SMART-SUT: Integrated Vendor Centric Planning in Coimbatore

29 April 2021
Street vendor scene in Tamil Nadu (Copyright: Florian Lang)

The Sustainable Urban Transport Systems in Smart Cities (SMART-SUT) and the Sustainable Urban Development – Smart Cities (SUD-SC) projects are both working with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and local partners on multiple project interventions in the city of Coimbatore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. SMART-SUT focuses on interventions related to sustainable urban transport, such as non-motorized transport and public transportation, while SUD-SC project is aimed at setting the pretext for integrated urban development. Now the projects join hands to improve vendor centric planning in Coimbatore in an integrated way.

Coimbatore is one of the pilot cities to implement the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) of MoHUA. A sub-component of this mission focusses on pro-vending urban planning, involving provision of vending space through registering street vendors, conducting surveys, and maintaining a vendor database. Through the vendor centric planning activity, SMART-SUT and SUD-SC are keen on taking forward a cross-sectoral approach linking activities of the informal sector, it’s housing and economic practices with spatial planning and mobility.

The objective of this activity is to identify challenges of vending practices for all stakeholders including vendors, consumers, commuters, and city and state authorities. Finally, recommendations will be developed and submitted to the local partners for inclusive planning and enforcement at the city-level to sustainably support street vendors in their business practices.

Sustainable Urban Transport Systems for Smart Cities (SMART-SUT) is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project objective is to improve planning and implementation of sustainable urban transport systems in selected Indian cities and states. The project is part of the Indo-German Green Urban Mobility Partnership.