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Future Dialouge: Business, Science and Politics in the changing world !
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Two opposite observations, but going hand in hand always in futuristic or policy related conferences are as follows: Planning; enough is enough...concentrate on implementation & action; Now stop everything and just go back to basics. This reconciliation of combining the wisdom of the fundamentals from the past and secondly the pragmatism of the future by forgetting the planned design so as to focus on the only actions to be followed.
Social exclusion and environmental degradation are staunch allies of each other. Equal access to public space in the cities is at the heart of fighting these allies. The recent debates about sustainability which carry strong notions of socio-economic and environmental principles need further extension not only towards good governance assisted by cooperation and knowledge sharing but also new technological solutions which are economical and eco-friendly. In this respect, resource efficiency and integrated planning holds the key. Resource efficiency will also be influenced by consumption habits. Integrated planning includes bottom up approach towards micro-participative planning. As regards technology it has to be remembered that it is the key to many problems but it will only work during the favorable conditions.
India will be having more than 65 cities which will have more than one million population in the next decade; while Europe will be having less than 40. In the context of half of humanity is already living in the cities and the birth rate of the people living in the cities is outliving that of in the rural areas there is bound to be massive resources constraints on the demography which can contribute to the collapsing of the cities. The rush to the city is more evident than ever before. Rural populations are moving to the cities to seek improvements to their quality of life-most notably through better economic opportunities. Building municipal infrastructure which feeds to the aspirations of huge migrating class needs to a lot of urban sustainability principles in the design itself.
Even-though, sustainability is not the luxury but a must need, the business opportunities cited by west in this area are enormous. As noted by one climate expert: "Urban sustainability in emerging markets is still very much a growth agenda and it`s better, more efficient growth than we have seen in developed world." We know, that debates about legal commitment about GHG emissions cut failed in Copenhagen and further but interestingly the term "equitable access" is doing more penetrative rounds in the discussions about business opportunities hidden in the problem of unsustainable cities of the developing world, especially in India. So, 'equitable access'remains the buzz word to attract the crowded debates in the policy making domains in recent times.
In the situation where urbanization is uncontrolled what can happen? Social breakdown due to cultural divergences-importing & sustaining poverty-stealing of jobs because of skills proliferation across the global demography-economic stagnation because of lack of human and economical development of the urban population- conflict, violence & crime due to trafficking; these are some of the consequences. And remember, human consequences outweigh any other benefit out of the rapid urbanization. Its impact on health, education and employment conditions is enormous giving rise to negative externalities.
Community participation, strengthening and empowering local leadership, motivating frugal innovation for solving the grassroots problem, addressing the stakeholders with proper information and allotment of tools so they themselves can monitor the security and prosperity of the public good(transport systems, parks, libraries, hygiene systems) are some of the significant structural elements of the urbanized life. Progressive and sustainable urbanization reflects the greatest values of civil life and professional efficiency.
Planning way ahead of future is certainly the key. As evident in the well established case of Manhattan the planning of which started in 1811, well before modern technologies of transportation and other innovations were out of our imagination. Recent innovative experiments of sustainable are New Heaven, Vancouver, Lisbon, Johannesburg, Barcelona. But what about Asian and African cities which are not learning or not investing in the knowledge exchange and dissemination about the best practices of 'sustainable urbanization'. Off course, big cities in India will certainly have Governments attention and allocation of funds likewise. But real shaping up has to be in emerging cities who are going to be megapolis in coming years. Planning for them now will certainly reduce the pressure on the resources and space in the biggest metros of the country.
Urban reforms must transform the shape of the cities. To achieve this we need to create more and more inspiring examples. Delhi Metro is one such example.Replicating this example in other cities like Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai. Pune is underway. The kind of know-how and experience generated out of great work done by Delhi Metro can also help Indian railway to improve its performance in improving safety and speed before they move forward to discuss the technological up-gradation on the shorter routes of the travel which can add more quality and comfortable travel to the aspiring middle class passengers so as to offer cheap trains to the massive poor population on the busy routes.
Future Dialouge: Business, Science and Politics in the changing world !
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Two opposite observations, but going hand in hand always in futuristic or policy related conferences are as follows: Planning; enough is enough...concentrate on implementation & action; Now stop everything and just go back to basics. This reconciliation of combining the wisdom of the fundamentals from the past and secondly the pragmatism of the future by forgetting the planned design so as to focus on the only actions to be followed.
Social exclusion and environmental degradation are staunch allies of each other. Equal access to public space in the cities is at the heart of fighting these allies. The recent debates about sustainability which carry strong notions of socio-economic and environmental principles need further extension not only towards good governance assisted by cooperation and knowledge sharing but also new technological solutions which are economical and eco-friendly. In this respect, resource efficiency and integrated planning holds the key. Resource efficiency will also be influenced by consumption habits. Integrated planning includes bottom up approach towards micro-participative planning. As regards technology it has to be remembered that it is the key to many problems but it will only work during the favorable conditions.
India will be having more than 65 cities which will have more than one million population in the next decade; while Europe will be having less than 40. In the context of half of humanity is already living in the cities and the birth rate of the people living in the cities is outliving that of in the rural areas there is bound to be massive resources constraints on the demography which can contribute to the collapsing of the cities. The rush to the city is more evident than ever before. Rural populations are moving to the cities to seek improvements to their quality of life-most notably through better economic opportunities. Building municipal infrastructure which feeds to the aspirations of huge migrating class needs to a lot of urban sustainability principles in the design itself.
Even-though, sustainability is not the luxury but a must need, the business opportunities cited by west in this area are enormous. As noted by one climate expert: "Urban sustainability in emerging markets is still very much a growth agenda and it`s better, more efficient growth than we have seen in developed world." We know, that debates about legal commitment about GHG emissions cut failed in Copenhagen and further but interestingly the term "equitable access" is doing more penetrative rounds in the discussions about business opportunities hidden in the problem of unsustainable cities of the developing world, especially in India. So, 'equitable access'remains the buzz word to attract the crowded debates in the policy making domains in recent times.
In the situation where urbanization is uncontrolled what can happen? Social breakdown due to cultural divergences-importing & sustaining poverty-stealing of jobs because of skills proliferation across the global demography-economic stagnation because of lack of human and economical development of the urban population- conflict, violence & crime due to trafficking; these are some of the consequences. And remember, human consequences outweigh any other benefit out of the rapid urbanization. Its impact on health, education and employment conditions is enormous giving rise to negative externalities.
Community participation, strengthening and empowering local leadership, motivating frugal innovation for solving the grassroots problem, addressing the stakeholders with proper information and allotment of tools so they themselves can monitor the security and prosperity of the public good(transport systems, parks, libraries, hygiene systems) are some of the significant structural elements of the urbanized life. Progressive and sustainable urbanization reflects the greatest values of civil life and professional efficiency.
Planning way ahead of future is certainly the key. As evident in the well established case of Manhattan the planning of which started in 1811, well before modern technologies of transportation and other innovations were out of our imagination. Recent innovative experiments of sustainable are New Heaven, Vancouver, Lisbon, Johannesburg, Barcelona. But what about Asian and African cities which are not learning or not investing in the knowledge exchange and dissemination about the best practices of 'sustainable urbanization'. Off course, big cities in India will certainly have Governments attention and allocation of funds likewise. But real shaping up has to be in emerging cities who are going to be megapolis in coming years. Planning for them now will certainly reduce the pressure on the resources and space in the biggest metros of the country.
Urban reforms must transform the shape of the cities. To achieve this we need to create more and more inspiring examples. Delhi Metro is one such example.Replicating this example in other cities like Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai. Pune is underway. The kind of know-how and experience generated out of great work done by Delhi Metro can also help Indian railway to improve its performance in improving safety and speed before they move forward to discuss the technological up-gradation on the shorter routes of the travel which can add more quality and comfortable travel to the aspiring middle class passengers so as to offer cheap trains to the massive poor population on the busy routes.
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