My City My Responsibility - Access to Open Spaces to all

Dear All, 

Last year, we collected a few citizens' perspectives on certain issues related to Urban Sustainability. These included Housing, Transport, Governance or Peoples Participation, Heritage (both Cultural and Natural), Waste management and Air pollution, Disaster Risk Assessment and Green Open Spaces. For relating it to a broader vision, we used the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework especially the SDG 11 which deals with making cities and settlements sustainable. We compiled all citizens inputs and formed the Citizens Charter for Sustainable Pune. In our event on Citizens Charter and Action Agenda for Sustainable Pune we shared the same document with all of you. On analyzing all the Citizen inputs, we realized that if these inputs are put up as actionable points it will be a good guideline to follow by all.

Previous blogs focused on Housing, Transport, Participatory planning and Management, Cultural & Natural Heritage and Disaster Prepardness for all, Environmental management for all under SDG 11. The last target under SDG 11 is about access to open spaces that are green, safe and inclusive. 

Lets see how can we achieve this one.  

Firstly, there is a need to define the open spaces appropriately, since there are some open spaces which should promote people’s interaction and recreation while there are some open spaces that should have minimal to low human interference so that they are retained as the lungs of the city. Identifying such spaces is essential. Based on the mapping, spaces that are suitable for people’s recreation should be designed in an inclusive manner considering all the stakeholders in the society. Open spaces that are green need to be kept with minimal human intervention and can be used for educational purposes or simply for restoration of the local ecosystem. From our survey we found that Pune has enough of public open spaces but the safety, inclusiveness and affordability is a matter of concern in such places. While we are encroaching upon a lot of green open spaces that need to be restored or simply kept untouched.    

  Individual Level

• Let’s use our public spaces in a responsible manner by not littering or spitting in such space.
• Let’s preserve and conserve our green open spaces like rivers, gardens and parks as well in a responsible manner.

Community Level

• Let’s advocate for safe public spaces for all.
• Let’s work with the governing authorities in maintaining these spaces since community ownership comes with community participation.
• Let’s advocate for an inclusively designed open space.
• Let’s keep a watch that no illegal or criminal activities are happening in these spaces that harm the peace in the city, check the feasibility of working with the governing authorities for volunteering for such purposes.
• Let’s advocate for better sanitation facilities in public spaces.
• Let’s check the feasibility of using these spaces in a creative manner which enhances the social and cultural gathering that reduce the gap between different sections of the society.

Governance Level

• Ensure that public spaces are designed in an inclusive manner considering a holistic approach.
• Explore the feasibility of maintaining cleanliness, through signages and instructions for people in order to maintain the spaces.
• In case of any garden or green area that needs to be created into a public space care should be taken to keep them as natural as possible instead of adding a lot of paving or concrete in these areas.
• Strict enforcement and penalties should be levied on illegal or criminal activities noticed in any public space.
• The fees if any for accessing the public spaces should be affordable to all sections of the society.
• Riverbed areas, hill slopes or hill tops accessed by people should be demarcated as green areas and no construction zones in the Development Plan.
• Ensure that any green public space should promote biodiversity conservation and should be maintained accordingly.

This is last blog in the series of blogs on targets under SDG11. Please send in your inputs and suggestions to us on our Facebook page: Citizens of Sustainable Pune. Also please like, comment and share our page, through which we are promoting Sustainable cities. You can also email me at pournima@samuchit.com.

Pournima Agarkar.

    www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - Protecting Cultural and Natural Heritage

Dear All, 

Last year, we collected a few citizens' perspectives on certain issues related to Urban Sustainability. These included Housing, Transport, Governance or Peoples Participation, Heritage (both Cultural and Natural), Waste management and Air pollution, Disaster Risk Assessment and Green Open Spaces. For relating it to a broader vision, we used the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework especially the SDG 11 which deals with making cities and settlements sustainable. We compiled all citizens inputs and formed the Citizens Charter for Sustainable Pune. In our event on Citizens Charter and Action Agenda for Sustainable Pune we shared the same document with all of you. On analyzing all the Citizen inputs, we realized that if these inputs are put up as actionable points it will be a good guideline to follow by all.

Previous blogs focused on Housing, Transport and Participatory planning and Management  under SDG 11. In this blog I will be writing about Heritage and how its importance for all of us.

I am glad that SDG 11 considers both Cultural and Natural Heritage in a city. We often talk about Cultural Heritage but never realize that all the natural resources that are available to us in the form of water bodies, hills and forest patches are all part of our Natural Heritage. This Natural Heritage is now getting encroached upon, destructed and depleted at increasing rates and if not conserved now, we might render the future generations without any Heritage values. The way we have started conserving and restoring our Cultural Heritage, there is a need to conserve our Natural Heritage as well. Let us see how we can contribute to conserve our Heritage (both Cultural and Natural) at different levels.

Individual Level:

• Let’s understand and acknowledge the importance of Heritage structures both Cultural and Natural for the quality of our lives and the city as well apart from their inherent value.
• Identify if there are any old open spaces with good green cover or ancient structures that have heritage value and can be conserved in our neighbourhood, and bring those to the attention of appropriate authorities/experts. 

Community Level:

• Let’s advocate for an inclusive accessibility at all cultural and natural heritage places.
• Let’s protect the heritage structures irrespective of socio-economic barriers.
• Knowing the importance of the heritage structures, ensure that these places are protected from any infrastructure development activity in the neighbourhood. 
• Let’s advocate for better sanitation facilities, safety by local surveillance and monitoring from illegal or unwanted activities in such places.

Governance Level:

• Cultural heritage structures have budget allocations, however there is a need to allocate appropriate budget for Natural Heritage as well that is concerned with our rivers, hills and hill tops. Heritage Cell should undertake this responsibility. 
• Public private partnerships (PPPs) and CSR initiatives can be explored in order to avail funds for maintaining the heritage structures.
• The way we have interpretation centers in National Parks, we need to check the feasibility of providing such interpretation centers may be at a small scale at our Cultural as well as Natural Heritage sites that promote traditional, local indigenous knowledge apart from the inherent values. This will also help in creating an inventory of the local knowledge.
• Though there are buffer areas surrounding the heritage structures, strict enforcement of the same needs to be undertaken and violating the same should be strictly penalized.
• Ensure timely maintenance and restoration works that preserve the inherent values of the structures should be undertaken by using innovative technologies.
• Individual housholds, Communities and PPPs contributing in conservation of the Heritage structures should be awarded or recognized by local bodies or state level authorities in order to sensitize citizens about the importance of heritage structures. 

These are a few key inputs given by 200 odd people, we are looking for more such inputs and suggestions from you in order to make our Citizens Charter a better Action Agenda. You can email me at pournima@samuchit.com AND like, share / comment on our Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/SustainableCityPune/ for more inputs. 

Your inputs will be featured in our Action Agenda for Sustainable Pune booklet.

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - River an Ecosystem

Dear All, 

We saw how grey water footprint is increasing in our city and why there is a need for urgent action to save our rivers. For the same, current approach considers river to be a single entity and concreting or beautifying the riverbank is seen as the solution to restore our rivers. However, it is important to understand that a river is an entire system that consists of living (aquatic plants, animals and microorganisms) and non living (physical and chemical) components that interact with each other with the help of energy and form an ecosystem. And the area that is drained by a river is known as the catchment area or a watershed. Considering this watershed and its linkages is a crucial aspect in any river restoration program, which is clearly missing in the current river development strategy. 

Mutha river, Pune

Our rivers are the source of freshwater for us. Hence preserving our river is very important for our own survival. Also note that our river is part of our natural heritage and needs to be conserved for our future generations.

On the same lines I came across a very interesting and thought provoking message. 

Title: Water
Grandfather saw it in River
Father saw it in Well
We saw in Tap
Our children will see it in Bottle
Where will our grand children see it in Capsule???

Pournima Agarkar.