1. Introduction
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. In 2018, it was estimated that over 55 percent of the world lived in cities. This is expected to rise to over two-thirds by the end of the century. For the first time in history, the majority of the people are living in cities. However, in 2018, the share of the urban population in slums rose to 24 percent, and in 2016, 2.4 million people died prematurely from air pollution. In relation to COVID-19, over 90% of urban cases were in urban areas. SDG 11 is trying to enable a future where the cities and the communities within them are safe and sustainable.
“The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalyzing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country. The objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to their citizens, a clean and sustainable environment, and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.”
~Smart Cities Mission guidelines
2. Deep dive
Projects implemented under Smart Cities can be divided into three key outcomes: Liveability, Economic Ability, and Sustainability. These outcomes help align the issues highlighted by citizens, mirroring their aspirations. Liveability or quality of life includes aspects of social well-being that help citizens live a decent life in the city. It encompasses services like affordable housing, public modes of transportation, waste and water management, safety, health and sanitization, and education. Economic Ability includes aspects that make a city a good place to do business, diversity of jobs, and various initiatives to combat climate change and innovation. It is the driving factor for people moving to a city. Lastly, multiple decisions are taken on infrastructure, technologies, and investments that affect both the future and our present come under sustainability. It is a state of ever-changing equilibrium between nature and the ecosystems we build. Unfortunately, abnormal climate events, rising temperatures, and poor air quality have greatly threatened this equilibrium.
Cities are constantly in a state of flux. They are faced with new challenges, big or small, like acute shocks or black swan events like earthquakes or disease outbreaks at any time. They, therefore, need to be flexible enough to meet them head-on. The ability to readapt, constantly evolve and reinvent its infrastructure based on situational changes helps cities tackle these problems, with smart cities being the ideal platforms to test and scale solutions and ideas. The actions taken can affect the city, state, and even national levels.
A report published by McKinsey in 2018 showed how smart cities can impact the quality of life of a citizen. Based on several criteria, they came up with three tools used to make some evaluations. Firstly, they should be digital data-driven technologies. Next, they should be available and deployed in the real world. In case it is in the initial stage, it should be available at a large scale to the public by 2025. Thirdly, these technologies for smart cities should solve a public problem. Lastly, the cities where these technologies are deployed should be able to play some role in it, either directly or by just encouraging its adoption or setting up regulations.
Some such applications and their impact on the quality of life of citizens are listed below:
a) Applications can help cities fight crime and improve other aspects of public safety: Up to 300 lives are saved each year.
b) Smart city technologies can make daily commutes faster and less frustrating: 15- 30 MIN shaved off the average daily commute.
c) Smart cities can deliver a cleaner and more sustainable environment: 25-80 LITERS potential water saved per person per day; 30- 130 KG/ PERSON annual reduction in unrecycled solid waste.
The evidence gathered through the research indicated that smart technologies can help improve the critical indicators of quality of life by 10-30 percent from the time they are introduced [Fig.3], which allows cities to make progress towards meeting 70 percent of the SDG.
Smart Cities require extensive long-term governance capacities to successfully create and implement a Smart City Plan. Aggregated, the 100 Smart Cities under the Smart Cities Mission have proposed implementing 5151 projects worth 2,05,018 crores in 5 years from their respective dates of approval. Their success and failure depend on certain fundamental aspects that act as a roadmap for future projects and enable them to execute their functions efficiently. These enablers are :
a) Services: Providing services to the citizens in return for taxes transparently paid by them to increase trust among them.
b) Finance: To generate resources and access dependable sources of income in order to deliver solutions in line with people’s expectations.
c) Planning: Develop the city’s capacity to create a dynamic, responsive, and scalable plan with various strategies for the city through urban planning.
d) Technology: To use technology to improve the efficiency of operations and improve communication between societies.
e) Governance: To improve the quality of human resources and accountability for all processes by creating forward-looking policies for development.
In another survey conducted by MGI, Indian citizens have shown higher awareness regarding the shift to smart cities and the technologies used in the societies compared to the citizens in Europe. This is essential as it forms a pillar for a successful smart city. If we have a look at Fig. 2 and have a closer look at the flow of how to make a smart city, engagement of the community and their feedback and monitoring play an essential role in the final preparation of the Smart City Plan as they contribute to the formulation of the vision for the city. As of November 2020, about 90 percent of all the projects approved for the Smart Cities Mission projects had been tendered. About 70 percent of the projects have either been completed or are close to completion.
Most countries around the globe started transforming into smart cities with inherent advantages like wealth and population density. In a developing nation like India, when we look at smart cities, it follows Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. When one can meet a lower expectation, the need right above that in the hierarchy is the focus and feels within reach. Conversely, when we cannot meet a lower expectation, the need right above that in the hierarchy feels out of reach. As the local authorities in India are closing in on the citizen’s basic needs like water, electricity, and sanitation, the process of getting to the next level in the hierarchy of creating more agile, resilient, and “smart” cities gets smoother and faster.
3. References
- SDG-11, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
- Making a Smart City, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India
- Smart Cities: Digital Solutions For a More Livable Future, McKinsey Global Institute
- Learnings from the Smart City Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India
