Report on Roundtable on Making Udaipur A …ncpedp.org/sites/all/themes/marinelli/documents/Repor… · Web viewNagar Nigam Bhawan, Town Hall, Udaipur, Rajasthan Table of Contents

Report on Roundtable on Making Udaipur A Disabled Friendly Smart City

Organized by

National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People

In collaboration with

Udaipur Smart City Limited

&

Udaipur Municipal Corporation, Government of Rajasthan

Supported by

Mphasis

19th July, 2017

Nagar Nigam Bhawan, Town Hall, Udaipur, Rajasthan

Table of Contents

Report on Roundtable on Making Udaipur A Disabled Friendly Smart City...............................................1

Table of Contents....................................................................................................................................2

Background..............................................................................................................................................3

1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................................4

1.1 Welcome remarks..........................................................................................................................4

2. Working Sessions.................................................................................................................................5

2.1 Accessibility – A Legal Mandate.....................................................................................................5

2.2 Udaipur Smart City: Pan City and Area Based Development – An Overview.................................7

2.3 Built Environment & Transport Accessibility in Smart Cities..........................................................8

2.4 Role of Cutting Edge Technology for Accessible Smart Cities........................................................9

2.5 Making Tourism Accessible and Inclusive for All..........................................................................10

2.6 Built Environment Accessibility Audit..........................................................................................11

3. Concluding Session............................................................................................................................12

Roundtable on Making Udaipur A Disabled Friendly Smart City

Background

The Udaipur Smart City Limited and Udaipur Municipal Corporation in partnership with the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), supported by Mphasis, organised a Roundtable on making Udaipur a Disabled Friendly Smart City on 19 th

July, 2017 at the Nagar Nigam Bhawan, to stress the importance of incorporating principles of Universal Design in all built infrastructure, ICTs, and products and services.

India is home to approximately 7-10% people living with disabilities and an equal number rapidly acquiring disability on account of medical conditions, accidents and old age. The Smart Cities Mission is the greatest opportunity to ensure their inclusion and participation in ALL new developments, weaving together the provisions of the Digital India and the Accessible India Campaign to create an inclusive landscape that leaves no one behind.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability. The number of persons with disabilities is increasing due to medical developments, the rise of ageing population and the spread of chronic diseases. This large population, which is already marginalized, is at risk of being further excluded if accessibility and inclusion are not considered while designing the smart facilities and services.

Smart Cities tap a range of approaches – digital and information technologies, urban planning best practices, public-private partnerships, and policy change – to make a difference. The mission finds few mention of disability in the overall process, although there is no certainty to ensure their incorporation in each city's proposal. The top 20 winning cities have completely neglected the role of digital inclusion of persons with disabilities in their proposal. While several of the city proposals talk about disabled friendly pathway design or barrier free walkways, almost all of them have neglected the access to ICT enabled solutions like e-governance and citizen services.

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1. Introduction

To ensure the rights and provisions for persons with disabilities in the projects under Udaipur Smart City, NCPEDP organised a Roundtable on Making Udaipur a Disabled Friendly Smart City in collaboration with Udaipur Smart City Limited and Udaipur Municipal Corporation and supported by Mphasis.

The Roundtable was presided over by Mr. Chandra Singh Kothari, Mayor and Mr. Sidharta Sihag, Municipal Commissioner, Udaipur and CEO, Udaipur Smart City Limited. Speakers included Mr. Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP; Ms. Ruchira Sarin, Principal Architect (Universal Design) DEOC; Mr. Shwetank Dixit, Head of Accessibility Innovations and Research, BarrierBreak; Ms. Neha Arora, Founder, Planet Abled; and Ms. Suvarna Raj, Programme Officer, Association of Disabled People. Several government departments like Udaipur Smart City Limited, Municipal Corporation, Urban Improvement Trust, Public Works Department, Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation and Tourism Department along with Project Management Consultants of Udaipur Smart City Eptisa attended the Roundtable.

Udaipur was ranked 17th, one among the top 20 smart cities shortlisted in the first round of the mission. The Udaipur smart city proposal aims at becoming World’s favourite lakeside Heritage City with a concept of “Eternal Udaipur.” The smart initiatives are broadly covered in sectors of tourism; public transport and walkability; intelligent transport management system; and physical and social infrastructure. The roundtable organised was an effort to create awareness and to ensure that the projects being implemented under the mission in Udaipur incorporate disabled friendly measures in both area based and pan city based proposal.

1.1 Welcome remarks

The first session started with a welcome address by Mr. Sidharth Sihag, CEO, Udaipur Smart City Limited by greeting all government officials and representatives from various departments. Mr. Chandra Singh Kothari, Mayor welcomed all the speakers and participants in the roundtable. Mr. Kothari stated that it is their duty to abide by the law and to ensure that rights of persons with disabilities are not compromised. Following this were the introductory remarks by Mr. Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP. He welcomed everyone and gave a brief introduction of the speakers. Mr. Javed Abidi further laid stress that “100 Smart Cities are being developed in India alone. The disability sector must not miss this opportunity. Accessibility is not a matter of charity any longer. It’s now a matter of right”.

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Figure 1 - From left to right: Mr. Sidhartha Sihag, Municipal Commissioner, Udaipur and CEO, Udaipur Smart City Limited; Mr. Chandra Singh Kothari, Mayor, Udaipur Municipal Corporation; and Mr. Javed Abidi,

Honorary Director, NCPEDP along with participants at the Roundtable.

2. Working Sessions

There were 6 technical sessions in the Roundtable. The substance of the roundtable primarily revolved around the key theme of Udaipur Smart City Proposal. The roundtable comprised of the following sessions:

Accessibility – A Legal Mandate by Mr. Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP Udaipur Smart City: Pan City and Area Based Development – An Overview by Mr.

Sidharth Sihag, CEO, Udaipur Smart City Limited Built Environment and Transport Accessibility in Smart Cities by Ms. Ruchira Sarin,

Principal Architect, Diversity and Equal Opportunity The Role of Cutting Edge Technology for Accessible Smart Cities by Mr. Shwetank

Dixit, Head of Accessibility Innovations and Research, BarrierBreak Making Tourism accessible and Inclusive for All by Ms. Neha Arora, Founder, Planet

Abled Built Environment Accessibility Audits by Ms. Suvarna Raj, Project Officer, Association

for Disabled People

2.1 Accessibility – A Legal Mandate

Mr. Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP, in his address, expressed major concern for disability sector today is ensuring accessibility of persons with disabilities in all facilities and services of the Mission. Mr. Abidi remarked that the gaps related to the accessibility of persons with disabilities in the Smart Cities Mission reflect poorly on our systems despite the availability of tools, techniques and a legal mandate. Proper accessibility criteria should be mandated in the

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procurement/tender/RFP/EOI of the projects under the mission so that accessibility is ensured for persons with disabilities.

He elaborated on the mandate as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Sections 43 and 44 of the law state the mandatory observance of accessibility norms for new construction, consumer goods and products. Further, section 45 of the law states that the existing public use buildings should be made accessible within a period not exceeding five years from the date of notification. In order to fulfil these legal mandates proper accessibility standards should be followed. The revised National Building Code 2016 (Part 3, Section 13) is comprehensive and should be followed for the area based development in the smart city projects in Udaipur.

Figure 2 – Mr. Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP emphasising the importance of Accessibility in Smart Cities from a legal perspective.

He further focused on the Digital Inclusion of persons with disabilities under the Mission. He stated that procurement of IT based services under the Mission should be accessible. The smart services under the Mission should follow accessibility criteria from WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) or EN 301 549 [the European Standard on Accessibility Requirements for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) products and services].

Mr. Abidi concluded the session by stating that enforcement of law must be strict and that all procurement must adhere to the accessibility standards for persons with disabilities. Sounding hopeful, he said that the incorporation of mandates of RPWD Act 2016 will cause a major paradigm shift for persons with disabilities.

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2.2 Udaipur Smart City: Pan City and Area Based Development – An Overview

Mr. Sidharth Sihag, CEO, Udaipur Smart City Limited in his session gave an overview of the smart city projects in Udaipur. He gave a brief introduction about the area based and pan city developments along with the current prospects of the Mission in the city. He stated that the budget for executing the Mission in the city is an estimated 1221 crore out of which 880 crore will be utilized under the area based developments for an area of 825 acres.

The area based development will comprise of the walled city area covering 18 out of the 55 wards and directly impacting a population of 20% in the city. The walled city area showcases a unique identity of Udaipur and could have maximum impact on its economy. Following components will be covered in the area based development:

24x7 Water Supply 100% Sewerage Assured Power Supply Drains, Relaying road & utility duct Heritage & Street Light Walled City Transport Infra Piped Natural Gas Solar Power Generation Social Infrastructure, Solid Waste, Fire Fighting & Environment Lakes

He further highlighted the initiatives under the pan city proposals. The pan city proposals are broadly categorised into Intelligent Transport Management System and City Wide Smart Utilities. Following provisions will be made under these categories:

1. Intelligent Transport Management System City Bus with Smart Bus Shelters GPS Enablement of IPT Parking Management with VMS & Sensors Smart Signal, Surveillance System & App

2. City Wide Smart Utilities GIS Technology Mapping of Utilities Smart Metres - Water Smart Metres - Electrical Sensors for leakage detection in Water Supply Manhole Monitoring System Wi-Fi - Hot Spots

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Figure 3 - Mr. Sidhartha Sihag, CEO, Udaipur Smart City Limited giving an overview of the Udaipur Smart City Initiative.

Mr. Sihag in his concluding remarks stated that incorporation of accessibility standards in current stages of mission as stated by Mr. Abidi is very crucial to ensure that implementation is inclusive and accessible. He further assured that the current tender for the walled city area of worth around Rs.450 crore will incorporate the accessibility standards for both built and ICT developments as stated by Mr. Abidi. He also encouraged government officials from other departments to incorporate these accessibility clauses as a mandatory part in their development works and prospective tenders.

2.3 Built Environment & Transport Accessibility in Smart Cities

Ms. Ruchira Sarin, Principal Architect, Diversity and Equal Opportunity Centre addressed the session on Built Environment & Transport Accessibility in Smart Cities. Ms. Sarin in her presentation highlighted and identified the projects under the Mission in Udaipur which need to be accessible, focusing on the Greenfield development and Retrofitting of the walled city area.

She emphasized on the concept of Universal Design for projects in Udaipur in order to cater to the needs of all spectrum of people. She stated that accessibility sometimes is understood as only building of ramps or lifts but we need to consider each type of disability while designing a proposal like disabilities concerned with seeing, hearing or learning. She further elaborated on accessibility criteria from Part 3, Development Control Rules and General Building Requirements of National Building Code, 2016.

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In context of Udaipur smart city, she highlighted several examples for accessibility of built environment under area based development. She focused on accessibility provisions like unisex accessible toilets, pedestrian walkways, parking, bus shelters, kerb ramps, ticketing, restrooms, school infrastructure, etc along with their standards.

She concluded the session by proposing a way forward for barrier free built environment. She recommended following suggestions to be incorporated under smart city projects in Udaipur:

To set up an Access Council to execute the projects.

To modify the local building bye laws as per the National Building Code, 2016.

To engage accessibility experts for development works.

To create an Accessibility Plan. To get Access Audit done for

proposed and new infrastructure. To modify the procurement policy. Figure 4 – Ms. Ruchira Sarin, Principal Architect,

Diversity and Equal Opportunity Centre giving a presentation on Built-Environment & Transport

Accessibility in Smart Cities.

2.4 Role of Cutting Edge Technology for Accessible Smart Cities

Mr. Shwetank Dixit, Head of Accessibility Innovations and Research, BarrierBreak addressed the session on the Role of Cutting Edge Technology for Accessible Smart Cities. He stated that the concept of smart cities is ever changing and dynamic in nature. In present context, smart cities can be defined as improving urban living accessibility by applying clever use of modern technology. Smart cities can play a major role in narrowing the existing digital divide.

He focused on the global trends in smart cities and their implications in context to Indian cities. Citing the example of fibre optic rollout he stated that a great fibre optic network is eminent for robust telecommunication. Crowd sourced labelled data and machine learning can help in improving navigation around the cities like roads and traffic monitoring through computer vision and machine learning in Montreal & applications like Autour which aids visually impaired people to know what’s around them. He further highlighted smart mobility initiative of Chicago where 50 Wheelchair-Accessible MV-1’s were added to the taxi fleet.

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In Indian scenario, he emphasized that we need to invest in data connectivity. Smart features like push notifications, audio guides or messages for announcements at the airports, real time information for buses or train can help in making these accessible for persons with disabilities.

He further suggested that provision of smart meters in Udaipur can be integrated with Power Company’s site or application to chart out accessible real time information. Similarly other smart utilities for monitoring, analytics or remote operations could be made accessible for persons with disabilities.

He concluded his session by stating that digital inclusion of persons with disabilities under the Mission can help in empowering them and for them to live independently. Expanding the available tools and creating a knowledge base for accessible technology can help in strategizing for accessible smart solutions.

Figure 5 - Mr. Shwetank Dixit, Head of Accessibility Innovations and Research,

BarrierBreak talking about the Role of Cutting Edge Technologies for Accessible Smart Cities

2.5 Making Tourism Accessible and Inclusive for All

Ms. Neha Arora, Founder, Planet Abled addressed the session on Making Tourism Accessible and Inclusive for all. She stated that the market for accessible tourism is huge and 10% of the world’s population needs barrier free or accessible tourism. In Udaipur Smart City proposal, tourism is among the top priority sector and thus it demands a greater need to make Udaipur a smart and accessible tourist destination.

The walled city area comprises of the prominent tourist destination namely Pichola lake, City Palace and Jagdish Chowk. She further highlighted several challenges in the city to make tourism accessible and inclusive like inaccessible boating at Pichola Lake, inaccessible ropeway, inaccessible puppet show, lack of accessible toilets, no proper signages for deaf and lack of accessible transport. She further recommended the provision of reserved parking for persons with disabilities for Gulab Bagh area under area based retrofitting. The smart mobility solutions like bus shelters, buses and real time display of information should be accessible.

She concluded her session by stating that Udaipur is among the top travel destinations in India and its economy is largely supported by tourism. Therefore, accessible tourism should be a part of the smart city agenda. She recommended the following suggestions to be incorporated under the mission:

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To develop sensory gardens and tactile shows of art for people with visual impairments. To develop accessible parks. To make accessibility status information readily available. To make accessible hotels for all budgets. To create augmented reality based guided tours for deaf people. To collect data on tourism and create analytics for onwards planned development. To create awareness among the tourism ecosystem and their sensitization.

Figure 6 – Ms. Neha Arora, Founder, Planet Abled presenting a case for Making Tourism Accessible and Inclusive for All in Udaipur.

2.6 Built Environment Accessibility Audit

Ms. Suvarna Raj, Project Officer, Association for Disabled People addressed the session on built environment accessibility audits. She started her presentation by defining the basics of Access Audit. She then highlighted the basic requirements for wheelchair users, people with visual impairments and hearing impairments.

She stated that the key challenge faced in making built environment accessible is the lack of awareness and the lack of technical knowledge. She further highlighted the key components of the access audits like ramps, lifts, stairs, corridors, hallways, doors, doorways, cafeteria, drinking water facility, restrooms and toilets. She also emphasized on the technical requirements and standards that should be properly met for each component. She also recommended that it is very necessary to plan for emergency evacuation for any built environment by provision of evacuation chair and proper emergency signages.

She concluded her session by stating that it is now a legal mandate to make existing government and public use buildings accessible for persons with disabilities, thus access audit of existing development and the new developments under the smart city projects is very crucial and should not be ignored.

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Figure 7 – Ms. Suvarna Raj, Project Officer, Association for Disabled People giving her perspective on Built Environment Accessibility Audits.

3. Concluding Session

The key highlights of the concluding session are stated as follows:

The CEO of Udaipur Smart City Limited, Mr. Sidhartha Sihag agreed to incorporate our recommendations to follow National Building Code, 2016 and WCAG or EN 301 549 as key accessibility standards in the tender of walled city area under Smart Cities Mission worth around Rs. 450 crores.

Mr. Chandra Singh Kothari, Mayor, Udaipur Municipal Corporation was convinced to modify the Udaipur Building Bye Laws as per the National Building Code, 2016 to incorporate the accessibility criteria. He also assured to make the accessibility standards a mandatory clause in the Building Plan Approval Process for commercial buildings in order to ensure that all the future constructions in Udaipur are accessible and inclusive.

Officials from various departments like Udaipur Smart City Limited, Municipal Corporation, Urban Improvement Trust, Public Works Department, Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation and Tourism Department attended the Roundtable. They agreed to incorporate the recommended accessibility clauses for their development works.

The immediate action point after the roundtable was to carry out an access audit for important buildings and tourists places in Udaipur which included Circuit House, RNT Medical College, Schools, Rani Road and Saheliyon ki Badi.

The tourism department under their tenders will incorporate accessibility criteria so that vendors could adhere to the accessibility criteria for services like jetty or ropeway.

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Figure 8 - Mr. Chandra Singh Kothari, Mayor, Udaipur Municipal Corporation discussing the way forward for making Udaipur an Accessible Smart City.

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Documents

Report on Roundtable on Making Udaipur A …ncpedp.org/sites/all/themes/marinelli/documents/Repor… · Web viewNagar Nigam Bhawan, Town Hall, Udaipur, Rajasthan Table of Contents