India launches family-friendly cities initiative
The Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge, designed to focus on shaping cities for young children and their families, has been launched in India.
It’s a three-year initiative through which the national government will give selected cities help in building capacity to re-imagine and adapt parks and open spaces, improve access to facilities, and create safer, walkable streets for children and families.
Around 40 per cent of India’s population is expected to live in urban areas by 2030, reports business website Mint, and to tackle the country will have to create around 600 to 800 million square metres of urban development. The Nurturing Neighbouring Challenge is open to all smart cities, other cities with a population of over 500,000, and state & union territory capitals.
The initiative is being run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and led by Hardeep Singh Puri, minister for housing and urban affairs.
