My City My Responsibility - Being local specific!

Dear All,

Every year we conduct pilot studies as part of the Sustainably Smart Pune 2030 study project, through an internship program. This year we could conduct studies on local climate vulnerability and I would like to share some of the insights of this study. 

By now, we all are aware of the impacts climate change is creating in our lives. We as Indians are definitely climate vulnerable and hence it is crucial for us to develop adaptation and mitigation strategies in order to survive. Though globally we are vulnerable, we wanted to check how vulnerable we are in the local context and specifically in an urban setting. For the same, we undertook a random survey of thirty households in selected areas of Kothrud, Aundh and Kasba Peth wards, with the help of three interns. Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity are the three core aspects that help determine vulnerability. We considered exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity through factors like rainfall, flooding, temperature rise, population, socioeconomic conditions, governance, infrastructure, waste management, awareness on climate change etc and rated these factors on the scale of one to five, where one indicated low impact and five higher impact. These ratings were based on observations, local conditions, responses of the people and secondary data. According to the vulnerability assessment studies, higher exposure and sensitivity coupled with lower adaptive capacity causes vulnerability. After analyzing all the numbers, we found that the numbers for adaptive capacity were much lower than we thought, which means that these areas are certainly vulnerable. This according to us was an interesting find since we live in an urban setting where we have access to all the necessary facilities and still we are locally vulnerable to climate change. 

Understanding the severity of climate change impacts locally is indeed the first step for developing adaptation strategies as an immediate action while Sustainably planning our upcoming cities will help us mitigate the impacts of climate change in the future!

Aspects of Climate vulnerability 

Household survey

This work was done by our interns Kasturi, Shivani and Aishwarya, who are studying Architecture.

I feel that undertaking local specific surveys for local specific actions are one of the ways to find appropriate solutions for a Sustainable city.  We are conducting similar study for an alternate riverfront development plan and I will share the insights of the same soon. Stay tuned!

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com

SUSTAINABLY SMART PUNE STUDY - Survey Analysis IV

In continuation to the series on survey data, housing is discussed in this part. Housing is analyzed with respect to structure condition, building typology, housing tenure and size.  

Survey Area

7) HOUSING – STRUCTURE CONDITION

Of the surveyed Slum population, 58% has semi pucca houses and 30% kaccha houses. Less than 20% slum has pucca houses. In slums, most of the houses are erected by the family members themselves with temporary/ semi permanent materials.  On the contrary, LIG group shows a good trend with almost 80% living in pucca houses.

8) BUILDING TYPOLOGY

Building typology shows an increasing trend towards apartment house culture compared to individual houses as a result of scarce land and rising real estate costs.

9) HOUSING TENURE

Housing tenure shows more than 68% residents of all categories own houses. People with rented housing are migrants to city, either new arrivals or are here for a short stay. For most of LIG and slums, rented housing is mostly temporary and in many cases illegal settlements.

10) SIZE OF THE HOUSE

32% households surveyed live in less than 300 sqft house area. A large portion of this number comes from slums, where people live in small one room houses (69%). For HIG, maximum people live in 1000-1500 sqft houses. For MIG, the maximum is for 600-1000 sqft two or one bedroom apartments and for LIG it is 300-600 sqft  apartments.

The above summarises the data related to housing that we obtained from surveys, but there were also some general observations. For example, while slum houses are not very well-built and congested, many of them are equipped with fairly modern amenities inside. The main complaint from the slum and LIG populations is lack of options for housing within affordable budget range, and in the neighbourhood where they are currently located. 

A look at advertisements from construction companies, and general observation of the type of constructions ongoing in and around Pune also justifies this complaint. Housing complexes being constructed in the so-called 'prime' locations (close to city centre, main business areas, etc) are targeted at the HIG and to some extent MIG families. The low income families are increasingly being forced to move to the periphery or even outside the municipal limits if they wish to look for better housing that is in line with their lifestyle and budget. Housing finance options available to these groups are also extremely limited. This, coupled with the poor public transport systems, adds to the hardships faced by these families. 

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Anu Kuncheria

Think Twice..!

It was 7th May, I was at a height of 30000 ft in an airplane, thinking about the “Oxford of the East”. Yes, I was going to stay in Pune for the next two months. A huge nervousness was rolling through my nerves, “how the city will welcome me? How the localities will be? I cannot stay hungry for long and I’m a non-junk food lover, how it would be if I don’t get my desired food. As I have never worked in an office before, I was concerned whether I would be able to deliver all that my mentor would want me to?.....and so on. Three hours passed like a few minutes and my plane landed. I saw my best friend waiting for me in the crowd, and the welcoming part was pretty good with hugs and introduction with her friends. She guided me through the city to her residence. The next day my friends took me out to have a glimpse of the city, and the very first place I was interested in, was “Samuchit Enviro Tech”. From far I could see the signboard on the balcony of a building, reciting the organization’s name. So, it was a first hand experience on how to reach the workplace from the place of stay and back.

Confused and excited, I reached the organization next day where I saw Anu, and three more interns (three more joined after me), and my mentor Dr. Priyadarshini Karve. I looked back at Anu, the only person I was familiar with, and smiled. Karve ma’am, and all the other personnel who hold high knowledge, skill and experience in their respective field, today they make a family of mine in Pune. We were asked to review the report that was prepared by Anu about the smartness of the city of Pune and its sustainability. Other than this, we discussed about the issues that were supposed to be covered during the survey for collection / assembling of data. We used ‘Survey Monkey’ for online filling up of the data collected during the survey, through which one can easily get the summary of the survey online. After 2 days of discussion, on 11th May, all of us, enthused for the survey, met at the office, and went out with four scooties fully loaded with fuel and we all loaded with courage.

So our target was 438 HH (Household) comprising of 263 general HH and 175 slum HH, which is about 1% of the total population of Ghole Road Ward of Pune, a representative of Pune city. We surveyed Ward no. 11, 12, 13, 24, 25 and 36 for about 20 days and five days were spent on uploading the data in survey monkey. Today is my 38th day in the organization and I will be back to my study town Guwahati by next week, so I thought of writing this blog about my experience. Well, a month before I knew nothing about this city, but today I have so much in my mind that I actually felt short of space to narrate all the issues in brief.

Pune is well known for its vibrant civil society and cultural richness. It has also achieved a rich legacy of participation in governance, smart city concept is like a cherry on top of the cake. It has brought transparency and engagement of the ordinary or the bottom up approach in the decision making process more transparent. But I was dazed to know that about a one sixth of the total population, which is about more than half (my survey experience) of the HIGs (High Income Group), doesn’t want to participate in any kind of conversation on the developmental issues. The arguments or excuses that I mostly came across was - “Pune is already smart as you are; we don’t want to provide you any information; we don’t have time for all this crap; we are sleeping come later (but later they never opened the door), where are you from, you have come so far to do this job?…..etc”. Such responses were mostly from the HIGs and very little from the MIGs. More shocking was an incident which happened to a friend of mine, who had carried out a survey in a HIG residence. One lady requested my friend to come next day to collect the form (the questionnaire that was supposed to be filled up on the spot), as she was very busy with other work. My friend went the next day to collect it along with me and another friend of ours. We rang the bell, the lady opened the door, but her creepy expression scared us. As we all three intended to enter the house, she stopped the two of us and allowed one to enter the room. We were at a loss to see her behavior and were standing outside, clueless about what was happening inside. About 20 minutes later, my friend came out red faced with tears rolling down. Yes, she was harassed. She was harassed by that lady for asking “insight” and “too personal” questions “like how many LPG cylinders you use in a month, how many cars you have, what is your monthly electricity consumption in units etc. etc”. My friend tried to cool her down by narrating that it was not mandatory for one to fill up every answer in finest correctness,but only approximated or average figure would suffice the purpose. Also, she explained the relevance of such data in the context of the project. But the lady kept on abusing her even by lowering her character. Our survey and its analysis are a part of a bigger project which aims to “develop a roadmap for establishing sustainability for Pune on a low carbon emission and social equity path”. This master plan would definitely need such questions to be answered to get the per capita carbon emission. 

However, this incident reminded me that - like developed countries refusing to take any responsibility for global climate change, these irresponsible groups of HIGs also do not want to participate in the carbon emission control program in our country. On the other hand the LIGs and the people staying in slums cooperated to the fullest. Many of them never enjoyed luxury holidays, never shopped good clothes in shopping malls and never had food in prestigious restaurants and also the problems in the city never bothered them. But they honored and respected the city of Pune - saying it is the greatest of all. But after our presentation of the problems of carbon emission etc. to them, they kept their heart out before us. Some of them had the knowledge of drought conditions in the city and insisted not to supply water 24x7 in their area but to help those who do not get a drop of water to drink or bath and have to buy it. Some of the scenior citizens also suggested to reduce the height of the foothpaths as it is difficult for them to climb and some wanted to know the goverment schemes in details so that they can claim for their right. It seemed they truly want to be a part of the developmental process of the city. Truly said, only education and money can’t make one as humble and big hearted as a poor, who has little knowledge and very little for a living, but has huge to give to the society.

However, the final analysis is yet to be done and the results would definitely concentrate more on the problems of Carbon Emission, the manner in which these can be brought down to an acceptable limit by justified minimum utilization of carbon fuel like petrol, kerosene, etc. and maximum on non carbon fuel like solar power, bio gas, etc. But the purpose of the survey of involving the citizens in the decision making was rejected by a percentage of HIG citizens themselves. And these are the citizens who at liberty to criticize the government tomorrow for not doing enough to control environmental or sanitation degradation or maybe that they are not at all bothered about the future requirements of the society.

So, in this way I/we knew Pune and its people. The credit for this achievement purely goes to the members of the “Samuchit Enviro Tech”, Pune. All our team mates also helped each other to reach the goal set forth. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. My special thanks goes to the kind hearted Mentor Madam Dr. Priyadarshini Karve, who effectively helped and guided us to remain enthused and we learned and solved critical issues cropped up during project execution. I also thank Miss Anu, for her tireless job to solve issues that we were unacquainted of and got first hand experience on field work. My gratitude goes to all these beloved people. And lastly, it would not be out of place to mention that I loved the city of Pune, despite the unscheduled PMPML busses, by which I traveled and criticised every day.

Geetanjali Purkayastha

Student of Ecology Environment and Sustainable development,

Tats Institute for Social Sciences, Guwahati