The city of Jaipur has hosted a symposium on “Harmonizing Heritage and Innovation in Cities” on 19 and 20 December 2019. The symposium was jointly organized by UN-Habitat and GIZ in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, as a precursor event with the objective of promoting innovative and good practices on integrating culture and heritage in urban development in India to showcase and present at the World Urban Forum (WUF10) in February 2020.
UN-Habitat extended invitation to all five Municipal Corporations Commissioners to attend and participate at the symposium. This symposium in Jaipur brought together officials and representatives from state and local government entities, private sector, academia and research institutions, foundations, civil society organizations, interest groups and urban practitioners to showcase innovations in projects, practices around heritage conservation and enhancement. Mr. Arun Garg, Additional Commissioner (JMC), shared the opening remarks after which Mr. Anil Singhal, Chief Engineer (JMC), briefly shared the triumphs of the heritage projects in Jaipur along with their key challenges. At the event, innovations and tools and approaches for adapting natural and build heritage, art and culture industry, and practices for integrating tradition and modernity were presented discussed event aimed at sharing such success stories and bring together people to build synergies between urban planning, economic development and heritage conservation.
On behalf of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, Ms. U. Sarada Devi, Additional Commissioner (P) participated and presented Vijayawada as a city of opportunity in session 3 “Development, Economy, Livelihood and Culture”.
Ms. Sarada emphasized Vijayawada as a city of opportunities for boosting the local economy and livelihoods that have not been explored in the perspectives of tourism, heritage conservation, and natural resources. Further efforts need to be made to integrate the livelihoods of local artisans into tourist sites like old temples, caves and increase the overall footfall and vitality of these sites.
Rajasthan, Jaipur,
India