The U20 Promise

Why in News?

• Recently, Ahmedabad hosted the Urban 20 (U20) summit which ended with publication of a recommendation document for the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit to be held on September 9 and 10.
• Given Gujarat’s own history of urban development, there could not have been a better city in India to have hosted the U20 summit this year than Ahmedabad. 

 

The Urban 20 (U20) Summit

• The U20 was established in 2018 to generate discussions among G20 members on urban issues and was first chaired and hosted by the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• U20 is a city diplomacy initiative and strives to establish a lasting practice of engagement among cities to develop a collective message that emphasises the role of cities in taking forward the sustainable development agenda.
• U20 is an engagement group under the larger intergovernmental forum of G20 and plays a vital role in contributing perspectives, concerns, and ideas from cities to inform and enrich the overall G20 negotiations.
• The U20 brings together mayors from G20 cities under a common framework and coordinates a joint position to inform the discussions of national leaders.
• Contributions from the U20 are shared with the G20 Presidency and Heads of State, enhancing the role of cities as global economic and political leaders.
• For this year, the leadership was handed over to Ahmedabad as the 2023 Chair from the city of Jakarta (Indonesia) - the Chair for 2022. 
• Resonating with India’s G20 theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, U20 Ahmedabad will emphasise that actions at the city level can drive lasting positive global outcomes underscoring the interconnectedness of the world and our shared future.

 

Recommendations Published by Ahmedabad U20for G20 Summit

• The recommendations outline the vision for working collaboratively in providing city-level solutions to global climate, economic and environmental issues.
• With its cities at the forefront of the climate crisis, the Recommendations emphasised the need to localise the global sustainability agenda shifting urban action from intention to action.
• While being heavy on the agenda of climate change and climate justice, the Communique also argues for equality and justice in urban development. 
• The six points of action in the recommendations include:
  • Encouraging environmentally responsible behaviours,
  • Ensuring water security,
  • Accelerating climate finance,
  • Championing “local” culture and economy,
  • Reinventing frameworks for urban governance and planning,
  • Catalysing digital urban futures.
• The recommendations endorsed by 105 member cities were handed over to the Union minister of housing and urban affairs and G20 sherpa. It will be presented at the G20 meeting in September this year.

 

Opposing Realities of the City of Ahmedabad, Host of The U20

• A Leading Example of Execution of Crucial Infrastructure
  • Ahmedabad is a very good example of how cities in the Global South can achieve infrastructural development goals.
  • The city has been comparatively successful in its implementation of innovative and liberal urban planning policies and as a result, has been able to organise its expansion better than most Indian cities.
  • Ahmedabad has also shown what good quality public spaces can do for a city’s residents and its businesses.
  • The city has executed some very challenging large-scale public projects in the last three decades and has become an example for many others to follow.
• Exclusionary Urban Governance
  • The city is also a case study in exclusionary and catastrophic socio-legal urban governance.
  • Ahmedabad is one of the most communally segregated urban areas in the country.
  • Some critics say that parts of the city that are homogeneously occupied by minorities and underprivileged caste communities are neglected by the government.
  • While this is the case with most cities in India, Ahmedabad and other cities of Gujarat stand out because laws such as the Disturbed Areas Act.
    • The Disturbed Areas Act, a legislation that is unique to Gujarat and restricts the inter-communal exchange of property in neighbourhoods that are deemed to be “disturbed”, legitimise communal segregation. 
    • For example, recently the Gujarat High Court intervened to stay the closure of a hospital run by a Muslim trust in Surat for not having followed the procedures of the Disturbed Areas Act.

 

Reality of Other Indian Cities

• The realities of Ahmedabad are also a representation of other urban centres in India.
• The fact that Indian cities are socio-politically stressed has also been observed by the Fragile Cities Project conducted by the United Nations University.

 

Concerns that Ahmedabad U20 Failed to Address in its Deliberations

• The U20 Summit’s conversations failed to address Gujarat's unique Disturbed Areas Act and the politics of urban exclusion and forced segregation along religio-ethnic lines.
• Another point that did not find the mention in the summit is the communal narratives and segregation that have made urban development increasingly exclusionary. 

 

Recommendations For India to Keep the U20 Promise

• India should Learn from other U20 Member Countries
  • The Summit was attended by mayors from member countries such as Argentina and the USA, both of which are highly urbanised and have shown how urban development can be efficient and equitable.
  • It is not for these member countries to criticise the failures of India’s urban story.
  • It is on India to learn from fellow member countries and take the recommendations given by them (under Delhi’s presidency) seriously.
• Time to Reflect India’s Own Urban Governance: The upcoming G20 meet for which the U20 has given its recommendations is a good opportunity to reflect upon and judge India’s own urban governance and politics against the vision of the U20 Communique.
• Address the Exclusionary Policies in Urban Spaces
  • Over the last two decades, India has shown enthusiasm towards planned urban development, which is much needed and commendable.
  • However, communal narratives and segregation have made urban development increasingly exclusionary.
  • This has distributed the costs and benefits of development unequally with communal identity acting as the marker of this distribution.
  • For India to keep its U20 promise would require repealing laws such as the Disturbed Areas Act and abandoning the politics of urban exclusion.

 

Conclusion

• The Communique published by the U20 meet in Ahmedabad should not fail in its agenda of inclusive urban growth. If it does, the U20 Summit will become a mere lip service to the G20 motto “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.

 

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Q1) What is the priority area of the 2023 U20 summit?

The effort of the sixth U20 is to move from intention to action and to draft a roadmap for global change that will be driven by cities by closing the gaps between policy and practice at all levels of governance. For this, cities have to be empowered to achieve the right balance between economic prosperity and environmental impact; increasing densities and sprawl; diversity and social cohesion; technological advancements and digital divide, and multiple other contradictions faced by urban areas. 

 

Q2) How can digital urban futures be catalysed?

Digitalisation is providing the impetus to bring about transformational changes in governance, service provision and almost all aspects of urban living. Given that we are living in the urban century as well as the digital age, digital applications and technologies have permeated the daily lives of urban dwellers and the COVID-19 crisis intensified this dependence. Digitalisation has immense benefits and can enable informed governance and decision making.

 

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Source: The Indian Express