SDG 11.2 Implementation: Jharkhand cities will be people-friendly and compact by integrating land use and transit systems through indicator 67, increasing the percentage of people within 0.5 km of public transit running at least every 20 minutes.

ITDP has achieved key successes and outcomes targeted by this project at both the policy and project levels. Key ideas related to sustainable transportation were seeded within the Ranchi and Jharkhand governments for the first time and targeted pilot projects were implemented on the ground. The project’s work at project, policy, city, and state levels has already benefited the lives of urban residents by providing increased mobility options, safer infrastructure, greater accessibility, and improved quality of life. Additional benefits, such as greenhouse gas reductions through improved access to public transport and non-motorized transport networks, and lowering of private motor vehicle usage, will accrue over time with the expansion of the pilots.<br />
ITDP found that it is critical to engage with all relevant government departments involved in a proposed project. There is also a need to build relationships with both senior and junior level officers within these departments. Support at various levels helps mitigate setbacks from personnel changes in the administration. ITDP’s experience with building and maintaining these relationships, especially in Ranchi, highlights the need for political awareness in many of these situations. ITDP will increase efforts to develop and sustain these connections in future engagements.<br />
It is important to develop, leverage and learn from our partners. Despite ITDP’s proficiency in technical and policy components of this work, there are aspects of grassroots-level engagement, facilitation, and inclusive capacity building where improvements could increase the organization’s understanding of sociological contexts further and raise the quality of engagements.<br />
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ITDP aims to balance a top-down and a bottom-up approach for project implementation. Since the political system and city administrations are prone to changes in leadership, working with senior as well as junior officials of the administrations is crucial to ensuring continuity throughout project implementation. Simultaneously, partnerships with civil society organizations is critical to ensure a continued push from citizens and monitoring of project implementation.<br />
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ITDP understands the needs to strategically leverage the media to obtain outcomes. ITDP plans to pursue a stronger engagement with the general public through increased advocacy, education, and outreach efforts. For example, ITDP has learned that citizen engagement and support is key for effective street design work during both the planning and implementation stages. Sidewalk improvement affects basic access; it is therefore crucial that key information about the project implementation is shared and adequate support is built up with all relevant stakeholders throughout the process. Tactical urbanism, temporary, low-cost residential interventions to illustrate the need for sustainable mobility, will be a key strategy to build coalitions and bring collective action. Neighborhood associations, merchant associations, service clubs, and other stakeholders will be engaged to help create examples of tactical urbanism that demonstrate the benefits of sustainable mobility to the public and decision-makers. Finally, ITDP views engagement with the media as a core component of all of its programs and project development strategies and will investigate further opportunities for engagement.