• Exploring Innovations in Urban
    • Master Planning of Urban Services
    • Utility Transformation
    • Service Delivery Models
    • Planning Resilient and Sustainable Cities
    • Citizen-centric Smart Models
    • Urban Resource Optimization
    • Sustainable and Safe Buildings
About Us

Urban Resilience and Management - Key Projects


Project Name: Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN India)
Client: The Rockefeller Foundation

Taru is Rockefeller Foundation’s India country partner for the “Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network,” a major climate change initiative that focuses upon assessing Climate Change related risks in 40+ cities across four countries (India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam), and building climate change resilience to a changing, challenging urban environment. The initiative aims to catalyze attention, funding, and action in three primary areas: 1. Experimenting with and testing local approaches to building climate change resilience for institutions and systems serving poor and vulnerable communities, 2. Promoting, demonstrating, and disseminating knowledge about these and other viable approaches, 3. Increasing awareness among funders, practitioners, policy makers and business on the need to invest in building climate resilience.

Project Name: Goa Sustainable Cities
Client: International Gas Union (IGU), Tokyo

Taru participated, with other partners, in the scenario development and design of the Goa 2100 Model for Sustainable Cities for an international Urban Design Competition at the World Gas Conference in Tokyo. The project is one of the few attempts since the 1970s to develop an integrative theory of design that views cities as ecosystems that spans from the city neighborhood to the regional scale over a century-long time horizon with three goals of sufficiency and equity, efficiency and sustainability for well being of people, communities and eco-systems, using a minimal throughput of matter-energy-information with least impact on nature, society and future generations.

Project Name: Climate Change Risk and an Adaptation and Mitigation Agenda for Indian Cities
Client: IIED and the Earth Institute, Columbia University

IIED and the Earth Institute, Columbia University commissioned Taru to prepare the India background paper for the Global Urban Summit on Climate Change Risk and an Adaptation and Mitigation Agenda for Indian Cities. The Paper reviewed all the major climate change risks to Indian cities, identified populations and elements at risk and attempted to define a climate change adaptation and mitigation framework for Indian cities.

Project Name: Urban Environmental Services Master Plan for Lucknow (1996-2021)
Client: WSO, ODA

The assignment encompassed developing, synthesizing and producing the Master Plan focused on improvements to water supply, sewerage and sanitation, surface water drainage and solid waste services with a view to improving the living conditions in the city and emphasized the situation of the urban poor and other vulnerable groups.

Project Name: New Institutional Arrangements for Water and Environmental Sanitation Services in Gangtok
Client: Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)

The assignment involved secondary reviews, stakeholder consultations, organisation of National and international exposure visits- leading to agreement on the principles for new institutional arrangements. Options were developed and detailed based on these. Taru further assisted the Government of Sikkim (GoS) in implementing the initial steps of the transition process, including the creation and capacity building of two Transition Cells and delineation of roles and responsibilities for transition at the GoS level.

Project Name: Revision of Slum Infrastructure Development Guidelines for the KUSP Program
Client: DFID India

The project captured perceptions on policy, planning and design processes, technology, implementation and post-construction management through a mix of structured household surveys and qualitative discussions with a range of stakeholders.

Project Name: Strategy for Urban Poverty Reduction in India
Client: CARE India

The project examined the various dimensions of urban poverty in India and identified select towns from the neglected secondary centers that presented an opportunity for intervention. Later, we assisted CARE with the Urban Poverty Reduction Strategy for Andhra Pradesh (AP). This involved an analysis of urbanization processes and poverty in the State, a review of ongoing poverty alleviation efforts and identification of niche opportunities and partners in Visakhapatnam.

Project Name: Climate Change Risk and an Adaptation and Mitigation Agenda for Indian Cities
Client: IIED and the Earth Institute, Columbia University

IIED and the Earth Institute, Columbia University commissioned Taru to prepare the India background paper for the Global Urban Summit on Climate Change Risk and an Adaptation and Mitigation Agenda for Indian Cities. The Paper reviewed all the major climate change risks to Indian cities, identified populations and elements at risk and attempted to define a climate change adaptation and mitigation framework for Indian cities.

Project Name: The National Action Plan for Rural Housing
Client: Department of Rural Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Rural Area and Employment

The study included preparation of the database across identified districts across the country, preparation of district level action plans to illustrate and cover key aspects of rural housing including materials, technologies, employment, finance and institutional arrangements. The research study culminated in preparation of the National level action Plan for Rural housing to enable the central government initiate action in the area. The study provided a structured framework for planning and monitoring rural housing programmes.

Project Name: Urban Services Monitoring System (UrSMS)
Client: The Rockefeller Foundation

As a part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s ACCCRN initiative Taru conceptualized & established a Short Message Service (SMS) enabled UrSMS for the Surat Municipal Coorporation. The objective of the UrSMS is to elevate the existing complaint & monitoring system to a much advanced as well as involving people participation. The main feature of the system is designed: to enable officials in SMC to view the map, data and relevant statistics on near real time basis; to enable decision makers to evaluate the performance and bottlenecks at various levels to take timely action. UrSMS has two components - Services Monitoring System and Complaint System. The system is designed on an efficient platform. System components include: Water supply complaint system; Solid waste complaints; Door to Door – Solid waste collection, Dead animal carcass, Waste Container Lifting, Drainage & Sewerage complaints; Health Department reporting system: Hospital/ Health centre to SMC. This intervention and system development for the urban local body aims towards improving the monitoring and grievance redressal system of Municipal services. This can also be used as an emergency two-way monitoring system during flood emergencies like floods.