India  

As PRIA approaches its 40^th Anniversary in February 2022, we are co-convening conversations on several thematic areas in which PRIA has worked:

• Sustainable urban future 
• Empowering civil society
• Decentralised community governance
• Making the gender leap
• Citizen participation 
• Building a knowledge democracy

These conversations seek answers to several urgent questions – towards building a robust and sustainable tomorrow, for our country and globally, and what PRIA needs to do to become future ready, and continue to contribute effectively in co-creating the future.
 
We cordially invite you to participate in a Samvad - Conversation on Planning with Urban Informalities on 20 August 2021 between 5.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. IST, organised in collaboration with School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi and All India Institute of Local Self Government, India.

Cities are opportunities for seeking better jobs, livelihood, education, health, and other services. With rapid urbanisation and increase in rural-urban migration, the ‘formal’ city has dramatically fallen short in meeting the needs and aspirations of the growing urban poor population. The urban poor living in informal settlements are resorting to informal ways for seeking employment, housing, and other services like electricity, water, and much more. Though this growing field of informality has become a subject of interest among civil society urbanists, planners, designers, and policy makers, urban planning and development systems are still being defined from a very traditional formal perspective and ideas. With rapid urbanisation the gap between the informality and current approaches to urban growth is widening, impacting the everyday lives of urban poor. The need for reimaging a new context of planning for urban informalities is imminent and urgent.

The networks and structures of urban informality are expanding, but the formalities in the city often impede the contribution of informalities towards securing a sustainable and resilient future of cities. There is a need to coalesce the formal planning structures with the issues around informalities to support vulnerable communities in the cities. The issues of the urban poor are on a rise, and can only be dealt with if an effective system for planning for urban informalities, which considers the informal community as an equal stakeholder, is established. This Samvad – Conversation seeks to explore the following key questions:

• What have been our collective experiences of current urban planning practices vis-à-vis the needs of urban informals?
• What needs to change in the current urban planning frameworks and methodologies to effectively address the emerging needs of urban informals?
• How these proposed changes could be mainstreamed and scaled up?

PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE

Speakers

• Prof Dr. P S N Rao, Director, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India
• Prof. Diana Mitlin, Professor of Global Urbanism, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK
• Prof. Ashok Kumar, Dean and Professor of Physical Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India
• Ms Mirjam van Donk, Executive Director, Isandla Institute, South Africa

Discussants

• Ms Bijal Brahmbhatt, Director, Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, India
• Prof. Amita Bhide, Professor and Dean, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
• Dr. Renu Khosla, Executive Director, Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence, India
• Mr. Ravi Guru, Deputy Director General, All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG), India

Key Takeaways

• Dr Rajesh Tandon, Founder-President, Participatory Research in Asia, India

Moderator

• Dr Kaustuv Kanti Bandyopadhyay, Director, Participatory Research in Asia, India

Please REGISTER for the event. On registering, we will send a Zoom link via email (at the email address provided in the registration form), which will give you access to the event.

We look forward to seeing you.

Warm regards,