Mumbai // BRICS Summit. We need to develop a new urban agenda – let's start on World Cities Day. On 31 October this year, for the first time, the planet will celebrate World Cities Day.
This is an important recognition of the role cities play not only to the more-than-3.5 billion people who live in them, but also as key economic, social and environmental components of our world today. For a long time, as the world developed, cities were regarded as something negative, their growth to be avoided and prevented even as urban populations increased. As a result, cities have been allowed to spread unchecked and unplanned, leading to urban sprawl and the rapid growth of slums which, in some parts of Africa, are home to more than 50% of the urban population. With limited basic services that can’t keep up with rapid urban growth, many people are forced to live without sufficient sanitation or water. Congestion costs cities billions of dollars every year in lost time and inefficient service delivery, not to mention the environmental cost. But cities are also drivers of growth. Habitat III – UN-Habitat.
Habitat III is the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to take place in 2016.
In resolution 66/207 and in line with the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016), the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene, the Habitat III Conference to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization, to focus on the implementation of a “New Urban Agenda”, building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996. Member States of the GA, in resolution 67/216, decided that the objective of the Conference are to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, assess accomplishments to date, address poverty and identify and address new and emerging challenges.
The conference will result in a concise, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented outcome document. Smart City 2014. How modern urban transportation systems like Metro Rail, Monorail, eBus services, hi-tech signaling systems can leverage sustainable transportation.
Welcome to Forbes. Narendra Modi's imprint on smart city project : Mail Today, News. PM Narendra Modi had signed a pact with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to develop Varanasi into Kyoto-like smart city during his Japan visit.After the curtains came down on the UPA regime's JNNURM scheme, the urban development ministry has got a clear message from the PMO that reliable, adequate and utility services would be critical to a 'smart city' while the design and creation should be "region-specific and not a generalised concept as practiced earlier.
" "The PM wants to take big city living to a new level where 24/7 utilities services becomes an essential in public service delivery. So, would be technology-based governance and monitoring of services provided to citizens. Not to miss, a high quality social infrastructure including Wi-Fi zones and recreational spaces form core of the new plans for these cities on the anvil,'' Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said. "We're taking states along on this. Scroll.in - News. Politics. Culture. The laundry list of Rs 100 crore projects rattled off by finance minister Arun Jaitley during the budget speech might have surprised people, but there was one mention of 100 that was much less surprising: smart cities.
The grandiose promise of building 100 smart cities has been part of Modi’s acche din vision from the outset, and it would have been surprising if the budget had not made some mention of it. In the event, Jaitley did promise 100 cities to be built for what the Bharatiya Janata Party is calling the neo-middle class – those who have just emerged from above the poverty line and are striving to ensure they remain there. Less promising was the amount he allocated to the project: Rs 7,060 crore, which is a little over Rs 70 crore per city. India's urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth. India has a young and rapidly growing population—a potential demographic dividend.
But India needs thriving cities if that dividend is to pay out. New MGI research estimates that cities could generate 70 percent of net new jobs created to 2030, produce around 70 percent of Indian GDP, and drive a near fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation. GIFT in Gujarat: Narendra Modi's dream project offers vital learnings for 100 smart cities ambition. Narendra Modi: Has new PM given India its mojo back? Indian economy moving again: Stocks up 25%, foreign investment back, rupee is stableThis follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election to office this yearHe promises to enact tax reforms, clean up corrupt bureaucracies, and provide housing Yet his real challenge will be moderating expectations at home and abroad Editor's note: Ravi Agrawal is CNN's New Delhi Bureau chief and was formerly senior producer of the network's "Fareed Zakaria GPS.
" Follow him on Twitter: @RaviAgrawalCNN. New Delhi (CNN) -- If you believe the mood here, India is going to be the next China, the new frontier of global growth. Stocks are up 25% since the start of the year. Foreign investment is back. They've followed a long line of top envoys from France, China, and Russia to visit India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in May. Modi has made all the right sounds. Indian PM Modi pushes plan for 100 'smart cities'
A rendering of the planned 'smart city' Dholera, in southern Gujarat, India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to build 100 smart cities across the country. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to build 100 "smart cities" outfitted with high-tech communicationThe government announced it's investing $1.2 billion over the next year, with more funding coming from private investors and abroadSome observers are skeptical that high-tech cities are the best course in a country where many lack basic infrastructureIndia isn't the only country jumping on the smart cities bandwagon. China is investing $8 billion in its effort. Dholera SIR.