Experts seek solutions to urban environmental challenges

A research partnership between the University of Birmingham, UK and TERI University in Delhi, is investigating how cities can cope with global change pressures, particularly climate change, rapid urbanisation, and aging and deteriorating infrastructure systems.

The two universities have held a joint workshop in India to generate project ideas in the area of sustainable cities, focussing on urban water systems, urban pollution, energy efficiency and urban development.

Cities are facing difficulty in efficiently managing resources, delivering urban services, and disposing of wastes, while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and on the urban populations' quality of livelihood including environmental health, social and economic aspects.

Professor Prateek Sharma, from TERI University comments: "In the area of sustainable water management, there are opportunities for countries like India to "leapfrog" old technologies, and adopt superior but appropriate technologies. The challenge is to tailor these technologies to suit the local context and this requires strong research and development."

Professor Kala Vairavamoorthy, from the University of Birmingham, adds: "Urban environmental challenges faced by cities today are more complex than at any other time in history. This requires new concepts and approaches to find constructive and sustainable solutions to urban environmental issues.

"An approach receiving considerable attention is one that views a city as an ecosystem, and analyse the pathways along which energy and materials including pollutants move. This enables the development of management strategies and technologies that allow the reintegration of natural processes, increasing the efficiency of resource use, the recycling of wastes as valuable materials and the conservation of (and even production of) energy.

"The increased availability of data coupled with recent development in modelling and simulation means it is now feasible to conduct this type of holistic analyses. This has been further strengthened by the emergence of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as a powerful tool at the heart of environmental modelling."

Both University of Birmingham and TERI have complementary strengths in the above areas and through a research partnership they will be able to catalyze and coordinate collaborative and integrated scientific planning and delivery across the globe.