More than 50% of the world’s population lives in cities. They collectively contribute more than 80% of the world's GDP. The sustainability of our planet depends on how we manage cities. Urban Innovation Lab is an urban innovation company. We develop ideas, knowledge products, and technology solutions to influence the urban stakeholders for a better future of cities. We partner and collaborate with students, professionals, researchers and organizations to solve urban problems. Our Mission is to ‘Innovate Urban’. CityX is our platform for carrying out experiments in the city ecosystem. We identify urban problems, test hypotheses and carry out experiments to validate the results. GrowU is our platform to incubate and accelerate UrbanTech startups. We provide an ecosystem for startups on their journey from idea to implementation. We strongly believe in the idea of collective consciousness. We want to leverage the strength of passionate individuals and organizations through networking and collaborations. Join us in our vision for a better urban future.

Child Friendly Cities . Tim Gill, the author of No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk-Averse Society, said that a child-friendly city that enables “everyday freedoms”, so that kids can spread their wings as they grow. . As city planners and decision-makers, we have to understand that Dangerous streets, dilapidated buildings and inaccessible green spaces will refrain kids from playing outside. A safe environment is needed for a child's overall personality development. . Out of the 128.5 million children residing in Indian urban areas, close to 7.8 million children under the age of 0-6 years still live in abject poverty and poor conditions in informal settlements, making it imperative that we plan and build sustainable and inclusive cities from their perspective. (Source: smartnet.niua.org) . Here are : Six quick points to check whether a city is child friendly or not: . 1. Availablility of ample kids friendly outdoor recreation options. . 2. Factors enabling a clean and hygienic environment . 3. Availability of quality education institutes. . 4. A safe environment with less crime rate. . 5. Availability of pedestrian walking infrastructure. . 6. Demarcated vehicle-free zones. . Let us know in the comments section the name of your city and how much did your city score. 📌Follow - www.innovateurban.com . #urbaninnovation #researchorganisation #indianstartup #urbantech #cityplanning #urbanplanning #urbanization #citydevelopment #sustainabledevelopmentgoals #sustainability #urbantalk #knowledgeproduct #indiancity #development #professionalnetworking #collaborations #igbusiness #businessideas #urbanplanner #publicspace #bhyfp #financialplanning #childcare #safecity #childfriendly #childfriendlycities #childcareprovider #smartcities #urbandesigning

The knowledge about Urban Mental Health Services has always been missing in India. The Indian Government spends less than 0.05 percent of the total health budget on mental health. With just one mental health professional per 13000 people, most mental health specialists are extremely overloaded with work (Source: National Mental Health Survey of India, 2015-16). The problem has only gotten worse due to the pandemic. With the number of cases surging each day, near and dear ones getting affected, and amid lockdowns, stress and anxiety are at an all-time high in the second wave of Covid 19. . The lack of social gatherings led to a spike in suicide cases in Japan for first time in 11 years due to coronavirus pandemic. In February 2021, Japan has appointed a 'Minister of Loneliness. . Well, Japan is not the first country to invest in improving the mental health of its citizens. The UAE had in 2016 created the post of Minister of State for Happiness, launching a National Programme for Happiness and Positivity to promote wellbeing and happiness as a lifestyle. . Though states like Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have a happiness department at state level but still there lies a lot of scope in this field. . It's high time that India must invest in urban innovations for improving mental health in Indian cities. From place-making to policy level interventions, there lies a scope of urban innovation in the field of improving mental well-being in Indian cities. . 📌Follow - www.innovateurban.com . #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #selfcare #anxiety #motivation #depression #health #mentalhealthmatters #mindfulness #fitness #healing #happiness #positivity #mindset #therapy #covid #meditation #mentalillness #urbanplanning #architecture #urbandesign #design #urban #urbanism #cityplanning #placemaking #publicspace #planning #landscapedesign #smartcities

Early childhood time is a crucial phase in human development. It has been proven that adequate investments in physical surroundings, mental health and socioemotional domains in early childhood can result in overall child development. . Back in 2015, the U.S Federal Government had said that every dollar spent on pre-kindergarten education earns ‘$7 back’. . The Government of India talked about inclusive child-friendly cities in their flagship missions of Smart Cities and AMRUT. But still, there is scope of a high degree of urban innovation in this field. Right from adapting new-age design principles to building safer surroundings and bringing onboard stakeholders involved in child care - a holistic vision is needed in this domain. . After all, creating a child-friendly city gives us hope for a better future! . 📌Follow - www.innovateurban.com . #urbaninnovation #researchorganisation #indianstartup #urbantech #cityplanning #urbanplanning #urbanization #citydevelopment #sustainabledevelopmentgoals #sustainability #urbantalk #knowledgeproduct #indiancity #development #professionalnetworking #collaborations #igbusiness #businessideas #urbanplanner #publicspace #bhyfp #financialplanning #childcare #safecity #childfriendly #childfriendlycities #childcareprovider #smartcities #urbandesigning

A Strategic Approach to Enhance Property Tax Revenues in India By Dr Ravikant Joshi and Ram Khandelwal More than one-third of India’s population lives in our cities that contribute nearly two-thirds of India’s GDP. As per the World Bank Discussion Paper on Property Taxation in India, the contribution of the property tax in GDP in India (0.15%) is very low as compared to high-income (1.1%) and middle-income countries (0.6%). Under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Ministry of Finance has allowed increasing the borrowing limit of States by 0.25% of GDP subject to urban local body reforms. The States will have to put in place a system of periodic increases in floor rates of property tax and user charges in line with a price increase. Cities like Ahmedabad, Pune, and Indore which have implemented property tax reforms have received higher credit ratings and have been successful in raising municipal bonds. Many municipalities have simply not updated their property tax registers and many properties are simply not included in the tax base. The Vishakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (VMC) doubled its property tax from Rs 77 crore in 2010–11 to Rs 169 crore in 2013–14. The 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission estimated that only 60%–70% percent of properties in urban areas were actually assessed. In FY 2018, the property tax revenue in India was in the tune with Rs. 25,000 crores equivalent to 0.15% of national GDP. The authors estimate that by increasing coverage from 60% to 100%, property tax realization could increase up to Rs. 40,000 crores. This can be done without much increase in revision in property tax assessment rates and methods. The Indian administration system is well equipped with the requisite skills and resources to carry out door-to-door surveys for census operations. India lacks a robust addressing system that hinders property tax management as well. Adding, deleting, merging, and updating property records have been a daunting task for ULBs for decades. However, with technology advancements, digital street addressing systems and artificial intelligence-based drone mapping techniques are opening up new possibilities. Such ideas have been tested in cities like New Delhi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Sagar amongst others. For reading the full article, please visit: https://www.innovateurban.com/post/towards-financially-self-reliant-cities To know more about us, please visit: https://www.innovateurban.com/ To contact us, please drop an email at: contact@innovateurban.com