The TOSCA installation and demonstration was held at Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-HED) as part of TOSCA India – the Toolkit for Open and Sustainable City Planning & Analysis project implemented with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The project is envisioned to address the critical urban challenges and capacity building measures for knowledge transfer and promote open-source community development.

Challenge Lab Kochi – A technical workshop was organized by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH that aimed to develop a granular understanding of city’s needs and priorities, challenges and enablers for setting up the Urban Observatory as well as programming and management of public open spaces. The event was formally inaugurated by the Hon’ble Mayor Adv. M Anilkumar.

The specific objectives of the workshop was to frame two challenges with a user-centric/citizen-centric approach along with defining the necessary framework conditions for setting up an Urban Observatory for Kochi. Dr. Teresa Kerber, Project Director- SUDSC II GIZ, Ms. Monika Bahl, Senior Advisor- SUDSC II GIZ, Dr. Esakkiraj S, Technical Expert-State Coordinator- SUDSC II GIZ, Ms. Fathim Rashna Kallingal, Technical Expert- City Coordinator- SUDSC II GIZ, Mr. Kiran Rajashekariah, Senior Advisor- SUDSC II GIZ, Mr. Samrat Banerjee, ICT and Digitalisation Advisor, SUDSC II GIZ, Ms. Yogita Anil Lokhande, Technical Expert, SUDSC II GIZ, Mr. Florian Bemmerlein- Lux, TL- Smart Cities, Mr. Sebastian Hoffmann, Expert-Smart Cities , Mr. Neelabh Singh, TL Communities of Practice and Expert- Smart Cities , Mr. Luigi Cipolla, Expert- Smart Cities , Mr. Mario Donga, Team Leader- Disaster Risk Management (DRM) , Ms. Magdalena Hoerst, DRM mainstreaming Key Expert, Mr. M. Babu. Abdul Khadeer, Secretary, Kochi Municipal Corporation, P. S Viju, Councillor, Kochi Municipal Corporation, Dr. Rajan, Director, c-hed, Kochi Municipal Corporation officials and Representatives from CSML, WRI India and ICLEI participated in the workshop.
The GIZ has been playing a very proactive role in supporting the city technically in many of it’s innovative ventures.

The first Steering Committee of Kochi – City of Design.

The India-EU Urban Partnership (IEUP) project between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India and the European Union aims to support the implementation of smart, resilient and sustainable urban development in India under the ‘Road Map -2025’ of India-EU bilateral co-operation.

In an interaction in early 2022, the Government of Kerala and the EU Delegation agreed to strengthen their already existing collaboration. The EU and its Member States have a constructive engagement with the City of Kochi and several projects have been / are being implemented. One such initiative was the workshop on ‘Mainstreaming Resilience in Kochi Metropolitan’ conducted in August 2020. Other initiatives include the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) and the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) projects.

To further their engagement with the city of Kochi, a 2-day Urban Sustainability and Smart City Event was organised. The major aim of the event was to assess and ideate developments in mobility, solid waste management and urban resilience for the city of Kochi. The event had participation from the public and private sector from Kochi and the EU.

As part of the ongoing discussions the Hon’ble Mayor has been having with Sri. Venu Rajamony IFS, Officer on Special Duty (External Cooperation), Government of Kerala and Former Ambassador of India to the Netherlands and the Dutch water experts, a delegation of experts visited areas of Kochi city being inundated during heavy rains. The purpose is to study the area and support the city to devise a flood management plan and develop a drainage master plan for the entire Kochi city.