Smart City IndiaThe rising tussle over the strenuous usage of the available resources like energy,

transportation, finance, infrastructure etc. has led to an ongoing debate over the

need of sustainable concepts and smart solutions to revive the city life. It has been

estimated by the year 2030; approx. 600 million of Indians will be living in the cities

and, contributing towards 75% of the country’s GDP. The increasing pressure on the

urban landscape to accommodate the influx of migrants from rural areas is not a new

but, growing phenomenon in India and, around the world. In quest to the ever

increasing and mounting pressure; India will be in need of developing many new

cities to support and develop sustainable urban life system which brings its people

better opportunities and, drive inclusive economic growth. With this vision of

transforming the life of urban dwellers; the government of India has announced the

ambitious development mission of Smart Cities; proposal to build 100 smart cities by

the year 2025.

The disclosed list has mentioned about the 98 cities and towns which will cater to 24

capital cities; 24 business and industrial centres; 18 cultural and tourism influences

area; 5 port cities and, 3 education and health care hubs. The Centre has allocated

Rs. 48,000 crores to support each state with Rs 100 crores per year for the next five

years. The additional gap funding to mobilize resources would be gathered through

Public-Private Partnership projects; borrowings from multilateral or bilateral

agencies; overseas investors; bonds or leveraging finance through other

Government Ministries developmental schemes and many more.

According to Department of Business Innovation & Skills, UK “The Smart City is a

process, or series of steps, by which cities become more “liveable” and resilient and,

hence, is able to respond quicker to new challenges. Thus, a Smart City should

enable every citizen to engage with all the services on offer, public as well as private,

in a way best suited to his or her needs”. The “Smarter” city is being nurtured on the

concept of building “a city which is two steps ahead of the basic necessities of a

resident” as described by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. Another important

feature in explaining, “Smart Cities are those that are able to attract investments."

However, there is no absolute definition and, it is dependent on country to country;

city to city; people aspirations, willingness to change and reforms; available

resources and, many other aligned factors. As per European Commission, “these

factors can be achieved through infrastructure (physical capital), human capital,

social capital and/or Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

infrastructure”.

In view of many industry veterans, academicians, government officials, global

leaders across the world; these smart cities are the best possible solution to solve

the global complexities and challenges like food crisis, climate change, energy

shortage, environmental pollution, employment challenges and so on. In developed

countries like US, UK, Japan and developing nations like China and India; this

concept has been inserted as a top priority in national development agenda.

The craft of drawing smart city lies in the local area development, smart

infrastructure, finances, technical capacity and set up of advanced information and

communication technologies (ICT) which enables the city’s convergence to new and

smart services or facilities. Smart People, Smart Governance, Smart Living, Smart

Mobility, Smart Environment and Smart Economy can be noted as the key enablers

to facilitate the phased implementation of Smart City process.

Smart Living aspires for improved quality of life through smart housing facilities;

Smart People calls for better educational and life skill building institutions to heighten

community level participation; Smart Environment revolves around better and

optimal utilization of available natural resources and its sustainability; Smart

Governance involves active stakeholders participation in policy formulation and its

implementation; Smart Mobility ensures greater usage of ICT for transportation

purposes and, Smart Economy can be understood as increase in people’s

purchasing power; improved employment opportunities and lessen poverty rate. In

short, “Smart cities are all about liveability, sustainability and inclusion”.

In India previously; there has been real time few smart solutions undertaken to rectify

urban service mechanisms like Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) in Ahmedabad

(2009); SCADA for Water Management in Pimpri, Chinchwad (2011); Solid Waste

Management System in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. However, today

there is a need to upgrade the scale of selected cities and replicate these smarter

solutions or features across the different sectors or developmental areas or regions.

There are many important factors which shoulders the responsibility for the

successful implementation of this mission. The success of “bottom-up model” of city

development scheme is foremost dependent on the application of smart solutions

and active engagement and cooperation of its informed citizenry. It is pertinent to

make the local citizens aware of the available smart resources, its usefulness and,

bring in the required behavioural change. This major lesson has been realised and

learnt from the mistakes committed globally. For instance, London’s (one of the

smartest cities in the UK) ) on-street smart parking project in 2012 and, Shanghai’s

(one of the smartest cities in China) large-scale smart meter programme in the early

2010s, which proved to be unsuccessful despite projects massive investment in

technology and high potential to bring consumer benefits. The reason being the

authorities lagged behind in an effort to raise citizen awareness and usage of the

available services or facilities. The high dependency to generate finances at state

level through private and foreign investors plays a crucial role in determining the

project success.

Another important aspect to levy focus on smart leadership which pertains to

capacity building of various stakeholders like the policy makers, implementers etc. to

build their thorough understanding in terms of retrofitting, redevelopment, green field

and, pan city developmental initiatives of new cities.

As much this urban renewal seems to be rational and need of the hour but its

transforming agents comes with utmost challenges. The necessity to cope up with

the international standards adds immense pressure in India’s execution strategy of

smart city development; citizen involvement being the next most tad task, followed

by ICT connectivity, finance accumulation through effective public private

partnerships and many more.

Though the time has come to raise the bar higher with this vision of transforming the

urban landscape leading to transformed and better quality of life for its dwellers but it

would be interesting to keep a track over its meaningful progress in coming years; in

respect to India’s socio-economic diversity. It would be paramount to leverage both

traditional and modern enablers to ensure development of smart city which is

sustainable and better managed.