What is ‘The New Urban Agenda?
The United Nations conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban
Development (Habitat III) is aimed at ‘reinvigorating’ the global
political commitment to the sustainable development of towns, cities and
other human settlements, both rural and urban.1 UN Habitat is striving
to arrive at a consensus on an urban agenda that would commit countries
to sustainable urbanisation ‘which is now more critical than ever as
populations, social interactions, economic activities and environmental
impacts are increasingly concentrated in cities’. The product of that
reinvigoration, along with pledges and new obligations, is being
referred to as the New Urban Agenda. This agenda will set a new global
strategy around urbanisation for the next two decades.
The New Urban Agenda, which is likely to be
adopted during Habitat III acknowledges that culture and cultural
diversity are sources of enrichment for humankind and provide an
important contribution to the sustainable development of cities, human
settlements and citizens, empowering them to play an active and unique
role in development initiatives. It further recognises that culture
should be taken into account in the promotion and implementation of new
sustainable consumption and production patterns that contribute to the
responsible use of resources.
India’s Approach to Urbanisation and
Commitment to Global Initiatives
Urban India constitutes nearly 32% of the
national population. Urban activities, having accrued nearly 60% of the
country’s gross domestic product, have resulted in a noticeable shift in
the structure of Indian economy.
Since the adoption of Habitat II agenda in 1996, India’s urban sector
has witnessed several important changes. Between 1996 and 2015, India
has added approximately 171 million people to its urban population base
and has expanded its urban footprint to 7,933 settlements. During this
period, even though India has been successful in lifting 15 million
persons out of poverty in the urban areas, registered a significant
decrease in the proportion of slum population, ensured outreach of
services and infrastructure to 75% in case of access to water and 81% in
case of access to laterine; significant service deficit still exists. It
has also been observed that the institutional mechanisms, requisite
governance structures and necessary financial systems are not in place
to keep pace with the demographic and economic changes happening with
increase in urbanisation.
According to UN estimates, India’s urban
population base would be nearly 606 million by the year 2030. This
increase in population from the present figure of 428 million (UN,2015)
is enough to impact the global averages in terms of key urban
development indicators such as water supply, sanitation, urban sprawl,
urban governance among others. The central government has duly
recognised the importance of urban centres for the country’s sustained
growth. In its current approach to urbanisation, the national focus is
on several objectives:
(i) urbanisation must generate growth and enhance economic productivity
and competitiveness;
(ii) it should be inclusive and sustainable;
(iii) it should aim at preservation and revitalisation of history,
culture and heritage; and
(iv) it should contribute to the development of rural areas and
strengthen rural-urban interdependencies.
Consistent with these goals and objectives,
the Government of India has launched a number of missions, the key ones
being the Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban
Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission, Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana- Housing For All (HFA), Heritage City Development and
Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and Rurban Mission.
Indian Urban Initiatives and the New Urban Agenda
Having crossed the threshold 30% mark for urban population (the stage
from where the urban population growth accelerates) and in the light of
the New Urban Agenda, which when adopted, would set the global strategy
for urbanisation for the next two decades, Government of India has laid
down its path of action in form of India National report for Habitat
III. As a component of this report, India recognises the place of cities
in the country’s transformation and notes its commitment to
im-plementing the Sustainable Development Goal 11 and the New Urban
Agenda .
It plans to reinforce the urbanisation process with an agenda that
comprises the following levers that would make cities work towards
greater productivity, inclusion, sustainability and rural-urban
linkages. The levers2 are:
1. Adoption of integrated and coherent urban policies consistent with
the principle of cooperative federalism:
Urban policies will be driven by considerations of efficiency,
inclusion, sustainability and safety and work towards universality of
the urban agenda across different tiers of the government.
2. Harmonising agglomeration economies with focus on the promotion of
compact and cluster urban development within a regional, rural-urban
framework:
Focus would be on elimination of barriers to the flow of factors of
production (land, labour and capital), promotion of compact and cluster
urban development within a regional, rural-urban framework, boosting
economic density and providing support to initiatives that favour
synergies and innovations linked to the promotion of local economic
development and creating skilled human resources for better employment
opportunities.
3. Harnessing rural-urban continuum:
The new initiative of RURBAN Mission is a step in this direction. The
focus would be to have appropriate synergy and convergence of various
schemes of different ministries for sustainable and inclusive
rural-urban continuum, such that rural and urban areas grow in a
symbiotic manner by adopting a ‘regional planning approach’.
4. Promoting inclusive urban development:
A mix of strategies targeted at universalisation of basic services,
governance mechanisms focused at social cohesion, access to housing as a
means of reducing poverty and strategies for reducing working poverty
5. Recognising and actively promoting the centrality of sustainability
in urban policy:
The new urban agenda will focus on cutting down of waste, savings in
energy consumption particularly in buildings and protection of green
spaces. These are not merely technical problems and are proposed to be
addressed with education, citizens’ participation and campaigns for
environmental protection.
6. Empowering municipalities and other local-level institutions:
Municipalities will be prepared to create local institutions to manage
and maintain infrastructure services, implement the right process to
increase productivity and deal with exclusion and build capabilities in
public services.
7. Strengthening housing-finance systems:
The focus would be on strengthening the housing finance system in the
country for accessible housing finance for the urban poor by addressing
demand-side and supply-side constraints.
8. Provision and financing of urban infrastructure and basic services:
The new urban agenda would focus on providing infrastructure facilities,
phys-ical and social, for all. That includes ensuring sustainable access
to safe drinking water, basic sanitation, drainage, solid waste
management, clean domestic energy and sustainable mobility.
9. Enhancing access to social justice and gender equity:
The new urban agenda would ensure social justice and gender equity in
the development process by providing spaces and services conducive for
the young, especially women and children
10. Development of a robust urban information system:
The urban agenda would also focus on developing an authentic, reliable
and robust database and urban information system at city, state and
national levels. The urban information system would cover, among others,
the areas of urban poverty, slums, housing, basic services and
urbanisation related indicators.
Despite being non-binding in nature, the new Urban Agenda helps to
inform globally the need for different approaches in urban policies to
enable cities to become the engines of inclusive growth with due
importance to citizens’ rights. Nationally, the robust commitment to the
New Urban Agenda (and Goal 11 of Sustainable Development Goals)
highlights the absence of a comprehensive national urban and habitat
policy. The lack of a defined policy framework for cohesive urban
development would make it challenging to ensure the fructification of
the commitments. It is imperative that the nation, to ensure citizen
welfare as committed, moves forward in a cohesive manner and formulates
a defined approach for urban development to ensure a holistic growth.
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Anurita Bhatnagar
anurita.bhatnagar@gmail.com