Getting the big city blues

Q&A: Chris Johnson, Director, 9th World Congress of Metropolis

The Metropolis Association provides cities around the world with a framework for coordinated problem-solving. Indian cities should be a part of it, its director Chris Johnson tells Gargi Gupta

There are many Indian cities with a million-plus population. Why is that only one city — Kolkata — is a member of the Metropolis Congress?

It’s upto the civic officials to seek membership of Metropolis. In Kolkata, it was the municipal commissioner and mayor who pushed the application in 2006.

The movement began in Europe in 1984 and the focus for a long time was on Europe, but it’s slowly changing and we have a number of cities in Africa, Latin Amercia and China. We expect six-seven Indian cities to become members in the next couple of years.

What brings you to India?

I am meeting with civic authorities, government and industry officials, chambers of commerce, experts from all over India to invite them to the ninth World Congress of Metropolis. I’ve been to Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri, Bangalore, Hyderabad.

What is the advantage of being a part of this organisation?

According to research at the Metropolis Congress, as much as 80 per cent of the world’s population will live in the cities by 2050 and 55 per cent of cities with populations of more than a million will be in the Asia Pacific region.

The Metropolis Association offers a framework for cooperation and exchange of technical expertise between member cities in the areas of urban development, waste management and ecological issues, transportation and so on.

But it’s up to enlightened civic officials to take this forward. Vandana Chauhan, a former mayor of Pune, was one such. And under her, the civic body started putting out a chapter on climate change in its report.

Indian cities have a number of problems, exacerbated by corrupt and ill-informed civic officials. What has been your experience?

Good and bad. Everyone’s concerned, but the fact that mayors are elected and have a short tenure imposes a lack of continuity. It is the commissioners who are more concerned about the long-term implications.

I was particularly interested in the Magarpatta city, where 120 farmers have come forward to build a city around a central garden. It’s an example that can easily be replicated elsewhere. I’m hoping that a representative of Magarpatta comes to Sydney for the Congress.