For urban renewal, let power flow to the local level

V. Ravichandar

WITH a new dispensation at the Centre, it’s time to rethink urban initiatives that can be catalyzed across cities and towns in the country. While it’s true that the bulk of the transformation has to be led by the state governments, the Centre can provide direction and funds to help kickstart the process.

 

Empower cities, make them a third tier of governance

During the elections there was a lot of talk around amending the Constitution. An amendment is actually needed urgently in the context of cities so as to junk the 74th Amendment and replace it with an act that can truly empower our cities as the third tier of government. The 74th Amendment was stillborn and is currently no panacea for our many ills in urban governance.

We have a constitutional defect at birth. While Tier 1 and 2 (Centre and state) of government were clearly spelt out, when it came to Tier 3, we unfortunately settled for ‘local bodies’. These have since become vassals of the state governments. We could do with a new act for urban centres.

If this cannot happen, can we reimagine city governance so that it is more outcome focused? Systemic solutions are needed to deepen decentralization and also have appropriate centralization across multiple agencies at the local level.

 

Plan for disasters like floods brought on by climate change

Climate change is a reality. Building resilience is a necessity. Our cities and towns do get flooded during the rains thanks to the unplanned, rampant development with no respect for land contours leading to over-concretization. If the rains fail, we will have water scarcity. Our waste-to-landfill model, particularly in larger cities, could result in the contaminating of  groundwater and pose serious health challenges. Retro-fitting our cities will take time, money and effort. For now, we must have disaster management and recovery plans in place to deal with exigencies when things go wrong.

As signatories to the net zero climate goals by 2070, cities must be encouraged to develop and implement Climate Action Plans. Sustainable growth and being cognizant of a city’s carrying capacity need to be in its DNA. 

 

Get in those investors, money is needed for a better quality of life

Cities are the new engines of growth and increased urbanization (with rural migration) in the years to come will be inevitable. It is time to consider creation of a City Economic Development Agency for each city. It could focus on investment and job creation. To do well cities need to attract global investment. Economic development should come from knowledge and skills. It is necessary to go beyond real estate development. Basic services should be seen as a tremendous economic development opportunity. The informal economy has high growth and development potential.

Our efforts to attract investments started with country attractiveness as the core proposition. It then evolved into State Global Investor meets that are common currently. The next wave, as is the pattern globally, will be cities attracting investments on their own merit.

 

Basic services should be sorted out, do simple things well

The common woes of most urban centres revolve around mobility, garbage management, water security and sewage management. We need to learn to do simple things well.

Take walking, for example: it is time cities focused on pedestrians in the same manner that they attend to motorist concerns. Walking is a mobility mode and preceded all other forms of movement. Can we make our cities and towns pedestrian-friendly by designing with them as the central customer?

Solid waste management will need us to embrace decentralized processing with minimum waste sent to landfills — treat waste as a resource.

Water security will require us to look at aquifer recharge, rainwater harvesting and demand side management. Cities need to be ‘live-and-work’ places that serve all residents. For the quality of living to improve, cities need to focus on becoming financially stable with their own sources of revenue.

 

Public spaces foster community spirit and shared experiences

A city comes alive in its public spaces. Parks, lakes, grounds, galleries are important. It is important to develop the ‘soft’ infrastructure. There is scope for privately enabled public spaces to be developed using philanthropic capital. The government too needs to work on building inclusive spaces for the general public to use. This will help foster community spirit and better mental well-being through shared experiences.

India’s urbanized population is currently around 35 percent. Globally developed countries have reached over 80 percent urbanization levels. This trend is inevitable and will happen in the decades to come. We need to be proactive and adopt dynamic short and long-term planning measures that make our cities vibrant engines for India’s development. 

 

V. Ravichandar has been involved in urban issues.