DWIH Conference: City Scapes

© DWIH New Delhi

Event Information

September 29 to October 1, 2016

New Delhi
Organizer(s): DWIH - German Centre for Research and Innovation New Delhi

Concept note for “DWIH Conference: CityScapes”

In the past few decades, promising economic opportunities and living conditions has fueled migration of human population from rural areas to urban cities. As per the UN estimates, 70% of the world population will be dwelling in cities by 2050. This continuous ‘human’ influx in cities has had an unprecedented impact on the existing resources such as land, water, energy and overburdened ‘man-made’ infrastructures. Together with natural calamities such as floods and cyclones; unrestricted population explosion in urban set-up compromises the intricate balance of the ecosystem. There is an urgent need to develop harmonious solutions to tackle these global challenges of sustainable urbanization.

To maintain the dynamic equilibrium of increasing world population with that of its immediate environment; efficient, low carbon energy alternatives need to be developed and utilized for various industrial, agricultural, housing and transportation applications. Another aspect of urban living that requires attention is the ‘world of internet’ that has not just redefined human communication in the last two decades but has immensely contributed to development of cutting-edge technologies the world has so far witnessed. This ‘Cyber space’ that contains sensitive personal and Governmental information; provides framework of digital networking for various applications including transportation; communication and scientific research needs to be protected from cyber vandals for ensuring national security.

Apart from pressing issues such as energy, environment, cyber security etc. the theme of cities and migration throws up a host of other social and political questions. As the world urban population is expected to double by 2050, Steven Vertovec, Director, Max Planck Institute of Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity; asks how people with ever more diverse characteristics can live together in the rapidly expanding cities of the world. The focus lies here on the dynamics of diversification that requires asking how people of different nationalities, ethnicities, languages, gender etc. are creating new patterns of coexistence and where these patterns might lead to conflict. Some of this conflict potential can be witnessed in Europe today, especially in Germany, where the refugee crisis fuelled by war and poverty in other parts of the world is creating enormous challenges for urban governance. In India rural migration to urban centers is leading not only to a breakdown of urban infrastructure, but is also creating a growing social polarization in large cities. Migration is to be viewed here as a part of broader social transformations with their socio-spatial inequalities and/or social cohesions. Trends of labor migration towards emerging and developed markets are yet another interesting aspect of sociology of cities and migration that impacts the policies shaping economy, societal and sustainable development.

The above issues will be addressed in form of lectures or panel discussions and book reading under the umbrella of the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH), New Delhi.

A. Lectures and panel discussion under following subtopics:

  • Privacy & Security in Online Social Media (PSOSM)
  • Smart Energy & Construction
  • Impact of Urbanisation on Environment
  • Smart Cities : Industry Perspective
  • For a Future Sustainable Peri-Urban India
  • Cities & Migration: Perspectives from Politics & Economy
  • Cities & Migration: Citizen’s Participation
  • Mapping Human Skills

B. Book Reading

  • Urban challenges and possibilities also form the theme of literature with the city as the protagonist. Such city-centered literature is to be found both in the German as well as the Indian context. Readings by writers of such literature will also form part of the Indo-German meet.

Programme

Thursday, 29 September 2016

14:00 h – 15:00 h Registration
15:00 h – 16:15 h INAUGURAL SESSION
Inaugural Address, His Excellency Dr Martin Ney, German Ambassador to India
Award Ceremony and Project Presentations:

  • BMBF Initiative “City of the Future”
  • DWIH CityScapes Poster Competition
16:15 h – 17:15 h KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
Prof. Dr Frauke Kraas, University of Cologne
Prof. Dr AbdouMaliq Simone, Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen
17:15 h High Tea
17:45 h – 18:45 h SESSION 1: PUBLIC LECTURE
(Coordinated by Dr Proteeti Bhattacharjee, MPG)
Privacy & Security in Online Social Media (PSOSM)

  • Dr Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, IIIT Delhi
19:00 h Dinner

Friday, 30 September 2016

09:00 h – 11:00 h SESSION 2: SMART ENERGY & CONSTRUCTION
(Coordinated by Mr Ashwani Arya, Forschungszentrum Jülich and Dr Amol Kulkarni, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune)

  • Prof. Dr Thomas Gries, RWTH Aachen University
  • Prof. Dr Amitabh Banerji, University of Cologne
  • Dr Tsvetelina Merdzhanova, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
  • Dr Dipayan Sanyal, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata
  • Dr Solomon Agbo, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
11:30 h – 13:30 h SESSION 3: IMPACT OF URBANISATION ON ENVIRONMENT
(Coordinated by Dr Proteeti Bhattacharjee, MPG)

  • Prof. Dr Shamita Kumar, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune
  • Prof. Dr Jürgen-Friedrich Hake, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
  • Dr Kirsten Jörgensen, Freie Universität Berlin
  • Prof. Dr B. R. Gurjar, IIT Roorkee
13:30 h Lunch
14:30 h – 16:00 h SESSION 4: SMART CITIES: INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
(Coordinated by Ms Anandi Iyer, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft)

  • Mr. Damian Wagner, Triangulum Project
  • Mr. Dhiraj Wali, Vice President, Bosch India
  • Mr. Deepak Gorav, Vice President, Siemens India
  • Mr Jagan Shah, National Institute for Urban Affairs, New Delhi
  • Mr Frank Samol, GIZ, India
16:30 h – 18:30 h SESSION 5: FOR A FUTURE SUSTAINABLE PERI-URBAN INDIA
(Coordinated by Ms Hanna Kriebel, Technical University of Munich and Mr Radu Carciumaru, Heidelberg University)

  • Prof. Dr Sudhir Chella Rajan, IIT Madras
    Dr Christoph Woiwode, IIT Madras
  • Prof. Dr Peter Struss, TU München
  • Dr Sumetee Pahwa Gajjar, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru
  • Prof. Dr N. Sridharan, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
  • Dr Franz Donhauser, GIZ, India
  • Prof. Dr Ashwani Kumar, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
19:00 h Dinner

Saturday, 1 October 2016

09:00 h – 11:00 h SESSION 6: CITIES & MIGRATION: PERSPECTIVES FROM POLITICS & ECONOMY
(Coordinated by Mr Radu Carciumaru, Heidelberg University and Ms Sanju Kumari, Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Prof. Dr AbdouMaliq Simone, Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen
  • Dr Andreas M. Wüst, University of Mannheim
  • Dr Arup Mitra, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi
  • Dr Wolfgang-Peter Zingel, Heidelberg University
  • Dr Sumeet Mhaskar, University of Göttingen
  • Dr Clemens Greiner, University of Cologne
11:30 h – 13:30 h SESSION 7: CITIES & MIGRATION: CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION
(Coordinated by Mr Radu Carciumaru, Heidelberg University and Ms Sanju Kumari, Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Prof. Dr Frauke Kraas, University of Cologne
  • Prof. Dr Lars Klein, University of Göttingen
  • Prof. Dr Christiane Brosius, Heidelberg University
  • Prof. Dr Sasanka Perera, South Asian University, New Delhi
  • Ms Roberta Mandoki, Heidelberg University
  • Prof. Dr Arunava Dasgupta, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
  • Prof. Dr Sucharita Sen, JNU, New Delhi
13:30 h Lunch
15:00 h – 17:00 h SESSION 8: MAPPING HUMAN SKILLS
(Coordinated by Dr Amol Kulkarni, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune)

  • Dr Amol Kulkarni, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
  • Mr Ashutosh Pratap Singh, IASC Sector Skill Council
  • Mr Wolfgang Leidig, GIZ, India
  • Ms Sonia Prashar, Deputy Director General, IGCC
17:00 h CLOSING REMARKS

Download the detailed programme here [pdf, 1.94 MB].

Registration

Registrations for the event are now closed.

Poster Competition

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During the inaugural event of DWIH Indo-German Conference “CityScapes” on 29th September 2016, following best entries are selected to present their Topic :

  • Ritwika Basu, Indian Institute of Human Settlement Bengaluru
  • Dr. Arindam Biswas, IIT Roorkee

Also the Posters will be displayed of the following shortlisted entires:

  • Shivani B Khatri, Jakob J. Nuernberger
  • Gaurab Das Mahapatra, SPA Bhopal
  • Kavya Michael, Indian Institute of Human Settlement Bengaluru
  • Rananjai Singh
  • Shidharth Sankar Ram, Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar
  • Sanjay Choudhary, JK Lakshmipat University Jaipur

Pre-events

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2016-09-16: India-EU Dialogue on Smart Cities: Mobility, Infrastructure and Energy

2016-08-19: Workshop on Smart Cities: Mobility and Infrastructure in the 21st Century, Pune

2016-08-11: Workshop on Smart Cities: Mobility and Infrastructure in the 21st Century, Kochi

2016-08-09: Workshop on Smart Cities: Mobility and Infrastructure in the 21st Century, Kolkata

2016-04-11: CityScapes in the Light of Texts–Book reading event hosted by DWIH, New Delhi

Event Report

Read the event report here.