In line with the cities’ Readiness report on Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), released by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Friday, nine Indian cities have taken important action to mitigate the impact of climate change and to encourage climate-sensible urban design.
Top performers from 126 cities participating in the second edition of the assessment that was launched in September of last year were recognised in Ahmedabad, Indore, Pimpri Chinchwad, Vadodara, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Rajkot and Surat.
Kunal Kumar, mission director of the ministry’s Smart Cities Mission, said the assessment currently only involves ranking cities based on their performance. “In the times to come… cities that improve their ranking will get more funds. We incentivise improvement of ranking for cities in the framework.”
The urban planning, green cover and biodiversity, energy, and green buildings; mobility and air quality, water management and waste management are all the key topics of this year’s study (28 indicators). The results were rated at 5 levels (1 to 5 stars).
Some cities have had a positive impact in urban planning and waste management, with 5 stars performing. Yet no city got 5 stars in terms of mobility and air quality, water or power, which shows that a lot of work needs to be done before the results can be seen on the ground.
The report says that in India, 43 smart cities are confronted with poor, serious health-related air quality. Indore, Surat and Visakhapatnam were recognised as top urban planners, green household and biodiversity experts, partly because they took not only concrete planning steps, but also allocated money into their budgets and guaranteed on-the-ground implementation.
Of the 126 cities, 65 only meet the standards for 12-18% green covers, including those of Thane, Pune, Agra and Coimbatore.
The study also highlighted the absence of a Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) Road Network, which can reduce air pollution together with public transport. 94 towns have a network with NMT infrastructure of less than 15 percent. Over 50 percent of the NMT infrastructure is outstanding in six cities: Kalyan Dombivali, Mysore, Naya Raipur, Ranchi. Studies have shown that approximately 74% of people go or rely on NMT transport for at least part of a day’s commute. This is important because
“It is more easy for cities to develop NMT infrastructure in greenfield developments,” said Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning, School of Architecture and Planning. In order to tackle air pollution due to transport, public transportation must be increased and NMT infrastructure developed. However, we must retrofit in most cities. The urban development of the infrastructure needs to be assisted.”
An example of the efforts of cities to tackle issues of mobility and air quality is the Delhi government’s policy on electric vehicles. The performance of New Delhi Municipal Council, part of the intelligent city mission, has been largely assessed by the national capital in relation to information provided.
Whilst Delhi has received a 5 star waste management rating (assessed on Swachh Surveyshan 2020 performance), Delhi has a three-star rating in mobility and air quality as well as energy and green buildings, as well as urban planning, green cover, and biodiversity.
