Track 1 : Sustainable Habitat
The track focuses on innovative research in energy efficient, sustainable, resilient,
affordable built environment and infrastructure systems to provide vital services
accessible to all that support healthy, prosperous, beautiful, and cohesive
communities. Given the unbridled consumption and rapidly depleting resources,
continuing the status quo is not acceptable and thus there is an urgent need to
seriously address issues of sustainable development in the context of human habitat.
The track is developed on synergetic concept which is expected to leverage the
individual strengths of the multi-faceted players it encompasses. It is expected to
create an interdisciplinary platform where academia, industry, professionals, civic
bodies and other stakeholders would participate in creating knowledge-based
solutions to real world pressing problems of sustainable development. One of the
prime aims of the track is to engage in translational research leading to solutions to
rural & urban problems, development of state-of-art knowledge modules to be
disseminated to the civic bodies and other stakeholders and to engage in defining the
emerging paradigms of holistic development. With its interdisciplinary, and creative
spatial problem solving aptitude, urban design and planning unfolds a dynamic
process, which can only be tested with time. It deliberates over the traditional topics
on built environment, planning and development relevant to the needs of today‟s
world. Going into the future and keeping pace with the rapidly evolving technological
evolution and emerging network of global creativity and knowledge; the track also
buoys up itself to be the leading urban knowledge and expertise repository. It intends
to enhance its intellect from national to global and from spatial domain of built
environment to policy domain and contribute in developing emerging policy
discourse of the country. The knowledge capacity enhancement and expertise
created as a result of activities of the track would contribute greatly towards ongoing
government initiatives and programmes such as Smart Cities, AMRUT, HIRDAY,
PMAY, etc.
Track 2 : Sustainable Transportation Planning
Unprecedented urban sprawl coupled with private automobile dependence has
adversely affected the quality of life in the cities. Public transport and facilities for
non-motorized modes are neglected sectors in the transport provisions. Lack of
planned and organized development is visible through land use-transport dis-
integrations in different areas on the cities, leading to road capacity mis-matches,
conflicts, delays and jams, etc. As a consequence, transport sector has emerged as
a major agent of greenhouse gas emission. About 15% of Indian CO2 emissions
stem from the transport sector, and its contribution is increasing at more than 6% per
annum. The primary reasons for increasing vehicular CO2 have been the lack of
traffic and transportation plans or mobility plans, inadequate transport system
management strategies, faulty road geometry, ad hoc parking policies, absence or
inadequacy of facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, distorted fiscal policies, etc.
Though the National Urban Transport Policy 2006 provides guidelines and
mechanisms for planned transportation system for the cities to objectively cut the
vehicular emissions, but the desired results are far for vision. In nothing done
situation, of the 0.82 million urbanites about 65% of them living in mega, large and
medium sized cities would require planned transportation facilities by 2030. Else,
exposure to vehicle exhaust would aggravate the climate and health issues such as
significant increase in respiratory symptoms and lung function impairment, cancer
and plethora of other ailments. Shifting to clean vehicle technology, green fuels and
fuel efficient vehicles is on the cards. Longer delays addressing these issues would
increase the urbanites‟ sufferings caused by toxic vehicular emissions. Research
conducted in transport sector through this track shall be geared towards models and
typologies of mobility plans to cut down on use of private vehicles.
Track 3 : Water Management
Water has been a major issue and cause of concern since mid-80s because its
brutal exploitation, rapid depletion and neglected rainwater harvesting for recharge
or direct use caught global attentions. Water crisis is not only urban but rural
concern as well, as rapidity of urbanization has created huge urban water shortfall
and dependence on tube well irrigation for unplanned multiple cropping pattern has
led to fast depletion of ground water. Providing clean and safe drinking water to all
the citizens has been a daunting challenge for the urban local bodies. Also, rapid
industrialization had turned most of the natural water bodies i.e. rivers and streams
into sewers, making the task of supplying safe drinking water extremely difficult for
already fund starved municipalities. Policies and programmes for pollution control
look at water use, waste generation and pollution in isolation and this piecemeal
approach towards river cleaning based on creating expensive hardware for waste
collection and treatment has not worked. In-depth research on India’s rich traditions
in using rainwater for a sustainable, participatory and equitable management of
water is the need of the present times. Centre for Science and Environment, New
Delhi has been advocating decentralized wastewater treatment options since long
and can be undertaken by institutions and individuals at local levels. It propagates
India’s traditions in community- based water harvesting techniques and design
options. Still lot of research options need to be attempted to collect comprehensive
information on rainwater harvesting at different levels in different regions along with
their water crisis, conflicts, solutions, technologies, water crusaders and policy, including
different technologies for rural and urban contexts. The vibrant state of Punjab is known for
its water resources and the North-Western India is greatly influenced by Punjab and its
waterways. The sharing of water resources between Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh
and Rajasthan and its related intricacies are part of the news every now & then. With every
passing year the conflict between the sharing partners is increasing to the extent that the
repeated intervention of legislature and judiciary is a common story. As such with changing
weather patterns the ecological conditions are altered and rich water resources are being lost
rapidly. Water of rivers, wetlands and canals is just not used for drinking and irrigation alone
but is also very rich resource of biodiversity that has supported people’s social, economic and
cultural pursuits. Therefore, the track strives to understand the dynamics of water resources
in the region and invest efforts to document the possible impacts on engineering structures,
public health, existing floral and faunal diversity and socio-economic profile of the
stakeholders. The recent finding that Punjab waters have river dolphins has put the
geographical area on the important but fragile list of habitats. The track also focuses on
conducting research on sustainable urban water management through urban lake
management, water sensitive design and planning, green infrastructure, water efficiency and
conservation techniques, rainwater harvesting technologies and design options,
decentralized wastewater management.
Track 4 : Waste Management
Changing production and consumption mechanisms in urban settlements have been
posing serious challenges for managing the waste generated by them. The demand
for packed products has significantly increased over the past five decades.
Resultantly, solid waste generation per person has increased remarkably, which has
been a major problem for many urban local bodies (ULBs) in India since a long time
now. Waste management infrastructure has an important role in delivering
sustainable development. Achieving sustainable development in India through
municipal solid waste (MSW) management, while experiencing rapid population
growth, is made more difficult with its diverse religions, cultures and traditions.
Wastes are potential resources and effective waste management with resource
extraction is fundamental to effective solid waste management. But nearly 90% of
residual waste is currently dumped rather than properly land filled and the informal
sector is extracting value from waste instead the ULBs play their role. There is an
urgent need to move to more sustainable MSW management with newer and
advanced waste management facilities and systems. Current SWM systems are
inefficient, and have high negative impacts on public health, the environment and the
economy. Even the compliance of Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2016 is
variable and limited. Materials, energy and nutrient recovery must be the aim of future
SWM infrastructure development in India. The track addresses the barriers and
opportunities in institutional structures involved in waste management, treatment and
disposal; helps build regulatory and technical capacities of cities in waste
management; and highlights the role of the informal sector in India through in-depth
research and advocacy. It shall investigate the global best models of at source
segregation, decentralized waste management, and adoption of policy on integrated
waste management to achieve effective and affordable waste management in Indian
cities. Its research focuses on extracting high value from waste by devising best
models of reduce, reuse and recycle by developing its research labs to produce
fertilizer, energy, building material and new advances.
Track 5 : Sanitation and Septage
Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving
sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in
households and across communities. Sanitation generally refers to the provision of
facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faecel. It is important
for all, helping to maintain health and increase life-spans. However, it is especially
important for children. Around the world, over 800 children under age five die every
day from preventable diarrhea- related diseases caused by lack of access to water,
sanitation and hygiene. Open defecation has been identified as a major global issue
in public health. About 1.2 billion people practice open defecation all around the
world, 55% of which are in India. About 52% of the rural population in India defecate
in the open. Hence, it is important to indulge in excreta management to attain
sustainability by promoting excreta (septage and sewage) flow analysis to inform
sanitation programming through the service delivery assessment tool - Shit Flow
Diagrams (SFDs), developed by Water and Sanitation Programme - World Bank.
United Nations have also set sanitation as a goal in the „Reform 2030‟. India has
been working seriously on this issue since past two decades and has launched Total
Sanitation Campaign (1998), National Urban Sanitation Policy (2008), Nirmal Bharat
Abhiyan (2012), and Swachh Bharat Mission (2014) since then. In this light it is
important to analyze the entire sanitation value chain (from containment to
reuse/disposal) and its management for effective citywide sanitation. Excreta Flow
Diagram (or Shit Flow Diagram-SFD), Sanitation Safety Plan (SSP), etc. have been
identified as tools to map excreta in cities, which needs to be integrated in respective
City Sanitation Plan (CSP). Research on effective faecal sludge and septage (FSS)
management is very important to mainstream it in citywide sanitation. It involves an
integrated approach that includes planning, designing & implementing effective
septage management interventions. Importance and emphasis of septage
management in AMRUT and status of regulatory Acts in different State of India
needs exploration. Design of septic tanks, co-treatment of faecal sludge in sewerage
treatment plants (STPs) and technological options for FSS treatment are other
relevant interest areas in the direction of sanitation for all.
Track 6 : Green Energy
Increased population, industrialization and other matters of economic growth have
raised the demand for energy in different sectors of production and consumption.
The demand-supply gap through conventional sources has been widening day by
day. Hence, research on other means of energy production is explored all over the
globe. United Nations in its agenda has set global objectives of eradicating energy
poverty by providing electricity services to villages and households in remote and
far-flung areas that are not economically reached by electricity networks. Renewable
energy sources have been tried locally and the results have been remarkably
satisfactory. In India also policy, regulatory and project level efforts are being made
to meet the energy challenges by large-scale deployment of renewable energy
technologies in different sectors of the economy to meet the twin objective of
combating climate change on one hand and energy security, on the other. Research
and training on sustainable decentralized distributed generation in India will lead to
benefits of different regions. Renewable energies as sources of clean, inexhaustible
and increasingly competitive energy will be promoted through research and
teaching, as they differ from fossil fuels principally in their diversity, abundance and
potential for use anywhere on the planet, but above all in that they produce neither
greenhouse gases - which cause climate change nor polluting emissions.
According to International Energy Agency (IEA), the world electricity demand will
increase to 70% by 2040, its share of final energy use shall rise to 24% in the same
period. The track indulges in bringing out new avenues in renewal energy through
sunlight, wind, rain, biomass, tides, geothermal heat and waste to energy