Making cities smart will take time, effort: Study

Policy think tank formed by PM Modi has suggested ways to execute the project better

Within days of the government announcing 98 shortlisted names for smart cities, a report backed by NITI Aayog, a policy think-tank formed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has suggested ways and means to execute the project better. The report, ‘Reconceptualising Smart Cities: A Reference Framework for India’, by Bengaluru-based Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy, highlights the need for "point of departure (from existing urban development programmes) that would make a difference in an increasingly resource-constrained world’’.

The report was released at a workshop on smart cities organised by NITI Aayog. CStep was the knowledge partner.

The Smart Cities Mission needs to be formulated cautiously before borrowing from any particular model. It needs to focus on interventions such as establishing an efficient urban management systems, building adequate capacity of urban institutions and local government, achieving the decentralisation agenda, minimising conflicts in the urban environment, creating enabling conditions for inclusive and equitable urbanisation.

The study has concluded that making cities smart will take time and effort. ‘’It is critical to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment.’’ This will not only allow a nuanced approach to a smart, and yet sustainable road map for urban development, but will also ensure returns on investments.

Bibek Debroy, member, NITI Aayog, speaking at the event to inaugurate the report, said urbanisation is desirable and no one should question that. He also underscored the correlation between urbanisation and economic development. In another comment, he said,  ‘’No one who raves about villages has lived there’’, pointing out that villages have come down from 700,000 to 600,000 due to various reasons. He added that NITI Aayog is there to facilitate, but states have to decide for themselves, and citizens have to decide what kind of smart city they want.’’

The study attempts to bring clarity to the concept of Smart Cities Mission, it says. It asks questions such as where does the smart city project fit in India’s larger urban development agenda, what should be the larger orientation of this mission to address the shortcomings of previous programmes, and how should the right indicators be designed for an Indian smart city.

There are three views on how smart cities must be defined, according to the study. First is the  research and academic view, which puts sustainability (mainly environmental) as the primary agenda to be achieved, where quality of life and economy emerge as second level priority factors. Second is the corporate sector  focus on technology, ‘’assuming that the required outcomes such as city efficiency, management, infrastructure, environment, and quality of life follow automatically’’. While the government reflects a larger understanding of use of ICT in delivering governance, ‘’a very limited number of definitions have emerged from this sector’’.

The importance of the integration of systems and compatibility of frameworks on which a city functionally operates, are largely missing, it says.

‘’This shows a lack of clarity in balancing sustainability constraints with a city's aspirational goals.’’ It adds that ‘’overall, there is a sense of confusion, between the end and the means’’.