Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science , Bangalore - 560012

Brainstorming Session
on
Urban Development and Environmental Sustainability

Date: 11^th May 2009 (Monday), 9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Venue: Golden Jubilee Seminar Hall, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

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Background : Expanding urban regions have emerged as one of the major anthropogenic sources of global environmental change. Beyond multiple environmental stresses from land use change, land degradation, and air and water pollution, urban development often creates new human vulnerabilities from unhealthy living conditions for residents of urban peripheries. Much of urban growth worldwide in the next decades will take place in the developing countries of Asia . India 's urban population is currently growing at about 2.3 percent per annum with an unprecedented population growth and migration. The number of urban agglomerations and towns in India has increased from 3697 in 1991 to 4369 in 2001. It is projected that the country's urban population would increase from 28.3 percent in 2003 to about 41.4 percent by 2030. Cross-national comparative analysis and assessment of the environmental consequences from these processes is crucial to understanding the policy alternatives to address them. The brainstorm session addresses how urban sprawl has affected the environment in the urban periphery in two distinct national contexts and suggests alternative policies and institutional arrangements for making urbanization more sustainable. Comparison of urban sprawl and its consequences with case studies from developing countries holds special interest for the global problem of sprawl and urban environmental sustainability.

Resource Persons :

•  Jefferey Sellers, Professor of Political Science, Geography and Public Policy ( University of Southern California , USA ): Interdisciplinary researcher with doctorates in Political Science and Law. Strong background in comparative research on cities and environmental policy

•  Sun Sheng Han ( University of Melbourne , Australia ); doctorate in urban and economic geography. Strong background in urban and regional development studies and in GIS applications. Experienced in Pacific-Asia urban research and managed research projects from conception to completion.

•  Jingnan Huang ( School of Urban Design , Wuhan University , Peoples' Republic of China); application of GIS and Remote Sensing in the urban area. Strong background in Urban Planning and Urban studies for Chinese cities

•  Xi Xi Lu (National University of Singapore, Singapore); Associate Professor in physical geography in GIS and Map Resource Unit, National University of Singapore, with teaching and research experiences in GIS and remote sensing applications.

•  T.V. Ramachandra, Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India; Research in urban sprawl dynamics, spatio-temporal analysis (GIS, remote sensing, digital image processing), Energy, environment issues and regional development studies. Experienced in urban ecosystem, aquatic ecosystem research and coordinated research projects from conception to completion.

•  Sudhira H .S. Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India; Research in Urban Dynamics, Sprawl, Geo-simulation, Planning Support Systems, Development Economics, Urban Governance

Tentative Programme:

9:30 am Inauguration

9.45 am Initiatives at CiSTUP - Overview, T.G. Sitharam

9.40 am About the Brainstorming session, T.V.Ramachandra

10-10.30: Tea

Invitees :

1. The Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, Government of Karnataka.
2. The Commissioner, BDA.
3. Deputy Conservator of Forests, BDA
4. The Commissioner, BBMP
5. The Commissioner, BMRDA.
6. The Member Convener, BMLTA and Commissioner, DULT
7. The Chairman, KSPCB.
8. CEO, Lake Development Authority
9. Deputy Conservator of Forests, Urban, Karnataka Forest Department
10. Participants from DULT, BMLTA
11. Secretary, Department of Forest Ecology and Environment, Government of Karnataka
12. Secretary, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology
13. The Chairman, BWSSB
14. The Chairman, Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board
15. Directorate of Town Planning
16. The Chairman, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation

Contact details :

Prof. T. G. Sitharam [sitharam@civil.iisc.ac.in], Chairman, CiSTUP

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra [cestvr@ces.iisc.ac.in]