Need to build cities of future, focus on natural elements, says experts

Amritsar, February 13

A two-day national conference on “Livability in Cities: Focus on Cooling Action” was held as collaboration between the Centre of Science and Environment, New Delhi, and Guru Nanak Dev University.

Prof SS Behl and Er Krunesh Garg, Chief Environmental Engineer, PPCB, Jalandhar; Rajneesh Sareen, Programme Director, Sustainable Habitat Programme, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, were the key note speakers along with Prof Ashwani Luthra.

Deliberations were made and emergence of inputs for upgrading syllabi was discussed to create city-level decision making for enhancing livability across Indian cities.

Delivering the key note address, Rajneesh Sareen highlighted that the lack of climate-responsive planning and design had caused poor urban livability. Master plans and building bye-laws need to be amended to include these factors as a part of cooling strategy, said Sareen.

Krunesh Garg emphasised that the impact on environment in our cities was enormous, green areas have been replaced by concretisation.

Prof Behl articulated his concerns about social and environmental complexities and the need to adopt simple but effective interventions to end urban chaos.