Smart Cities, a smart move for India

Ms. Mili Majumdar, Director, Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI

In an exclusive interview with Built Constructions, Ms. Mili Majumdar, Director, Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) shares that smart information availability, smart communication and quality control are successful elements for the sustenance of smart cities in India- Excerpts.

BC: In the current Indian scenario of rapid urbanization, what are the main characteristics of a smart city in terms of sustainable development?

With the rapid urbanization, cities are becoming resource starved in terms of water and energy. Waste management has become a menace. Migration has been setting a lot of pressure on cities, which is leading to major challenge of catering to the needs of increased population. In this context, Government of India’s smart city is a positive and welcome initiative that plans to make cities smarter and make them resource efficient as well as cater to the requirements of the citizens more effectively.

An initial draft with respect to smart city implementation has been developed. In addition to technically developing smart city framework, it solicits citizens’ participation where they can contribute inputs on the city’s requirements. Representatives of the cities shall be advised to bring out a specific plan. The scheme under the smart initiatives enables better connectivity, better communication strategy and better governance. If implemented well, this certainly will bring about certain changes and help the urbanization process in the country. Internationally, smart cities have been successful through better communication and better information availability. Also, the sustainability of a smart city depends on the financial viability and proper resource management to reap the maximum benefits.

BC: In developing smart cities connectivity becomes vital. What eco-friendly transportation systems are envisaged?

Effective and efficient transit oriented development is one of the important components of a smart city. As a solution, it’s very important that you move people from one point to another in a definite time frame. Unfortunately, existing cities have developed in a car-oriented fashion. Essentially, cities have to be more transit-oriented that calls for more reliance on mass transit system involving safe transport system. More emphasis needs to be given to pedestrianisation and non-motorised transport systems. However, effective land use and transport planning are essential modules of a smart transport system.

For instance, in Singapore, people count on public transport as they are within walking distance from their home and work places. Hence, unless you are able to facilitate that through last mile connectivity people fail to use it. Therefore, smart initiatives certainly facilitate adoption of effective transport system that’s more user-friendly.

BC: Are there any parameters to rate a smart city?

Cities are much larger and complex entities and do not have fixed boundaries and hence, it is difficult to control and influence each and every parameter of a city. There are multiple stakeholders involved in implementation of city services. Even if rating is achieved on certain parameters, it’s difficult to measure them in an integrated way for a city. Government is in the process of developing an environmental sustainability framework under which a rating framework would evolve. For city level benchmarks, previous government had several benchmarks including sustainable habitat parameters. We are anticipating that these are integrated into smart city framework. However, soon a new framework will get developed to evaluate performance. Several capacity building hubs will be set up at regional level where city level officers shall be trained to take the initiatives forward. There will be mass level awareness programmes as a part of it. The details of the scheme shall be in public domain shortly.

BC: Waste management and water management are of deep concern now. If so, how are these issues addressed while designing a smart city?

Yes, water management is a major concern in the country. A recommended smart solution would be to give 24/7 water supply, which is well proven method of saving on water. In the absence of reliable water supply during the usage hours, it is proven that people tend to store a lot of water. A proper water piping system in urban regions is also a feasible solution to stop water wastages. Nevertheless, it is important to witness how these systems can be facilitated through a better information collection system in addressing the problem. Ensuring proper quality checks shall also turn out to be a very crucial factor. Health and proper distribution aspects will get addressed in the smart city initiative. For an effective waste management, it is important to ensure appropriate collection, segregation and treatment.