Page 59 - Shelter-April 2024

CASE STUDIES

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE URBAN FUTURES:

LOW-CARBON CITY DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

Amidst rapid urbanisation carbon neutrality, integrating
DEBANJALI SAHA and escalating environmental technological innovation, policy
1
DR. RUCHITA GUPTA 2 challenges, this paper adaptation, and community
comprehensively analyses participation. By presenting a
the path towards developing roadmap for sustainable urban
low-carbon cities in India, development, the study aims to
highlighting the urgent need for inform policymakers and urban
sustainable urban planning and planners on the essential steps
policy frameworks. It examines to cultivate low-carbon cities
the critical intersection of urban that ensure a high quality of
growth and climate change, life for future generations while
emphasising the significant addressing the global challenge
contributions of cities to global of climate change.
greenhouse gas emissions and
the critical opportunities they Introduction
present for emission reduction Cities, home to 56% of the
and sustainability. Through an global population in 2019
in-depth analysis of successful and expected to rise to 68%
global models and pioneering by 2050, are crucial in the
Indian initiatives, the research climate action narrative.
identifies effective strategies Their economic significance
for urban carbon footprint generates 70% of global GDP
minimisation, including the while occupying a mere 2%
adoption of green building of land (United Nations,
technologies, renewable energy 2016). This growth amplifies
sources, and sustainable cities’ role in greenhouse gas
transportation systems. It emissions and susceptibility
underscores the importance of to climate-related risks, such
multi-stakeholder engagement, as floods and heat waves
1 Research Scholar, Department of including Government, (Lankao, 2012). The increase
Architecture and Regional Planning, community, and private sector in atmospheric CO2 levels
Indian Institute of Technology, collaboration, in driving the from 280 parts per million
Kharagpur, West Bengal, India shift towards environmentally
(ddebanjali18@gmail.com) (ppm) during the pre-
resilient urban environments. industrial period to 379 ppm
2 Professor, Department of Planning The paper proposes a
(Housing), School of Planning and in 2005 is projected to lead to
Architecture, Delhi, India (ruchita. comprehensive approach temperatures between 1.1 and
garg@gmail.com) for Indian cities to achieve 6.4 degrees Celsius by the end

April, 2024, Volume 25. No.1 - SHELTER 57