seem to have higher per capita expenditures

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Article | ULBs and Public Spaces

per citizen than even the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai since the normally resident populations in these municipalities are small.

Various points on hill tops giving an excellent view of mountains are usually the most common tourist attractions in hill stations. In addition, hill stations such as Abu, Nainital, Ooty and Srinagar have beautiful lakes famous for boating or strolls around.

Mahabaleshwar and Shillong also have small beautiful lakes.

Maintaining the cleanliness of these lakes becomes an important responsibility of the local body. In addition, the hill stations can have added attractions like Dilwara temples at Abu or the Mahabaleshwar temple which are usually looked after by either Archaeological Survey of India or the temple trusts.

Darjeeling, Gangtok, Mussoorie, Shimla do not have lakes but are still attractive because of their altitude, malls and view-points. Ropeways add to the attraction in some of these hillstations. Hill station municipalities usually levy an entry tax to take care of the added expenditure because of tourist influx.

Religious places

India is a deeply religious country. In fact, the country was partitioned in 1947 because of the strong religious feelings between two communities.

So the orthodox throng the religious places on holidays and certain specific religious days. Many of the religious towns are ancient and the religious shrine is situated in the oldest parts of the city with narrow lanes. Usually the religious shrines are under the management of temple trusts but the environs such as roads, street-lights, cleaning are to be maintained by the urban local body.

The Kashi-Vishwanath temple at Varanasi is arguably the most sacred for the Hindu community. Allahabad, Rishikesh and Haridwar are the other famous religious places on the holy river of Ganga. The TriveniSangam i.e. confluence of three rivers at Allahabad is the site of the KumbhMela, a mega-

34 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

event that takes place after every twelve years. An estimated 120 million people visited the 2013 Kumbh Mela at Allahabad. Adequate land is kept near the confluence of the rivers, close tothe Allahabad Fort, where tents are pitched during the Fair. The state government also appoints a special I.A.S officer to help in organizing the Fair.

Cities with historical monuments

A single structure that has made India world-famous is the Taj Mahal, the most important heritage monument in the country. The Taj with Agra Fort and Fatehpur-Sikri constitute the most commonly visited public places in the city of Agra. The maintenance of these places is with the Archaeological Survey of India but the approaches, the environs, roads, lighting and water supply are handled by the Agra Municipal Corporation and the state government of Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi, the National Capital of India, is also a historically important place with the Qutab Minar and the Red Fort among the most visited sites.

The circular market at Connaught Place (now Rajiv Chowk), the India Gate and the Raj Path famous for its Annual Republic Day parade on the 26th January are other places where a large number of people assemble.

The Government of India plays an important part in maintaining these assets. Jaipur, the Pink City, is the third place that completes the tourist Golden Triangle of India along with Delhi and Agra. The City Palace, Amer Fort and Hawa Mahal are the places of attraction in Jaipur.

Hyderabad’s Charminar, Salar Jung Museum and Lucknow’s Imambaras are the historical places of attraction.

However, modern attractions like the Ramoji Film City of Hyderabad and Ambedkar Memorial and Kanshiram Memorial Gardens of Lucknow have now come up.

Mysore, Baroda and Jaipur are famous for their palaces, many of which have now become museums. Jodhpur and Gwalior have important hill-top forts that are important urban spaces.

Metro-cities other than on the sea-side

These cities may not have beaches and sea-side promenades, but still they have their own grandeur.

Kolkata, the Capital of the British India till early twentieth century is now a widelyspread out city. But the vast green space surrounding Fort William, the headquarters of the Army’s Eastern Command, called the Maidan, canbe called its major urban space. The Maidan has numerous playgrounds including the famed Eden Gardens, several football stadia, Kolkata Race Course and the marble masterpiece of Victoria Memorial. It is rightly called the lungs of Kolkata.

Bangalore’s most important public spaces would be the Central Cubbon Park gardens around the majestic VidhanSoudha.Lalbagh garden with its glass house also provides another important lung to this bustling city.

Ahmedabad, Patna, Pune, Nagpur and Bhopal have their own share of historical buildings. However, I would consider the Kankaria Lake and the Zoo at Ahmedabad, the Museums of Patna, Shaniwarwada at Pune, lake gardens and Seminary Hills at Nagpur and the Lake Drive Area of Bhopal to be more attractive urban public places in these cities. Some of these are managed by the local governments.

Guwahati, the largest city in the North-East is located on the south bank of the river Brahmaputra. In my view, gardens/sandy beaches on the banks of Brahmaputra with the Umanand temple river island in the middle offer a majestic view and could be considered the most important urban public place in Guwahati.

Epilogue

India is a vast country with different climatic zones from the Ocean to the Himalayas. The urban life also offers tremendous variety. Different cities and towns have their unique public places that have developed over the last many years. These public places are often the focus of the local urban planning and the urban local bodies have to take special efforts for their proper maintenance.

Inclusive Public Transport System | CASE STUDY

Kochi Metro

An example for others From ‘officially’ employing people from the transgender community to having women at the front of its operations and with a unique project of water metro on its way, the Kochi metro has set the bench mark of an integrated transport system for the country Shruti Gupta | Editorial Assistant

T

he 5,181 crore project of Kochi metro took off on June 17th this year, and has already managed to win hearts of people all across India. It is the 8th metro project of India after Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gurgram, Bengaluru and Chennai.

The 13-km long metro service excels in its operations – right from services to speed.

Built under the guidance of the metro man of India, E Sreedharan, the Kochi metro holds numerous records. It is the first metro in India to be built in a record time of 45 months. Kochi metro is an example for having diversity in its employees.

A symbol of gender equality

Since its inception, the Kochi metro has proved to be inclusive when it comes to hiring. It has a total of 23 people from the transgender community working at different positions right from ticketing to housekeeping.

“Can you do me a favor? When you look at me, don’t look twice. I want you to look at me, and just see a person doing a job,” said a transgender worker in a video uploaded by the official Facebook page of Kerala information.

“We expect other firms to follow suit and engage the transgender community in respectable positions,” said Kerala Metro Rail Limited managing director Elias George. With this unparalleled

move, the Kochi metro became the first government agency in India to employ people from transgender community.

Going green? Kochi metro accepts the challenge.

With every one of its 23 stations having solar panels, the Kochi metro is the first in India to meet a quarter of its electricity requirements using solar energy. Every sixth pillar of the 4000 odd metro pillars present in Kochi will have a vertical garden that will use municipal waste as manure. Apart from the numerous efforts to produce sustainable clean energy, the Kochi metro offers bicycles free of cost, at every station, to passengers to roam around the city.

A living example of women empowerment

Where the world inadvertently mocks at the driving skills of women, about 80% of the staff employed at the KMRL will constitutewomen. From the ground staff, to operators and loco drivers, women will be ‘manning’ the operations in the Kochi metro line. Seven of the 39 loco pilots who will steer the Kochi metro trains in the Aluva-Palarivattom corridor will be women.

“What I was looking forward was, at the most, a Metro ride,” said Vandana V S, a loco pilot in KMRL. With this move, Kochi metro has proved that women are not just limited to being in the ticketing or housekeeping departments.

Water metro

Officials training the transgender staff of Kochi metro

Being a coastal city, Kochi’s mobility greatly depends on its water transport.

As a step towards an integrated transport system, the Kochi metro will include feeder services such as jetties (boats).

The boats will have a passenger capacity of 50 to 100 and will operate at an optimal speed of 8 knots with the potential to increase up to 12 knots.

The first phase of the water metro will include a 76-km Metro project which is likely to become operational by 2019, 16 out of the 38 jetties will be developed and will be completed by 2017. In the second phase, it is proposed to operateon 9 routes with a total of 16 jetties and a requirement of 78 boats.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

35

Article | Accessibility & Public Spaces

MAKE PUBLIC SPACES APPEALING Urban public spaces are used by a variety of people for variety of reasons. How do people rate them? Do they consider aesthetics the main criterion or accessibility or connectivity?

Ashley Paul explores different components of public spaces, speaks to experts and presents a report underlining the significance of public spaces in urban life

I

ndia has a rich architectural history. From the Indus Valley Civilisation with their highly advanced drainage systems to the Smart Cities Mission of the contemporary world, India has always been striving towards planned architectural developments. How much importance was given to public spaces in the process over the years?

Urban Public Spaces

One part of such planned localities is public spaces (commonly known as open spaces). Public space is one of the many terms that are used to define a piece of a planned and developed land that the public can freely access and utilize to enjoy city life. They may be religious places or parks, transport terminals or even roads.What makes them alluring?

The aesthetics of urban public spaces (UPS) is one of the components that attract citizens and make them frequent visitors.

Problems relating to aesthetics of urban public spaces

The aesthetics of an urban public space in India are now facing huge problems.

One such problem is that of upcoming unplanned localities. Urban spaces are planned while keeping factors like ‘place per person’ in mind. Therefore, they are built to cater to the needs of a specific number of people. But when unplanned localities come up, the number of people using up a space increases manifold.

This puts pressure on the public space and eventually leads to the public space losing its aesthetic essence.

A similar case was seen in New Friends Colony in Delhi. New Friends Colony

36 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

is a planned residential-commercial neighbourhood in South Delhi. It has recreational spaces, a community centre, multi-utility market places and beautifully landscaped parks. However, unauthorized, unplanned colonies like Taimoor Nagar near New Friends Colony have been a cause of increasing pressure on public places in the area.

This is because even though UPS are built to cater to the residents’ needs, the usage of these spaces exceeds its limits by over three times. This is because of the unauthorized colony’s residents who could not be accounted for during the planning process of the Colony. This eventually leads to congestion and overutilization of the resources of public spaces in the area and puts pressure on its administration.

Another obstacle is that of illegal commercial activities, especially vendors and hawkers. Most UPS are encroached by these hawkers. This leads to loss of uniformity of public spaces. Uniformity of public spaces is when a person can stroll through the public space without breaks or turns. Thus, when people cannot easily stroll through the space, they become disinterested in using it.

This is the case with South Delhi’s famous Sarojini Nagar market. The market is a well planned, multipurpose market which attracts people and tourists. However, its streets are occupied by illegal hawkers selling a wide range of products. The streets are only vacant at night or when municipal officials visit the market for inspection.

This creates the above problem wherein people are unable to commute through or explore the market easily. This, in turn, makes it tedious for the public to visit the marketplace, thereby reducing its usage.

The third problem that aesthetics of UPS face is that of connectivity and accessibility. Contrary to popular belief, accessibility and connectivity cannot be used inter-changeably. While connectivity means ease of coming to and going from a place, accessibility means the ease of utilizing the place. While a place may be connected by road, it might not always be sufficient for the place to be well-connected. This is because

the external access time (EAT) is so much that it starts affecting the person’s internal access time (IAT). Also, it often happens that a place may be connected by all types of public transport but may still not be accessible to a certain group of people. The people who are affected the most because of poor accessibility of a UPS are the physically handicapped.

Therefore, a UPS must accommodate services like ramps and wheelchairs for the handicapped.

The case of Ambience Mall, Gurugram deserves special reference here. Inspite of being well connected to the National Highway, the number of users of the mall, until a few years ago, was quite less. This was because the mall, a public space, was not connected with public transport. This made visiting the mall an ‘unpredictable event’ for people coming from far off places. Also, the congestion on the roads leading to the mall increased the external access time so much that it started affecting the internal access time of the visitors. The concerned municipal authority, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the mall’s management authorities solved this problem by linking it to the Rapid MetroRail Gurugram which was being developed at the time. This reduced the external access time and made it easier for people to travel to the mall.

Lastly, the most visible problem related to aesthetics of UPS is that of their beauty, attractiveness and upkeep.

Over time, open spaces, being in an open environment, are prone to being affected by pollution and other similar factors. In this case, the beauty and attractiveness of the space is lost thereby making the public disinterested in using it. Also, the positioning of the public space is a very important factor. Public spaces near main/ring roads or highways are more prone to air and sound pollution.

Here, BhikajiCama Place’s example is most appropriate. Being located right next to Delhi’s inner Ring Road, it is affected hugely by air & sound pollution and road congestion. Therefore, the only people who visit the Place are those who have offices in the area. The Space has no visitors who actually visit the place with the aim of enjoying the public space.

Place per person is calculated by dividing the total space available by the total number of people who are expected to use it. EAT is the time a person spends in going to the particular place of interest while IAT is the time a person spends within the premises of the area of interest while utilizing its resources

Solutions

In order to know about the possible solutions of these problems, UrbanUpdate interviewed Dr Sewa Ram, Professor, Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He said, “The same public place may be used for different activities by the public. Most roads are used as rendezvous points by newspaper vendors and distributors in the early hours of morning and as a medium of transport by commuters during the rest of the day.

Therefore, solutions to public spaces need to accommodate this plural nature of public spaces too.” He suggested the following solutions: ♦♦ A forum must be established to regularize public spaces in the country. This will help in classifying and identifying different public spaces. It will also help in adjudging them based on the yardstick set by the forum. ♦♦ The government must collaborate with various RWAs in forming a list of public spaces in both unplanned and planned localities. Further, this list can be classified into types of public spaces too in order to gain clear insight into the available public spaces in urban dwellings. ♦♦ The government must outsource the up keep of public spaces to private enterprises. This method has been adopted by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) who outsourced the installation & maintenance of all bus stops in Delhi to JCDecaux, a multinational corporation based in France. This has resulted in clean and attractive bus stops pan city. The centre and state governments must also adopt this approach in order to promote cleanliness and improve the aesthetic approach of these places.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

37

Article | Urban Renewal

Revitalization of Urban spaces through Urban Renewal The Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Project has initiated the conservation and development of urban heritage of Delhi. Apart from carrying out meaningful conservation efforts, this project has started various programmes which aim to cater to the needs of the local community and also ensure their participation in renewal process Akash Mandyal | Editorial Assistant

Humayun’s Tomb

38 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

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ndian cities are growing exponentially to meet the evergrowing demand of its urban population. For settlement government is adopting various sustainable urban development models. But these so called urban development models are in fact the cause of further urban problems and loss of heritage. India has always been rich in its cultural heritage but efforts to conserve its heritage sites have been weak and extremely limited which led to destruction of many historical monuments. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and the various state archeological departments have been successful in protecting only 10,000 monumental structures in total, which is just a small fraction of our rich heritage. One such PPP model is being implemented in heart of Delhi.

The Nizamuddin basti area is a dense accumulation of medieval monuments in the country but with the passage

of time, condition of these historical monuments is deteriorating. The basti comprises 1500 households with population of approximately 20,000, primarily of lower income group.

The living conditions are not good in the basti and it also lacks in basic infrastructure. Understanding the need of preservation of these monuments and need of socio-economic development in the basti, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has unified the three historical sites, the Humyun’s Tomb, Nizamuddin Basti and Sunder Nursery into a unique heritage, under the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Project.

Keeping in mind the landscape of the area, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) through its agency Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has embarked upon the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Project under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with various organizations like Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Central Public Work Department (CPWD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The project not only aims to revitalize the urban heritage through urban renewal but also aims at socio-economic empowerment of the community by

addressing the basic needs of health, sanitation and education. The project area covers 250 acres including basti and heritage sites in the heart of Delhi in which AKTC has assisted in conserving 45 monuments, revitalized nine Mughal gardens, 175 acres of green space is restored and 70-acre area of Sunder Nursery landscaped as a city park.

Revitalization of the Humayun’s Tomb complex

The Hazrat Nizamuddin area has always been an epitome of prestigious cultural heritage with various historic monuments such as tombs, wells, gardens, baolis, serais, pavilions, enclosure walls, gateways and mosques of Mughal emperors. But with the passage of time these heritage sites have degraded and the measures taken to restore them were not appropriate.

The Humayun’s tomb is one of the famous heritage sites of the area which is a major source of revenue through tourism. So, need for the renewal of Humayun’s tomb gained even more importance.

To extend the heritage property boundary a Retrospective Statement of Outstanding Value (RSOUV) was submitted to the UNESC0 World Heritage Centre in February 2015by ASI and AKTC. Finally, the World Heritage Committee approved the extension of property boundaries of world heritage site from 26 acres to 53.62 acres which now includes Isa Khan’s tomb garden, Bu Halima tomb garden, Nila Gumbad, Afsarwala tomb and mosque enclosure, Arab Serai Bazar. After approval, the 40 arches of enclosure wall which had collapsed were reconstructed. The upper plinth of the tomb made up of sandstone was lifted and re-laid to provide appropriate slopes and original layout and 12,000 sqm of lower plinth was restored to the original architectural details. To pause accelerated deterioration major steps have been undertaken like one million kilos of cement was removed from the roof, terrace was repaired to the original level, 760 sqm of the external marble dome surface was repaired, inner dome

was cleaned, repaired and plastered with lime mortar and the architectural integrity of the chambers and alcoves were restored to the original glory. As a result of the thunderstorm on 30th May, 2014, the 18 feet tall finial at the Humayun’s tomb collapsed. Its repair commenced at the end of 2015.

In order to facilitate access of visitors to the world heritage site of Humayun’s tomb, construction of the bus parking area started. Phase-1 of the construction work commenced at the end of 2015. Retaining wall of the parking bays and random rubble stone boundary have been completed. Low line earth was filled and compacted to ensure appropriate slopes for the rain water.

Sunder Nursery

The Sunder Nursery Landscape Master plan consists of Azimganj garden, Canna garden, Bird habitat, Bonzai house, Arboretums, Tropical enclosure and Garden house. In 2009, the master plan was adopted to develop small individual garden spaces in the western part of sunder nursery. CPWD core committee approved a layout plan in last quarter of 2014. Under this plan, AKTC has commenced development works in the western nursery beds which includes construction and completion of pathways which also has central plaza.

After completion of the path, under the CPWD officials, AKTC has relocated the plants on leveled nursery beds to facilitate the more organized view of plants for the visitors. Under the next stage trees will be planted at locations mentioned in the landscape plan.

The north-eastern region of Sunder Nursery consists of micro-habitat zone which has diverse flora which is found in the various regions of Delhi such as the ridge, river banks and swamps.

Water loving plants and trees were planted along the banks of rivulets or water channels which were specially created in 2015 by AKTC. Within the rivulet network a small amphitheater was created to be used by school children and nature enthusiasts. A 30 acre biodiversity zone has been created inside Sunder Nursery which acts as

an ecological asset. It has 28 butterfly species, 76 bird species, 290 native tree species and 3345 trees mapped on GIS. The construction of Sunder Nursery Lake, spreading to about 6500 sqm which acts as a water reservoir and a rain water catchment basin was commenced in 2014. This lake created in low lying area, also serves as a holding tank for water required for irrigation.

The project aims to plant over 20000 saplings in the area of 200 acres of the Sunder Nursery landscape. Various trees like citrus, mango, neem and grass are proposed to be planted along the water channels, roads, boundary walls, water bodies, monuments, nursery beds and pathways.

Socio-economic development in the basti

For better understanding of the issues and locating problematic areas, AKTC has undertaken the physical survey and mapping of the basti in 2009, which showed that five acres of parks already existed in the basti but were occupied by rag pickers and drug dealers. Only two percent of the basti’s population was accessing the park. The survey resulted in reconstruction of ruined parks and circulating areas for pedestrians throughout the basti were constructed.

Separate parks were constructed in accordance with the needs of the women, children, for playing cricket and various community functions.

These parks are now being maintained by the community with AKTC support.

The renewal of the existing MCD primary school was commenced by improving its overall infrastructure.

This led to increase in enrollment and attendance of students. In the health sector, the existing building of the MCD polyclinic in the basti was upgraded along with the creation of a pathology laboratory to ensure betterdiagnosis, reduce referrals and provide better treatments. With the prime agenda of socio-economic development of the basti and its people, the urban renewal project not just provided open spaces, access to good education and timely health care, but also motivated people for engagement with their culture.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

39

one on one | Pier Roberto Remitti

Pier Roberto Remitti, Team Leader, International Urban Center, European Union, speaks to Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor about the significance of climate change and impact on cities. Remitti stresses on exchange of information and cooperation between cities as it is the only solution to get effective results Can you please elaborate on the work that your organization is doing not only in India, but also in the European Union and across the continents?

International urban cooperation is a new program started by the European Union addressing urban sustainable development cooperation.

It includes five major regions of the world that includes North America, South America, Asia, Japan and India as well. Indian branch will be part of the global program that will address the issue of cooperation between European cities and cities across the world. Basically we are working in two main fields. First is the city to city transfer of information and ideas on sustainable development. For example water management, waste management urban planning and urban design.

The second is in the area of climate change. There is a new forum emerging that is covenant of mayors around the world. All the mayors from across the world need to get effective results while fighting climate change. It has become a big issue everywhere including India. In many countries there is an emergency like situation . So attention on climate change at the local level is the only solution to get effective results. We are collecting these information and passing it on to Indian cities. That

European Union driving sustainable urban cooperation between cities 40 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

is forging cooperation. Private sector will also be involved in this process.

So not only city administration but also NGOs and civil society will have to play a big role. We are also going to create opportunities for the cities in innumerable ways. So sustainable development is key message.

Climate change is a big issue at global level. We saw historic Paris Agreement being signed recently where world leaders agreed to cut the carbon emission and arrest environmental degradation and global warming. But, since then leadership has changed in many countries and the new ones are not willing to confirm the agreement and even threatening to pull out. Is there a danger of Paris agreement falling apart?

It’s a very good question and one would need a lot of time to reply to this. But what I can say is that in the Paris agreement is the most important one in the field of the climate change. For the first time it was recognised that local governments are key agent in the fight against the climate change.

So we are also emphasizing on the importance of the Paris agreement from local government perspective.

I am quite optimistic about the Paris agreement. I am sure that European Union will not only maintain its level of commitment but even increase it in the future.

Countries like China and India are key players in the global scenario so far as climate change is concerned and they will play their part in the process. I am quite confident that even market dynamics will be quite positive.

The prices of solar panel is coming down and more and more countries and cities are going to use this clean source of energy. I would rather say that what I am afraid about is that the Paris agreement is not enough. The target should be that we should stay well below the level of two degree of the global warming by the end of this century. What appeared to be a god target before does not seem to be good enough anymore because we are already at 1.5 at the moment. We are

quite close to the target and we need to raise the bar.

A new phenomenon is fast gaining currency. That is city to city cooperation. Because of political situation two countries may not be cooperating too much each other but that is not stopping the cities from doing so. For example a city in Britain may be talking a European city and sharing knowledge and expertise say in the field of waste management, transport etc. do you see this phenomenon growing in the coming days?

This is going to be extremely important in the future. Dynamics between cities are moving at a much faster rate and are providing much needed impetus to the market as well compared to the global scenario. Market and innovation industry are working at a greater speed at the city level. I have worked with the local governments across the countries over last three decades and I can say with confidence that dynamics in this case is very positive. In this sector networking is going to increase manifold in the coming days.

What we need to improve is the effectiveness of this dynamics because in many countries still there is no institutional recognition of what the cities and local governments are doing.

Like in the case of India so far as climate change is concerned, it is not yet recognised so much at the local level how big the threat is. Its important to take institutional undertaking from the local level to state level to ensure the implementation. Cities are doing a lot.

They are creating market opportunities and this must be recognised.

Recently a covenant of mayor forum has been launched. What kind of a role do you see them playing in finding innovative solutions to the problems cities are plagues with these days?

They are going to play extremely critical role in coming years. European cities were part of the previous covenant not the present one but they are going to join the new one. There were about seven thousand members which was

quite huge in itself and they were able to do a lot. Of course, cities have their own limitations and they can only work in their sector of competence.

We are not considering them to work with the industry for the reduction of carbon dioxide.

The two core sectors for cities are housing and mobility and still they have been able to reduce emission by twenty seven percent which is quite significant and almost met the target at the national level. It means that cities are by themselves able to work in this field. They just need to be empowered across the world. In Europe, local governments have a very high degree of autonomy. They can take decisions and implement them. They have the money and they spend it as per their requirement. That is not the case in every country. Cities need resources to work. And once that happens these resources are also going to feed the national policy.

Earlier you talked about the role of private sector in mitigating environmental degradation? Over the years we have seen that their role is recognised but they have not come forward in the way they should and shoulder the responsibility. Where do you think the problem lies?

I understand there are conflicting interests working at cross purposes.

The other day I had a very useful meeting with various organisations.

One of them was CDP which focuses on reduction of carbon emission and footprint by the industry. They are getting absolutely fantastic results.

Initially they started with a very small number of companies supporting their campaign. Those companies are reporting to CDP as to how much emission they are producing through their production cycle and how they are reducing it.

So initially this number was in double digit, now its in thousands across the world. Now they are pushing and persuading other stakeholders to join and also get advantage of the market situation. From the private sector a lot of positive is coming out.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

41

VELO-CITY | Delhi

Dilwalon Ki Dilli: A city found and a few lost over time Delhi is present, past and history. Present may symbolize the modernity but it’s the history that defines Delhi. Many towns were established over the centuries, some lost some survived, and today we know them as Delhi. Paradox is that that we know the city as seat of power as it is and has always been but is still known as ‘Dilwalon ki Dilli’

D Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor

42 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

elhi, for last seventy years since India’s independence, represents the seat of power. A capital city that houses parliament, the president and the vice president of India, the prime minister of the country and all the ministries. You name them and they are here. But Delhi has always been the seat of power. From Badhsahs to Sultans, Viceroys to Governors, all have ruled Delhi and from Delhi. Today, for an average Indian, unlike Mumbai which

is called City of Dreams, the place accommodates every section of the society. If the Lutyens’ Delhi represents those iconic buildings and the names who stayed there, there are also areas in far flung places in the city that are inhabited by millions who come here to make two ends meet and aspire that the city will still give them back something that will make their life better. In between is the class for whom the city has gardens, the legendary Connaught Place, bars, hotels and a life that is full of fun and frolic.

Delhi is unique. Delhi is known for its history, culture and political significance. The capital city is surrounded by four states, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab.

It’s a place which is inhabited by people from all over India and that influences its culture, language and lifestyle.

From the glittering malls to the dazzling metro, posh Khan Market to ChawriBazaar, one can see the diversity of the city. Nonetheless, it’s a fact that the malls have replaced local markets to a great extent. Now Delhi wallahs are shopping in malls where at one place they get everything of their choice and can meet all their requirements.

Though there are complaints that there is no night life in Delhi because of regulations, there are amazing night clubs, where you can eat drink and dance till late at night. What adds color to the city is its young population that loves to wear the latest and trendy clothes while going to college or market or out with friends and family.

With the times the city has changed.

Some view it as a loss of traditional values; others look at it as adoption of modernity. Its ever burgeoning population and diversity has made it a cosmopolitan city. Though migration to the city has contributed positively, it has brought a set of problems as well.

With the growing population, the city is struggling on the front of modern day demands-traffic, housing, water, electricity and much more. But people, despite struggling with these daily needs still refuse to quit the city simply because it’s ‘dilwalonkidilli’. With the ever growing demand for residential and commercial spaces to fulfil the needs of its population, satellite towns like Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad have been assisting the city.

History is what makes Delhi….story of a lost city

Through our history text books, discussions and day-to-day interactions, we keep acquiring information about the history of Delhi. But there are many facts and parts of history which are still being unearthed by academicians, historians and researchers. One of

the most interesting aspects which some know but many do not is that Delhi was never one city. Many towns were established and flourished over the centuries. We might be walking through the place without realizing that there stood a city which we don’t know about. With the advent and establishment of Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth century, it is believed that it unleashed a new phase of urbanization in North India. We still have the structure or the ruins from that era that have survived the test of the time. But we didn’t know about the fact that one city is missing from the list of reputed cities of Delhi because its ruins did not survive. In a pioneering work Professor Najaf Haider, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, has unearthed it. He says “At present in Delhi there is a locality on the Ring Road, south of Sarai Kale Khan and north-east of Jangpura, by the name Kilokhri, walking around the place or talking to the local people gives no indication of the location or history of Kilokhri or Shahr-iNau. There is not a stone or sign post either to guide the visitor. There is, however, a bus stop called Kilokhri. It is quite clear from the literature produced in the period that Kilokhri–Shahr-iNau was located on the west (right) bank of the river Yamuna, a few kilometres north-east of Qutb-Delhi. The river since then has changed course and moved east of the locality, with the Ring Road laid in between”. The first city of Delhi was what is known today as Qutub Mehrauli.

History and Tradition

History has travelled many centuries since then. Delhi changed but has still carried its tradition and people who visit the place often make it their own.

Often 1984 is remembered for the massacre of Sikhs after the gruesome assassination of Indira Gandhi. But few people know that this was also the year when large numbers of nomads came here and have stayed on. Travelling on the Mehrauli Gurgaon road, as you cross Chhatarpur Metro station try looking under the metro line and you

will find some people in tents selling iron implements of various kinds. They are perched under the elite destination of Chhatarpur Dilli Haat, as well as many such locations all over Delhi.

They are Gariya Luhars, the legendary nomads who trace their lineage from Rana Pratap. Historian and researcher Vagish Jha says ‘they roamed around with their carts, that is why Gariya the cart, and being skilled ironsmiths, the Luhars. They took care of all the iron implements of the army of Rana Pratap. They had taken a vow not to settle till they came out victorious.

They remained nomads. But some of them came to Delhi in 1984 and since then they are in tents, still not settled”.

He further narrates the irony of the situation saying “with such illustrious history, Gariya Luhars of Delhi are not even the citizens of this country.

Without a voter ID card or Aadhaar card, they earn their livelihood by following their age old profession of iron smithery without any basic amenities, no water, not even toilets and always under the threat of being harassed by the police”.

Who will care for these unsung heroes, who perfected the art of turning wrought iron into steel of high quality, a technological feat that India was known for all over the world those days? Call it irony, millions travel by the metro without knowing who is staying just ten feet below. But still the ‘beauty’ of the city remains the fact that it is not mono-cultural and has not fallen into a straitjacket culture. Its greatness lies in its diversity, the millions who speak different languages, have different food habits, different traditions and attires. But as a parting shot, in Delhi the expression ‘haanji’ is heavily used.

Everybody uses it umpteen times in their daily life and sometimes it even replaces the ‘hello’ when one gets a phone call. Yet interestingly, people from Lahore say that correct Urdu is ‘haanji’ while people of Delhi aver that the correct thing to say is ‘jihaan’.

Whatever it may, it is this amalgam of people, language, culture and their ability to assimilate it all, is what makes this city ‘dilwalon ki dilli’.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

43

Article | Wastewater Treatment

Untreated Waste Water

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puts millions at risk Wastewater use in crop fields grows with urban growth and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN finds that in most developing countries direct wastewater use projects are normally centred near large metropolitan areas. However, this untreated wastewater from cities exposes 885 million people to severe health risks globally

N

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India

44 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

ext time when you are lured by the healthy looking fresh vegetables being sold in urban limits or periphery area, don’t just jump into them. They could have been produced with wastewater, from the nearby city or town, with high levels of faecal contamination hence posing a lot of health risks for you and your family. A just published study by a team of researchers led by a recent graduate from University of California finds out that croplands irrigated globally by untreated urban wastewater is actually 50 per cent greater than previously thought.

The study, that has used advanced modelling methods, finds out that 65 per cent of all irrigated areas within 40 kilometres downstream from urban centres – amounting to about 35.9 million hectares worldwide – are affected

by wastewater flows to a large degree.

29.3 million hectares of this are in countries with very limited wastewater treatment. This exposes 885 million urban population as well as farmers and food vendors to serious health risks, finds the study. These people are from inside the cities as well as within 40 kilometres from them. The health impacts may be spreading even beyond that.

China, India, Pakistan, Mexico and Iran account for most of this cropland. The study finds that only 22 per cent of India’s urban wastewater is receiving some sort of treatment. However, lack of data – both in India and other countries – makes it difficult to assess the exact level and extent of contamination. China with 71.2 per cent has the highest volume of urban wastewater treatment and Pakistan with just 1.2 per cent of treatment is the lowest.

Iran treats 4.2 per cent while Mexico treats

53.9 per cent of its urban wastewater. The previous study that was so far being cited to be the most comprehensive study of such a nature was done in 70 countries and was published in 2004. That study had estimated the croplands irrigated by wastewater at 20 million hectares.

The study

The current study used GIS-based modelling methods to develop the first spatially-explicit estimate of the global extent of irrigated croplands influenced by urban wastewater flows, including indirect waste water use, said the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) that was also part of the study. Published this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the study classified these croplands further by their likelihood of using poor quality water based on the spatial proximity of croplands to urban areas, urban wastewater return flow ratios, andproportion of wastewater treated.

The study finds that 65 per cent of downstream irrigated croplands were located in catchments where the return flow ratio (of wastewater) exceeded 20 per cent. 41 per cent of downstream irrigated croplands were located in catchments where wastewater return flows constituted the majority of available blue water (more than half) while 28 per cent were located in catchments where the return flow ratios exceeded 80 per cent—indicating that wastewater constituted an extremely high proportion of available surface water. Catchments with high values for these indicators were clustered around northern India, northern China, and Pakistan.

Health risks

Reuse of urban wastewater for irrigation of crops poses very high health risks especially for countries like India where most of the wastewater is discharged untreated into rivers, waterbodies, lands and everywhere else. This study seems to have confined its analysis to faecal contamination. Further, even though this particular study has not dwelled into the impactson the types of crops being grown in downstream irrigated croplands, several other studies have found out that

vegetable crops are grown more often in these regions than in rural areas, particularly in low and middle income countries, There is every likelihood that this also holds true for India with the increasing urbanisation and vegetables going out of bounds for rural population.

The study finds that the use of poor quality water in irrigated agriculture has the potential to impact farmers, labourers, market vendors, and consumers across the produce supply chain. However, the level to which these risks are realized depends upon irrigation and cultivation practices, crop type, post-harvest handling, and food safety and preparation practices (e.g. raw versus cooked).

Wastewater use in crop fields grows with urban growth and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN finds that in most developing countries direct wastewater use projects are normally centred near large metropolitan areas. Indirect use occurs when wastewater (treated, partially treated or untreated wastewater) is discharged to reservoirs, rivers and canals that supply irrigation water to agriculture.

Indirect use poses the same health risks as planned wastewater use projects, but may have a greater potential for health problems because the water user is unaware of the wastewater being present, says the FAO and warns that indirect use is likely to expand rapidly in the future as urban population growth outstrips the financial resources to build adequate treatment works.

Pollutants go beyond organic contamination

Urban wastewater does not only contain organic pollutants. In fact, a lot of chemical contaminants come with it, pollute our water sources, crops and ultimately health. Inputs of metals and organic contaminants to the urban wastewater system occurfrom three generic sources: domestic, commercial and urban runoff, says a study by ICON in the UK. In fact, according to this study, in general, urban runoff is not a major contributor of potentially toxic elements to urban wastewater.

The above study done in European cities says that faeces contribute 60 to 70 per cent of the load of Cadmium,

Zink, Copper and Nickel in domestic wastewater and less than 20 per cent of the input of these elements in mixed wastewater from domestic and industrialpremises. The other principal sources of metals in domestic waste water are body care products, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and liquid wastes.

Plumbing is the main source of Copper in hard water areas, contributing more than 50 per cent of the Copper loadand polybutylene inputs equivalent to 25 per cent of the total load of this element have been reported indistricts with extensive networks of polybutylene plastic pipework for water conveyance. The study finds presence of several other dangerous chemicals including Mercury in urban wastewater that is being discharged and being reused for agriculture.

The above study of the European cities finds that large urban wastewater treatment plants have been less successful in treating pollutants in comparison to small plants. Potentially toxic element concentrations remain higher in sludge from large treatment plants compared to smaller plants and they are also greater in sludge from industrial catchments compared with rural locations. These patterns insludge metal content suggest that commercial sources may still contribute significantly to the total metal load entering wastewater treatment plants, asserts this study.

Way forward

There have been efforts to study nutrients from urban wastewater that in fact help agriculture, however the wastewater certainly do more harm than doing any benefit. India’s urban areas are growing fast and wastewater load in farming, especially vegetables – as can be gauged from the primary study in reference in this article. There is an urgent need to thoroughly investigate the urban wastewater-food production-health risk links and take appropriate measures to curb both pollution and health risks. A greater challenge in this would also be to ensure food security by ways in which the non-polluted crops take over the polluted crops in a systematic phased manner and the farmers and others involved in the agricultural operations don’t lose their livelihoods.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2017

45

URBAN AGENDA | Social Capital

Public spaces facilitate social interaction, improve community support system

U

rban life has its disadvantages too. We may be building high rise, architecturally brilliant buildings but the kinds of development our cities are witnessing these days have isolated us from each other as society. With evolution of advanced communication tools, communication between neighbors, local shopkeepers, and other members of society has dwindled quite fast. We can recharge our phone, pay our bills, order food, grocery items, book a cab or buy almost anything under the Sun on the Internet. Our cities are coming alive on digital platforms resulting in less social interaction. This trend Šis worrying.

The case in point is the death of an elderly lady in Mumbai. Her skeletal remains were found in a posh apartment of Mumbai. RiturajSahani, who works in a tech firm in the USA, reached his mother’s Oshiwara flat in Mumbai but, no one answered the door. He managed to enter the house with the help of a key maker and found hismother dead.

It was quite clear from her remains that she died at least a couple of weeks ago. This is a horrifying tale for us as a society.

This is not an isolated case of having no societal protection in metropolitan cities. Several such incidents have appeared in newspapers. Can it be seen in any small village? Perhaps, most of us will agree that villages and small towns still have better societal protection and support systems. People meet more often with each other at common places. Public spaces allow people to meet on ostensibly neutral ground

46 August 2017 | www.urbanupdate.in

in planned and unplanned ways, to interact with other within the context of the whole community. This is how we build a society.

The Mumbai incident mentioned above is a sign of dwindling social capital in our cities. According to a paper published by NishthaMehrotra and Pradeep Yammiyavar, in its simplest and most concise form, the term social capital refers to the connections between divergent groups in heterogeneous societies that lead to the sustaining operations of a country or society. Social capital builds socio-cultural bonds that cultivate good will, fellowship, sympathy and social intercourse in a community.

Public space, regardless of ownership, provides an opportunity of shared use and activity, meeting and exchange for people. This interaction gives public spaces the ethical and aesthetic power to build social capital that underscores the stability of society, its common threads and interests, increases reciprocity and trustworthiness, thereby establishing the foundations of cohesiveness among those that make up a social unit.

Such interactions are becoming less common these days, especially in gated colonies and high-rise housing complexes. Who is to blame? Are we designing our public spaces in a way that increases social interaction?

Are we dedicating adequate area to public spaces and those spaces are utilized well? These questions need to be answered with policy change in designing public spaces. It requires urgent attention and intervention of urban designers and sociologists together.

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor bhau1008@gmail.com

Public space, regardless of ownership, provides an opportunity of shared use and activity, meeting and exchange for people.

This interaction gives public spaces the ethical and aesthetic power to build social capital that underscores the stability of society, its common threads and interests, increases reciprocity and trustworthiness, thereby establishing the foundations of cohesiveness among those that make up a social unit

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