‘Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable’ state Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, one of the most relevant SDGs that is redefining the growth and sustainable development of our cities. In an effort to shed light on the subject, eGov Magazine and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) have joined hands to come out with a special series of eGov Magazine, highlighting the 10 targets under the SDG 11.
This issue, the last in the series, lays emphasis on SDG 11.7, which refers to making cities and urban centres inclusive, safe and accessible for women, children, senior citizens and differently-abled. It also explores SDG 11.A, which emphasises positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning. SDG 11.B is further looked at length, which highlights the importance of cities to adopt inclusive development, resource efficiency, mitigation of climate change and resilience to disasters. And finally, SDG 11.C focuses on supporting underdeveloped countries through financial and technical assistance to build sustainable and local buildings with local materials.
The February 2022 issue of the eGov Magazine is a compilation of knowledgeable articles from academia that have elaborated on the significance of achieving the SDGs. The Cover Story by Hitesh Vaidya, Director, NIUA encapsulates the crux of the 10 targets under SDG 11, highlighting the key takeaways from each of the targets. Dr Subrata Chattopadhyay and Dr Haimanti Banerjee expressed their views on making cities inclusive while Partha Mukhopadhyay, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research (CPR) India shared his perspective on regional planning.
Dr Anjalai Karol Mohan, Partner, Integrated Design and Namrata Dhamankar, Assistant Professor, Dr Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture for Women also contributed to the magazine sharing their invaluable views on urban resilience. Vaishali Nandan, Head of Project, ClimateSmart Cities, GIZ India and K Ravikumar, Technical Expert, ClimateSmart Cities, GIZ India, through their article, shed light on leveraging urban management to improve urban green cover. Whereas addressing the tech-enabled mobility, Apoorv Kulkarni, Head, Accessibility & Inclusion, Ola Mobility Institute expressed his insights in his article. R Srinivas, Town & Country Planner with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Anchal Srivastava, (Architect & Urban Planner) Assistant Professor, U.P. Institute of Design, NOIDA emphasised sustainability aspects in the national and regional planning while Rushda Majeed, India Representative, Bernard van Leer Foundation shared her article on children-centric urban development.
Also Read: India En-Route to Achieve SDG 11.1
Prof. Gaurav Raheja from the Department of Architecture, IIT Roorkee and Kanika Bansal, Senior Project Associate – BASIIC Programme, NIUA highlighted the importance of making cities accessible to all. We also bring Sonali Mehra and Hepzibah Lakhanpal, Research Associates, Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot in India, NIUA shedding light on monitoring urban green spaces through their article. Anshul Abbasi, Senior Associate, Climate Centre for Cities, NIUA also contributed his article on monitoring urban green spaces to the eGov February 2022 issue.
We express our gratitude to all the authors who have contributed to making this special series of eGov Magazine on SDG 11 a success. We hope you enjoy reading this special issue of the magazine!