Speaker Session by Dr.OP Agarwal -Punj Lloyd Institute of Infrastructure Management

Cities are the engines of the economy in the current era. The Urban population keeps increasing while the rural population keeps coming down.  As India goes in for rapid urbanization it is besotted with resource problems that are unique to it. One of the biggest constraints is that while India has 18% of the world’s population, it has only  2.5% of the landmass and 4% of fresh water.  Air pollution, garbage, transportation, fragmented governance, inadequate budgets etc are major issues.

Dr OP Agarwal spoke of the challenges in Indian Urban planning and provided a few innovative solutions. He spoke about the three basic generators of pollution in cities; construction, transport and power generation and provided insights on how urban planners can overcome them.  His final say was that better governance and innovative planning by city planners can carry the day.