Event Description

As India becomes the world’s most populated and fastest growing country how can mid-sized cities with limited planning capacity respond to climate change, and learn from experience elsewhere? This symposium will build on the first four Indian Urban Futures events which started in 2017, as they explore the challenges of scaling-up innovation with leading experts.

Common issues:

- How can neighbourhoods be designed to cut carbon emissions while avoiding overcrowding?

- How can traffic congestion in urban streets  be cut?

- Could intensification around public transport hubs  offer a solution?

- Where will the finance to deal with water come from?

- What can be done do make sustainable development the ‘smart choice’?

Contributors include:

- Amirthan Christy Charles, Programme Director SCAD Nirman.
- Jas Bhalla, Jas Bhalla Architects
- Nicholas Falk, URBED Trust
- Brian Q Love, Connected Cities
- David Milner, Create Streets
- Sowmya Parthasarathy, Arup
- Maxine Relton, Artist and tour leader
- David Rudlin, URBED Trust/BDP
- SCAD (Social Change and Development)

SCAD is a group of social enterprises that works with 600 villages and 4,000 women’s groups to ‘reach the unreached’ in the state of Tamil Nadu, Southern India. It runs colleges that train graduates in engineering and business, schools and other social enterprises includ a hospital.

The next step was to set up Gardens of Delight, a centre for sustainable development inspired by CAT (the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales). CAT is  running an experimental course  in May to help the centre expand its role.