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The following is based on a communication
to the Aurovilians as published in the township's internal journal,
the Auroville News, of September 15th 2001. It is written by Auroville's
Future, Auroville's Town Planning Office & Centre for Urban
Research located in Bharat Nivas.
Partnership between India and European cities
We are happy to share some good news with all
the citizens of Auroville: the European Commission has approved
a second project under its Asia Urbs programme where Auroville is
the leading partner again. This project titled 'City Networking
for Sustainable Development and Human Unity' will establish in Auroville
a base for partnership between Indian and European cities.
Cities partnership has evolved from the initial
cities twinning as a more effective tool for the implementation
of sustainable oriented projects, experts and student exchanges,
cultural interaction, etc.
It is natural that Auroville, with its aim to become a laboratory
for the problems of the world and to foster human unity, is offering
itself in this project as a bridge between the East and the West.
Door to the world
This project will open a new door from Auroville
to the world. It will be also a tool to channel information, cooperation
opportunities, and human & financial resources for the development
of Auroville.
Below is a short summary of the project. If you have any contacts
with cities administration or urban N.G.O.s in India or abroad,
kindly let us know.
For any further information or clarification,
please contact Aurofuture
(Bharat Nivas). We will be very glad to share more details.
Data
Project Title: City Networking for sustainable
development and human unity
Project Holder: Auroville's Future -
Auroville Universal Township
In partnership with:
Total budget: 636,138 Euro ~ Rs. 2,67,17,796
Contribution from EC: 413,490 Euro ~ Rs. 1,73,66,580
Contribution from Auroville, Venice, Paris and Treviso:
222,648 Euro ~ Rs. 93,51,216
Project duration: 6 months
Starting date: 1st October 2001
Approx. rate of exchange is US $ 1 = Euro 1 =
IRS 46.8 - Sept.'01
Summary
The scope of the project is to provide a base
and opportunities for sharing experiences of best practices in the
field of sustainable urban management and cultural human integration
to Asia-Urbs winners and other European and Indian cities. Its purpose
is to increase the capacity of interactions and networking between
European and Indian cities and to start a system of information
and exchange among them. The project will target Asia-Urbs winners,
other EU cities, Indian metropolitan cities, middle-size Indian
towns, NGOs and Indian professional association. The main activities
of the project are:
International conference
-
A Conference will be held in Auroville
on 26th to 28th February 2002, where a selected delegation of
Asia-Urbs project holders, representatives of Indian, SAARC,
and EU cities, NGOs and Professional association will be invited.
The total attendance is planned to be around 30 cities of India
and 30 cities of Europe. The title of the conference will be
'City Networking for a Sustainable Future and Human Unity and
will be organised by CSR.
Each city delegate will present a paper on the issues related
to the main theme of the conference and where their cities have
a special concern or made a relevant progress.
For more information on the conference held in February 2002,
click here.
Secretariat for City Networking
-
Establishment of a secretariat in Auroville
as the coordination of all the activities and as a reference
and contact for all the target groups. It will be a first nucleus
of a City networking service centre for Indian and EU cities.
The secretariat will also assist to the targeted cities in presenting
their own issues, project writing etc. It will undertake training
activities for networking and project preparation also for local
youth, NGOs and CBOs and local government officers.
-
Preparation and dissemination of a Data
Base of EU cities as an information and consultation tool
available to Indian and South-Asian cities interested to decentralized
cooperation. The database will include only a selected number
of EU cities with interest in cooperation with developing countries.
-
Preparation and dissemination of a Data
Base of Indian cities with a selected and representative
sample of Indian cities, offering a picture of urban conditions
and issues.
Diffusion
-
Presentation of the project to the press
in Paris, Venice and India in order to make a presentation
of the project. In India there will be at least three press
conferences (in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai).
-
Design, preparation, installation &
maintenance of a Web-site dedicated to the project.
-
Roving exhibition displaying the
best practices in Asia and Europe in the field of Urban Sustainable
Development and cultural and human integration. The exhibition
will consist of 20-24 panels and will be supported also by a
catalogue, audio-visual and multimedia material. The exhibitions
will be held in Paris, Venice, Treviso, Auroville and at least
in three other Indian cities during the duration of the project.
-
Three Newsletters will be issued
by monthly, reporting the progress of the project. These newsletters
will be circulated to a mailing list of government officers,
Embassies & consulates, government institutions, NGOs, Universities,
Research Centres, professional associations, publishers/magazines
in India, & Cities, city associations, Urban researches
institutions, Urban & municipal agencies, Universities and
other institutions in Europe.
-
A brochure with the proceedings of the
conferences will be published in 3000 copies and distributed
to participants, indirect target groups, recipient of newsletters
and some public and university libraries in India and in Europe.
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