Srinagar 14 March(KNB): A two-day ICSSR sponsored national seminar on “Creating Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Spaces: Urbanization and urban planning in India with a reference to Kashmir”, coordinated by eminent political scientist and author Dr. Aijaz Ashraf Wani, concluded at the University of Kashmir.
The department of political science hosted the seminar on the 13th of March. Dean Research, University of Kashmir Prof. Irshad Ahmad Nawchoo was the chief guest at the valedictory session, while Prof. Gull Mohammad Wani and Dr. Jagan Shah, former director of National Institute of Urban Affairs, were the guests of honour. The Dean Research in his presidential address while congratulating the organizers for bringing together experts, and researchers from different disciplines stressed on adopting interdisciplinary approach to deal with issues like urbanization.
Prof. Gull Mohammad Wani, while emphasizing on the nature and contours of urbanization in South Asia, laid stress for balancing between infrastructure building and heritage protection. He laid stress on framing urban policies in a manner that are futuristic and also urged for creating public spaces for dialogue and discussion on crucial issues like urbanization.
Dr. Jagan Shah summarized the main points highlighted during the deliberations across the various technical sessions. Dr. Aijaz Ashraf Wani, seminar coordinator, presented vote of thanks.
Earlier during the inaugural session, Vice Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof. Nilofer Khan in her presidential address called upon youth to participate in creating sustainable urban spaces, while the keynote speaker, Prof. Debolina Kundu, from NIUA Delhi, highlighted the Urbanization trends in India.
Academicians from IIT Delhi, AUD, IIPA Delhi, CRID Chandigarh, ATREE Bangalore, NIUA Delhi, IMPA&RD Srinagar participated in the seminar and presented their research on Urban planning and development in the Indian Context. Policy practitioners including Mr. Ather Amir Khan (Commissioner SMC), Dr Ghulam Nabi Qasba (former commissioner SMC), provided the practitioners perspectives about the ongoing developmental projects in the Srinagar city.
In the backdrop of India’s and Kashmir’s growing urbanization, the two-day conference was split into six sessions, in which over a dozen papers were presented examining the topics pertaining urban development and provided policy and scholarly proposals for creating planned inclusive urban environments. The purpose of the seminar was to build a framework for inclusive urbanism considering the rapid growth and urban development of the city. The need to incorporate Himalayan knowledge and study the policy mechanisms of other areas was one key focus of the seminar.
In order to make cities dynamic and visible, it was recognized that policy communication must be improved, and in this line, such seminars provide scholars and policy practitioners the chance to discuss the direction of this development. Ather Amir Khan, Commissioner SMC, offered a practitioner’s view on the continuing work of the smart city mission and emphasized the role of effective communication, collaboration, and public outreach.
The seminar emphasized the issues posed by climate change in urban environments and explained the effects these changes have on various topographies. Sustainable urban mobility emerged to be one of the focal areas.
Recognizing the need to discuss urbanization processes in Himalayan cities and the rapid changes in these places, the loss of commons, changing land uses, the expansion of infrastructure, and water shortages in Himalayan towns. It was recognized that the Improving institutional capacity needs to be incorporated into policymaking across the board. While appreciating the initiatives take by government from time to time for planned and sustainable development of urban areas as well as improving governance and service delivery, the seminar while recognizing the dynamic nature of the issue stress for collocative efforts by all stake holders to deal with the challenges posed by rapid urbanization and turn it into an opportunity. The significance of the seminar and its positive contribution was recognized by one and all.(KNB)