Malaysian Perspective on River Pollution, Sanitation and Sewerage Management

January 19, 2017

JAN

CPR is pleased to invite you to a CORP seminar on
Malaysian Perspective on River Pollution, Sanitation and Sewerage Management – A Discussion on Policy and Operational Framework

Monday, 23 January 2017, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Dorai Narayanan

Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research

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Malaysia has developed an integrated approach to management and treatment of waste from sewered and non-sewered areas that is considered very successful. It is estimated that around 65% of the urban population of Malaysia is covered by network sewerage, while the rest rely on Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) services which are provided by the same agency that provides network sewerage services. As with any other success story, the Malaysian experience has contextual details, and its own share of problems and challenges, but there have been significant achievements in terms of coverage, quality of services and environmental outcomes. These achievements make it possible to think of FSM not as a second-rate solution for poor cities, but a viable and first-rate alternative to network sewerage.

The talk will focus on two themes: (i) The causes and remedies of river pollution and the linkages with the sanitation sector; and (ii) Sanitation and sewerage management in Malaysia as a case study of reform and sector transformation.

Dorai Narayanan was the Head of Department of the Planning & Engineering Department in Indah Water Konsortium. He joined Indah Water Konsortium in March 1996 as the Regional Planning Manager (North). Before joining Indah Water Konsortium, he served as Senior Sewerage Engineer in Penang ULB. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras, and a Graduate Certificate in Engineering (Environmental Management) from Melbourne University. He is a registered professional engineer.

Please RSVP to sci-fi@cprindia.org

CORP Seminar Series
This is the 11th in the series of the Community of Research and Practice (CORP) seminar planned by the Scaling City Institutions for India: Sanitation (SCI-FI: Sanitation) initiative. This seminar series aims to provide a platform for discussing the experiences of the researchers and practitioners on urban sanitation. Through these discussions, the sanitation initiative intends to build a stronger evidence base for developing policies, programmes and implementation of plans for achieving sanitized cities.

BRICS Cities: What are we comparing? by Philip Harrison

January 19, 2017

Dear All,

As part of our Urban Workshop Series, the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi, are delighted to invite you to a workshop on BRICS Cities: What are we comparing? by Philip Harrison South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Date: Tuesday, 31rst January 2017

Time: 3.45 p.m.

Venue: Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110 021

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The term BRIC was used initially in an analytical sense to refer to a grouping of countries beyond the West with the potential to reconfigure the geography of the global economy. After 2009 however it referred to a political alliance with geopolitical intentions (with BRIC becoming BRICS when South Africa joined in 2010). The construct is under pressure in terms of its analytical and political use as BRICS economies have become increasingly differentiated in terms of economic performance and as severe diplomatic tensions have emerged within the alliance.

In this seminar we discuss ongoing comparative work on cities in the BRICS, a grouping of countries that account for nearly 40% of the world’s total urban population. With the enormous diversity of the BRICS in almost all categories – including scale, economic performance, levels and rates of urbanisation, income and governance – questions arise over the meaning and purpose of comparison. We discuss the challenge of comparison but nevertheless show how very different places can be drawn into a meaningful comparative conversation. There is however a significant point of commonality. All countries in the BRICS have experienced far-reaching political and/or economic transformations over the past few decades in a way that the global West has not.

In the presentation we show how these macro changes have been translated into urban change, but also show how differences in the national and local management of these processes account in part for significant differences (and similarities) across the BRICS in terms of urban outcomes. We use the different trajectories of metropolitan governance as an illustrative case.

Prof. Philip Harrison is the South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning funded by the National Research Foundation and hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He served as a member of the National Planning Commission in the Office of the President from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Prof. Harrison was Executive Director in Development Planning and Urban Management at the City of Johannesburg for 4 years from 2006 to 2010. Prior to that, he held a number of academic positions at the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Natal, including Professor and Chair of Urban and Regional Planning at Wits from 2001 to 2006. He has published widely in the fields of city planning and regional and urban development. His most recent publication is the jointly edited book Changing Space, Changing City: Johannesburg after Apartheid.