CESSAF

Building Partnerships in Sustainable Urbanisation

(The Way Forward)

Dr.Mukesh Khare Patron, Planet Earth Institute

Member, Global Scientific Committee, PEIProfessor of Environmental Engineering

IIT Delhi INDIA

Introduction: The Increasingly Urbanized Planet

1.Urban areas would be home to more than two thirds of the worlds

population by 2050

2.Urbanisation is driven by social processes

3. The drivers of Urbanization include Population Dynamics,

Governance, and Employment Opportunities associated with

Industrialization, Consumption Patterns, International Migration

and accessibility.

4. Uneven rate of Urbanization across the planet

5. Urbanization has also triggered the generation of slums.

( Khare et al, 2012 ).

A multi-layer conceptual framework showing the interlinkages between the drivers/sources for air pollution (central

rings), environmental sustainability (three circles),and overriding concerns for the future development of megacities

Kumar et al (2013), “ Can a “blue sky” return to Indian megacities?”, Atm. Env. 71,pp1-4.

Characteristics of Growing Cities

1. Fragmented decision making

2. Incrementalism

3. Gaps in decision making hierarchy

4. Lack of measurable outcomes

5. Cumulative effects of urban growth

(Integrated Landscape Management, 2005)

Challenges of Growing Cities

• Urban landscape changes adversely affect Ecological, Economic and

Social perspectives.

• Resource Management and Regulatory Processes are inefficient and

increase the risk of conflict.

• Institutional Fragmentation affecting the decision making process.

The Growing City: Potential for Achieving Sustainability

1. Create the smallest possible ecological footprint;

2. Environmentally friendly in terms of Pollution, Land Use and Climate

Change;

3. Provides Economic and Social Security;

4. Inclusive Governance System;

5. Takes a long-term view on allocation of resources and definition of

benefits and cost;

Approach towards understanding Sustainability of

Urban Areas

1. Understand long term changes (Liu et al, 2011).

2. Identify sustainability factors in cities.

3. Identify the effect of drivers of change (local, global and regional).

4. Identify potential contribution and mitigation of each driver towards

affecting sustainability.

5. Identify measures/ policies which can be taken to reduce or mitigate

negative impacts (Fitzgerald et al, 2011).

Approach towards Urban Sustainability

1. Adapt

a. Adapt the city towards a more balanced approach

b. Due consideration to the natural and socio-economic constraints.

2. Mitigate

The effects of urbanisation on the environment through sustainable strategies,

their interactions and potential conflicts.

Approach towards Urban Sustainability

3. Integrate

a. Integrate form, space, order and dynamics of change with social, economic

and political consequences.

b. Develop strategies to integrate the physical processes, human-built

infrastructure, economic, social and environmental systems.

4. Monitor

Cities should be continuously seen for effectiveness of policy and regulatory

administration.

Approach towards Urban Sustainability

5. Think outside the administrative box

a. Maintain the connect of the urban metabolism of the city with the globalizing

world in order to improve the sustainable resilience of the city.

b. Use existing policy instruments to identify opportunities to influence policy

change, either individually or as groups of cities.

Growing Cities in the Indian Subcontinent

1. Cities and towns of India constitute the world’s second largest urban

system. They contribute over 50% of country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

and are central to economic growth.

2. For these cities to realize their full potential and become true engines of

growth, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission or the JNNURM has been

formulated.

3. The JNNURM has identified 104 cities with a population of more than 10

lakhs (1 million) as Growing Cities. (www.jnnurm.nic.in)

The objectives of the JNNURM are:

1. Focused attention to integrated development of basic services to the urban poor

2. Security of tenure at affordable price, improved housing, water supply,

sanitation

3. Convergence of services in fields of education, health and social

security

4. Provision of housing near the place of occupation of the

urban poor

5. Effective linkage between asset creation and asset management to

ensure efficiency

6. Scaling up delivery of civic amenities and provision of utilities with

emphasis on universal access to urban poor.

7. Ensuring adequate investment of funds to fulfill deficiencies in the

basic services to the urban poor. (www.jnnurm.nic.in)

Indian Experience

Transit Oriented Development

Exisiting land use of Amritsar (2012)

G.T.Road

Approach at IIT Delhi

Understand the Urban SystemSocial, Economic and Environmental Processes and their influence on the

eco-environment

Outcome Redefine the Urban Growth Boundary

Development of Sustainability Coefficients

Simulate System Behavior through Policy ImpactsUrban Growth Modeling to understand impact on eco-environment

Synthesize the Knowledge Identification of Indicators

Assessment of coupling relationships to understand the process within the of urban systems

Criteria of developing pathways towards urban

sustainability

1. Evidence -based development of a collective understanding of

policies.

2. ‘Continual Dialogue' of collective learning about the challenges

facing cities.

3. Understand the legacy of micro- level development.

4. Understand relationship between drivers of change, land use and

infrastructure to identify long term and short term change.

References1. Integrated Landscape Management, (2005)Applying Sustainable Development to

Land use, Manual prepared by Canadian Integrated Landscape Management Coalition

2. Dawson Richard, (2011) .Potential pitfalls on the transition to more sustainable cities and how they might be avoided ,

Carbon Management (2011) 2(2), 175–188

3. Fitzgerald, B.G; O’Doherty, T; Moles R. &O’Regan B. (2012).A quantitative method for the evaluation of policies to

enhance urban sustainability. Ecological Indicators 18, 371–37.

4. Indicators of sustainable development, guidelines and methodologies. Online at

www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicatorsguidelines.pdf.

5. Liu.Y; Yao,C.S;Wang, G. & Bao, S.(2011).An integrated sustainable development approach to modelling the eco-

environmental effects from urbanization. Ecol. Indicat. doi.10.1016/j.ecoloind.2011.04.004.

6. Moffat,I & Hanley,N. (2001). Modelling sustainable development: A systems dynamic and input- output approaches.

Environmental Modelling and Software 16, 545-557.

7. O’Regan ,B; Morrissey,J; Foley,W & Moles,R.(2009). The relationship between settlement population size and sustainable

development measured by two sustainability metrics. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 29, 169–178.

8. Tayebbi. A; Pijanowski. B. C& Tayebbi. A. H. (2011). An urban growth boundary model using neural networks, GIS and

radial parameterization: An application to Tehran, Iran. Landscape and Urban Planning 100, 35-44.

9. Khare, M. Pandit, P.(2012). Sustainable Coefficients for Growing Cities- discussion paper, Planet Earth Institute, U.K ,June

Online at www.planetearthinstituteworldwide.org/publications/sustainabilitycoefficients

10. Kumar et al (2013), “Can a ‘blue sky’ return to Indian Mega Cities?”, Atm. Env. 71, pp 1-4

THANK YOU