Urban Policy Commission’s recommendation gives a fillip to ‘City of Literature’ initiatives

Kerala Urban Policy Commission recommends branding Kozhikode as 'Literature City' to enhance UNESCO 'City of Literature' status.

The Kerala Urban Policy Commission’s recommendation to officially brand Kozhikode as a ‘Literature City’ is expected to strengthen the Kozhikode Corporation’s efforts to uphold its UNESCO-designated status as the ‘City of Literature’.

The Commission’s report, submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday (March 30), comes close on the heels of the UNESCO selecting Kozhikode as one of its creative cities and conferring it the tag of ‘City of Literature’. Kozhikode is the only ‘UNESCO City of Literature’ in the country.

Constituted by the State government in December 2023, the Commission—chaired by M. Satheesh Kumar—was tasked with drafting a comprehensive urban policy to guide Kerala’s development over the next 25 years. The panel has recommended branding municipalities and cities across the State based on their regional characteristics. As per the report, Thrissur and Kochi are to be branded as fintech hubs; Palakkad and Kasaragod as industry-driven smart cities; Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam as a knowledge corridor; Kannur as a fashion city; and the Kannur-Kasaragod and Thrissur-Ernakulam stretches as educational and medical hubs. The Commission has also recommended development guidelines tailored to the specific needs of each city. “The purpose of the Urban Policy Commission is to design policies in accordance with the fast urbanisation of the State. Each town or city has a unique character and hence the policies will be different for each,” said Kozhikode Mayor Beena Philip.

To implement the Commission’s recommendations, the Kozhikode Corporation plans to form a special committee.  A panel of experienced persons will be constituted to discuss and suggest changes, the Mayor said.

Ms. Philip said that the Corporation expected support from the government in sharing the responsibility of keeping up the ‘City of Literature’ tag, as well as the funds for it.

At present, the Corporation has set aside only ₹3 crore for the purpose and expects that the branding will bring in more funds.

Besides, it expects to have a finance officer qualified enough to handle the complexities of accounting at a time when funds under various funds are put together for various projects. A town planner of its own, is another dream that the Kozhikode Corporation expects to be fulfilled soon, the Mayor said.