Climate Resilience of Smart
Cities in India
Cities and Climate Change
A s the world
moves closer towards the Paris Agreement coming into force and limiting
global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, there is a clear
understanding that the impacts of climate change have already begun.
Cities account for 70% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are
poised to be an important element in climate action. Cities as compared
to rural settlements emit a lot of GHGs, utilise more energy and have a
high transportation use. They also change natural ecosystems in order to
create unnatural living spaces for inviting more population. Being
responsible for accelerating global warming, they therefore bear the
brunt of it as well.
Every week with an increase of about one million in the urban populace,
more than half are added to slums and areas with inadequate facilities.
This adds to the overall climate change vulnerability especially in
pockets inside cities that have inadequate infrastructure. Additionally,
cities also pose as incubators for climate change solutions. At the last
Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in 2015, cities came across
as leaders in responding to the threat of climate change.
India’s Urban Scenario
In India, cities are growing ushering in a new urban age. According to
the 2011 Census of India, there are more than 377 million people
residing in urban areas. As the Indian populace moves towards an
increased urban presence, the Government of India (GoI) has launched
many programmes to enhance the quality of urban life and tackle the
challenges faced by Indian cities. Some of the major urban initiatives
are Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation, the Swachh
Bharat (Clean India) Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana on ‘Housing for
All’, National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)
and the Rurban Mission. But the Smart Cities Mission stands out as the
most popular. The programme aims to create 100 smart cities in order to
improve the standard of living in urban spaces as well as improve the
local environment in the cities. The Smart City Mission aims to achieve
these goals by applying technology-heavy solutions in order to make the
most efficient use of available resources and infrastructure.
The GoI avoids any particular definition of smart city and leaves its
conceptualisation a vague one. The idea is to assess cities based on
‘the level of development, willingness to change and reform, resources
and aspirations of the city residents’. The Smart Cities Mission aims to
promote core infrastructure and solutions to increase ‘sustainable and
inclusive development.’ In the core infrastructure of a smart city, the
GoI highlights that it would include: adequate water supply, assured
electricity supply, sanitation including solid waste management,
efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable housing
especially for the poor; robust IT connectivity and digitalisation, good
governance especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
sustainable environment, health and education, safety and security of
citizens particularly women, children and the elderly.
The overview of the mission conveys that the focus is on creating a
technologically smart city. Technology is an important part of the city
and can help in recognising citizens’ needs and improving transport,
energy use, urban design etc. However, there are issues such as dealing
with climate change impacts which need priority and good governance.
Technology is only helpful to the point that it helps make evidence
based policy and planning giving citizens the resources to create
accountability for their leaders.
But the fact of the matter is that increase of number of extreme climate
events in India could well be inferred as the impacts of climate change.
The heatwave in Telangana in 2015, Chennai floods in 2015 and Srinagar
flash flood in 2014 are all erratic disasters that pose as a reminder
for the need of cities to be climate resilient. Ashoka Trust for
Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore in their
analysis showed that smart cities will require strong infrastructure to
adapt to climate change impacts as well as reduce emissions and waste in
order to contribute to global mitigation. Diversified economic
opportunities will make cities better equipped to adapt to climate
risks.
How do we Enhance Climate Resilience?
What is required is that Smart Cities look closely at enhancing their
climate resilience. Resilience is important for not just climate
adaptation but also to maintain the social, infrastructure and economic
integrity of the city. Smart city planning must be seen with a climate
lens to enhance its resilience. In urban societies, the resilience
depends on slow changing variables such as climate, land use, nutrient
stocks, human values and policies. A variety of factors ranging from
increasing pollution leading to deterioration of air, water and food
quality, perverse subsidies that encourage unsustainable use of
resources, closed institutions that do not adequately respond to the
needs of society can degrade resilience of urban areas. In order to
mitigate hazards, a climate resilient smart city must have a focus on
strong disaster resistant infrastructure, policy and response capacities
in cases of potential disasters.
As the World Bank in its volume ‘Climate Resilient Cities’ highlights
that ‘For cities, resilience is enhanced by knowledge of risks and tools
and resources available to confront threats and build on opportunities.’
Cities are good starting points for productive collaborations. They are
the connection to the global arena. The tools for creating resilience
are available in the international market but creating solutions
requires political will and cooperation across stakeholders and sectors.
Resilience to disasters, creating sustainable infrastructure and risk
disaster contingency plans should be made an important component of any
smart city plan. Further, adaptation and resilience planning programmes
cannot be addressed in silos. Rather they should be addressed together
and incorporated in every aspect of the Smart City development. The
narrative of resilience should be a part of smart cities from land use
planning to transport and housing.
Conclusion
This year two major events are slated for cities - Habitat III, the
bi-decennial meeting which outlines the contemporary vision for the
‘Urban Agenda’ aiming to produce a declaration that reflects the world’s
urgent urban needs and Agenda 2030, Paris, Sendai aiming to address mass
migration, refugees, increasing conflict, resource crunches and climate
change and inequality.
The overlapping of three agendas – climate, development and cities -
will be the focus this year as the previous year for both Climate and
SDG processes. In 2016, Habitat III and COP22 are potent opportunities
for India to harmonise its understanding of the problems and
opportunities posed by growing urbanisation. These will feed into
India’s biggest challenges such as poverty, deteriorating quality of
life and environmental degradation.
India expects to accommodate around 40% of its population in urban
centres by 2030. The landmark policy initiatives mentioned earlier that
the GoI has taken to transform and rejuvenate its urban areas must
address the infrastructure deficit India faces due to economic growth
and increased urbanisation. Climate action is an asset that can produce
mutual benefits. For living up to the Nationally Determined Contribution
targets to UNFCCC that India has ratified to contribute to keeping the
global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, the smart cities should lend
their hand. We should take use of the SDGs and the global framework to
design our smart cities. The delivery of such needs will require a new
way of urban planning, funding and political will.
■
Syed A A Ishaqi Farhan
sishaqi@devalt.org
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