The traditional approach of various city stakeholders to burgeoning urban issues has been that of sporadic and sometimes one-off interventions. This ranges from confronting the government on an urban management issue to small philanthropic measures such as adopting schools, colleges, police stations, building road segments etc. There is a frustration that persists because of a lack of “Big Picture” engagement and being shut out of the actual decision making process. However, there is desire amongst various city stakeholders to contribute to both short term and long term measures and a willingness to put long term platforms into place which help tackle the urban challenges comprehensively.

City Connect has been formed to create this common platform for all city stakeholders to constructively engage with various government agencies on the city’s planning and implementation process. Our approach is hinged on the following beliefs:

• It is essential for various city stakeholders outside the government to work in a coordinated manner and represent themselves in a single voice
• It is essential to have a formal relationship and clear role for engagement with government agencies. It is important however to ensure that this does not distort the existing political / decentralized system
• It is essential to play a role that adds value to the system. Our aim is to assist government agencies by providing the knowledge base and support to help the development on urban infrastructure.

City Connect brings value at 3 levels by working with various government agencies responsible for urban infrastructure:

Strategic Inputs – Many of the strategic choices faced by government (on policies, large scale projects such as right location for a ring road around city, PPP initiatives etc.) are complex in nature. We can enable the right decisions by providing complete technical resources and capacities necessary for making the right choices.

Project Inputs – Many urban infrastructure projects involve not just 1 or 2 agencies but a multiple of government agencies working with their own priorities. We can enable detailing of a project in the most appropriate manner through taking a holistic view of project planning and enabling better co-ordination amongst various government agencies.

Implementation Inputs – As a group of diverse stakeholders, we can bring together multiple skills to ensure time-bound implementation of critical projects.

Area for Inputs – Potentially we can help government agencies in providing good quality of service to urban citizens in traffic and transportation, affordable housing, water, sewage, e-governance, city services to poor like food, education, insurance and other inclusive growth related issues, city management, land use and other urban infrastructure and services.