The Smartness of Cities

By the time you read this newsletter, the world’s nations would have signed on a second 15 year period of working together to make this planet safer, cleaner, greener and inclusive for all life forms. The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda would have moved into an operational mode and among the first things that will now be required is a shared understanding of the indicators of sustainability of all the 169 targets and the mechanisms to garner the resources to achieve these. Nation states will move to align national plans for greater global synergies and set up monitoring, tracking and learning systems that will enable each one of their citizens to be a participant in and a beneficiary of development that is truly sustainable.

What does this mean for cities and human settlements? Goal number 11 dedicated to this concern enlists 10 targets that countries need to strive towards. For a country, where over 60% of the city (read urban) infrastructure is yet to be built and where 50% of the population in 2050, equivalent to approximately 800 million people is expected to live in cities, this Goal and its related targets acquire a special significance. How then in our context does one define a safer, cleaner, greener, inclusive city? And how does one a step forward to address sustainability? What are the indicators of a sustainable human settlement?

It is not that India has been indifferent to this issue so far, considering that as far back as in 1998, the National Housing Policy was anchored in the ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation (as it was then called). Subsequent urban renewal efforts, through the JNNURM, urban social housing programmes such as the RAY, multitude of slum redevelopment efforts, urban water and sanitation programmes, the BSUP, urban transport initiatives etc. have peppered our urban development history. The recent past has seen the 'smart city' concept gain traction and 98 city or rather neighbourhood scale smart area development proposals have been approved as pilots. The smart area based development is expected to be citizen friendly with efficient services and core infrastructure in place to provide a decent quality of life to its citizens along with a clean and sustainable environment. The idea is to look at compact areas, create replicable models that will inspire other aspiring cities. The application of ‘Smart Solutions’ is being sought towards this objective. The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City would include: adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable housing especially for the poor, robust IT connectivity and digitalisation, good governance especially e-governance and citizen participation, sustainable environment, safety and security of citizens particularly women, children and the elderly.

The smart neighbourhood/ area development is expected to demonstrate considerable efficiency in energy and water use. There is thought being given to integrated planning and implementation of services and systems at decentralised manageable scales. Additionally, these developments will need to be connected to the pan city systems which also in the near future are expected to demonstrate substantial improvement.

However, there are other very important areas that need ‘smart thinking and planning’. These include:

• Virgin construction material use in the production and management of cities

• Flexibility and agility of planning measures that can respond to expected impacts of climate change

• Participation of citizens and capacities of local governance systems in the planning of living in and governance of cities and human settlements

These indicators are important for India considering the pace of urbanisation and the quantum of development involved. These are also concerns that must be addressed if we are to achieve the Global SDGs to which we are a party. Unlike the past and in addition to current guidelines, smartness will lie in responding in an integrated manner such that economic and governance measures are designed to enhance social and environmental value that a city generates.

Today, the Indian city must be mindful of the demands it is placing on the countryside in which it exists and depends upon - on the dredging of rivers for sand, on the agricultural fields for brick production, on the rich forests and village lands mining limestone and iron ore and on the ecological health of rivers for water, energy and waste disposal. It is not just the scale of demand and pace of extraction that is of concern, it is also the conflict with the opportunity cost of these resources vis a vis other uses especially food production and natural eco-system services that needs to be addressed.
The impacts of the changing climate, not just on the human settlements such as heat island effects, vector borne diseases, flooding and coastal cyclones; but also on the resource systems on which the city depends such as surface and ground water systems, forests , mangroves etc. are challenges already. There are others such as possible increase in the pace of migration from vulnerable rural areas that need to be thought through. Therefore, it is all the more necessary to consider town and country planning or rather regional planning approaches to plan urban settlements and build in adequate buffers and flexibility in the city systems.

An area based, neighbourhood scale development will demonstrate strong local systems of services and management. It must, however also demonstrate responsibility towards its place in the larger eco-system. This is analogous to the place an individual has in community and society or a country has in its geographical region and the world.

Smart cities are made of smart citizens. Smart behaviours are as much a result of city systems as they are of citizen awareness and education. The city plan, its infrastructure, services, governance systems must all encourage smart behaviours such that people walk and cycle more, reduce wastes and manage them as far as possible at home, use resources prudently and productively engage with their neighbourhood, their locality and the city.

Clearly, this cannot happen unless planners and city governments are mindful of the long term implications of their actions and are empowered through requisite skills, knowledge, tools, financial measures and technology. And unless all citizens are aware and enabled through processes of governance to participate in and play their role in the development and management of their cities.

Ecological footprints of cities, resilience to climate impacts and equal opportunities for all citizens to participate in and benefit from the urban processes should be some of the core measures that indicate smartness or otherwise of a human settlement. If these were included in the indicators of sustainable urbanisation, then it is possible that planners, local governments and citizens would be to forced to rethink and therefore transform urbanisation models, city layouts, work patterns, space use, building designs, technology, fiscal and regulatory measures, citizen behaviours and other determinants of the city as a home, an expression of human creativity, a place that generates value within a region and not just an economic engine.  q