VIDEOS FROM THE GIZ’S INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

Associated project: Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI)

GIZ, under the project `Sustainable Urban Development- Smart Cities’ (SUD-SC), partnered with the Housing & Urban Development Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, has organized a two-day International Symposium on Reimagining Inclusive Cities. Centre for Policy Research has been retained by GIZ to help support the technical content of this event. The objective of the Symposium was to provide a platform that would bring in global knowledge and experiences to facilitate the ongoing dialogue to strengthen the existing policies related to housing, land and Infrastructure. Deliberations will be held on the issues pertaining to urban land and its availability for the affordable and rental housing as two critical instruments.

The event brought together national and international experts to promote knowledge sharing across cities and states. It showcased innovative housing policies, programmes, and initiatives, provided an opportunity to promote cross-learning among the State Governments. It also brought in international experts from the regions of South-East Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, to present good practices and lessons learnt on augmenting land and infrastructure for affordable housing, urban and housing finance, new technologies for smart planning and expanding access to rental housing.

The two-day event was attended by over 175 participants including state government officials from the states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha, architects, engineers, international and national urban practitioners, housing experts and students of planning and architecture.

Key sessions included:

WATCH (above): Inaugural Plenary Session
The video (above) of this panel features S. Krishnan, IAS (Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD), Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN), India), Julie Reviere (Country Director, GIZ India), Thiru O. Panneerselvam, (Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu, India), and M.S. Shanmugam, IAS, (Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, GoTN, India).

WATCH: Technical Plenary: Housing Policy – International Experience
This opening technical session featured Yan Song, Professor (Director of Program on Chinese Cities, University of North Carolina, USA), Eduardo Rojas (Lecturer, PennDesign, University of Pennsylvania, USA), Giorgio Brosio (Professor of Public Economics, Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Turin, Italy), Ruth Kattumuri (Founder and Co-Director, India Observatory, London School of Economics, UK), Shubhagato Dasgupta (Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research) and, Tanja Feldmann (Director, GIZ Sustainable Urban and Industrial Development (SUID)). The session was chaired by representation from MoHUA, GoI and co-chaired by Amitabh Kundu (Visiting Professor, Institute of Human Development (IHD), New Delhi).

Part 2 of the technical plenary session can be accessed here.

WATCH: Parallel Session 1A: Land and Infrastructure for Urban Development
This parallel session featured Tanya Zack (Senior Researcher, University of Witwatersand, South Africa), Somsook Boonyabancha (Secretary General, Asian33 Coalition for Housing Rights, Thailand), Aparna Das (Senior Advisor, GIZ SUD-SC), Anindita Mukherjee (Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Research) and, Shikha Srivastava (Lead- Urban Poverty Alleviation & Livelihoods, TATA Trust, Mumbai). The session was chaired by M.S. Shanmugam, IAS (Managing Director, TNSCB, GoTN) and co-chaired by Chetan Vaidya (Former Director, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi).

Part 2 of the parallel session 1A can be accessed here.

WATCH: Parallel Session 2A: Financing Urban Infrastructure
This session featured Gisela Färber (Chair of Economic Political Science, German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer), Ravikant Joshi (Advisor, Urban Management and Urban Finance, Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad), Sumesh Girhotra (Private Sector Development Adviser, Department for International Development (DFID)) and, Vivek Nair (Head- Reforms, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Bengaluru). The session was chaired by T. K. Sreedevi, IAS (Director, Municipal Administration, Government of Telangana) and co-chaired by Shubhagato Dasgupta (Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research).

Part 2 of the parallel session 2A can be accessed here.

WATCH: Parallel Session 3A: New Technologies for Smart Planning
This session featured Rajesh Goel (Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Prefab Limited, GoI), Alexander Jachnow (Head of Urban Strategies and Planning, IHS Erasmus University, the Netherlands), Jorg Rainer Noennig (Professor for Digital City Science, Hamburg University, Germany) and, Siddhartha Benninger (Project Planner, Centre for Development Studies and Activities, Pune). The session was chaired by Rajesh Lakhoni, IAS (Principal Secretary/Member-Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, GoTN) and co-chaired by Shovan Kumar Saha (Professor Emeritus, Sharda University, Noida).

WATCH: Parallel Session 1B: Infrastructure for Urban Development
This session featured Phang Sock Yong (Vice Provost & Celia Moh Chair Professor of Economics, Singapore Management University), DTV Raghu Rama Swamy (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia), Amit Prothi (Head of India National Strategy,100ResilientCities), and Mr. Binu Francis, Director – Urban Housing, Kudumbashree, Government of Kerala). The session was chaired by Rajesh Lakhoni, IAS (Principal Secretary/Member-Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, GoTN) and co-chaired by Chetan Vaidya (Former Director, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi).

WATCH: Parallel Session 2B: Mobilizing Finance for Housing
This session featured Kecia Rust (Executive Director & Founder, Centre for Affordable Housing Finance, South Africa), Vidhee Garg (Principal, Affordable Housing Institute, Boston, USA), Ranjani Kolasseril (Financial Expert, Habitat for Humanity, Kochi) and, Anand Iyer (Chief Project Manager, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi). The session was chaired by S. Krishnan, IAS (Principal Secretary, H&UDD, GoTN) and co-chaired by Shubhagato Dasgupta (Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research).

WATCH: Parallel Session 3B: New Technologies for Smart Buildings
This session featured Ashok B. Lall (Principal, Ashok B. Lall Architects, New Delhi), Sanjeev Pokharel (Project Manager, Capacity Development of Municipalities, GIZ Nepal), Markus Ewald (Urban Planner, Urbanista, Germany), and Ashwin Mahalingam, (Associate Professor, Center for Urbanization Building and Environment, IIT Madras). The session was chaired by Harmander Singh, IAS (Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration & Water Supply Department, GoTN) and co-chaired by Shovan Kumar Saha, (Professor Emeritus, Sharda University, Noida).

WATCH: Plenary Session: Land and Finance for Rental Housing in India
This session featured Sumila Gulyani (Program Leader, Infrastructure and Sustainable Development, India, World Bank), Claude Taffin (Housing Economist, France, Mathi Vathanan, IAS (Commissioner-cum-Secretary, H&UDD, GoO) and, Anand Rao Vishnu Patil, IAS (Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Housing Board, GoTN). The session was chaired by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, IAS (Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, GoI) and co-chaired by Amitabh Kundu (Visiting Professor, IHD, New Delhi).

Part 2 of the plenary session can be accessed here.

WATCH: Parallel Session 4: Legal and Institutional Frameworks for Rental Housing
This session featured Robert M. Buckley (Urban Institute, Washington, USA), Seth Maqetuka (Coordinator, Cities Programme, Treasury, Government of South Africa), Aparna Das (Senior Advisor, GIZ SUD-SC), Anindita Mukherjee (Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Research) and, Jayaprakash Padmanaban (Partner, Fox Mandal & Associates, Chennai). The session was chaired Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, IAS (Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, GoI) and co-chaired by Tanja Feldmann (Director, SUID Cluster, GIZ).

WATCH: Parallel Session 5: Private Sector Participation in Affordable/ Rental Housing: Challenges and Opportunities
This session featured József Hegedüs (Managing Director, Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest), Vera Horváth (Senior Researcher, Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest), Michael Ball (Professor Henley Business School, University of Reading), Satyanarayana Vejella (Founder, Aarusha Homes, Hyderabad), John Alex, (Equitas Holdings Limited, Chennai) and, Akshaya Kumar Sen (Joint General Manager (Economics) and Fellow, HSMI, HUDCO, GoI). The session was chaired by Amrit Abhijat, IAS (Joint Secretary (PMAY), MoHUA, GoI) and Gaurav Jain (Joint Vice President- North, National Real Estate Development Council, New Delhi).

WATCH: Closing Plenary Session: Way Forward
This plenary session brought together the discussions and presentations in the parallel sessions. The Co-Chairs of the five parallel sessions presented to the plenary the main issues and learning across the five main themes discussed during the conference. This final technical session also provided to the participants to reflect on the interconnectedness of the themes. The summary of this session presented in the valedictory session as main recommendations from the Symposium by the Chair.

WATCH: Closing Plenary: Moving Forward on Recommendations and Areas for Action
This Closing plenary allowed an opportunity for the leaders in government and development partners to articulate the key takeaways from the Symposium and state a way forward from their own perspectives.