This is the right perspective!!

January 5, 2015

The Narendra Modi-led BJP government wants to create 100 smart cities, and every country is falling over itself to be a part of this opportunity. First of all, the government will not ‘create’ these cities. The state governments have been asked to recommend a list of cities that they want to be converted into ‘smart cities’.
The ministry of urban development has already started working on the details of how these smart cities will work. The trouble is that ‘smart city’ is a marketing concept, first created by technology companies wanting to sell their sensors, software and hardware. Also, the definition of a smart city is very vague and the government does not seem to be making any effort in clarifying it. Thirdly, it does not really capture what inhabitants in crowded, populous and rapidly expanding cities need.
Why is a definition so important if the government means well. It is important as Adam Greenfield, fellow at LSE Cities, says: “It is worth thinking carefully as it is a $114 billion or Rs 7 lakh crore issue.” This is what these cities will need over a 20-year period, according to a government committee estimate. Greenfield has been arguing against the concept of a smart city for a long time, and has even written a book on the issue.
What do we need?
City-dwellers need cities which are liveable. Whether they are smart or intelligent will not really matter as quality of life is something which is most important. It is also deteriorating the fastest in Indian cities. Whether they generate data about mobility, urban land use, and governance is important, but it is not the sole purpose for upgrading these cities.
The concept of liveable cities has lately been getting acceptance in Europe as city planners and citizens have started working together. It is linked to physical forms like parks and green spaces. For others, it is about the cultural milieu that the city can provide. A liveable city is not possible if does not offer career opportunities to succeed; it needs to have economic dynamism. This is possible if it also offers reasonable safety within which to raise a family.
From a planning perspective, liveability is linked to sustainability as it is to consumer resources like food, water, energy and air. And it generates carbon and other gases along with waste in enormous quantity. This determines the spatial spread of the city as distribution system for supplying a city with food and power travel distances. For example, take a city like Indore which is growing rapidly, but has no natural water resource. It is pumped into the city from 60 km away. On an average, electricity transmission travels 200 miles and food travels 1,200 miles in the US, according to a Weber and Matthews study on the impact of cities.
These consumption patterns arising out of location increase the energy consumption requirement for a city, especially in a country like India, where due to paucity of power, 20 gigawatt is generated using liquid fuel. This includes diesel engines used to generate power or pulling out water from deep aquifers. This is not sustainable and unfortunately, not even part of the discussion on smart cities.
One of the principles behind a liveable city is that it is not based on fossil fuels or commuting as a way of life. Planning such a city means that the local government uses a thumb rule that every citizen can walk for his basic requirement. Education for children, parks or open spaces for leisure and play, basic health care, and entertainment are all within walking distance.
The current model of city planning is based on an outdated Le Corbusier concept that the city needs to be flat. Indian planners still believe that Chandigarh is the best city as it was planned by Corbusier, but it is not a smart city because you need a car to live in such a city. And dependence on a car means depending upon fast-depleting fossil fuels; it means commute as a part of daily life.
While small initiatives like Raahgiri are catching people’s attention as they reclaim the streets from cars for a few hours every week, what if it was part of a city’s design? That the streets belonged to people, and not to cars? A fundamental shift in even the way permissions are given for development and integration of public transportation has to be part of city planning. Then only can a city be livable; it has to be embedded in its planning and not in its sensors.
Now, the bigger issue here is that none of the smart cities are new; the government is looking at reinventing existing cities into smart ones. For instance, Ujjain, one of the cities to be built as a smart city, is a sleepy, religious tourism-dependent city in Madhya Pradesh. Where will the policymakers start from? Will they change the nature of the city, will they build on existing economic drivers of the city? One of the purposes of building a smart city is to attract people to live there, and people will go where there are opportunities. The softer aspect of a city that invites diversity also encourages creativity and sustainability in the long run as several studies like this from Harvard have shown.
Therefore, it will be smarter if we build or focus on liveable cities rather than smart ones.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Articles, Smart City

Centre Lists Conditions for Getting Smart City Label

October 8, 2014

CHENNAI: Cities along the coast, hills as well as those having a population between one to four million could be among the 100 to be developed as Smart Cities.

Official sources said that the Union Ministry of Urban Development has circulated a draft concept note to State governments on a set of proposed conditions for eligibility for the smart city tag.

Sources said the Centre has sought proposals for approval of satellite cities, cities of tourist and religious importance as well as cities in the 0.2-1 million population range. These proposals are likely to be reviewed by a committee before approval by the Central government.

Sources said that the approval process would have two stages. In the first stage, cities and states would have to submit an Integrated Smart City Development Plan, based on the Smart City Reference Framework.

Thereafter, cities would be sanctioned an initial amount for preparation of professional and comprehensive project reports. Under the second stage, the Project Reports would be evaluated by designated Project Management Units and finally approved by an Empowered Committee.

Cities that desire to participate in the smart city programme should develop a financing plan along with their smart city development plan and detailed project reports. Sources said the financing plan developed for a city or urban agglomeration could factor in resources from multiple government agencies and departments — not restricted to the ambit of urban development schemes alone. It is also learnt that the Union government has suggested a set of 13 benchmarks for smart cities — transport, spatial planning, water supply, sewerage, sanitation, solid waste management, storm water drainage, electricity, telephone connections, wi-fi connectivity, healthcare facilities, education, firefighting and others like renewable energy as well as adopting green building norms.

Both the states and Centre are banking on the private sector for developing smart cities. Sources said that using an average figure of one million people in each of the 100 smart cities, the total estimate of investment requirements for the services covered by high power expert committee comes to `7 lakh crore over 20 years.

This translates into an annual requirement of `35,000 crore. However, these estimates need to be analysed for the purpose of funding.

Source:The Indian Express

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Government (Govt), Smart City

5 key elements of PM Narendra Modi’s 100 smart cities

September 11, 2014

PM Narendra ModiThe Centre has prepared a blueprint to define the key elements of the 100 smart cities it plans to establish across the nation. The cities were one of the main promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year

The government has allocated Rs.1000 crore for each city which will be selected according to its population. Eight cities with more than four million people have been identified and they will have a satellite smart city.

45 cities with one to four million people will be upgraded to a smart city. 17 capital cities also qualify, irrespective of their population. There will be at least 10 other smart cities with tourist and religious significance.

The Centre is currently working out the details of the ambitious plan by organising workshops with state secretaries. A national workshop with state CMs is planned in October followed by the approval from the Union Cabinet in November.

The programme is likely to be launched on December 25, the birthday of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Here are the five main elements of the proposed smart cities identified by the Urban Development Ministry:

1. In terms of infrastructure, the smart cities should have 24×7 availability of high quality utility services like water and power.

2. A robust transport system that emphasises on public transport is also a key element.

3. In social infrastructure, the cities should provide opportunities for jobs and livelihoods for its inhabitants.

4. The smart cities should also have proper facilities for entertainment and the safety and security of the people. State-of-the-art health and education facilities are also a must.

5. The smart cities should minimize waste by increasing energy efficiency and reducing water conservation. Proper recycling of waste materials must be done in such cities.

Source:India Today

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Government (Govt), Smart City

Governor seeks action on roads in fringes

October 7, 2013

TNN

PUNE: Governor K Sankaranarayanan has directed the state Urban Development (UD) department to take appropriate actions to widen roads in the 23 merged villages in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits.Despite the civic administration approving the road widening proposal, the PMC standing committee continues to let it gather dust. Ujjwala Dandekar, under secretary to the governor, in her letter to the state UD has said, “As per the orders (of governor), the letter submitted by corporator Aba Bagul is being forwarded for necessary action.”

In March 2011, Congress corporator Aba Bagul had proposed that the roads in the merged villages be widened by 50% anticipating the increase in the number of vehicles. Bagul had forwarded the proposal to the standing committee, which had sent it to the civic administration. The villages have a 1,000-km road network. The civic administration agreed to the proposal saying that the plan was feasible and can be implemented.

“Since then the proposal is pending with the standing committee. I requested the municipal commissioner to go ahead with the proposal and start widening roads using his special powers. However, there has been no response on the matter, so far. I approached the governor and urged him to direct the UD to take appropriate action. I hope the PMC will take serious note,” said Bagul.

The Development Plan (DP) for 23 villages merged in the civic limits was prepared in 2000 and the vehicular movement has increased considerably.

The standing committee has to decide and then implementation is possible. The panel’s members said the Congress has to take a stand and support Bagul. “The Congress should take a concrete stand and only then the committee will be able to take decision,” said one of the standing committee members.

However, only one faction of the Congress has expressed opposition to Bagul’s proposal. “I don’t know why some people are opposing the proposal and whose interests will be hampered if it is approved. However, road widening is necessary as merged villages are facing traffic congestion,” said Bagul.

Source- http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Municipal Corporation