In India, this year’s record-breaking summer, with Delhi temperatures exceeding 50°C and over 200 official heatwave deaths, highlights the urgent need for action as our cities are becoming increasingly unliveable due to rising extreme weather events.

About Liveable Cities

• Liveable cities are well-designed, sustainable, and inclusive urban environments that provide a high quality of life. 
• They ensure access to essential services and amenities while offering opportunities for personal and professional development.

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Factors Contributing to Cities Becoming Unlivable

• Climate Factors: 
  • Urban Heat Island Effect (UHI): Urban areas often experience higher temperatures than their rural surroundings due to carbon emitting human activities, compact infrastructure and layouts, predominance of heat-retaining materials like concrete, glass and asphalt, loss of vegetation etc. 
    • Example: In Gurugram, modern glass buildings trap heat and increase energy consumption, while the reflection from the buildings and the lack of green cover worsen outdoor conditions.

• • Severe Weather Events: Climate change has led to more frequent and severe weather events, including heatwaves, floods, and storms, which disrupt daily life and strain city resources.
    • Example: Day Zero in Cape Town, South Africa.
    • Day Zero is a situation when there will be no water in the taps and the use of water will become restricted for vital services only.
• Planning Factors:
  • Poor Urban Planning: Inefficient land use and inadequate infrastructure contribute to overcrowding, traffic congestion, and inadequate public services, diminishing the quality of life for residents especially the marginalised. 
  • Inadequate Public Services: Poor access to healthcare, education, and public transport exacerbates living conditions, particularly for lower-income residents.
    • Example: Limited Mass Transit options such as Metro, buses etc lead to increased vehicle use, causing traffic jams and air pollution, which harm residents’ health and quality of life.
• Technological Factors
  • Comfort Trap due to dependency on Technology: Technology has created a “comfort trap” for the urban elite, by insulating them from harsh urban realities. 
    • Example: The Home grocery delivery and Instant Cab Services, enable has invisibilized labour by disconnecting the urban elite from the workers who provide essential services. 
    • This exacerbates urban inequalities and undermines the communal responsibility needed for livable cities.
  • Cycle of Urban Retreat and Technological Reliance: Extreme weather events push people indoors, and technology makes it easier to stay inside via air conditioners, etc. 
    • This reduces demand for public space improvements, leading to further decline in urban conditions.
• Social Factors: 
  • Lack of Attention for Marginalised Communities: Marginalised communities often struggle with poor public services and inadequate infrastructure, but their issues frequently go unnoticed. In contrast, when the privileged encounter similar problems, they gain media attention, prompting swift governmental action.
    • Example: A recent flash storm in Delhi flooded basements in affluent areas, including MPs’ homes in Lutyens’ Delhi, prompted immediate governmental action 
• Economic Factors:
  • Economic Disparities: Economic inequality leads to neglect of certain neighbourhoods, resulting in declining living conditions and reduced investment in public amenities. Example:  Kusumpur Pahari in New Delhi, Dharavi in Mumbai
  • Overpopulation and Migration: Rapid urbanisation and rural-to-urban migration leads to overcrowding, increased demand for housing, and strain on essential services deteriorating the overall livability of cities.
    • As per Census 2011, the level of urbanisation in India was 31.16%.
• Environmental Factors:
  • Lack of Green Spaces: Insufficient parks and green areas limit recreational opportunities, worsen air quality, and reduce urban biodiversity, making cities less pleasant and healthy.

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Challenges to Urban Liveability in India

• Insufficient Focus on Liveability: Urban missions provide guidelines, but there is a lack of emphasis on the concept of liveability in current policies.
  • Example: The Ease of Living Index identifies important indicators for urban development but fails to provide practical guidance for improvement.
• Lack of Locally Relevant Approaches: The ‘one size fits all’ approach to urban planning neglects the unique socio-economic and cultural contexts of different regions.
  • Example:  The North Eastern states face significant challenges in adopting centrally provided guidelines and model building codes, as these are often unsuitable for their unique geographical, economic, social, and cultural contexts.
• Deficient People-Centric Planning: Reliance on sectoral and project-based planning neglects the need for a comprehensive approach that addresses diverse community needs and evolving lifestyles
  • Example: Infrastructure projects often prioritise road expansions to reduce traffic congestion, neglecting the needs of pedestrians and cyclists.
• Governance Issues: Overlapping mandates and weak inter-departmental coordination create inefficiencies in local governance. 
• Weak Institutional Capacities: Urban local bodies (ULBs) often lack the necessary technical expertise, institutional and financial capacity to implement urban projects effectively.
• Limited Citizen Engagement: Lack of established structures for continuous citizen involvement in decision-making processes reduces community engagement and accountability.
  • Example: Excessive reliance on project management consultants (PMCs) for project implementation without building local capacities presents a significant challenge.

Government Initiatives to Make Cities Liveable

• Smart Cities Mission: Launched in 2015, this initiative focuses on developing 100 smart cities across India. The aim is to promote sustainable and inclusive urban development through the use of smart technologies, improved infrastructure, and enhanced public services.

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• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT): Introduced in 2015, AMRUT aims to ensure basic services such as water supply, sewerage, and green spaces to improve the quality of life in urban areas, especially for the urban poor.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY): aims to tackle the urban housing shortage faced by the urban poor, including slum dwellers, by providing eligible individuals with access to durable pucca houses.
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban: seeks to eliminate open defecation in urban India and ensure 100% scientific management of municipal solid waste (MSW) across the statutory towns nationwide.
• Urban Transport Schemes: Various schemes like the Metro Rail Project and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) focus on enhancing urban transport networks to reduce congestion and pollution.
• HRIDAY: The National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) focuses on integrating urban planning, economic growth, and heritage conservation to preserve the unique heritage character of cities.

Way Forward for Enhancing Urban Liveability

• Social Strategies: 
  • Participatory Urban Planning: Involve residents in decision-making for urban projects to address community needs.
  • Improve Access to Basic Services: Ex: Improving the completion rate under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) scheme.
• Institutional Strategies
  • Strengthening Local Urban Governance: It is crucial to define clear roles for institutions to improve service delivery, 
    • Provide ongoing training in local languages, 
    • Develop funding patterns for smaller and financially weaker ULBs to enhance their capabilities.
    • Strengthen ULBs’ capacities to formulate and implement Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
• Technological Strategies
  • Embrace ICT for Smart Governance: Example: Bengaluru’s Smart City project utilises data analytics to monitor traffic flows and improve public transport efficiency.
  • Digital Platforms for Civic Engagement: Example: MyGov is an initiative by the Government of India that serves as a platform for citizens to participate in governance.

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• Climate Strategies
  • Climate-Resilient Infrastructure: Example: Many cities, such as Chicago and Singapore, have implemented green roofs on commercial and residential buildings
    • Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) has features to endure rising sea levels and frequent flooding, enhancing resilience against climate change.
  • Retrofitting Buildings: Example: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has retrofitted its buildings with advanced insulation materials for better energy efficiency.
    • The Godrej Bhavan in Mumbai underwent an energy-efficiency retrofit.
• Enhancing Urban Green Spaces:
  • Create and Maintain Parks: To improve air quality and provide recreational spaces. 
    • Example: In 2023, Delhi committed to the UN-backed ‘Race to Resilience’ campaign, aiming for 25% green cover in five years.
  • Urban Forestry Initiatives: There is a need for better implementation of Nagar Van Yojana (NVY) which promotes urban forestry by involving local communities, NGOs, educational institutions, local bodies, etc.

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