Sustainable urbanization has become critical as cities globally continue to expand. The United Nations projecting that by 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas. This rapid urbanization presents both challenges and opportunities for developing sustainable, inclusive cities.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities—specifically aims to ensure cities are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. This goal has several key targets, such as providing affordable housing, ensuring sustainable transportation systems, improving air quality, and reducing environmental impacts.
At its core, SDG 11 supports the sustainable development of urbanization, efficiency of resources, social inclusivity, and resilience to disasters. Each of these sub-goals points toward dealing with inequalities, responsible use of resources, environmental concern, and social concern of cities. These targets address the current pressing issues in modern urbanization, such as waste management, preservation of cultural heritage, reduction of air pollution, and creation of inclusive public spaces.(The Global Goals)(Our World in Data).
For startups looking to align with these goals, many initiatives worldwide are already addressing these critical areas of urban development. By learning from these initiatives, startups can integrate sustainable practices into their operations and contribute to achieving SDG 11 by 2030. Below are 12 key organizations and initiatives fostering sustainable urbanization.
1. C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
Founder: David Miller
Founded in: 2005
Location: London, United Kingdom
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group brings together 97 of the world's biggest cities-which represent over 700 million citizens and a quarter of the global economy-to take action against climate change by developing and implementing sustainable urban practices that decrease greenhouse gas emissions and further facilitate clean energy solutions.
C40 grants access to expertise and technical expertise that enables cities to develop and implement climate action plans. Its most important strategies are: the reduction of air pollution in urban areas, proper waste management, and developing more inclusive and greener public spaces. C40 is also responsible for the "Deadline 2020" report-a pathway to fulfill city ambitions under the Paris Agreement. This has an important role, considering that more than 75% of worldwide CO2 emissions originate in cities, making C40 works a benchmark for sustainable urban planning.
Notable Actions:
Climate Action Planning framework for 25 cities in order to reduce their carbon emissions.
Waste to Wealth programs that would inculcate the tenets of a circular economy.
Peer-to-peer learning among planners of these cities in order to share the best practices.
2. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Founder: Darbari Seth
Founded in: 1974
Location: New Delhi, India
TERI has been at the forefront of sustainable development, developing scientific and technical solutions for a number of important areas related to urban energy management. Many sustainability challenges have been addressed by the Centre on a wide array of subjects-from air quality and energy efficiency to climate change mitigation. The flagship program of this Centre is the "Energy Efficiency Program for Buildings" under which encouragement of green building practices is sought in fast-growing Indian urban centers.
Various projects undertaken by the organization for improving energy utilization in public transport, energy efficiency in commercial establishments, as well as waste management in Indian metropolitan cities, among others, are identified here. TERI has also collaborated on local government projects dealing with various aspects of urban resilience, building preparedness in cities to tackle the effects of climate change more effectively.
Key Programs:
Green Building Rating Systems: TERI encourages green building in urban centers, making the buildings truly resource-efficient.
Urban Heat Island Effect Mitigation: Green roofing and planning of cities to reduce the intensification of heat in cities are some of the efforts put in by TERI.
Integrated Public Transport Solutions: TERI collaborates with municipalities in India to make public transport work smartly and reduce emissions that result from congestion.
3. ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
Founder: Jeb Brugmann
Founded in: 1990
Location: Bonn, Germany
ICLEI helps local governments create sustainable urban environments. With more than 1,750 member cities, towns, and regions around the globe, ICLEI aids municipalities in developing strategies to lower their ecological footprint. The most important strategy pursued by ICLEI is to promote integrated urban planning where sustainability would remain at the heart of waste management, mobility, and land use.
ICLEI develops partnerships in cities and regions to scale up successful sustainability solutions to be globally applicable. Its Urban LEDS project has helped Coimbatore and Rajkot become low-emission developmental strategies.
Major Initiatives:
GreenClimateCities Program: One of the major focuses on urban carbon emission reductions.
Resilient Cities Congress: A global platform for city-to-city best practice sharing on resilience and disaster risk reduction.
EcoMobility Alliance: This aims at promoting cycling, walking, and other forms of urban mobility that are non-motorized and sustainable.
4. Smart Cities Mission, India
Founder: Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Founded in: 2015
Location: Nationwide, India
One of the ambitious programs for urban development and sustainable urbanization in India is the Smart Cities Mission. It aims to cover 100 cities in the country, bringing much-needed improvement in infrastructure and quality of life with technology interventions. A smart city will integrate solutions such as renewable energy, efficient waste management, and better water systems in a sustainable manner.
In keeping with this, citizen participation should ensure that smart city planning is to meet the needs of the locals and encompasses the poorer sections of society as well. The mission promotes the use of smart technologies in the management of resources to increase the efficacy of urban services.
Notable Projects:
Surat's Smart Water Grid: Utilizes IoT sensors to monitor the supply and consumption of water.
Indore's Waste Management System: Being recognized for its effective segregation and recycling of the produced waste.
Ahmedabad's Green Mobility Plan: Developing extensive cycling networks to reduce traffic congestion and emission.
5. Praan
Founder: Angad Daryani
Founded in: 2017
Location: Mumbai, India
Praan is a unique Indian startup, started to address air pollution-arguably one of the primary urban challenges facing most of India's fast-expanding cities. At a time when the global situation, with air pollution considered one of the world's worst urban concerns, is not far from positive, Praan employs state-of-the-art technology to aid in overcoming it.
The flagship product of this startup is Mk1, a breakthrough outdoor air purifier that operates without filters, minimizing the operational cost usually involved with the traditional variants. This machine is capable of removing the two most harmful particulate matters present in any urban environment: PM2.5 and PM10. Praan designs its systems for outdoors in public spaces to help in building healthier cities by purifying the air.
Key Initiatives:
Collaborations with local governments: Praan has partnered with municipalities in Mumbai and New Delhi to deploy air-purifying units throughout high-traffic areas within cities.
Scalable solution for urban centers: By engineering a low-cost, modular solution, Praan hopes to scale its operations in hundreds of Indian cities that have poor air quality.
Sustainable design: The Mk1 is solar-powered, thereby ensuring that it has little environmental impact while operating continuously in high-pollution zones.
Praan's work to make cities sustainable and resilient through technological innovation holds the key to improvement in air quality in cities, which is a component of good public health and overall quality of life. Its mission aligns with the wider objectives of sustainable urbanization, particularly in megacities like Mumbai, that battle intense challenges from pollution.
6. JalTara
Founder: Dr. Anurag Awasthi
Founded in: 2015
Location: New Delhi, India
JalTara is an Indian start-up focused on the conservation of water, which deals with one of the most crucial features of urban sustainability: water management. Rapid urbanization and certain climatic changes have resulted in increased water scarcity in most Indian cities. JalTara proposed to address this challenge through a series of water conservation strategies, mainly rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling, which can effectively optimize functionality at the water management system levels in a densely urbanized setting.
The major technology deployed by JalTara involves the construction of community-based systems for conserving water by capturing and storing rainwater. Such systems prove to be particularly helpful in an urban environment where both a lack of water and flooding exist together due to poor drainage and infrastructure. The work of the startup feeds directly into SDG 11.5, which is targeted at reducing adverse impacts of natural disasters, notably including those related to water such as urban flooding.
Major Contributions:
Rainwater Harvesting Units: These are installed in many cities and help in the collection of rainwater, reducing urban flooding.
Greywater Recycling: The systems by JalTara treat grey water from households and industries, thus providing a very sustainable solution to the increasing shortage of water within the confines of cities.
Public-Private Partnerships: The startup has installed its systems into city infrastructures in collaboration with local governments and urban planners.
JalTara is poised to make a difference in the ways Indian cities manage water to build resilience to climate stress.
7. Ather Energy
Founder: Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain
Founded in: 2013
Location: Bengaluru, India
Ather Energy is leading the revolution in electric mobility in India. Considering that rapid urbanization faces severe affliction from air pollution and congestion on the road, Ather Energy concerns itself with the production of vehicles capable of promoting sustainability in transport. In this respect, their electric scooters try to give an ecological alternative to traditional petrol-based automobiles, which have been considered a major contributor to urban squalor. Alignment with SDG 11.2: Access to safe, affordable, and sustainable transport.
Ather Energy works towards electric vehicles that offer cleaner air and smarter city mobility. Some technologies include touchscreen dashboards, navigation via mobile apps, and real-time vehicle diagnostics. The power for the scooters comes from lithium-ion batteries, which draw off many of the environmental benefits over the use of fossil fuels.
Notable Developments:
AtherGrid: A network of fast-charging stations across urban areas in India, which would definitely make the adoption of EVs seamless and a piece of cake for city dwellers.
Sustainable Manufacturing: The Ather Hosur assembly plant draws on renewable sources of energy-a true reflection of the commitment to sustainability through the value chain.
Consumer Education: The startup informs and trains the customers about the benefits of EVs, as seen through the cultural shift toward more sustainable transportation in urban India.
Also, Ather Energy focuses on sustainable urban transport solutions, meaning that conventional vehicle environmental impacts would be encountered and further enhanced mobility inside the dense urban core. In this way, such a holistic approach supports the broader aim of SDG 11 in developing sustainable and efficient urban systems.
8. UrbanClap (now Urban Company)
Founder: Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra
Founded in: 2014
Location: Gurugram, India
UrbanClap, now rebranded as Urban Company, is a service-based platform that addresses multiple aspects of sustainable urban living by providing on-demand services such as cleaning, beauty, plumbing, and electrical repairs. One of the platform's significant contributions to sustainability is its focus on promoting eco-friendly cleaning solutions and reducing resource wastage in urban households. Urban Company aligns with SDG 11.6, particularly in terms of reducing the environmental impact of cities.
The company provides sustainable alternatives to common household services, incorporating environmentally friendly practices into their operations. For example, their cleaning services use biodegradable products that reduce chemical runoff and pollution in cities. Additionally, Urban Company has a strong emphasis on training service professionals in energy-efficient and waste-minimizing methods, creating more environmentally responsible urban services.
Major Initiatives:
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products: Urban Company’s cleaning services use products that are less harmful to the environment compared to traditional chemicals.
Sustainable Practices in Home Repairs: Technicians are trained to offer energy-efficient solutions for urban households, such as LED lighting and water-saving fixtures.
Circular Economy: Urban Company actively promotes repair and reuse over replacement, contributing to the reduction of urban waste.
UrbanClap's focus on resource efficiency and waste minimization makes it a critical player in fostering sustainable urban living. By offering eco-conscious alternatives, it helps to reduce the environmental footprint of urban households across India.
9. Yulu
Founder: Amit Gupta
Founded in: 2017
Location: Bengaluru, India
Yulu is a micro-mobility startup that offers electric bikes and bicycles for rent across various Indian cities, addressing the growing problem of urban traffic congestion and pollution. Yulu’s service aligns directly with SDG 11.2, which promotes access to safe, affordable, and sustainable transport systems. Their electric two-wheelers provide a convenient and eco-friendly alternative to conventional vehicles, helping reduce urban air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Yulu operates through a simple app-based rental system, allowing users to locate, unlock, and ride e-bikes on-demand. These bikes are strategically placed near key urban transport hubs to complement public transportation systems and offer first- and last-mile connectivity. This approach helps reduce the reliance on cars and bikes powered by fossil fuels.
Key Features:
Electric Mobility Network: Yulu has set up a network of charging stations across major cities, making electric mobility more accessible.
Affordable and Convenient: Yulu’s affordable pricing model ensures that urban residents of all economic backgrounds can access sustainable transport options.
Collaboration with Local Governments: Yulu works closely with city municipalities to ensure proper infrastructure for bike-sharing systems, such as designated lanes and parking zones.
Yulu’s electric bikes and their user-friendly rental system make sustainable transportation an attractive and accessible option in densely populated Indian cities like Bengaluru and Delhi.
10. TrashCon
Founder: Nivedha R.M.
Founded in: 2017
Location: Bengaluru, India
TrashCon is an innovative Indian startup that focuses on tackling one of the most pervasive issues in urban environments: waste management. With cities generating enormous amounts of waste daily, effective waste management solutions are crucial for reducing the environmental impact of urbanization.
TrashCon’s flagship product, the TrashBot, is a waste segregation machine that can automatically separate mixed waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials. This system drastically improves the efficiency of waste management processes, reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and encouraging recycling efforts.
Additionally, the startup works to convert biodegradable waste into compost and non-biodegradable waste into reusable products, thereby contributing to a circular economy.
Key Achievements:
Nationwide Adoption: TrashCon’s technology has been adopted by various municipalities across India, helping cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai manage their waste more effectively.
Sustainability Impact: The startup has prevented over 300,000 tons of mixed waste from reaching landfills by enabling recycling and composting.
Community Involvement: TrashCon actively involves local communities, educating citizens about the importance of waste segregation and sustainability.
TrashCon’s efforts have been instrumental in transforming urban waste management systems in India, addressing a major challenge faced by many rapidly growing cities. By focusing on scalable, tech-driven solutions, the company is helping urban areas manage their waste in more sustainable ways, aligning perfectly with the objectives of SDG 11.
Conclusion
While urbanization remains a source of challenge, it is also an opportunity for achieving sustainable development, especially in countries with fast-growing cities like India. In rapidly expanding cities, it is required to manage their environmental and social impacts for the achievement of SDG, particularly No. 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. The various startups and different initiatives discussed in the above article essentially prove that technology, innovation, and collaborative efforts can solve pressing urban challenges relating to air pollution, waste management, water conservation, and sustainable transportation.
Indian startups like Praan, JalTara, Ather Energy, and TrashCon are not only innovating solutions tailored to the country's unique urban challenges but are also setting global examples. These companies contribute significantly to reducing urban pollution, improving resource management, and fostering inclusivity in city planning. At the same time, international collaborations like C40 Cities and ICLEI offer platforms where Indian cities and startups can exchange knowledge and scale sustainable solutions.
References
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group: https://www.c40.org/
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI): https://www.teriin.org/
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability: https://iclei.org/
Smart Cities Mission, India: https://smartcities.gov.in/
Praan: https://praan.io/
JalTara: https://jaltara.com/
Ather Energy: https://www.atherenergy.com/
UrbanClap (Urban Company): https://www.urbancompany.com/
Yulu: https://www.yulu.bike/
TrashCon: https://trashcon.in/
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