City-Level Decoupling-Case Studies

CITY-LEVEL DECOUPLING: URBAN RESOURCE FLOWS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSITIONS

This founding regenerative approach has evolved as developmental programmes and facilities in settlements around the city have researched and implemented the most context-appropriate sustainable systems in Auroville’s rural and urban areas. Auroville has its own recycling site that processes all but 14% of the total generated waste, and non-recyclable waste is currently stored until future solutions are found. 14 The city has 20 community-level sewage treatment facilities experimenting with the most effective ways of treating wastewater so that it can be safely discharged back into groundwater. 15 Renewable energy is generated by 1,200 photovoltaic panels, and water is circulated using 140 solar water-pumping units and 30 windmills. Some houses and small settlements rely completely on renewable energy sources. 16 Auroville has supported expertise in earth building, 17 and its Earth Institute develops and transfers cost- and energy effective earth- based building technology throughout India and to other countries through consultations, courses, seminars, workshops, its website, manuals and other documents. 18 Aurovillians live in settlements of varying sizes and degrees of self-sustainability, separated by Tamil villages and temple lands in the forest that covers the city. 19 Each settlement contains one or more developmental programmes and facilities 20 that test and implement appropriate approaches to reforestation, organic agriculture, education, health care, village development, appropriate building technology and construction, information technology, small and medium scale factories and businesses, town planning, water table management, cultural activities, and community services. 21 Funding for specific projects comes from governments, government organisations and non- government organisations, both Indian and foreign, as well as international organisations. 22 Some 2,221 Auroville residents, known as Aurovillians, were recorded in the census in June 2011. Of this population, 940 were Indian and the rest consisted of 44 nationalities. 23 The self-governing nature of decision-making processes in Auroville 24 that have shaped the city’s policies, programmes and infrastructure are based on the principal of universal suffrage: every resident has the right to participate in decisions made at regular community meetings through open dialogue and by consensus rather than voting. Careful deliberation during these meetings has meant that progress is slow, but it has also ensured that the city grows in accordance with its vision and the expressions of its inhabitants. Auroville’s spiritual foundation has led to it being labelled as a religious utopian experiment. 25 This approach has been blamed for some decisions that appear to be based on idealism rather than taking contextual constraints into account, for example the incorporation of water features in the face of water shortages or the inattention of the initial city plans to the 40,000 impoverished villagers living in clusters between Auroville settlements. In 1968, the plan was for a city for 50,000 people, yet 40 years later only two percent of this population has been established. Auroville is often criticised for its slow progress. Despite the city’s slow progress, its unifying vision and decision-making processes that are both people-orientated and transparent have allowed it to achieve a sustainable developmental path. This could be attributed to the fact that Aurovillians choose to be there and are committed to addressing the complexities related to development in order to reach a shared vision. Another contribution to the successful sustainable construction of Auroville is the various developmental programmes and

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