Planning & Development Of Sustainable Smart Cities – Towards Reality

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE SMART CITIES – TOWARDS REALITY held at, Development Alternatives, B-32, Tara Crescent, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi 16, on 5^th February,2016.

PRESS RELEASE:

Smart Cities focus on their most pressing needs and on the greatest opportunities to improve lives. They tap a range of approaches – digital and information technologies, urban planning best practices, public-private partnerships, and policy change – to make a difference. They always put people first. The strategic components of area-based development in the Smart Cities Mission are city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (Greenfield development) plus a Pan-city initiative in which Smart Solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city.

To take these onto the implementation stage we must have Sustainability as our major focus. As an initiative towards capacity building, of all stakeholders from different professional backgrounds, In AWE conceptualised Workshop on SMART CITIES SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION, going to be held in 20 cities from the list of cities announced in phase 1 by MoUD.                                                         Ms Dipika Tuteja, Founder, In AWE

The first of the series of Workshops, started in New Delhi, on 5^th of February 2016.The Workshop concept was introduced by In AWE, taking through the journey of problems of cities and the reasons behind deteriorating situation. Decentralisation and “Towns within the City” was the concept presented as a replicating model for all cities by the founder Ms Dipika Tuteja.

                       Mr. Akhil Bansal Deputy CEO, KPMG in India, addressing the delegates

Mr. Akhil Bansal, Deputy CEO, KPMG in India, was the chief guest and gave an Inaugural address to the delegates. The rapid pace of urbanisation, high level of pollution were the issues of concern according to the statistics, he presented.  He emphasised that six areas that needed to be worked upon were:

1. Zoning/Site Planning
2. Motivating the Municipal Corporations
3. Construction Management
4. Energy Efficiency & Management
5. Solid Waste Management
6. Socio-economic Management

He said it was the “End of a Beginning” to the economic growth, as the growth had already started, and if efforts were not made to be sustainable, it would be the “Beginning of an End” He summed up his address, citing Sustainability as an important aspect to develop Smart Cities both at domestic level as well globally.

From Left to Right: Ms Zeenat Niazi Vice President Development Alternatives, Dr. Abhijit Banerjee, Technical Advisor, GIZ in India

Session on Sustainable Materials & Construction by Development Alternatives & GIZ India, focussed on the depletion of natural resources, and the C&D waste. Soil & sand that are the materials used in the construction industry directly impact the issues of Food Security. Alternate materials or recycled materials have to be accepted and incorporated in building standards. We need to have a collaborative systems of collection and segregation of construction & demolition waste. Therefore, Environment along with the people should be the focus in planning of smart cities.                                                Mr. Barun Agarwal, CEO, Breathe Easy

Breathe Easy, presented the reasons and effects of Air Pollution in our lives. Indoor Air Quality is an important aspect to control, for the wellbeing of the occupants both in residential and commercial buildings.

From Left to Right: Mr. Achim Rodewald, Advisor, Sustainability & Business Responsibility in India, at IGCC, Mr. Harshad Phadnis, Technical Manager, Sustainability, IGCC

Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, talked about the importance of Energy Efficiency as part of sustainability in the Industrial sector. Industries need to adhere to Triple bottom line and maintain sustainable supply chain. Clean Energy Management and its impact on reducing the costs was a major take away of the presentation.

From Left to Right: Ms. Prerna Mehta, Manager, Urban Development & Accessibility WRI, India, Mr. Umang Jain, Managing Associate, WRI India Sustainable Cities

WRI presented the four models of Transit Oriented Development and integration of land use & transit accessibility to improve the quality of lives. Success of Raahigiri in several cities of India as a part of focussing on people and non-motorised transport was another successful model. Public Transport, comparing various modes like BRT Corridor and Metro was a learning for planning of retrofitting transport solutions in the Smart Cities.

                                                Mr. Ashish Jain, Director, AEON Integrated Building Design Consultants, LLP

The workshop summed up in the session about Green Buildings and the required design factors, rating systems and their overall impact and necessity, by AEON Consultants. Integration of active and passive strategies have to be adopted to result in a sustainable building.

                                                    Mr. Vijay Tuteja Managing Partner In AWE

Mr Vijay Tuteja, gave the vote of thanks, and summed up the day’s deliberations and presented inferences in making of Sustainable Smart Cities as:

• Updating skills and adopting new technologies and alternate materials to reduce costs, energy consumption and pollution was the way forward towards reality.

ABOUT IN AWE

In AWE is an online Magazine on Green Initiatives & also holds Leadership Workshops, Conferences & Social Campaigns. It covers a wide range of subjects from Green Buildings, Technology, Green Products, CSR Activities, Environment Practices, Events, Conferences, Seminars, Profiles, Smart Cities etc. It bridges the gap of information between the macro and micro, spreading knowledge and information of everything about Sustainability, Environment, and Energy Efficiency, beyond Metropolitans to Tier1 and Tier2 Cities. It has a wide range of resource content such as Presentation papers, Case studies, Practices being followed by the Companies for easy reference for everyone from students, practising architects, engineers, builders to retailers.

Ms. Dipika Tuteja, Founder Architect /Editor, In AWE

Dipika Tuteja is a practicing architect in Delhi with more than 25years of

experience. Her work has been in consulting & designing mainly interiors

ranging from homes, offices & retail. She now works in the area of

Sustainability, Communications / Media, Client Engagement, Team

Leadership, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Dissemination of Case

Studies, Designing & Implementation. She has conceptualized a Rural

Development Plan and compiled it as a case study under CSR,

Urbanization of Rural India that has been published by PHD Chamber of Commerce. Some of her other presentations include:

1. Urban Planning Sustainable Development, in Institutionalizing Academia-Industry Interface, at PHD Chamber of Commerce
2. Sustainability Standards/Certifications for Energy Efficient Buildings, at India and Sustainability Standards, International Dialogues and Conference 2015
3. Procurement of Services in Smart Cities- Policy Interventions for CSR Initiatives, at Conference January 2016, AMITY UNIVERSITY NOIDA
4. Role of Energy Efficiency in Smart Cities, at INSPIRE, BHU , Varanasi, January, 2016

She Launched an Online Magazine on Sustainability covering GreenInitiatives, Climate Change, Green Buildings, Technology, Cities and CSR. She also planned from concept to implementation, agenda to speakers, a Conference to Celebrate Earth Day, 2015 on issues concerning existing cities, SMARTING THE EXISTING and facilitated NGO’s and multi-stakeholder Social Campaigns at Public Places, on the World Environment Day (2014 & 2015)

Her present work involves Leadership Workshops in 20 cities across India on SMART CITIES SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION.Our next Workshops are in Bhubaneshwar & Jaipur in April, 2016.