We live in a rapidly urbanizing world with 7 out of 10 people projected to live in urban areas by 2050.
90% of this projected growth will take place in the global south of which a significant portion will occur in India. Current estimates suggest 36% (400 million) of India’s population is urban and, by 2050, this number will double to 800 million.
Indian Cities will have to focus on creating new jobs, creating denser employment locations, aggregating land for planned development and driving integrated planning around large investments like metro rail along with ensuring impacts due to changing climate are incorporated in project design.
Methodology
We seek to shift the discourse through-
Informing Policies and Plans: Using macro and micro data analytics, provide inputs to Town and Country Planning Acts, National and State level committees, and Regional and City Master Plans and State led urban schemes.
Participating in Strategic Game-Changing Projects: Conducting project surveys, supporting co-ordination of different actors, co-creation workshops and charrettes to pilot iconic projects that have transformative potential to change an area and scale to other areas and other cities.
Training and Capacity Building: Capturing learnings from strategic projects, policies and plans for knowledge dissemination in the form of training modules to improve capacities and capabilities of stakeholders especially government officials.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Restructuring (BBMPR) Committee Technical Assistance: The Government of Karnataka constituted a 3-Member Expert Committee to lay out a road map to address Bengaluru’s urban management and WRI India Ross Center was invited to provide technical assistance for the same.
Karnataka Vision Document Inputs: WRI India Ross Center formulated the urban development, transport and energy sectors of the ‘Nava Karnataka Vision 2025’. 61 million people in Karnataka (23.6 million of whom live in urban areas) are expected to reap the benefits of adopting sustainable and equitable growth strategies proposed in this plan.