Category Archives: Ongoing Projects

Green Corridor Project (N-S Corridor)

Mobilise Your City (MYC) project, an initiative of the Union Government to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions related to urban transport. Kochi is one of the cities selected for the MYC project. Urban Mass Transport Company (UMTC) has been entrusted with the task of implementing the project in Kochi.

Under the MYC programme, the Corporation is planning to construct a 2.5-km-long corridor between North and South railway stations in Ernakulam and thereby decongest MG Road and Chittoor Road. As part of the green corridor project (North – South corridor), a detailed analysis of the stretch was done and the result of the same was presented before the Hon’ble Mayor by the consultants. The meeting was attended by Sri. P.M Harris, Works Committee Chairman, Councillors, Mr.Nithin Norbert, Railway Division Manager, Mr. Dennis Jose, UMTC and the representatives from c-hed.

Mapathon – Cities4forests

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The Kochi Municipal Corporation in association with the World Resources Institute India organized a ‘Mapathon’ in coordination with the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development, as part of the Cities4Forests project from 9 to 11 January, 2020 at St. Teresa’s College, Kochi to develop monitoring mechanism in Kochi and enhance community participation in restoration.

Kochi is the only city in the country to have been selected for the project last year. In the first phase of the project, councillors from the Corporation’s 74 divisions along with local experts participated in the mapathon which identified the current land use in the divisions using satellite images. The purpose of the mapathon is to establish baseline and assess the trends in tree cover and identify potential areas for restoration in the city. Buildings, green patches, open spaces, waterbodies and roads were also mapped by WRI in consultation with the councillors after which they identified the areas in their divisions where trees can be planted. The three-day exercise will result in a map that can suggest spaces in the city that are conducive to the growth of green patches.

In the second phase of the project, the Corporation will determine the implementation of the project and which trees are to be planted.

Summer-Winter-School , CEPT University, Ahmedabad

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The Summer Winter School Program of The Premier Habitat University of India , CEPT for 2019 begins in Kochi. This year the program focuses on Smart and Sustainable Urban Development – Experiences from Kochi, India and Frankfurt, Germany with more than 26 CEPT university Masters students and Town planning officials participating in the same. The week long (Dec 1-7, 2019) program will allow students to interact with key officials, policy makers and major stakeholders of the city to understand the various sustainable initiatives and urban practices in Kochi in terms of affordable housing, urban infrastructure services, urban mobility, public spaces, participatory planning and cultural heritage management. The program is being supported by the German International Development Agency (GIZ) in association with the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development .

Climate Smart Cities

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Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India is implementing a project named ‘Climate Smart Cities’ in Kochi city which is commissioned by Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The project is implemented by GIZ. The project is aimed to develop climate-friendly solutions for urban infrastructure projects and area-based development as well as the measuring and monitoring of the GHG emissions.

The main focus of the project is to mitigation and adaptation to climate change as well as disaster resilience by 2020, promote selected climate-relevant solutions for urban infrastructure and increase the capacity of cities and regional institutes contributing to reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, develop a concept for an MRV system to document and evaluate the long term envisaged mitigation impact of the measures supported in the three partner cities, disseminate German and international experiences for including climate aspects into Smart City projects through a networking platform and experience exchanges in between Indian smart cities and training institutes.

c-hed is coordinating the project for the city and the programme is ongoing.

Capacity building program – Ecologistics

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A two day capacity building workshop on sustainable urban freight management in Kochi in association with ICLEI South Asia and Kochi Metro Rail Limited, on 7th and 8th June 2019. The focus of the capacity-building workshop was to prioritize strategies that promote goods transportation with minimal impacts on air quality, noise, health and fatalities and injuries, besides reducing traffic congestion and GHG emissions.

More than 175 stakeholders such as government officials and representatives of central and state government agencies, private stakeholders, freight lorry associations and trade, industry and research organizations, attended the workshop. In the workshop, National and international freight experts presented sector-specific learning and strategies, as well as good practices from developed and developing countries. Besides technical presentations, there was brainstorming on sustainable urban freight management strategies in Kochi.

Visit of official delegation from Vilnius , Lithuania as part of IUC programme

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As part of the International Urban Cooperation Program funded by the European Union, a five member delegation from Vilnius, Lithuania led by the head of the urban development department, Mr. Mindaugas Pakalnis, visited Kochi to meet various stakeholders within Kochi Municipal Corporation, Kochi Smart City and other parastatal agencies involved in various urban development related activities in the city. The basic objective of the visit and meeting with diverse set of stakeholders was to understand, analyse and learn the baseline scenarios related to solid waste management, policies on climate change and an assessment of the current
institutional framework in the city. After a series of discussions it was finalised that the two cities would cooperate on three major areas: Solid waste management, transport and tourism.

Earlier, a team from Kochi led by the Hon’ble Deputy Mayor, had visited Vilnius. The exchange was as part of the City to city cooperation under the IUC Programme.

c-hed is coordinating the project for the city and the programme is ongoing.

Chullickal – Energy Survey

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The Kochi Solar City Cell has launched an energy survey at Chullickal division of the Kochi Municipal Corporation. The survey kick started on 24/1/2019 with the support and help of 30 students from the Department of Commerce, Cochin College.

The survey aims to identify the possibility of installing solar panels at residential buildings, finding the energy efficiency of the buildings and propose measures for achieving energy efficiency.

POSTER DESIGNING COMPETITION

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The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India had launched a scheme on “Development of Solar Cities”. Under this scheme Kochi was selected as one among the 60 cities to be supported for development as “Solar/ Green Cities”. The council of the Kochi Municipal Corporation had assigned the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development(c-hed), an institution under the Kochi Municipal Corporation, the task of functioning as the Solar City Cell. As part of the cell’s campaigning activities, the Kochi solar city cell had conducted a poster designing competition with the theme “My vision of Kochi as a Clean Energy City” for the students in the grades 8, 9 and 10 in September 2018. Around 60 posters which showcased the creative visions of the young minds on the theme of the competition were received. The first six students with the best posters were awarded at the Council hall of the Kochi Municipal Corporation in presence of all the council members. Honorable Mayor gave away the certificates and trophies to the winners. The winners were – First: Nived Prem (TocH Public School), Second: Savvy Thomas (TocH Public School) Third: Angel Lizbeth (TocH Public School), Consolation: Pooja V Shenoy (Bhavans Vidhya Mandhir), Gayatri B Nair (Chinmaya Vidhyalaya), Shreya Shibu (Bhavans Vidhya Mandhir).

International Urban Cooperation Project

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Funded by the European Union, the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) programme activities will support the achievement of bilateral policy objectives as well as major international agreements on urban development and climate change, such as the Urban Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement. The IUC programme will engage with major international financial institutions and partners to link city decision-makers with potential funders.

Target countries include China, India, Japan, Canada, Mexico, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru. For component 2, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are included in the programme.

EU cities are paired up with peers from other regions facing related sustainable development challenges. Chosen cities will be supported to share knowledge and best practices on sustainable urban solutions. This will be achieved partly through the development of local action plans, which will outline activities and pilot projects to achieve tangible results. A knowledge-exchange platform has been established with resources and best practices on overcoming specific urban development barriers.

In this regard, the city of Kochi , one amongst the 12 cities selected from India in the project, has been paired with the city of Vilnius, Lithuania. The first visit of the delegates from Kochi to Vilnius has completed. The team of officials from Vilnius, will visit the city of Kochi in the month of January, after which the areas of cooperation will be finalized.

The Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development is the nodal agency for the project in Kochi.

URBAN PATHWAYS

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URBAN PATHWAYS

The Urban Pathways project helps delivering on the Paris Agreement and the NDCs in the context of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It has established a facility in close cooperation with other organisations and networks active in this area to support national and local governments to develop action plans and concrete implementation measures to boost low-carbon urban development. This builds on UN-Habitat’s role as “a focal point on sustainable urbanisation and human settlements including in the implementation and follow-up and review of the New Urban Agenda”. The project develops national action plans and local implementation concepts in key emerging economies with a high mitigation potential. The local implementation concepts are being developed into bankable projects, focusing on the access to urban basic services to create a direct link between climate change mitigation and sustainable development goals.

URBAN PATHWAYS PROJECT CONCEPT – The project follows a structured approach to boost Low Carbon Plans for urban mobility, energy and waste management services that deliver on the Paris Agreement and the New Urban Agenda. The project works on concrete steps towards a maximum impact with regards to the contribution of urban basic services (mobility, energy and waste management) in cities to global climate change mitigation efforts and sustainable and inclusive urban development. This project makes an active contribution to achieve global climate change targets to a 1.5°C stabilisation pathway by unlocking the global emission reduction potential of urban energy, transport and resource sectors. The project will contribute to a direct emission reduction in the pilot and outreach countries, which will trigger a longer term emission reduction with the aim to replicate this regionally and globally to make a substantial contribution to the overall emission reduction potential.

PROJECT AIMS – This project implements integrated urban services solutions as proposed in the New Urban Agenda, providing access to jobs and public services in urban areas, contributing to equality and social coherence and deliver on the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. This is the first dedicated implementation action oriented project, led by UN-Habitat to deliver on inclusive, low-carbon urban services. Securing sustainability and multiplier effect, the project aims to leverage domestic and international funding for the implementation projects that will follow from this initiative.

The city of Kochi is the only city from India selected for this project. The Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development has been coordinating the project and is the nodal agency for the same. In this regard a consultative meeting was convened by the Kochi Municipal Corporation to discuss feasible interventions on urban basic services focusing on the city’s public transport system, urban energy and waste management. Target participants for the workshop were representatives from Municipal Departments relating to Natural Resources and Environment, Transport, Energy, Waste Management, Urban Planning and Investment, relevant institutions, NGOs and international organizations.