The Habitat Summit, which will take place from September 24 to 26 at the India Habitat Centre (IHC), is an attempt to address that lack of urban vision and to create “an alternative urban vision and agenda,” for Delhi. According to Raj Liberhan, director, IHC, and a member of the programme steering committee for the summit, an alternative urban agenda can only be developed by including citizens in the process of formulating policies.

“There is a large body of citizens interested in participating in the city dream but they do not know who anchors that city dream. This forum can serve as a manifestation of their aspirations,” Liberhan says.

Another member of the steering committee, Manit Rastogi, director of architectural firm Morphogenesis, believes that one of the reasons that Delhi has so far not been able to create an urban vision is the multiplicity of authorities with similar purposes. “There are so many agencies in Delhi. Sometimes it is difficult to understand how they reach a decision. Even for those citizens who have solutions for the problems, they do not know whom to approach,” he says.

The summit will feature a number of interesting public activities such as a Green Jobs Fair — that aims to “connect employers with green jobs and job seekers with green values.” The other public activities will be the Urban expo — which will feature the works of leading architects and urban thinkers — and an ideas competition, which will encourage citizens to investigate Delhi and put forth “radical ideas’ to tap its potential.