New Delhi, April 26th, 2022: The Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE) has been awarded the Dubai International Award for Best Practices 2022, in the Urban Infrastructure Planning and Management Category. The Award has been given for URBGOV (URBan GOVernance) – a digital, spatial planning platform for participatory local government planning aimed at transforming the lives of urban poor people.
The Award supported by UN-Habitat and Dubai Municipality is now in its 25th year and recognizes emerging trends, innovations, and the world’s best practices that demonstrate valuable contributions to sustainable urban development, as a result of effective partnerships between the public, private, and civic sectors. This was the 12th Cycle of the Award.
H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai gave the trophy to the winner at the World Government Summit 2022 held in Dubai on 29th- 30th March 2022. It includes a cash prize of $200,000 and a trophy which is made in the shape of a wind tower, known as “Barjil” in Arabic.
URBGOV was chosen from among 2,950 entries from 148 nations. The selection was based on a rigorous, three-layered selection process with 27 eminent global sector experts on the jury.
URBGOV is a digital platform that facilitates interactions between left-out communities and city governments, promoting collaborative decision-making in city planning and service delivery. It has been shaped by intensive engagement with low-income urban poor communities and various city governments. In particular, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Dharamshala, Shamli, Shahjahanpur, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Jaipur, and Agra.
Dr. Renu Khosla, Director, CURE says, “URBGOV is a pathway out of poverty for the poor and for cities to transform and become inclusive and equal. It is an innovative – curating space for community-city interactions and collaborative decision-making. It blends emerging digital skills in a post-COVID and SMART phones world, enabling poor people, especially women, to share their needs, priorities, and solutions with cities, and get access to better services. For small-budget towns, with low access to technology, lack of real-time-reliable-spatial data, and limited community capabilities to co-create solutions, URBGOV is the tool that supports data management, service planning, and more efficient governance, and savings.”
In partnership with UN Habitat, the Dubai Municipality’s vision is to “Be a global platform to share futuristic practices achieving human happiness”. Their approach is to “Recognize global innovative practices that made a positive impact and continue to improve the quality of people’s life leading to the cities of the future”.
URBGOV is a tool for the future city. It is flexible, interactive, and dynamic. It is planned to integrate URBGOV functions within the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat, Jal Jeevan, Digital India, and other Missions to produce good planning at scale and sustainable urban development.
About Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE):
CURE’s mission is to achieve three goals; reconnected urban societies that take informed decisions to ensure sustainable urban development; strengthened local agencies with capacities for participatory community development and real evidence built from the ground up for effective service delivery.
CURE’s work focuses on building resilient communities and cities. It helps cities with the preparation of citywide slum upgrading and environmental resilience plans. The plans are designed to do three things: level people up – ensure equality, connect all the dots – ensure comprehensive and sustainable ecological solutions and integrate people within the city’s fabric – ensure inclusive development.
