India needs Liveable Cities, Not Smart Ones

Image: Schneider electric

UPA government lead by Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to create 100 smart cities and every state is willing to be a part of this opportunity. First of all, we should remember that government is not going to ‘create’ any new city. 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 released a list of such cities.

 ‘Smart city’ is basically a marketing concept, it was created by technology companies targeting to sell their sensors, software and hardware.

A 'smart city' is an urban region that is highly advanced in terms 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.

Definition of a smart city is very vague and there is no clarification on it.

If this process starts it will take a minimum period of 20-30 year to create such cities .Many city developers and social organizations are arguing against the concept of a smart city for a long time.

Do we really need smart cities or we need cities which are liveable. Is it important for a city to generate data about mobility, urban land use, and city flooded with CCTVs disturbing personal life. This should not be the sole purpose for upgrading these cities there must be space for every section of society.

The concept of liveable cities has lately been getting acceptance in Europe as city planners and citizens have started working together. No idea whether these Smart cities will be self sufficient or it will be on the mercy of other non-smart cities. 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.

In the concept of liveable city every citizen can walk for his basic requirement. Education for children, parks or open spaces to walk and play, basic health care, and entertainment are all within walking distance.

Chandigarh has been considered as the best city, 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.

Again we should remember that none of the smart cities are new; aim is only to convert the existing cities into smart one. For example Varanasi, one of the cities to be built as a smart city, is already an overcrowded, religious tourism-dependent city in Uttar Pradesh.  How the Government will start? Are they trying to 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.

Therefore, it will be smarter if we build liveable cities rather than smart ones.

List of Cities shortlisted for Smart City Project

Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1 (Port Blair)

Andhra Pradesh 3 (Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kakinada)

Arunachal Pradesh 1 (Pasighat)

Assam 1 (Guwahati)

Bihar 3 (Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Biharsharif)

Chandigarh 1

Chhattisgarh 2 (Raipur, Bilaspur)

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 1 (Silvassa)

Daman and Diu 1 (Diu)

Delhi 1 (NDMC)

Goa 1 (Panaji)

Gujarat 6 (Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Dahod)

Haryana 2 (Karnal Faridabad)

Himachal Pradesh 1 (Dharamshala)

Jharkhand 1 (Ranchi)

Karnataka 6 (Mangaluru, Belagavi, Shivamogga, Hubballi-Dharwad, Tumakuru, Davanegere)

Kerala 1 (Kochi)

Lakshadweep 1 (Kavarrati)

Madhya Pradesh 7 (Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain)

Maharashtra 10 (Navi Mumbai, Nashik, Thane, Greater Mumbai, Amravati, Solapur, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivali, Aurangabad, Pune )

Manipur 1 (Imphal)

Meghalaya 1 (Shillong)

Mizoram 1 (Aizawl)

Nagaland 1 (Kohima)

Odisha 2 (Bhubaneshwar, Raurkela)

Puducherry 1 (Oulgaret)

Punjab 3 (Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar)

Rajasthan 4 (Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer)

Sikkim 1 (Namchi)

Tamil Nadu 12 (Tiruchirapalli, Chennai, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Vellore, Salem, Erode,  Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Madurai, Thoothukudi)

Telangana 2 (Greater Hyderabad, Greater Warangal)

Tripura 1 (Agartala)

Uttar Pradesh 13 (Moradabad, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Agra, Rampur)

Uttarakhand 1 (Dehradun)

West Bengal 4 (New Town Kolkata, Bidhannagar, Durgapur, Haldia)

* Jammu & Kashmir has asked for more time to decide on the potential cities)

* 12 cities have been shortlisted from Uttar Pradesh against 13 cities nominated for Smart City project.