The challenges of a rapidly urbanising world and of providing people with equal opportunities in cities were the central themes at the just-concluded UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, in Quito, Ecuador. As a once-in-a-generation event, the Habitat conference sets a guiding compass for member-countries for the next 20 years, and attracts wide governmental and civil society participation. There is little evidence so far that these could achieve the scale needed to address the contradictions of building 21st century cities for 20th century industrial technologies. The Centre should also take its own National Urban Transport Policy on developing cities around mobility networks seriously, and liberate cities from the tyranny of traffic. India’s performance on improving the quality of life in its cities will be watched.

Source: The Hindu October 23, 2016 18:56 UTC