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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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