Rethinking post-disaster relocation in urban India

"After natural disasters, governments often relocate vulnerable urban communities in the name of humanitarian relief. But urban communities rarely welcome such relocation, since it frequently exacerbates their daily challenges or creates new risks. Indeed, resettlement after a disaster is often another form of eviction. This briefing discusses the situation in Chennai, where state and local authorities have been building resettlement tenements on inland marsh areas using centrally sponsored schemes for affordable housing. These have been used as a ‘quick fix’ after disasters, but without addressing communities’ underlying needs and inequalities. Their siting has also increased flood risk across the urban area, creating new risks. Instead, India should develop participatory and risk-reducing plans and policies for relocation, and also help vulnerable communities address the risks where they currently live. This briefing is part of the project ‘Longterm implications of humanitarian responses: a case of Chennai’. The research was conducted in 2016 by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and Madras Institute for Development Studies (MIDS).

Um Entre Muitos: instituições de ensino superior em um ecossistema de pedagogias urbanas = One Amongst Many: higher education institutions in an ecosystem of urban pedagogies

RESUMO Este artigo examina como e por que os educadores das universidades podem e precisam trabalhar como ‘um entre muitos’ para propor pedagogias críticas para a igualdade urbana. A discussão está embasada em duas experiências distintas: as escolas em rede da Habitat International Coalition América Latina (HIC-AL) – uma coalizão de organizações da sociedade civil, movimentos sociais e universidades que trabalham pela defesa de direitos humanos relacionados à moradia – e os processos de coaprendizagem com ativistas pelos direitos à moradia facilitados pelo Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) – uma instituição educacional nacional comprometida com a transformação igualitária, sustentável e eficiente dos assentamentos na Índia. Ambas as experiências enfatizam a criação de pedagogias críticas que procuram fundamentalmente romper, reformular e reposicionar relações institucionais de saberes e práticas de aprendizagem ao propor capacidades para uma transformação urbana transformadora. A análise demonstra como as injustiças epistêmicas – muitas vezes proliferadas em e por instituições de ensino superior – podem ser neutralizadas e porque promover a justiça epistêmica exige o reposicionamento das universidades como uma contra muitas em um ecossistema mais amplo de pedagogias urbanas, em diálogo aberto e produtivo com novas formas institucionais, definidas por Boaventura de Sousa Santos como a ‘pluriversidade’ e a ‘subversidade’. // This paper explores how and why pedagogues within universities can and need to work as ‘one amongst many’ to advance critical pedagogies for urban equality. The discussion draws on two contrasting experiences: the networked schools of the Habitat International Coalition in Latin America (HIC-AL) – a coalition of civil society organizations, social movements and universities working in defense of habitat-related human rights – and the co-learning processes with housing rights activists activated by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) – a national education institution committed to the equitable, sustainable and efficient transformation of Indian settlements. Both experiences place emphasis on crafting critical pedagogies that seek to fundamentally disrupt, re-frame and re-position institutional relations of knowledges and learning practices, while advancing capacities for transformative urban change. The analysis demonstrates how epistemic injustices – often proliferated in and by higher education institutions – can be counteracted, and why fostering epistemic justice requires re-positioning universities as one amongst many in a wider ecosystem of urban pedagogies, in open and productive dialogue with new institutional forms that Boaventura de Sousa Santos defines as the ‘pluriversity’ and the ‘subversity’

Livelihood vulnerability and adaptation in Kolar District, Karnataka, India : mapping risks and responses short report

This work was carried out under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.During March and April 2016, ASSAR India’s researchers from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) conducted 18 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) in nine villages in Kolar District, Karnataka. The FGDs were gender-differentiated and ensured representation from different income groups, castes, and religions. We undertook three activities during each FGD: - A timeline exercise to chart biophysical, livelihoods, socio-economic, institutional and political changes from 1970 onwards. - Risk and response mapping. - An institutional mapping exercise to chart key actors and flows of information and credit

Barriers and enablers to climate adaptation : evidence from rural and urban India

This work was carried out under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.Researchers from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) used focus group discussions, household surveys and life history interviews to collect information at settlement, household and intra-household levels in the rural districts of Kolar and Gulbarga and the urban district of Bangalore. While the current focus on watershed development with adaptation co-benefits is positive, it must be complemented by efforts to address the growing irrigation demand. Governance is a barrier to local adaptation. More than other factors, implementation of adaptation practices is slowed by the lack of staff especially at State and district levels

Considering curriculum, content, and delivery for adaptive pathways: higher education and disaster resilient infrastructure in the Indian urban context

In the context of urbanisation in the Global South and increasing climate-induced disaster events, fostering resilience in infrastructure systems is critical to delivering on goals of economic development, poverty reduction, and climate action. Adaptive pathways, given its inherent consideration of uncertainty and an embedded feedback mechanism, becomes a necessary conceptual underpinning to deliver on the resilient infrastructure challenge. We argue that knowledge and iterative learning are key components that enable the flexibility of adaptive pathways. Higher education (HE) plays a critical role in influencing knowledge that is adaptive and dynamic to respond to this challenge. This study adopts a qualitative approach with a case study design to identify gaps in how urban resilient infrastructure is conceptualised and taught in HE institutions. The study finds that interdisciplinarity, when reflected in the elements of content, pedagogy, and delivery would foster substantial critical thinking and reflexivity required to address the resilient infrastructure challenge

Urban Observatories in the Midst of COVID-19: Challenges & Responses

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, urban observatories have demonstrated their value, but also highlighted the challenges for boundary institutions between knowledge generation and decision-making in a variety of different ways. We aim here to capture some of their voices in a time of crisis. The Connected Cities Lab, in collaboration with University College London and UN-Habitat, and in dialogue with a variety of urban research institutions around the planet, has been working since 2018 to develop a review of the challenges and values of and challenges for ‘urban observatories’. That project aims to present evidence on the boundary-spanning roles of these institutions, capturing the ways in which they bridge information in and about their cities and the potential value they offer to urban governance. As the COVID-19 crisis took hold across cities and continents in early 2020, it became apparent that this study could not prescind from a closer look at how these observatories had both been coping with, but also responding to, the pandemic. This resulted in a series of additional interviews, document reviews and a twopart virtual workshop in August 2020 with observatories, and urban research institutions performing observatory functions, to give further voice to these experiences. As a background to this ‘deep’ dive into the reality of COVID-19 for observatories, the overall study underpinning this working paper has relied on, first, desktop research on publicly available information to identify thirty-two cases of either explicitlynamed ‘urban observatories’ or else urban research institutions performing ‘observatory-like’ functions. This research was then coupled with a series of interviews with experts and senior staff from these observatories to ground truth initial considerations as well as to capture how the processes of boundary-spanning worked beyond the publicly available persona of each observatory. We then referred back to these thirty-two cases and selected a sample of fourteen for specific analysis in relation to COVID-specific interventions, with six of them involved directly into two virtual workshops to capture directly their experience in the context of the pandemic crisis. Capturing initial findings from these engagements (which will ultimately form an integral part of the project’s final report), this working paper offers a preliminary snapshot of some of these lessons drawn from the study. Essential for us has been the chance, amidst the complications of COVID-19 lockdowns and travel bans, to better capture the voice of observatories the world over and their tangible experiences with spanning urban research-practice boundaries in a turbulent historical moment. Whilst the final report for the project will likely include more extensively analysed cases emerging from the current crisis, we have sought to present here much of the raw reflections emerging from our engagement with colleagues in observatories (and ‘observatory-like’ institutions) to both offer useful reflections to other contexts around the world as well as to offer insights on the unique situation urban knowledge institutions find themselves in a reality where cities and urban life has been fundamentally recast by the pandemic. The working paper is organised in a way that follows our broader study’s key themes looking at the structure and activities of observatories, putting our broader findings into dialogue with the voices of observatories during the COVID-19 crisis. Section 1 describes the proposed visions and functions performed by observatories and puts it into dialogue with the COVID-19 crisis. Positionality of urban observatories is also discussed in this section. Section 2 explores outputs produced by, and themes investigated in, observatories and how they have been shaped by and for the crisis. In Sections 1 and 2 we endeavoured to capture vignettes from the participating observatories through the experiences of a set of six more specific interlocutor institutions engaged in the project: the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO) in Johannesburg, the Karachi Urban Lab (KUL) in Karachi, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) in Bangalore, the Metropolis Observatory in Barcelona, and the World Resources Institute Ross Centre in Washington DC. Section 3 concludes with a commentary on the ongoing challenges and opportunities faced by urban observatories in the wake of COVID-19, without underestimating how the crisis might be far from over

Catalyzing Capital for Invention: Spotlight on India

The Lemelson Foundation has observed first hand a number of obstacles limiting the impact of India's scientists, engineers, and inventors. The resources these entrepreneurs need, such as financing and mentorship, are limited and often difficult to identify. As a result, many of the invention-based ventures The Lemelson Foundation supports struggle to identify sources of funding and business assistance to suit their unique needs.To understand the scale of these challenges and how to meaningfully address them, the Foundation, with assistance from Enclude, undertook a field study to examine India's "impact ecosystem," which is what the Foundation calls the broad network of businesses, funders, and intermediaries that enable social enterprise. The study hones in on the "invention ecosystem," the Foundation's term for a subset of the impact ecosystem that includes "invention-based entrepreneurs."Detailed observations and data collected from interviews with more than 60 investors, entrepreneurs and intermediaries are presented in this report, along with actionable solutions for addressing challenges. While the study focused on India, lessons are applicable to evolving ecosystems in other developing countries

Landscaping teaching and training of urban health as a part of health professional education in India

Introduction India’s urban population will be doubled from 377 million in 2011 to 915 million in 2050. Such rapid urban growth may lead to several problems by affecting the economy, environment and the society at large. These problems further affect the health vulnerability in urban areas. Thus, there exists a need for health workforce equipped with the knowledge and skills to meet the urban health challenges. Objectives To undertake the landscaping of teaching and training of urban health as a part of health professional courses and to undertake mapping of specific training programmes related to urban health in India. Methodology A curriculum scan of various health professional courses in India ranging from medicine, dentistry, allied health, Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), nursing to public health was undertaken related to teaching and training of urban health. An exclusive search was also carried out for identifying urban health-specific training programmes being offered in India. Results As per the curriculum scan, current health professional courses being offered in India have a very little focus on urban health. It was observed that various cross-cutting issues related to urban health are not adequately addressed in the current curricula. Also the curricula of these health professional courses have not clearly spelt out the desired urban health competencies. Few institutions in India offer short-term training programmes specific to urban health issues