9/9/2015 Smart Cities Mission: Policy Roadmap from Vision to Reality

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Smart Cities Mission: Policy Roadmap from Vision to Reality

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June 4, 2015 Governance

By: Shashanka Shekhar Panda
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The core objective function of the Smart Cities Mission will be to create a policy
and regulatory design that dynamically sets nation-wide Videos
standards on urban
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Approval procedures to be
streamlined by year-end:
Naidu
September 9, 2015

Centre to recommend loans

to performing cities: Venkaiah
Naidu
September 7, 2015

Linking of user charges to

inflation for Smart Cities
The Smart Cities Mission is one of the most ambitious flagship proposed
programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Never before in September 7, 2015
the history of free India has a more ambitious initiative been
embarked upon. None of the other programmes like Digital
Rs 192 cr released to prepare
India, Swachh Bharat, Namami Gange, Make in India, Skill India
Smart City plan
or the Jan Dhan Yojana parallel its scale. In fact, all the
September 4, 2015
aforementioned initiatives would be essential plug-ins to the
Smart Cities Mission. The Mission cannot succeed without the
success of these programmes. This is for the simple reason that Smart City project expected
policies are made for the citizens who reside in urban, semi- to boost economy
urban and rural areas. If one looks at the empirical evidence on August 27, 2015

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9/9/2015 Smart Cities Mission: Policy Roadmap from Vision to Reality

urbanisation trends and future projections, the rate of

urbanisation is only going up, though one may disagree with the From a general
velocity of it. But that does not go to suggest that the Smart policy
Cities Mission is not relevant to rural areas.
perspective, in
The magnitude of the ambition of the Smart Cities Mission
cannot be gauged from the standpoint of the investment that it order to
shall attract or the numerical economic value that the grand succeed, the
opportunity presents, though numerous estimates going into
trillions of dollars – laid out by credible, top-tier consulting firms
Smart Cities
– do exist. Even as the true figure might lie in the vicinity of the Mission will
numbers being bandied about, I do not think they do justice to
the spirit of Smart Cities. Too much ink is being wasted in
need to be a
cooking up those numbers, even as policymakers lack a cogent, truly
credible and competent definition of Smart Cities. I am not
suggesting those numbers are wrong. In fact, higher
collaborative
investments are desirable, even as other things remain equal. effort in the
But we may be getting ahead of ourselves without a working
definition of Smart Cities, which does not bode well for a
best spirit of
mission of this complexity. cooperative
From a general policy perspective, in order to succeed, the federalism
Smart Cities Mission will need to be a truly collaborative effort whereby the
in the best spirit of cooperative federalism whereby the policy
formulation process will see close functioning of the Centre and policy
the states. Further, the mission’s implementation will necessarily formulation
lie with the states, in their cities and municipalities, given the
Mission’s transformational impact on the economy, tourism,
process will see
social fabric, urban development standards and the general close
way of life. It may be comparable to other historic
transformational policy initiatives such as the Green Revolution,
functioning of
the Electricity Act of 2003 and the telecom revolution kick- the Centre and
started by the New Telecom Policy of 1999 – each under the
Atal Behari Vajpayee government – or the impact of the Delhi
the states
Metro, which too was developed under the leadership of the
then Prime Minister Vajpayee.

Each of these landmark initiatives, though, pale in comparison to what is being envisaged under
the Smart Cities Mission. Its size and scale, as envisioned by the Prime Minister, shall truly be all-
pervading but only if driven by a core public purpose, in order to accomplish its transformational
potential within a reasonable time frame.

Core Purpose

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9/9/2015 Smart Cities Mission: Policy Roadmap from Vision to Reality

So, what shall be the core public purpose of the Smart Cities Mission? It is to make life
significantly more sustainable for people living in cities by transforming the way they live and
work. This instantly and essentially means a lower urban carbon footprint, far better livelihood
propositions and a quantum leap in the quality of life as measured by enhanced resilience both
against natural calamities and routine security challenges. None of the above is possible without
a paradigm shift in the discourse on energy generation and consumption; waste management;
water and sanitation; the level of technological engagement in public services; developing core
economic strength in delivering these technological advancements in products and services in
India; and financial inclusion.

Cities of the future would have to create enough empowering and enabling financial
infrastructure and incentive for the have-nots to participate in sustainable development as an
asset rather than being seen and treated as a liability. This would essentially mean that all the
government’s flagship mentioned earlier need to succeed for the Smart Cities Mission to
succeed. Therefore – whether intended by the Prime Minister or not – all the flagship initiatives
fit into each other perfectly, without any contradictions, cross-purposes or perpendicular
discourses. In other words, the thought-process integration is seamless, absolute and brilliant.

Core Objective Function

The core objective function of the Smart Cities Mission will be to create a policy and regulatory
design that dynamically sets nation-wide standards on urban living. The utopian vision of such a
regulatory mechanism design would essentially have to be integrated, interactive, intelligent,
responsive, self-learning, self-corrective and self-adjusting based on the evolving landscape of
demographics and culture, on the one hand, and the technological discourse on the other. The
idea of Smart Cities does not necessitate the creation of Greenfield cities but can be retrofitted
into the existing metros and cities to make them smarter.

Definitional Framework
There are a handful of definitions of Smart Cities that have already been given. There is even an
ISO 37120:2014 standard that has been evolved to track the various parameters that would be
necessary in building smart cities. However, it is important to devise our own definition that can
speak to our own special needs, while doing justice to the smorgasbord of flagship
programmes that would be seamlessly integrated with the idea of Smart Cities.
What are some of the elements that the definition must embody?

Sustainable
This has to be the bed rock of any policy. Specific to the Smart Cities Mission, sustainability
would inform an economic, industrial, technological, social, cultural structure that distributes the
fruits of economic development in an open, transparent and inclusive system that allows for the
freedom of contributing to the economic and cultural life of the city and harnessing the fruits of
such contribution. It might be measurable by a rise in median incomes.

Multi-Axial Architecture
Smart Cities are not only about technology but, more importantly, about the people that
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9/9/2015 Smart Cities Mission: Policy Roadmap from Vision to Reality

ultimately reside in these cities. The idea of Smart Cities will revolve around multiple axes.
Briefly, these would include urban design, energy, water, waste, transportation, information
technology, security and resilience. A secondary, yet now less significant, set of components
would be livelihood, health, education, food, art and culture. The designing of Smart Cities
would essentially build a national, regional, city-centric architecture that would develop
standards for each of these aspects in a Multi-axial architecture.

Regenerative Transformation
Smart Cities need to be positively transformational for the lives of citizens. The Mission will
create a series of numerous incremental steps towards a transformational architecture for
public goods and services to be delivered and the administration, regulation and funding of the
same. This is required for the scale of investment that would be warranted. Also, the
transformational impact has to be based on the principle of a closed carbon loop cycle, in order
to achieve a low carbon impact future. For example, the use of latest technological
advancements in waste to energy such as Integrated Plasma Gasification in Combined Cycle
would need to be encouraged and made the mainstay, instead of the current technologies that
are primitive, to take the waste management discourse to a significant new level.

Cultural Integration
A Smart City will also be a vibrant art, culture and heritage hub as manifest in its people. The
idea of open spaces, theaters, art-houses and galleries is a quintessential part of a Smart City.

Technological Integration
Sustainable and digital technologies would play a leadership role in ensuring that the policy
mechanism design remains robust and is able to constantly adjust to new demands and shifts in
society and technology as well as the political and geo-strategic evolution of India as a nation
state. For instance, Smart Grids would be a necessity to attain a low carbon future of the urban
spaces if the proliferation of renewable energy generation has to be integrated without grid
disruptions. The digital aspect would essentially mean big data-driven decision making. Even as
talking about big data at length is essentially outside the scope of this article, it must be said
that the data handling rule should be transparent and the open access of data and restriction on
its public dissemination should be an exception only in very select strategic cases.

Economic and Skill Development

Finally, all talk about Smart Cities would leave the teeming masses completely unimpressed if
there is nothing in it for them. So, Smart Cities would have to intelligently integrate industrial
distribution around cities so that the city can develop as a self-contained macrocosm of
livelihood. A direct corollary of this economic development would mean the immediate
requirement for skills that would be paid for out of the economic development achieved. The
Skill India flagship initiative would have to be integrated by policymakers into the Smart Cities
Mission.

So, if we finally integrate all the aforementioned elements, we also get an eponymous acronym
that stands as a definition for ‘SMAART CITIES’, as developed and copyrighted by the Blue Earth
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9/9/2015 Smart Cities Mission: Policy Roadmap from Vision to Reality

Enterprise: Sustainable Multi-Axial Architecture for Regenerative Transformation, Cultural

Integration, Economic and Skill development.

It must be remembered that the escape velocity of travelling from the current undesirable state
of our cities to a Utopian, transformed state would necessarily be achieved by thrusts from four
engines, namely, technological breakthrough; positive policy framework – enabling
environment; community engagement; and enthusiastic public funding.

It must also be understood that while the low carbon future imperatives are driven by climate
change, which is for real, the reasons for Smart Cities go far beyond it should be held as an ideal
in itself, because a significantly better quality of city life is a cause worth fighting for.

Shashanka Shekhar Panda is Founder-Chairman and CEO, Blue Earth Enterprise

Views expressed are personal

Tags: blue earth enterprise climate change green energy shashanka shekhar panda smart cities

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