‘Share experience for better cities’

For cities to draw from each other's experiences and knowledge in order to develop better, they not only need to exchange data and ideas, but also require to focus on technical skills and practical implementation. This was the theme of a workshop held at Cept in the city on Friday.

An expert panel from Centre for Environment Planning and Technology, in association with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Delhi, World Bank Institute (WBI) and Cities Alliance, discussed the above point during a day-long workshop on 'Urban Knowledge Needs Assessment and City-to-City Learning' at Cept campus.

Bruno La Porte, director, WBI, explained the importance of collective action and practical application saying, "Currently their confluence has major shifts, first is the redevelopment of cities as it is now seen as a platform of opportunities with focus on growth and innovations and second is the change of thoughts in terms of capacity building."

Porte extrapolated that developments are now multi-directional. "Although we come from a model of training, practical application of knowledge shared and technical skills leading to set results are now of utmost importance," Porte said.

The workshop also saw urban manager, WBI, Christine Kessides; Emil de Quiros, urban expert, WBIUR and senior learning specialist, WBIEL, Sheila Jagannathan, reflecting on international experiences and learning from other cities.