Indian Institute for Human Settlements grooming experts to tackle cities' ever-increasing problems, what with a rise in their population.
If economic, ecological, political and cultural sustainability issues in urban India are questions that engage you, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) has just the perfect course that would help you find answers.
Their first batch of ‘learners’ who underwent the Programme for Working Professionals in Urban Development (PWP-UD) graduated last month, and the application process for the next batch is on.
Sustainability has, in the recent years, become an oft-repeated mantra in India as the country continues to transform rapidly from a rural to a largely urban setup. Urbanisation and the burgeoning migrant population now have cities bursting its seams and the strain on resources is heavier than ever. The scenario calls for experts in sustainable development — “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” according to the Brundtland Commission, which coined the term — who can tackle urban issues with innovative strategies.
With their interdisciplinary course for working professionals “designed to focus on applied learning and skill development necessary for finding effective, sustainable and integrated solutions to problems facing Indian cities”, IIHS aims to create these much-needed experts. This is the first such course in India and the institute has a team of academics, who are also urban practitioners, teaching diverse subjects like governance, land and housing, management, development, poverty, employment, water, environmental services and mobility.
The first batch of PWP-UD had 14 students from diverse fields. They had economists, geographers, lawyers, engineers and urban designers, who took up the course to enhance their core training and gather new skill sets.
“If a city is spatial, social, political and economical, why should study of urban development focus just one aspect like planning or design? Our course therefore, offers an integrated approach to urban development and equips learners— we don’t call them students—with deeper knowledge in their specific area of interest and a horizontal knowhow in other aspects of the subject,” explained Gautam Bhan, one of the faculty members teaching land and housing issues.
Urban practitioner Hamsa Iyer, who had been working extensively on solid-waste management issues in Bangalore, said the course helped her to link garbage with other issues: “It helped me see how this one aspect of solid waste management fit in a large jigsaw of sustainable development.” She has always been interested in the social side of urban issues and before her stint at IIHS had done her post graduation in urban and rural planning from the Centre for Development Studies and Activities (CDSA), Pune. Now, she is working with the India Water Portal, a web-based interactive platform for sharing water management knowledge, as a consultant based out of Mumbai.
Like Iyer, almost all of the first batch of IIHS learners were placed well before their graduation ceremony last month. “At present, the urban population of India is close to 40 crore. And we produce just about 420 urban planners every year.
By 2015, the urban population is estimated to grow to 50% of the country’s total, and that would be about 80 crore. Obviously, we need more urban practitioners,” Bhan said.
Application deadline: July 15, 2013 To apply, visit pwp-ud.iihs.co.in
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