Let cities fight Carbon
By Dr. Rajan Chedambath, Director, c-hed

The whole “sensible” world is thinking loudly about ways and means to mitigate climate change and its impact. One of the major causes of global warming and subsequent climate change is carbon emission resulting from fossil fuel led transportation. Transit-oriented development, E-mobility, non-motorized transport, public transport facilities, pedestrianization etc. are certain mitigation strategies that urban and rural centers in the world adopt to reduce the use of fossil fuel. It is scientifically proven that pedestrian oriented population in urban and rural centers can help minimize carbon emissions to a large extent. It is against this backdrop that countries across the globe especially their urban centers started moving towards building and creating more of pedestrian friendly landscapes and streets-capes.
‘Pedestrian first’ and ‘pedestrian friendly’ are certain terms or cliché that we very often use here in India too, especially in the urban context. But in reality, the Indian cities are not at all in harmony with the above; rather they are more of ‘motor-vehicle friendly’ giving damn about ‘carbon foot print’ or reducing emissions. However, off late, efforts are focused on giving a major makeover to this image and many cities in India are seriously working towards embracing a pedestrian friendly streets cape as part of mitigation and beautification measures.
In this context, the city of Kochi has been witnessing a real transformation and a major overhaul in pedestrianizing the city is underway, thanks to the works of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd., Cochin Smart City Mission Ltd., Kochi Municipal Corporation, Greater Cochin Development Authority and other such agencies. The ‘citizen networks’ as pressure groups also play a pivotal role in expediting the process of this transformation. The inspiring works of the Oak Ridge National University from the U.S.A. and International Centre for Local Environmental Initiatives – New Delhi, on the impact of Climate change remain the main background research on climate change and Kochi.
However, the biggest challenge that these newly developed public spaces faces is that of encroachment by street vendors, pop-up shops, advertisers, vehicles and other such impediments, cutting off the path between, obstructing the way and discouraging the people from using them. There are classic examples from Kochi where such beautifully developed spaces are encroached upon in no time by these elements with active connivance from certain ‘power centers and vested interests’. One of the most beautifully pedestrianized pathways, Main Avenue, Panampilly Nagar (Shihab Thangal road) up to Panampilly Nagar South end has been an instant success and is one of the most active open spaces in the city. To our dismay, a real good stretch of this place is now occupied by street vendors and pop-up shops with near-to permanent edifices especially in areas close to the regional passport office. Same is the case with the pedestrianized pathway near Subhash Chandra Bose Park, Children’s Park, Marine Drive and General Hospital. The pedestrian pathway in M.G road also faces the onslaught of such encroachment including that of hoardings and flux-boards making the area highly ‘polluted visually’ as well. It is very distressing to see these encroachments and visual pollution disseminating the whole face of the city. The tragedy is that when the path becomes difficult to traverse, people opt to take roads and resort to vehicles for traversing even the shorter distances, thus defeating the very purpose. These encroachers are certainly not people from impoverished sections of the society seeking self-employment but on the contrary they are part of a ‘big mafia like nexus’.
I don’t think this is an issue solely affecting Kochi but an issue that almost all Indian urban centres face. It is high time that we had really strived to keep our cities pedestrian friendly and also visually appealing not only for their aesthetic value but also for the larger cause of fighting climate change impact. Where do we begin this from? We need to revisit the land-use pattern of the urban centres for sure and need to ensure that there are enough open and public spaces and proper pedestrian pathways connecting them.
We have embarked on a mission to ‘rebuild the state’ in the aftermath of the worst fury of nature. We are gradually re-building the state to a more sustainable future. It is imperative that we should give utmost importance to re-building our cities too so as to ensure a sustainable future for our urban centres as well. In this pursuit, a small proper pedestrian pathway also gathers immense significance. It is time that we had realized the relevance of such small but significant aspect of our urban living.

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Publications

  • Shaping a Climate Resilient Kochi

    Guidance document to develop a comprehensive disaster management plan in Kochi with long-term focus. Shaping a Climate Resilient Kochi – Download document

  • Green Building Kochi-Checklist

    Download

  • MANUAL: How to conduct an Urban Design Competition- The Case of EnteKochi

    This publication “MANUAL: How to conduct an Urban Design Competition- The Case of EnteKochi” is developed by the Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (c-hed) Kochi, in collaboration with GIZ India, as part of the “Sustainable Urban Development-Smart Cities” (SUD-SC) project. This manual is a step-by-step guide to conduct

  • Strategic Action Plans for Rental Housing for Internal Migrants in Kochi Municipal Corporation

    The city of Kochi is an important place of employment for migrant workers in Kerala. Workers from Tamil Nadu have been living and working in the city for decades. In addition, workers from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and many more can be found in the city today. The migrant workers

  • Kochi City Biodiversity Index

      The City Biodiversity Index and Illustrated Natural Asset Map of Kochi Municipal Corporation, prepared under INTERACT- Bio project was released by Hon’ble Mayor Soumini Jain. Kochi is one the very few cities in India who have developed the City Biodiversity Index. The City Biodiversity Index of Kochi has been developed with support from ICLEI-Local

  • NIUA Newsletter – Issue 5

    Read on :https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rU5s7FWdxNR33I2Mwxo1oloSTKV7ziyJ/view?usp=sharing  

  • EndeKochi Documentation Report

    EnteKochi is an urban lab initiated by Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) jointly with GIZ under the Sustainable Urban Development – Smart Cities (SUD-SC) project. It is a multi-stakeholder participatory planning process that fostered creativity, innovation and public awareness on the issues of sustainable urban development. EnteKochi Documentation Report : Download the document    

  • Standard Operating Procedures for Bus Transport – Post COVID-19 Lockdown

    “Standard Operating Procedures for Bus Transport – Post COVID-19 Lockdown” prepared as a part of Integrated and sustainable urban transport systems in smart cities (SMART-SUT), by GIZ India. Read on : Standard Operating Procedures for Bus Transport – Post COVID-19 Lockdown    

  • COVID – 19 India : Mobility Response Guidelines – By Urban Mass Transit Company Limited

    Smt. Jaishree Jindel (Project Manager and National Coordinator, Urban Mass Transit Company Limited) and Sri. Tarun Choudhary (Project officer, Urban Mass Transit Company Limited) write on “COVID – 19 India : Mobility Response Guidelines”. Read on :  COVID – 19 India : Mobility Response Guidelines

  • “Covid-19 and Cities We Want” – By Sri. Hitesh Vaidya and Sri. Chetan Vaidya

    Sri. Hitesh Vaidya (Director, NIUA) and Sri.Chetan Vaidya (Senior National Urban Adviser, Sustainable Urban Development Smart City (SUD-SC) Project, Kochi) write on “Covid-19 and Cities We Want”. Read On : Download here.

  • Chullickal Energy Survey Report

    As a part of Solar City Project by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, a pilot energy survey was done by c-hed at Chullickal ward (division 25) of Kochi Municipal Corporation. The survey was done with the help of students from Cochin college. From the findings and observations of the survey,

  • IMPRESSIONS

    C-hed : A True Planning Institute  By Conor Noone, Curtain University, Perth, Australia. Here is a small piece on the past 2 months I have spent as an intern in Kochi, India. I first heard of the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-HED) when I began my internship with the German development organisation GIZ

  • Is Kochi prepared to face climate change challenges ?

    Dr. Rajan Chedambath (Director, Centre for Heritage , Environment and Development) shares his views on whether Kochi is prepared to face climate change challenges. Read on : https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2019/nov/13/is-kochi-prepared-to-face-climate-change-challenges-2060903.html  

  • Let cities fight Carbon

    Let cities fight Carbon By Dr. Rajan Chedambath, Director, c-hed The whole “sensible” world is thinking loudly about ways and means to mitigate climate change and its impact. One of the major causes of global warming and subsequent climate change is carbon emission resulting from fossil fuel led transportation. Transit-oriented development, E-mobility, non-motorized transport, public

  • How Kochi can combat Climate Change

    Dr. Rajan Chedambath (Director, Centre for Heritage , Environment and Development) explains how the city of Kochi can fight climate change. Read on : https://kochipost.com/…/how-kochi-can-combat-climate-change/

  • Subhash Park Tree Naming and Handbook Release

    The Subhash Bose park which is maintained by the Center for Heritage, Environment and Development is rich in biodiversity.  Under the interact bio project, jointly conducted by Kochi Municipal Corporation, c-hed and ICLEI,  Mapping, Identification and Naming of trees in Subhash Bose Park were done. A total of 434 trees were identified  which included 61

  • Kochi Water Policy

    The city of Kochi is facing unique water related problems like continued increase in population due to urbanization and industrialization which is causing severe decline in the quality and quantity of water. It is against this background that the budget of the Kochi Municipal Corporation for the year 2014-2015 decided to have a local water

  • Recommendations for Kerala e-mobility policy

    Kerala has a high vehicle population of over more than 10 million vehicles on the road. These vehicles roughly benefit 20 percent of the total population of Kerala, the rest 80 percent depend upon public transport and shared mobility systems. Catering to all these demands, the state has reached a point where the pollution is

  • Cochin Book

    Known as the economic capital of the state of Kerala, the city of Cochin has a vibrant cultural landscape. This city is unique in its own way. Here one can see the ancient civilization merging with modern life. c-hed  has brought out a book on Cochin. This book is an attempt to bring information related

  • Mosques of Cochin

    The  historic port-city of Cochin located on the Malabar coast in the state of Kerala, has some of the very first vernacular mosques, which reveals a distinctive bequest.The surviving mosques of Cochin are a part of the rich cultural history of the Malabar Coast of India. It stands as powerful visible expression of integration of

  • Heritage Bylaw

    Conserving and preserving the rich heritage of our composite culture  are the fundamental duties of a citizen. The absence of a legal framework in the city had led to rampant violations and demolitions of the heritage structures in the heritage zone of Fort Cochin. With an increase in such breach, the Kochi Municipal Corporation planned to

  • Solid Waste Management – Handling Rules

    The Queen of the Arabian Sea, this commercial capital of Kerala, is a major tourist destination of the country. The city of Cochin has the highest population density parameter. Ranked as tenth among Indian cities in terms of urban households constructed, this metropolitan is facing serious issues of pollution and waste management. The city of

  • Vision Document

    The metropolitan of Cochin had been facing infrastructural, functional and economic problems over a period of time. In order to overcome this scenario, the c-hed had coordinated and organized a four day vision  workshop for formulation of a vision document and strategic planning  for the city of Cochin for the next 20 years. This important

  • Cochin Roads

    Many cities in India, including the city of Cochin, are facing rapid increase in urbanization that has resulted in the development of vast areas as urban extensions. Many roads are being laid in an incremental manner to cater to growing needs of a large populace. Cochin however is one of the few cities in India, blessed with connection

  • City Development Plan (CDP)

    This City over the past couple of years has been experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization as a result of its development aspirations. With some projects in its initial stages and some implemented, the city is growing rapidly. The City Development Plan for Cochin, aims at improving urban governance and management, increasing investments to ensure employment

  • Master Plan

    Under the c-hed’s initiative, a national workshop on formulation of vision document and strategic plan for Cochin City with a vision period of 20 years was organized in the year 2003. On the basis of this vision document, the Government of Kerala gave administrative sanction for the Kochi Municipal Corporation to prepare a master plan for the

  • Study on Flora and Fauna

    The geography of Cochin is unique to itself. The location of Cochin is such that is almost at par with the sea level. The Arabian Sea also influences the geographical features of this city. The area abounds in plains, rivers, estuaries, sea coast, islands and other types of natural features.Like other cities of Kerala the

  • Cochin – The City of Heritage

    The city of Cochin is a beautiful cosmopolitan city. A city with colorful and rich history, it used to serve as an important trading center in ancient times. It has been a real enticing destination for travelers, traders and seafarers. Rightly called as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, this land has attracted many voyagers