Pune to host Urban Mobility Lab prog
PUNE: Pune has been selected as India’s First Lighthouse City for mobility solutions in response to the Grand Challenge launched by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog and RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute). As the first Lighthouse city, Pune will be the initial host of the Urban Mobility Lab, a programme that supports the development and implementation of mobility solutions for Indian cities. The lab will be launched with multi-day solutions workshop in August 2018.
RMI is an organisation in the United States which is dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability, with a special focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency. James Newcomb, Managing Director of Rocky Mountain Institute has sent a letter to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and gave information of the selection of Pune as India’’s First Lighthouse City for mobility solutions in response to the Grand Challenge launched by NITI Aayog and RMI.
Pune has set up first lighthouse project in Aundh area under the Smart City’ mission in July 2016. Now, there are five lighthouse projects in different parts of the city. The main objective of Lighthouse Project is to provide the underprivileged youths of Pune, a chance to explore possibilities for enhancing their skills and pursuing a meaningful career.
Pune serves as a testbed for identifying, implementing and scaling integrated pilot projects in order to drive whole system transformation of mobility in India’s cities.
Five other applicant cities - Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam will be invited to participate in the Urban Mobility Lab to learn from the process and cultivate relationships and partnership.
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant announced Grand Challenge in November 2017. Pune was named the Grand Challenge winner following a nationwide application process. Key selection criteria for the Grand Challenge included strong local government support, demonstrated progress on shared, clean and connected and the city’s relevance to Urban Affairs in India.
As the first Lighthouse city, Pune will be the first host of the Urban Mobility Lab, a programme that helps accelerate solutions to complex mobility problem and implement those solutions as a portfolio of integrated pilot projects. The lab will be launched with a multi-day solutions workshops in Pune in August 2018. Bringing together multi-stakeholder teams working on high impact, innovative projects that address critical issues in Pune and India’s mobility system. During the solutions workshop, these teams will work to rapidly advance their solutions with the support of expert advisors and public sector participants. Following the solutions workshop, thelab will serve as an ongoing platform to support implementation, share lessons learned and scale pilot projects from Pune to other Indian cities.
RMI will be administering the Urban Mobility Lab with the support of the Government of Maharashtra and Pune Municipal Corporations.
