Sebastien Maire.Sebastien Maire, chief resilience officer in the French government, flew down from Paris to New Delhi last week to participate as a speaker in the DDA’s deliberation session on formulating Delhi’s Master Plan 2041. He tells The Indian Express that every city must expand, keeping climate change in mind.
Delhi is in the process of forming its next master plan for 2041? What do you think are the key areas it needs to work on?
The capital’s population in the coming decade will double, which means it will need more schools and hospitals. We need to build infrastructure very fast, but in a way that does not lead to further deterioration of the environment. We must always see, before creating any infrastructure, if it is really useful or if we have a nature-based solution to the problem without infrastructure.
So we still need infrastructure, but maybe less?
Yes. While designing infrastructure, we should see that it serves several goals. Car-centric development and adding more buildings is not the solution. Rather, focus should be on creating more public spaces. Buildings should be made in such a way that they can be cool in summer without using energy and producing carbon… Heat waves have killed more people in France than terrorism. We are transforming courtyards in schools by building green walls; and concrete surfaces are designed in a way that they absorb water. We need to think of climate change while constructing new projects.
The problem with Delhi is multiplicity of agencies. What is the model you follow and would recommend?
Creating a position in a local government that is a contact point for all agencies. The body should be as legitimate as the Mayor or heads of other departments, so it can work with all agencies. In Paris, I report directly to the head of administration, which gives me legitimacy to work with any agency and get it on board. This is missing in local governance here.
But instead of creating yet another agency, wouldn’t it be better to bring them all under an existing one?
I am not sure. Each institution has its own competency — we don’t need to suppress or erase, but link them all together. They (different agencies) were created as they have concrete expertise in particular areas. Earlier, each was limited to one domain, but now they need to be linked together.
