Sustainability Review for the City of Visakhapatnam, India

SIPU was give the assignment to conduct a sustainability review of the port and industrial City of Visakhapatnam applying approaches advocated in Sida's own handbook on Sustainably Urban Planning. Thus apart from the review of the situation in the city itself, the assignment assessed the applicability of the handbook in a real life situation.

The work included

1. a review of recent planning exercises and identification of environmental issues
2. consultation with stakeholders on priorities for action in environmental issues
3. more detailed analysis of focal issues (waste management, water & sanitation, air quality, traffic & transport, energy, coastal management and risk management)
4. identification of potential responses and actions and
5. recommendations for follow-up.

Three major workshops were held with stakeholders to identify issues, suggest solutions and ratify findings, and a study tour to Sweden was arranged for ed city officials and politicians. The work also included an assessment of the applicability of the handbook in the Indian city context. Among other things the assignment entailed identifying indicators and measures for monitoring change through time in water and air quality, waste and coastal management. An innovative method of monitoring living quality on a city ward basis was also developed, and baselines provided for ed wards as pilots.