The U20 Promise

General Studies Paper 2

Recent Context:

• On July 7 and 8, Ahmedabad hosted the Urban 20 (U20) summit. In the history of G20 meetings, the Summit was the sixth of its kind.

About U20

• Urban 20 or U20 is a city diplomacy initiative, comprising of cities from G20 countries.
• It strives to establish a lasting practice of engagement among cities to develop a collective message that emphasizes the role of cities in taking forward the sustainable development agenda
• U20, established in 2018 to generate discussions among G20 members on urban issues, was first chaired and hosted by the city of Buenos Aires.
• For this year, the leadership was handed over to Ahmedabad as the 2023 Chair from the city of Jakarta, the Chair for 2022

Ahmedabad city is a model for urban development with concern

• First, Ahmedabad is a very good example of how cities in the Global South can achieve infrastructural development goals.
• The city has been comparatively successful in its implementation of innovative and liberal urban planning policies and as a result, has been able to organise its expansion better than most Indian cities.
• Ahmedabad has also shown what good quality public spaces can do for a city’s residents and its businesses.
• The city has executed some very challenging large-scale public projects in the last three decades and has become an example for many others to follow.
• Second, Ahmedabad also shows exclusionary and catastrophic socio-legal urban governance.
• The city is one of the most communally segregated urban areas in the country.
• Scholarship has shown that parts of the city that are homogeneously occupied by minorities and underprivileged caste communities — areas such as Dani Limda, Juhapura, etc. are neglected by the government.

Recommendation made for upcoming G20 meet: 

• It gives a promising six-point message
• Encouraging environmentally responsible behaviours
• ensuring water security
• accelerating climate finance
• championing local culture and economy
• re-inventing frameworks for urban governance and planning, and
• catalysing digital urban futures.
• While being heavy on the agenda of climate change and climate justice, the Communique also argues for equality and justice in urban development.

Certain areas of concern which are not addressed by U 20

• Over the last two decades, India has shown enthusiasm towards planned urban development, which is much needed and commendable.
• However, Mayors Summit’s conversations failed to address the Gujarat’s unique Disturbed Areas Act and the politics of urban exclusion and forced segregation along religio-ethnic lines.
• As communal narratives and segregation have made urban development increasingly exclusionary. This has distributed the costs and benefits of development unequally with communal identity acting as the marker of this distribution.

Conclusion

• The upcoming G20 meet is a good opportunity to reflect upon and judge India’s own urban governance and politics against the vision of the U20 Communique.
• Therefore, the upcoming G20 meeting should focus on issue of urban exclusion so that inclusive urban growth can be achieved and vision of G20 motto “One Earth, One Family, One Future” can be realised in letter and spirit.