Conference on Peri-Urban Development
| Event Start Date: 27th January 2017 | Event End Date: 28th January 2017 | Event Venue: Chennai |
Conference on Peri-Urban Development: Concept, Emerging Ideas and Notions of Sustainability
27-28 January 2017 | IIT Madras
One major theme of the 21st century is intensifying global environmental changes, including climate change, with significant and often negative impacts on the environment, ecosystems, livelihoods, health and well-being.
A second major theme is urbanisation, with the proportion of those living in cities and peri-urban areas projected to reach 66 per cent by 2050, with most of the million plus cities and megacities concentrated within the Indian sub-continent and China. Patterns of urban growth vary widely by regional context, with different consequences for sustainability.
In South Asia peri-urban areas are growing at a much faster pace than many core cities and towns. These areas, which are beyond a city’s administrative limits but adjacent to them, are transition zones between urbanised pockets and the rural agricultural hinterland. Peri-urban areas are also regions where access to services such as water, energy, transport and housing is becoming increasingly fragmented as a result of the development of gated communities and Special Economic Zones (SEZ), along with resource constraints and elite consolidation of political power. Unplanned growth in the context of environmental changes, including climate change, poses serious challenges to sustainable development. In the face of these complex dynamics it has become imperative to assess and steer the development process in these regions in order to ensure their sustainability and resilience.
There is currently no assessment available of the dynamics of patterns of peri-urban change in India. Little is known about where these regions are headed and their likely societal, environmental and economic outcomes. How have demographic trends in peri-urban areas influenced socioeconomic change, livelihoods, and living conditions? How are ongoing processes of urbanisation along with climate variability and expected climate change going to affect local resource availability, especially water? How can we enable participation from local people to build resilience in their communities and the peri-urban landscapes? What new frameworks of governance and institutions might be suitable to reduce vulnerability and promote sustainability?
This conference on peri-urban dynamics will examine various themes such as urbanisation, peri-urban ecosystems, water and their uses in the peri-urban, political frameworks and governance.
Selected Invited Speakers
Adriana Allen, University College London
Aromar Revi, IIHS
Einhard Schmidt-Kollert,TU Dortmund
Martin Tönnes, Ruhr Regional Association
N. Sreedharan, SPA
Usha Raghupathi, NIUA
Yu Zhu, Fujian Normal University
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