Shell group teams up with 3 cities, including Surat, on urban planning

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has teamed up with three major cities of the world, including Surat in Gujarat, for effective city planning and development.

“Urbanisation will be one of the most significant dynamics affecting the future, presenting both opportunities and risks,” Dr Glynn Ellis, Strategic Energy Advisor, Royal Dutch Shell, said.

Speaking on ‘Resilience in an Urbanising World’ at a conference in Manila, Ellis emphasised on the ‘New Lenses on Future Cities’ report brought out by Shell last year for better understanding of the urbanising world and to support city planning and development.

“We applied these ‘lenses’, a range of new analytical tools, to different city types and created scenarios around how individual cities could evolve and how they might be more efficient,” he said.

The energy giant is at present working with three major cities — Surat, Jakarta in Indonesia and Marikina City in the Philippines.

“We are working in Surat for developing solutions to build a roadmap for the city’s vision,” the official said.

Engineering students from prominent Indian engineering colleges are also participating in the event, he said.

“Shell’s Scenarios team continues to engage directly with the cities themselves including the city mayors, councils, federal authorities, non-profit organisations and communities — to listen to and try to understand their vision for progress and the challenges that they may be facing to achieve that growth,” Ellis added.

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