5th Indo-German Dialogue on Green Practices:

“Genus loci – Locality matters”: Embedding sustainable transformation in local contexts

Dates:  13th – 15th October 2023

Place: Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, South India

Convenors: Dr. Christoph Woiwode, IGCS at IIT Madras, in collaboration with F5Green Foundation, Tiruvannamalai

After a break of three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are planning to launch the 5th iteration of the Indo-German Dialogue on Green (Urban) Practices (IGD).

This year’s focus is on place specificity and how locality matters for sustainable development. embedding sustainable transformation in local contexts in terms of their cultural, social, ecological, economic and other dimensions. We acknowledge that there exist different worldviews in India and across India and Germany. Can we identify those to explore how sustainability is brought to live in place specific contexts? This can be an endeavour to make more explicit, by becoming more aware, the underlying worldviews and values of our actions. In doing so, how can we connect locality to the worldviews and values to also probe critically what kind of transitions may be needed? And how dies the regeneration of urban places or more generally how does ‘place-making’ happen?

If you want to register please click here (https://forms.gle/jBWenCBDdjiMv5B2A)

There is no registration fee!

IGCS Area Coordinator for the focus area Land Use / Rural and Urban Development Development at IIT Madras, Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam, and former IIT Madras student Pokhraj Nayak, affiliated with the Building Technology & Construction Management (BTCM) Group, Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras have published their policy brief titled “How Green will Chennai be? Understanding and Reducing the Carbon Footprint due to Residential and Commercial Construction over the next two decades.” As India urbanizes rapidly, buildings account for significant energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The construction industry, particularly in cities like Chennai, contributes a quarter of CO2 emissions. Without mitigation efforts, these emissions will escalate, but recycling materials, choosing energy-efficient alternatives, and employing available technologies can help reduce carbon emissions and address the environmental impact of urbanization.

You can read more in the published policy brief, which you can also download below:

Are you interested in research on sustainability issues? The Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) awards scholarships to students and researchers whose projects on sustainability issues benefit from a research exchange to India or Germany. Our research fellows receive a one-time travel fund in addition to a monthly scholarship. The scholarship provides travel and living expenses according to DAAD funding rates, as a rule. The Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) offers scholarships to help you achieve your academic and professional goals.

Learn more about scholarship opportunities.

As part of the India-EU Partnership, this workshop took place on 17 – 18 April, focusing on river rejuvenation, especially Chennai’s Cooum River. It was a pleasure being invited to join the EU Delegation for a talk on “Potentials of Adaptive Capacity for River Rejuvenation in Chennai: A socio-ecological Systems perspective.” The two-day event saw representatives from the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department and several research institutions, like Anna University in Chennai, interacting with experts from the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, and Germany. A wide range of relevant topics was discussed, including potential solutions covering nature-based approaches, governance and participation, groundwater and traditional water management systems, and the relevance of the current review for the third master plan of the Chennai metropolitan region.

For more information, you can read the full article at: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/water-resources-department-looking-for-technical-support-funding-from-eu/article66767495.ece