How evidencebased solutions can make your city green and livable
[Music]
[Applause]
how well do you remember
the city you grew up in do you have
vivid memories of your neighborhood
i recently went on a journey back to
relive those memories
i grew up in madras in the early 70s and
i have
foreign memories of cycling with my
friends to
and from school often stopping at the
marina beach for a quick snack
or a quick game of cricket before
homework the streets
rarely had many vehicles i can still
smell the fragrance of the incense from
the temple
and the filter coffee from the street
stalls the home
was a refuge from the heat the flow
always felt cool on the feet
and the ceiling fans provided all the
comfort we needed
the romance of my stories motivated my
daughter to join me on a trip
back to my city now called chennai
as soon as we landed we were caught in
traffic for an hour and a half
the foul smelling toxic air prevented us
from
lowering the taxi window and as we were
being welcomed by
our friends we were quickly steered into
air-conditioned rooms
i’m not sure my daughter will ever
believe the stories of my wonderful
childhood
when we look around us what sort of
future do we see
a future where air conditioning is on
throughout the day
because of intolerable heat not to
mention
frequent power outages because of the
grid being unable to cope
a future where water is as precious as
oil
coming to us in tankers from far far
away
a future where without without covered
wearing a mask
will become a necessity you know in
spite of
all of these issues there’s little doubt
that cities are places of great
opportunity
and inward migration to cities will
continue at a rapid rate
but at the same time the future will be
rather bleak
if you continue with business as usual
i feel we are at an inflection point not
just for chennai but for all our cities
but it’s not all bad news over the last
decade
working for the world bank ifc i’ve
traveled to more than 100 cities
collecting data analyzing innovations
to see what has worked and what is not
these are some of the more inspiring
solutions i have seen
these experiences and observations have
resulted in us creating a solutions
based tool called
apex apex provides you with information
in real time
and demonstrates the enormous potential
of incremental
improvements it proposes measures
in four key sectors of the city built
environment
public transport water supply and the
one thing that plagues all our cities
thrash or waste management i’m using
chennai as an example but please feel
free to log on and select your own city
as you can see apex predicts the
resources that will be used
by your city in the future if things
continue as they are
you as a user can go through actionable
solutions that will lower the future
impacts
within each of the sectors you have all
of this information at your fingertips
and the complexity has been greatly
reduced so that
anyone can use it for geeks like me apex
also has the ability to show
how much each measure will cost how much
it will reduce in terms of carbon
emissions
and even how many jobs it will add to
the local economy
so that you’re able to understand the
solutions better here are three examples
that have worked
well and show great potential for many
cities
the first example is about the built
environment and energy use
this is freiburg a city in germany and
almost
every roof is covered in solar panels in
chennai we are much luckier
as we have twice the amount of sunlight
let’s say that by year 2050
every household in chennai decides to
install solar panels much like freiburg
there will be 34 drop in the amount of
electricity consumed
this has many indirect but substantial
benefits to your quality of life
firstly your electric bill will be much
lower
you will have air that is less polluted
because generating electricity from coal
causes pollution and finally quite
importantly you will be able to use less
of the finite resources
of the earth the second example is to do
with public transport
rapid economic growth in shanghai led to
disastrously high levels of pollution
due to rising car ownership of course we
all know
how the chinese have invested heavily in
public infrastructure
but what is less known is that over the
last decade they’ve established
dedicated bike lanes
electric vehicles have been incentivized
and you know
at the same time they’ve limited the
number of new cars allowed on the
streets which has ensured that there is
much less pollution
and all of this makes cycling feel less
like hell
and more like an exercise so how would
chennai benefit from such interventions
it will mean 54 decrease in the distance
traveled
by private vehicles less time stuck in
traffic
better air quality and more space for
pedestrians and our children to play
outdoor
finally an example that shows good water
management
i was amazed to see this poster at a bus
stop in singapore
which as you know is a small island
surrounded by saline water
this picture was taken in 1965 today
singapore has managed to create
interconnected catchments of rainwater
along with superbly managed system to
reclaim wastewater
or sewage water they are heading towards
water self-sufficiency which is no small
accomplishment
considering their geographic location if
we did the same in chennai by 2050
water security will increase by 40
how will this impact you as a resident
well
firstly water will flow freely through
your traps when you want
it’ll be much less expensive and it’ll
be much cleaner as it’s not being
brought in by tankers
some of these solutions might seem
bigger than you and some of these issues
might seem insurmountable
but really ultimately policy is actually
driven
by the people if you want your city to
be green and more livable
in the future the time is to act now now
but how you might ask can you meet
with some of your neighbors look at the
information that is available through
tools such as apex
armed with information can you come up
with simple workable vision
can you take this to your cooperator
your policy maker as a group
you know even if there’s no immediate
change information that is
evidence based and compelling will stick
and it will motivate it might be complex
but it needn’t be complicated
if you have the right information and
the right solution
i for one plan to retire in chennai in
15 years and three months approximately
i aim to do all i can to ensure my
grandchildren
visit me not only because they
appreciate my company
but because they love where i live
thank you very much