Fort Kochi is known as the cradle of Eurasian culture. It has a history of more than 500 years with an influence of both Indian and international cultures. Its vibrant history and culture makes it one of India’s major tourist hotspot. It has also been included under Kochi Smart City Project.

WRI India in collaboration with Kochi Municipal Corporation ,Cochin Smart Mission Limited and the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development is developing a framework for inclusive development of Fort Kochi. The plan aims to develop strategies for interconnectivity, walkability and accessible public spaces, and also focus on integrating multiple modes of transit.

In this regard, WRI  organized a stakeholder consultation workshop to better understand the aspirations of the resident communities in Fort Kochi, map ongoing initiatives in the realm of public spaces and plan a roadmap for the sustainable development of the area. The main objective of the workshop was to engage stakeholders and representatives of the Fort Kochi area to idealize a vision and discuss opportunities that can be leveraged to make public spaces economically vibrant, socially inclusive and spatially interconnected. It will also focus on methods to provide safe and secure connectivity to multiple modes of transport.

 

The Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) had, in its Annual Budget 2018-19, announced a rather innovative project “Zero Carbon Buildings” , which it intends to implement by associating with World Resources Institute India (WRI India) to develop a roadmap and action plan for all buildings to achieve zero carbon potential for Kochi city. Kochi is both a solar city and smart city and therefore has a unique opportunity to initiate transition to ZCBs. Depending on the development path of Kochi, the vision of its planning agencies and development authorities, a roadmap for ZCBs will respond to local climate, building stock, markets and institutional capacities and the needs of its people. Priority actions to realize the ZCB vision and goals could include implementing enabling policies and regulations (e.g. mandates for buildings energy performance disclosure), adoption of technologies and design strategies (e.g. mandating application of passive design principles), incentives and financing mechanisms (e.g. risk mitigation instruments for ZCB projects) for creating viable markets for achieving zero carbon for the building stock of the city.

In this regard a kickoff workshop was organized on June 7^th to initiate the road map development process for Kochi. The objectives of this workshop were:

• Communicate Kochi Municipal Corporation’s commitment towards achieving transition of all new buildings to ZCBs for Kochi city.
• Identify and engage a diverse set of stakeholders who are important in the preparation of the ZCB roadmap.
• Identify ZCB scope and definition and priority building typologies for the roadmap.
• Discuss project tasks, activities and timelines.
• Assess data availability and needs for development and implementation of roadmap actions.
• Establish a shared body of knowledge among stakeholders with different levels of technical expertise.
• Identify partners who are interested in assisting the city achieve ZCB vision.

The project is ongoing and is coordinated by c-hed for the city.