Talk on Sustainable Cities and Communities

A Talk on Sustainable Cities and Communities was organized on October 4, 2023 by the Internal Quality Assurance Cell. The talk was attended by the students of the Departments of Economics and Geography.

The speaker was Dr. Sudeshna Chatterjee, who is an urban planner, researcher, designer and educator. She has mapped, monitored and evaluated many urban policies and programs on behalf of the United Nations. She is currently serving as the Programme Director for Research on Sustainable Cities at WRI India.

She spoke on the topic of building “Low Carbon, Equitable and Prosperous Cities.” She highlighted the dangers of unplanned urban expansions and loss of ecological systems due to urban expansions. She emphasized on the multiple hazards facing our country including Urban Infrastructure Gaps and the Urban Services Divide.

She also spoke about solutions to the problem such as identifying areas of environmental degradation, investing in nature-based solutions like eco-restoration, strategic data-driven initiatives to foster sustainable cities, incentivizing decarbonization of the transportation system and developing infrastructure for walking and cycling.

It was a very enlightening and thought-provoking talk and it helped the students broaden their knowledge regarding urbanization and its relationship with sustainability.