Group8_B | SDG 11 : Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Submitted by: Aayush Singh- BJ20062 | Aishwarya Yadav- BJ20064 | Arpan Som- BJ20072 | Kushang Gupta- BJ20086 | Parth Kumar Saria- BJ20094 | Prateek Richard Toppo- BJ20096
With the unforeseen growth witnessed in the last couple of decades, the forever increasing requirement and acquisitiveness for more, the doctrine of sustainable development becomes all the way more relevant in today's times. Sustainable development has been commonly defined as the "Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." This definition has been derived from the Brundtland Report "Our Common Future," which was published in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development.
Also, as our ancient text says:
"Keep pure! For the Earth is our mother! And we are her children!"
Sustainable development attempts to promote inter-generational equity: better quality of life for both the present and future generations.
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and 17 Sustainable Development Goals popularly known as SDGs were identified as a part of it. These goals are integrated and work towards achieving a balanced social development, curb poverty, end gender discrimination, tackle climate change and more.
Among the 17 SDGs, the 11th SDG is "Sustainable Cities and communities" with the goal of "making cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable." It aims to promote inclusiveness and sustainable urbanization so that the cities can be productive, accessible places that attract talent, encourage innovation, and create economic growth. It lays down a framework to ensure capacity building for better governance.
Urban areas across the globe currently house more than four billion people who make up 54 percent of the world population. This is expected to rise to 5 billion by 2030. Cities are essential centres for the exchange of ideas, trade and commerce, cultural amalgamation, promotion of scientific temper, social and industrial productivity and much more. Although urbanization is not uniform, there have been remarkable similarities in the experiences of diverse cities around the world. Cities are developing in a scattered, discontinuous, and low-density form which is not sustainable. Many cities expand far beyond formal administrative boundaries into endless peripheries. They witness a high degree of fragmentation and vast wasted spaces that make them consume more energy, leading to more CO2 emissions and increasing the cost of various infrastructure provision and public goods.
Such global trends threaten the sustainability of cities. Therefore, our blog attempts to discuss these issues keeping in view the Indian perspective as well.
The Indian perspective
According to the UN data, India will have seven megacities with populations above 10 million by 2030. Historically, urban areas have been less planned with haphazard streets and public spaces. However, the increasing population of India has made it clear that unless cities are planned, long-term problems will emerge and dealing with those issues will not be easy.
Currently, 31% of Indian population lives in urban areas, with 5.4% of them living in slums (Niti Aayog SDG India Index, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic has made the above point of difficulty in managing unplanned areas much clearer. While 90% of COVID infections in India were found in urban areas, it became even more difficult to track the infected in densely packed areas with weak infrastructures like the slums and squatters of metropolises like Mumbai and Delhi. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna aims to provide housing for all in urban areas by 2022, and AMRUT aims to provide basic civic amenities in 500 cities.
Under the FAME-II scheme, several state governments, like that of Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune, have announced tenders for procurement of E-buses. This shall provide an impetus to the crippled public transportation in the country.
While states like Karnataka and Bihar aim to provide green public spaces in residential areas, most states pay little heed to this aspect in the face of lack of necessities like water and electricity in many geographies.
India's index score for the 11th SDG as per the 2019 NITI Aayog report stands at 53, with only four states and one Union Territory being identified as the frontrunners. Most others fall within the lowest (Aspirant) bracket. With the country setting benchmarks every year for almost every objective of the SDG every year with cities like Delhi being infamous for air pollution, Mumbai and Chennai for rampant flooding and Bengaluru for its traffic, it has a long way to go.
Business Implications and Responses
There is a developing awareness in the corporate world about sustainability and their function in keeping up the natural harmony. 'Green' is the new popular expression in the corporate and is regularly discussed and pondered upon in the expert circle. Corporate houses are putting resources into the green tag through the green structure, CSR, manageable activities and so forth.
Bajaj Auto: The automobile pioneer, Bajaj Auto, has taken up the concern of drought and water shortages in metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Chennai. It has been working with the Jankidevi Bajaj Gram Vikas Sanstha (JBGVS) on this front for a significantly long period of time and now has made it a more significant initiative by expanding the scope and size of this activity. It has launched a Bajaj Water Conservation Project (BWCP) at Aurangabad in partnership with other Bajaj companies. It aims to cover an area of 21500 ha over the next four years and aims to cover an area of 44000 ha further. Furthermore, it has supported Paani foundation for water conservation work in Maharashtra.
Cloudtail: E-retailers like Cloudtail have taken a definite step in the handling of the e-waste. It has partnered with the Reteck Envirotech Private Limited (Reteck) as PRO under the Extended Producers Responsibility programme. As part of this programme, Cloudtail has set up e-waste disposal service to all customers of Cloudtail and has set up e-waste drop off centres and implemented an e-waste take-back mechanism.
SANY International: In the manufacturing industry, SANY International, a multinational construction equipment giant, is working actively towards 5 of the SDGs of UN and sustainability is one of them. It has actively volunteered in epidemic control and prevention. It has provided excavators in Maharashtra Jal Shivar Yojana for construction of water wells in Maharashtra. It has also actively participated in flood relief campaigns in Chennai and Kerala.
Johnson & Johnson, one of the world's most valuable companies (Financial Times Global 500), aims to transform the path of health for the cause of humanity. As a part of its legacy of social responsibility, J&J focuses on its commitment to the local and the world community. Since 2010, J&J has been setting quinquennial community Citizenship and Sustainability goals and following the progress made. Their UN SDG 2020 Commitment complements their Health for Humanity 2020 Goals regarding citizenship and sustainability efforts. The company is aware that the health of people is indissolubly linked to the health of our Earth. To bring changes at the required rate and scale, J&J has announced to remain committed to leveraging their resources for helping cities implement climate actions that improve public health.
Environmental Health Goals of J&J:
Sanofi, the Paris-based healthcare giant, encourages well-organized working conditions and a pleasing working environment. As part of their CSR program, the Sanofi Group has participated actively in the sustainable development programs in the cities where they operate and have a presence. Precisely, the company intends to contribute to the unceasing improvement of sustainable urban practices.
Sanofi has announced in their latest SDG report that their aim would be pursued through the following five commitments:
Encouraging and promoting the use of public transit and other environment-friendly means of transport for travels to and from its facilities and offices.
Developing well-proportioned unbiased relations and appealing exchange with the local environment, especially with its immediate neighborhood.
In line with Sanofi's strategy, inspiring all their sites to participate in the sustainable development and CSR action plans of the local administrations.
Nurturing and supporting biodiversity by applying its "10 Best Practices" at each of their sites.
Enabling artistic initiatives at their facilities.
Analysis and Suggested Path Ahead
The United Nations projects that by 2050 the human population will grow by nearly 2 billion and reach 9.7 billion people. The urban population is projected to compromise over 65% of the world population. The astronomical rate of growth of the urban population elucidates the need for sustainable urban planning to ensure that we can capture the benefits from a large population in terms of technological advancement, economies of scale, social solidarity and much more for posterity's sake. Though urbanization is generally associated with progress and is an integral part of the roadmap for boosting trade and the economy, it can also become a breeding ground for pollution, poverty and malaise.
To minimize the pitfalls of the world population growing at a rapid pace, we have discussed a few ideas below, which underscore sustainable growth for cities.
Sustainable Transit Development – The Indian government has been encouraging the development of BRT systems within the existing infrastructure. But the need of the hour is to improve space and land use. Cramming transportation solutions in the current ecosystem is not feasible for long-term sustainability. India is one of the fastest urbanizing populaces in the world and developing a public transport system which can cope up with the spatial challenges which comes with rapid expansion will be vital in minimizing negative aspects of growth such as air pollution. Currently, the dialogue around transit development projects has been focusing on developing real estate around transit hubs without consideration for psychological and socio-cultural structures. We also need to look at urban design, with priority being given to pedestrians and cyclists.
(Characteristics of BRT)
Repurposing City Space – The rising need for infrastructure and real estate has outpaced the ability of humans to develop it. Development is a bureaucratic process and rightly so as it is time-consuming, expensive and can cause long-term if not permanent ecological damage if the plan is flawed. To tackle this, we should look at reconditioning and efficient utilization of urban space and designing infrastructure which can cope with what the market demands by switching functions, such as from a gym to a community center. Incorporating nature-based solutions to the existing infrastructure can improve the rate of climate change adaption and disaster reduction. These solutions can range from water harvest management, sky gardening and agriculture to building buffer spaces to soak up floodwater in cities like Mumbai. Incorporating nature-based solutions to the existing infrastructure can improve the rate of climate change adaption and disaster reduction. These solutions can range from water harvest management, sky gardening and agriculture to building buffer spaces to soak up floodwater in cities like Mumbai.
Ensuring Water Security – Water scarcity is a global challenge today, with even the developed economies like the United States of America facing a water crisis, affecting around 40 percent of the world population. With the onset of global warming in the past few decades, this number is poised to grow at an alarming rate. Improving the utilization of water and recycling of wastewater will be pivotal in warranting access of safe water to the global population. This deficit between the demand and the supply can be managed with improving the water used in agriculture, which accounts for a significant chunk of the total freshwater used in the world. One of the challenges with tackling this issue is that irrigation development is usually restricted to capital-intensive schemes relying on public sector-based approaches. The focus should be on financing small-scale financing which will give impetus to private water management at the grass-root level. This change can be brought about by transforming governance and providing incentives for innovation and responsibility.
Developing Informal Settlements – Informal settlements are a harsh reality for economies across the globe, and the governments are working towards developing models to upgrade these settlements. Still, the increasing number to people flocking to cities has contributed to the growth of the slum dwellings in metro cities. A reactive approach, such as developing informal settlements, will not curb the issue; only proactive solutions can assuage this problem and release the pressure building on the land in the cities. The Government of India had taken steps to rein in this issue before it even became a problem by launching the Smart Cities Mission in 2015, which plans to develop 100 cities into smart across the country. This will ease the inflow of migrants to the existing infrastructure and slowly shift some of the population from the overcrowded cities. These cities will not only reform the standard of living for the people being forced to live in confined spaces, but it will also boost economies and productivity. The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (or GRIHA) is an organization which focuses on promoting minimization of a building's resource consumption, waste generation, and overall ecological impact to within specific nationally acceptable limits/benchmarks. This can be used to redevelop the existing informal settlements and incentives should be provided for societies complying with this standard.
To conclude, the sustainable developments efforts will put a lot of stress on the existing infrastructure while we are in transition. There is an imminent need for deeper involvement from the government, with an emphasis on innovation and technology. The COVID pandemic has seen a large-scale shift in the distribution of population, with many opting to return to their villages and hometowns. This migration may be the perfect opportunity to accelerate the progress of sustainable development projects, which can be now be carried out with much less artificial displacement. This will improve social inclusion and enhance environmental resource use. When such systems are in place, it will give rise to platforms appropriate to capture the opportunities presented by rapid urbanization.
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