Launch of Project Urban Living Lab (PULL) website
New Delhi, November 12, 2021: The website and knowledge products from the Project Urban Living Lab, Panaji (PULL), India’s first urban living lab, were made publicly available by Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India and H.E. Mr. Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India.
PULL has been set up under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Royal Danish Embassy in India (RDE) and Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL). PULL was initiated in January 2020 and evolved as an urban sandbox to test new approaches and solutions for sustainable and liveable cities in collaboration with residents, policymakers, public bodies, businesses and academia. The results from PULL will be shared and upscaled to other parts of India and contribute to realising the vision of the Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark.
Sh. Durga Shankar Mishra said, "I hope that through this launch, Indian cities grappling with urban challenges similar to those in Panaji, can identify some key game-changing action points and draw inspiration from PULL’s sandbox approach to kickstart similar initiatives."
H.E. Mr. Freddy Svane stated, "Urbanization is a fact and contains challenges and opportunities. The scale, speed, scope and skills will shape our sustainable future.With this launch, action points are made available and may inspire others."
The setting up of PULL has been supported by the Royal Danish Embassy, New Delhi and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark and implemented by Oxford Policy Management along with Transitions Research and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Ramboll and TERI in their capacities as knowledge partners have supported the implementation of PULL through knowledge sharing and integration of global sustainable solutions and approaches. The City of Panjim, Goa was chosen as the pilot city for demonstration in key thematic areas of Water Resilience, Mobility and Data-driven governance and Planning.
"As a knowledge partner to Panaji Urban Living Lab, Ramboll has been able to both inspire and collaborate with the PULL-team bringing world class sustainable solutions within flood management, nature based solutions and mobility planning to Goa. Even though COVID-19 meant that we were not as present locally as originally planned, our expertices and flexibility meant that we were able to collaborate across continents" said Neel Strøbæk, Senior Group Director, Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility, Ramboll.
Dr. Vikrom Mathur, Founding Director, Transitions Research, in his presentation about the project expanded on the extensive work done by PULL in Panaji. He stated, "Small-scale testing and fine-tuning of solutions can help Indian cities identify and refine suitable solutions for wider deployment". Highlighting the capacity building aspect of the project, Mr. Sanjay Seth, Senior Director, Sustainable Habitat Programme, TERI, said, "The learning outcomes of this partnership will significantly contribute towards the capacity building ofurban stakeholders and will provide a blueprint to tackle urban challenges of smart cities using global solutions".
The website is accessible at: https://urbanlivinglabindia.com/