Why having an agile urban policy and responsive vision plan today, is an unavoidable necessity?

 

Seemingly far-fetched approach to be acknowledged and adopted by many city administrations across hierarchy and geography, which are accustomed to a classical, structured, and long lifecycle approach of planning, urban management and development, and economic growth.

To set a pretext, a hashtag#Vision2030 document published 5 to 10 years ago (in any domain) and to continue with that in toto, without factoring in hashtag#AI, which is a midway disruptive phenomenon, that too without a total grasp of its actual potential and impact; doesn’t make sense. Likewise, a Resilience Plan 2030 prepared in a pre-pandemic time or without accounting for a range of geopolitical shifts witnessed in recent and ongoing years, and continuing with the script in its original form doesn't make sense either. Similarly, half a decade or a decade-long rare drug discovery or targeted medicine development pathway approved in 2020, may witness a radical reduction in time due to the advent of AI, reducing years of trial, testing, and customization time to hours and minutes, hence requiring original pathways to be revisited.

Conventionally there is too much resistance and bureaucratic and legal hurdles present there by design, to make it nearly impossible to change or overhaul long-range vision documents, and action plans once published.

AI is just an example, too potent to ignore though; the cyclical period of disruptive innovations and socio-technological changes seem to be reducing and sometimes unpredictable, and such periods are bound to reduce if compared historically, due to unprecedented, exponential, and unfathomable technological advancement. The conventional approach of 10, 20, and 30-year-long, fairly rigid structures of plans and visions has to change. It has to be agile by design, it has to have inbuilt provisions for tweak, restructuring, and even overhaul, if required and this has to be done without fear of public criticism, and to be backed by science.

Every kind of projection based on which a long-range vision document and action plans are usually prepared must also be revisited periodically by embedded provisions, to reconsider and accommodate the known and perceptible impacts and opportunities that surface due to disruptive forces, often technological.

It was a norm 50 years ago, and was ok 5 years ago to prepare an urban development plan, economic plan, vision plan, etc for a 20 to 30-year horizon period, and it was customary to treat that document as sacrosanct enough so that no one interferes with it, but that approach today must be revisited. Sooner it is acknowledged better cities will cope and perform in these changing times.

Author: Urban Tenets
Founder, Urban Tenets,
Netherlands
https://urbantenets.nl/

Is your city ready to embrace the surge of funds that comes with the reprioritization of focus at the national and subregional levels?

Two key challenges are observed with cities and regions/provinces when it comes to their fund readiness.

1. No prior preparation in place.

Starting to gear up to receive or prepare for funds when a scheme or fund is announced is already too late. The result, many times, is a makeshift proposal rushed through, leading to an action plan with only average ambition.

It's not that cities should do SWOT analysis only when funds are available. It's not that they should only engage citizens to ask about their priorities when fund arrives. It's not that cities should create an ecosystem of service providers, conduct due diligence, and empanel them only when funds surfaces. This groundwork needs to be done upfront to chase or embrace funding opportunities on opportune time.

2. Lack of confidence in the ability to maintain infrastructure created by new funds and sustain the pilot once the funding program ends. Result, many take a step back.

This works both way, a city that has not already built capacity to manage infrastructure created through a sudden surge of funds and to sustain efforts once the program ends. At the same time, funds often lack instruments to help build the capacity of municipalities or regional agencies, augment resources and skills, or create a pool of maintenance/sustainance fund. These provisions should either be embedded in the fund itself or enabled through a PPP ecosystem within the funding mechanism.

It's not that cities should only think about how to maintain infrastructure once created with new fund. It's also not that cities should only come up with strategies to sustain the efforts and impact, when fund arrives. The quest for new and innovative revenue stream, not just for capital expenditure but also for O&M expenditure, is a must, whether new funds are available or not.

Many cities are already ahead of the curve, focusing on urban innovation for a decade or half, testing new concepts, partnering with known market players and emerging startups, developing internal knowledge, resources, and skills, and engaging with the community unlike others. These cities get funds, and they get repeat funds, year after year. Not that other cities and regions can't do the same.

Funds will keep coming, one way or another, but the development funds will go to those municipalities and regional authorities that are fund-ready!

Author: Anoop Jha
Founder, Urban Tenets, Netherlands
https://urbantenets.nl/

What future we should strive for, amidst the advent of technology like AI?

Like there is no tomorrow, it's amusing to think of a generation that thought of being modern enough to rush and claim the title of “Modern”, ranging from modern art to modern architecture, to modern history, and whatnot; and likewise, generation X, Y, Z, until there is no alphabet left.

Not to their surprise, every time when mankind thought they reached the pinnacle of socio-technological revolution, the height of intellect and the best of lifestyle and prosperity that money could bring; there came a new revolution in one sphere or another, say technological or collective consciousness, to challenge their much deliberated and beloved conclusion; to inevitably reshape the landscape – say, like what we see today with the advent of AI which seems to be disrupting every walk of life, in a way no one thought of a few years ago.

Not to forget that most of such “modern” movements found their origin and reasoning, either in retaliation to the inefficient preceding socio-economic system or remain rooted in the ambition to bring a new fair, just, and equal socio-economic order - the quest continues.

Given that every historical period remains modern in its unique context, every generation should remain humble and receptive to what the future beholds, and not lose sight of the ultimate outcome that is envisaged - with whatever tools and whatever means they have at their disposal in their vernacular period - that is, to strive for a fair, just, and equal socio-economic order; enabled through tech, or without.

Whether modern enough or not, today we do have signs already that AI for instance, will be a catalyst to achieve such desired socio-economic order, much faster, in the coming years, the way it is making the world a level playfield - by empowering individuals, small businesses and smaller communities for instance with resources (e.g. AI tools) which they previously didn’t have access to;  as well as democratizing the knowledge by enabling wider and deeper access to knowledge unlike ever in history (e.g. LLM), among others.

The impact of AI and its results are likely to be seen on many fronts, from cities making mindful choices amidst scarce resources, to citizens taking the right actions since being able to understand the impact of the choices they make, beforehand. New Fintech, Agritech, MedTech, Social-tech etc. powered by AI will be able to help those, who need the help most, in unprecedented ways - not only relying on traditional channels of charity, philanthropy, or grants and subsidies, but essentially by empowering them at the grassroots level; hence paving a faster way to a fair, just, and equal socio-economic system.

Interesting times indeed!

Author: Anoop Jha
Founder, Urban Tenets, Netherlands
https://urbantenets.nl/