In close cooperation with the Embassy of the Netherlands in India, the Institute of Housing and Urban Development (IHS) and the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), ISS has organized an Urban Seminar in New Delhi on Wednesday May 11 2016. The overall theme was Governance and Inclusion in Transforming Cities.
Dr Joop de Wit of ISS was one of the initiators and presenters of this seminar.
The nature of the seminar was twofold. It was an expert meeting to reflect on the current conditions in India’s cities, both in terms of administration and overall welfare. This was discussed against the current dynamics of India’s urbanization and future trends, notably the urban development vision of India’s Government where the ‘Smart Cities’ concept takes a central role. The seminar also brought together junior and senior academics, practitioners and students in the field of urban development – including alumni from the networks of SPA, IHS and ISS.
The overall objective is to trace the dynamics of urban development in India, and to investigate specifically:
- Trends and indicators of overall welfare in cities and patterns of inclusion/exclusion as regards service delivery, land and housing, employment and gender;
- The evolving nature of urban governance and management with attention for implementation dynamics where the private sector already plays an important role which may increase further;
- To reflect on and map the implications of both evolving trends in terms of topics and issues with urgency both for research as well as for capacity development.
The seminar outcomes will take the shape of a proposal for a Research Agenda as well as an Agenda for priorities and modalities for effective Capacity Development, as well as a proposal for concrete cooperation between participating institutions and persons to support inclusive urban governance in India.
