Smart City:A Pipe Dream
The utopian concept of smart cities that gripped parts of the world for a decade and captured Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s imagination seems to have finally broken ground in India. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has earmarked Rs.7,060 crore in the Union Budget to brainstorm the creation of a 100 “new” smart cities.
Across the world, the stride of migration from rural to urban areas is increasing. By 2050, about 70 per cent of the population will be living in cities, and India is no exception. It will need about 500 new cities to accommodate the influx.
Interestingly, urbanization in India has for the longest time been viewed as a by-product of failed regional planning. Though it is inevitable, and will only change when the benefits of urbanization overtake the costs involved, it is an opportunity for achieving faster growth.
With increasing urbanization and the load on rural land, the government has now realized the need for cities that can cope with the challenges of urban living and also be magnets for investment. The announcement of ‘100 smart cities’ falls in line with this vision.
A 'smart city' is an urban region that is highly advanced interms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate,
communications and market viability. It is a city where information technology is the principal infrastructure and the basis for providing essential services to residents. The buzz among architects, bureaucrats, engineers and planners is palpable with the expectation that India will finally have its own version of Barcelona of Spain, Songdo of South Korea, PlanIT Valley of Portugal and Masdar City of the United Arab Emirates soon.
When the entire world was facing one of the worst economic crises. In 2008, IBM began work on a 'smarter cities' concept as part of its Smarter Planet initiative. By the beginning of 2009, the concept had captivated the imagination of various nations across the globe.Countries like South Korea, UAE and China began to invest heavily into their research and formation. Today, a number of excellent precedents exist that India can emulate.
Under the smart city
Concept, the pyramid is upturned, where first the infrastructure is built and then people are invited to come and adapt to those spaces. This top-down heavy-investment-driven process typifies a city-in-a-box approach and throws up two important questions: who is going to build these cities? And who is going to live in them? In Bangalore, Cisco, in association with the Electronics City Industries Association, announced the transformation of Bangalore’s Electronics City.
Clearly, too much is at stake for big businesses as far as smart cities are concerned. Most of the smart cities in India are being envisaged as business and IT hubs which will invite Fortune 500 companies from all over the world to set up shop. The entry of international banks and insurance companies is expected to boost the economy, while goods and services pushed by fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies will feed consumerism and drive retail growth. The large-scale presence of foreign investment may render the Indian economy vulnerable in the long run. Public-private partnership is the magic wand for making these projects viable. As the fruits of development reach an increasingly large number of people, the pace of migration from the rural areas to the cities is increasing. A neo middle class is emerging which has the aspiration of better living standards.
I dont understand that are we moving towards a paradigm where only the affluent have a right to better lives and citizenship in smart cities, and are regulated cities in the hands of corporates socially or economically plural?
Brochure : Basic Infra: Assured water and electricity supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, robust IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation, safety and security of citizens.
Smart Solutions: Public information, grievance redressal, electronic service delivery, citizens’ engagement, waste to energy & fuel, waste to compost, 100% treatment of waste water, smart meters & management, monitoring water quality, renewable source of energy, efficient energy and green building, smart parking, intelligent traffic management system.
For now, the smart city dream exists only on promotional papers of the marketing teams of big corporates and government. Smart cities hardly seem like a turnkey solution to solve the problems of Indian cities as they exist. According to me, “Rather than promising bullet trains and smart cities, if the resources are properly utilised to improve the infrastructure for all the people, for example, basic things such as cleaner toilets in trains, it would make more sense.”
P.S - I apologise in advance if I have inadvertently offended anyone. This is just my viewpoint and not something that I believe to be an absolute truth. I would also like to apologise if this just seems like a rant. I assure the reader that I have attempted to look at the topic as objectively and analytically as possible.
Across the world, the stride of migration from rural to urban areas is increasing. By 2050, about 70 per cent of the population will be living in cities, and India is no exception. It will need about 500 new cities to accommodate the influx.
Interestingly, urbanization in India has for the longest time been viewed as a by-product of failed regional planning. Though it is inevitable, and will only change when the benefits of urbanization overtake the costs involved, it is an opportunity for achieving faster growth.
With increasing urbanization and the load on rural land, the government has now realized the need for cities that can cope with the challenges of urban living and also be magnets for investment. The announcement of ‘100 smart cities’ falls in line with this vision.
A 'smart city' is an urban region that is highly advanced interms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate,
communications and market viability. It is a city where information technology is the principal infrastructure and the basis for providing essential services to residents. The buzz among architects, bureaucrats, engineers and planners is palpable with the expectation that India will finally have its own version of Barcelona of Spain, Songdo of South Korea, PlanIT Valley of Portugal and Masdar City of the United Arab Emirates soon.
When the entire world was facing one of the worst economic crises. In 2008, IBM began work on a 'smarter cities' concept as part of its Smarter Planet initiative. By the beginning of 2009, the concept had captivated the imagination of various nations across the globe.Countries like South Korea, UAE and China began to invest heavily into their research and formation. Today, a number of excellent precedents exist that India can emulate.
Under the smart city
Concept, the pyramid is upturned, where first the infrastructure is built and then people are invited to come and adapt to those spaces. This top-down heavy-investment-driven process typifies a city-in-a-box approach and throws up two important questions: who is going to build these cities? And who is going to live in them? In Bangalore, Cisco, in association with the Electronics City Industries Association, announced the transformation of Bangalore’s Electronics City.
Clearly, too much is at stake for big businesses as far as smart cities are concerned. Most of the smart cities in India are being envisaged as business and IT hubs which will invite Fortune 500 companies from all over the world to set up shop. The entry of international banks and insurance companies is expected to boost the economy, while goods and services pushed by fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies will feed consumerism and drive retail growth. The large-scale presence of foreign investment may render the Indian economy vulnerable in the long run. Public-private partnership is the magic wand for making these projects viable. As the fruits of development reach an increasingly large number of people, the pace of migration from the rural areas to the cities is increasing. A neo middle class is emerging which has the aspiration of better living standards.
I dont understand that are we moving towards a paradigm where only the affluent have a right to better lives and citizenship in smart cities, and are regulated cities in the hands of corporates socially or economically plural?
Brochure : Basic Infra: Assured water and electricity supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, robust IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation, safety and security of citizens.
Smart Solutions: Public information, grievance redressal, electronic service delivery, citizens’ engagement, waste to energy & fuel, waste to compost, 100% treatment of waste water, smart meters & management, monitoring water quality, renewable source of energy, efficient energy and green building, smart parking, intelligent traffic management system.
For now, the smart city dream exists only on promotional papers of the marketing teams of big corporates and government. Smart cities hardly seem like a turnkey solution to solve the problems of Indian cities as they exist. According to me, “Rather than promising bullet trains and smart cities, if the resources are properly utilised to improve the infrastructure for all the people, for example, basic things such as cleaner toilets in trains, it would make more sense.”
P.S - I apologise in advance if I have inadvertently offended anyone. This is just my viewpoint and not something that I believe to be an absolute truth. I would also like to apologise if this just seems like a rant. I assure the reader that I have attempted to look at the topic as objectively and analytically as possible.
