This Crisis Is An Opportunity To Re-envision Our Cities

Livemint     23rd April 2021     Save    

Context: The pandemic holds lessons that should spur India to reshape its urban agglomerations into spaces where everyone can thrive.

Cities at the centre of India’s development agenda ($5 trillion economy)

  • Cities are engines of growth and prosperity: Labour markets that attract a diverse group of workers and industries, spurring ‘knowledge spillovers and innovation.
  • Hubs of higher productivity and wages: in turn attracting more talent.
  • Global experience: Countries that prioritised and planned for urbanisation achieved higher growth and employment.
  • Positive spillovers: Getting urbanisation right addresses climate and environmental risks.

Lessons from Covid-19 pandemic

  • Migrant crisis: Cities failed to provide for their most vulnerable residents during pandemic, triggering an unprecedented reverse migration back to rural areas.
  • City is ‘a living whole’: Compartmentalised approach to public health, housing, transportation, water and sanitation is inadequate.
  • Need for city resilience: Environmental challenges (E.g. Kerala floods, Chennai floods etc.) and pandemic risk is increasing.

Way forward: A holistic approach to investing in cities: Four key areas that we must invest in to build truly integrated, inclusive and resilient cities – data, technology, engaging communities, and innovation.

  • Data: High-quality open data and research helps policymakers make evidence-based decisions.
    • India Urban Data Exchange, developed in partnership with ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) and Indian Institute of Science – Platform for the use of public data for social good.
    • Property Rights Research Consortium, a group of leading think-tanks, provides data and policy support on land administration and urban housing issues.
  • Technology: with process innovations can increase transparency and state capacity to deliver basic urban services.
    • eGovernments Foundation, working with MoHUA to deploy the National Urban Innovation Stack, an open-source platform for transparent municipal operations
    • Transerve, leveraging geo-spatial technology for city planning and improving service delivery.
  • Engaging communities: Grassroot organisations and community leaders play a critical role as first responders and in delivering essential supplies.
    • Reap Benefit launched ‘Covid Hub’, a crowd-sourced citizens’ network that supports last-mile delivery of healthcare, food and income relief.
  • Innovation: Fosters ‘top-of-the-funnel innovations in urban governance.
    • MoHUA and Nudge Foundation launched an ‘Equal Cities Challenge’, a contest to encourage solutions that can improve living conditions for the urban poor.