URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE4

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Chief - Content Development,

CE - Infrastructure - Environment

vertising, marketing and e-commerce in

improving lifestyles, livelihoods and grow-

ing our economies. An amazing achieve-

ment!

Then came the smart grid: A little later,

the concept of smart grid was born mak-

ing way for adding intelligent devices and

communications capabilities within the

electric grid to actually improve its reli-

ability and resiliency. Huge investments

were made globally by businesses and

technology companies on development of

the smart grid. Since, Innovation was key,

even smaller companies pitched in for dif-

ferent segments of this emerging space.

Smart grids are already changing the way

we live life. Amazing Again!

And its smart cities now!: The smart

grid evolution made one realize that inte-

gration could revolutionize this and on

doing so, it led us to the concept of smart

cities; the first decade of the 21st century

has seen, city information- highway enter

a new stage of smart city development,

Amazing - All in a lifetime

Yes! From Internet, smart grid to smart

cities it has not been an 'eons' long journey.

The Information superhighway in early

1990s took to paving a revolutionary way

for people to communicate, access infor-

mation and enter into commercial trans-

actions locally & globally with great ease.

The advent of Internet was changing the

world at a feverish pace every passing day

by leveraging to continuously expand the

breadth of the platform in research, ad-

"The cities of the 21st century are the largest sites of

human settlement today, and are increasingly acting as

critical nexus points of social, economic, ecological and

technological change."

- United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

High-Tech

'SMART CITY'Core to Urban Landscape

communicationmoderntechnologiespeople

informationcontrol

socialenvironment

mobility

urban living production

intelligent

governance economy

capital digitalsmartgrid

activecitizen

inclusive &sustainable

ENERGY

CITY

SMART

ICTs

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Popula

tion (

millions)

World Rural

Population

World Urban

Population

wherein 'Digitization', 'Networking' and

'Intellectualization' have gained a brand

new 'form, mode and trend' for city devel-

opment; Interconnection, data banking &

sharing', intelligence, instrumentation and

creativity, has brought all transactions &

interactions for citizens and state to be in

real time & highly efficient with cost effec-

tiveness.

The idea is of 'value addition' by trans-

forming communities from traditional,

silo-type management with operational

approaches, to ones that proactively and

holistically exploit today's cutting-edge

technologies to real time response deliv-

ery of all services by prudent intercon-

nectivity. And this is what optimizes cost of

all services, be it Energy, water, transport

and just everything. The welcome result is

minimum resources, maximum benefits

and huge savings that can be utilized in

bettering lives of all by social spending to

elevate quality of life.

With the progress already seen in

many developed world nationalities it is

imperative that others leap frog to grasp

this yet another amazing achievement!

The need to change is 'Now'

And It's not for Power or Pelf! There is

a more pressing compulsion - Do not for-

get that , now we live in a world of seven bil-

lion and growing; this means that vital nat-

ural resources are depleting and those

that we call 'renewable' may not renew to

match the rate of consumption; this ma-

kes every resource precious. Fresh water

is just one such example that you need for

survival itself! ; Fresh air is yet another -

You no doubt can think quite a few others,

that none of us can do without. (see Figure

1 The burgeoning Global Urban popula-

tion)

The planet is under threat of resource

crunch affecting 'each one of us wher-

ever we are'. With the entry of the smart

grid and smart cities, efficiency takes over

reducing resource consumption.

Globally, we all are, forced to support

this 'Smart' drive because we need to beat

such resource crunch, as it affects 'each

one of us wherever we are'.

This catch has led to the paradigm

shift from a what's in it for me? attitude,

to thinking that we truly are in it together in

a global sense! Even if we flock together

only to avoid annihilation, yet it's a feel

good factor to rejoice that good sense has

prevailed on us. This in itself is an amazing

achievement!

So here we are embracing the smart

grid & graduating into smart cities to

effectively and efficiently manage the world

to ensure improved liveability, workability

and sustainability to the growing urban

populace.

A smart city applies information and

communications technology (ICT) to solve

problems. (See Figure 2)

Broadly speaking, ICT enables cities

to do three key things( see Figure 3):

1. Collect data

2. Communicate data

3. Analyze (or crunch) data

So the short answer is: A smart city is

an ICT enabled city.

Let's now take a look at one such prev-

alent guide for Smart Cities Readiness and

try to understand how this ICT enabled

'smart city' model can be actually applied.

First in light of the functions to be per-

formed 'The Smart Cities Framework' is

generated, which is the key to under-

standing the big picture and how the dif-

ferent pieces relate (See Figure 4 - The

Smart Cities Framework).

The framework shows:

- The blue columns are the city respon-

sibilities.

- Universal aspects common to all

responsibilities are in orange.

- The green rows are the enabling

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Figure 1 The burgeoning Global Urban population

Figure 2 The Smart City ICT driven

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

THE THREE CORE FUNCTIONS OF A SMART CITY

Collect Information about

current conditions across all

responsibility areas (power,

water, transit, buildings, etc.).

Communicate Information,

sometimes to other devices,

sometimes to a control center

and sometimes to servers

running powerful software.

Crush data, analyzing it to

provide information, to

optimize operations and to

predict what might happen

next.

technologies that can make those

responsibility areas smart and sus-

tainable.

Look at both enablers and responsibi-

lities in more detail to understand how their

intersections can bring benefits to cities.

Where energy intersects instrumen-

tation, for instance, you have devices such

as smart meters; Where it intersects data

management you have meter data man-

agement systems (MDMS); Where it in-

tersects computing, you have outage man-

agement systems and dozens of other cut-

ting edge applications

These correlations help in decision

making enabling one easily understand

why and how to share Infrastructure, share

policies, share costs and share data bet-

ween departments. Well, smart cities use

technology smartly, and there are seven

such technologies that take control of

sets of functions. Figure 5 'Seven tech-

nology categories that enable smart cit-

ies' tables the technology (called 'enabler')

and functions it performs (called technol-

ogy functions) that fall under the 'informa-

tion and communications technology (ICT)

umbrella.

One enabler, for example, is instru-

mentation, which refers to smart meters,

for instance, or roadway sensors. Another

enabler is a high performance data man-

agement system.

These enablers can apply to any area

of city responsibility. For instance, an

enabling technology can make buildings

more efficient, water more affordable,

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Figure 3 Smart City - Core functions

Figure 4 - The Smart Cities Framework

The Smart City

Framework

Univ

ers

al A

spects

Built Environm

ent

Energ

y

Tele

com

munic

ations

Tra

nsport

ation

Wate

r and W

aste

wate

r

Health a

nd H

um

an S

erv

ice

Public S

afe

ty

Paym

ents

CITY RESPONSIBILITIES

TEC

HN

OLO

GY

EN

AB

LER

S

Instrumentation and Control

Connectivity

Interoperability

Security and Privacy

Data Management

Computing Resources

Analytics

Figure 5 'Seven technology categories that enable smart cities'

Enabler

Instrumentation &

Control

Connectivity

Interoperability

Security & Privacy

Data Management

Computing

Resources

Analytics

Technology Function

Examples include smart meters for electricity, water and gas; air quality sensors; closed circuit TV and video monitors, and

roadway sensors. Switches and control systems operate equipment remotely.

Enables a smart city's devices to communicate with each other and with a control center. Connectivity ensures that data

gets from where it is collected to where it is analyzed and used. Examples include citywide WiFi networks, RF mesh

networks and cellular networks.

Ensures that products and services from disparate providers can exchange information and work together seamlessly. It

prevents the city from being locked in to just one proprietary supplier and allows cities to buy from any company that

supports the city's chosed standards.

Includes technologies, policies and practices that safeguard data, privacy and physical assets. Examples include the

publishing of clear privacy rules and the implementation of a cybersecurity system.

Includes storing, protecting and processing data while guaranteeing its accuracy, accessibility, reliability and timeliness.

Data is king in a smart city. Proper management is essential to maintain data integrity and value.

Refers to 1) Computer processing power, 2) Storate of data and 3) Special capabilities needed for smart cities. A geo-

graphic information system (GIS) is one essential capability, since it allows the smart city to know where everything is located.

Creates value from the data that instrumentation provides. Analytics can identify new insights and unique solutions to

delivering services. It can even predict problems while there is still time to prevent them.

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

built to solve a single problem in a single

department, creating islands of automa-

tion that duplicate expenses while mak-

ing it difficult to share systems or data.

The need to look at the problem in a

holistic manner and apply an integrated

'systems approach' to get optimal solu-

tions, is the Smart City strategy (See Fig-

ure 6 'Traditional City Silo Approach v/s

Smart City Integrated Systems Approach'

'Smart' is about more than technology:

Cities leverage ICT to go beyond main-

tenance of their systems. They continu-

ously enhance the city's overall liveability,

workability and sustainability. This is what

sustains them in a competitive global envi-

ronment:

- Liveability - Smart cities improve

liveability in numerous ways. For one,

they revolutionize people's relation-

ship with city government. By provid-

ing instant, electronic access to the

information people need, the services

they require, and the interaction they

want, cities build citizen trust and sat-

isfaction.

- Workability- Smart cities accelerate

economic development by creating a

high-performance infrastructure

that attracts businesses and protects

them from cybercrime. Smart cities

that institute data via Open Data or

similar programs unleash their data

sets to be used by clever developers to

transportation quicker, or neighborhoods

safer. Moreover, enablers push cities

toward overarching goals we call targets,

that every smart city should aim for.

There are a whole lot of problems that

smart technology can be put to resolve.

Cities are responsible for a variety of func-

tions that impact the wellbeing of a com-

munity. ICT impacts all of them and takes

each to its logical solution delivering all

services at citizen's doorstep.

How 'smart city' designers should

get started? Well, becoming a smart city

and sustaining the status requires plan-

ning and upgrading on a continuous basis.

It requires

- Leadership

- Financing

- Domain knowledge integration

- Diligent implementation

- Barriers elimination

Siloed city departments to integrated sys-

tems approach

Cities (traditional) often tackle chal-

lenges in a piecemeal fashion, due to short-

term financial constraints and long-term

traditions that divide city functions into

separate, siloed departments with little

interaction. As a result, many projects are

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Figure 6 'Traditional City Silo Approach v/s Smart City Integrated Systems Approach'

Apps

SILOED CITY FUNCTIONS

Apps

Platform

Data

GIS

Communications

Apps

Platform

Data

GIS

Communications

Apps

Platform

Data

GIS

Communications

Apps

Platform

Data

GIS

Communications

Apps Platform Data GIS Communications

INTEGRATED CITY FUNCTIONS

Electric Water Transport Emergency

Planning

Infrastructure

System

operators

ICT

investments

Citizen

engagement

Sharing data

Ad hoc and decentralized Cost savings

aren't realised Limited potential for

scalability of investment

Runs inefficiently Costs more money

and resources to run

Guess at infrastructure conditions React

to problems Can't deploy resources

efficiently to address problems

Piecemeal and siloed Deliver suboptimal

benefit Don't realize economies of scale

Limited, scattered online connection to

citizens Citizens can't make optimal use of

city services (or easily find them)

Departments and functions are siloed

Departments rarely share data and

collaborate on initiatives

Coordinated and holistic Resources are shared Cost savings are fully

realized Investments are scalable Improved city planning and forecasting

Optimized with cutting-edge technology Saves money and resources

Improved service-level agreements

Enjoy real-time reporting on infrastructure conditions Predict and

prevent problems Deploy resources more efficiently Automate

maintenance Save money

Centrally planned Deployed across city departments and projects

Deliver optimal benefit Provide maximum value and savings

Complete and singlular online presence Citizens can easily find and

use services Citizens can participate in smart city initiatives Two-way

communications between government and people Specialized services

focused on the individual citizen Citizens can both contribute to and

access real-time intelligent city data

Departments and functions are integrated and / or shared Data is shared

between departments and better correlated with other data services

Results are improved Costs are cut

The Problem The Smart City Solution

Figure 7- Smart City Approach

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

The first - 'Smart Infrastructure': In

building smart cities it is of vital impor-

tance to first incorporate in design the

'Wisdom of infrastructure' because it is

this, which is the intelligent conduit that

equips seamless passage of city informa-

tion content unobstructed, readying the

city to 'smartness'. The physical and IT

infrastructure need to unified and com-

plement each other. High degree of urban

IT information infrastructure is the key.

The second-'smart economy': The

drivers of economy including Business,

Industrial, Tourism, Cultural, should be

well identified, conceived, integrated with

physical infrastructure incl. transport, util-

ity, services etc and visible in perception &

transactional convenience , which means

' ease of doing business'. Content produc-

tion and service set ups for a 'smart city'

should be locally and globally hooked on

to well IT enabled information system.

The third - 'Smart Management: The

'wisdom of the city' or Smart Management

lies in building the wisdom of governance,

social governance, the application of mod-

ern technology capabilities and the clarity

of administrative processes, which repre-

sents the level of urban public services.

Equipped with the thriving informa-

tion technology and the growing informa-

tion society, the world is committed to the

development of e-governance policy, which

is now an important part of the smart city.

E-governance is not only the use of

information technology to increase the

efficiency of government services and the

quality of governance. It is associated with

the management of the government, in-

volving the relationship between govern-

ment and society, closely related to the

government's basic management system.

build hundreds of apps for citizens

and city employees.

- Sustainability- Smart cities reduce

resource use through optimization.

The gains from optimization and

improved planning mean that cities,

their businesses and their residents

consume less water, gas and power..

Smart cities also reduce duplication

of effort and reduce costs

Smart cities are 'Game Changers'

Yes, Smart Cities are game changers

by virtue of their quick response and solu-

tion delivery mechanism that makes a

smart city 'Amazingly different' from a

traditional city!

Here is how different they are from

the traditional counterparts in addressing

quickly, efficiently and cost effectively

problems inherent in traditional cities by

addressing each by a smart city approach.

(See Figure 7- - Smart City Approach ).

Smart City, leads to Green growth and

finally 'Smart- All Things'!

The dramatic growth in urbanization

provides impetus for the creation of smart

cities which leverage information and

communications technology (ICT) to

greatly improve the productivity, lifestyle

and the prosperity of smart city's people.

Additionally, green growth strategies can

build environmentally sustainable cities.

Smart city construction, character-

ized by Internet, high-efficiency and con-

venience for the soul of green develop-

ment and digital service for people, is

becoming the new idea and new practice

for a new round of urban sustainable dev-

elopment, driven by innovation and trans-

formation development.

The so-called smart city not only is

impacting the current smart city con-

struction in isolation, but more importantly

is making its imprint on urban develop-

ment planning as a long-term develop-

ment vision; including wisdom innovation

based on IT that envelopes creation of

smart community, smart home, intelli-

gent transportation, smart logistics,

smart medicine, smart banking, smart

grid, smart government, smart schools,

smart agriculture, smart environment

and smart construction.

In a nutshell 'smart' has a direct role in

boosting the national economy and social

development, and sustainable develop-

ment of new industries, new service mod-

els, new formats and innovative technolo-

gies. The 'smart' by definition aims to reflect-

ing the development levels in those areas.

The aim is to focus on the three as-

pects that integrate each of these areas to

provide 'smart' character to inclusively

address developmental goals:

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Competitiveness

Smart Cities

Environment & Social Sustainability

Quality of

LifeEmployment

Investment

Opportunities

Figure 8 - Smart City Attributes'

Figure 9 - Hamburg second largest container port in the world: intelligent

traffic management on smart phones

Figure 10 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: IBM & CISCO ensure integrated info on

weather monitoring , traffic forecast, emergency response coordination etc.

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

Figure 11 - Amsterdam smart city: ICT & Low GHG emissions are some stand

out features; Smart lighting is by Philips

Figure 12- Barcelona A citizen centric Smart city strategy

Making efforts to improve competi-

tiveness and ultimately trying to achieve

e-governance by building e-government

is not only the inevitable result of the dev-

elopment of information technology and

the information society, but also is the inev-

itable trend of government management.

Different Entities Different definitions

Smart is given different definitions by

different providers though the ultimate

meaning converges to 'efficiency &

sustainability'. The attributes Smart City

serves and emerges from are outlined in

Figure 8 - Smart City Attributes' which is

self explanatory.

Some such definitions so provided by

solution providers, governing or stan-

dards bodies are :

- The UK Department of Business, Inno-

vation and Skills considers smart cit-

ies a process rather than as a static

outcome, in which increased citizen

engagement, hard infrastructure, so-

cial capital and digital technologies

make cities more liveable, resilient and

better able to respond to challenges.

- The British Standards Institute de-

fines it as the effective integration of

physical, digital and human systems

in the built environment to deliver sus-

tainable, prosperous and inclusive

future of its citizens.

- IBM defines a smart city as one that

makes optimal use of all the intercon-

nected information available today to

better understand and control its

operations and optimize the use of lim-

ited resources.

- CISCO defines smart cities as those

who adopt scalable solutions that take

advantage of information and com-

munications technology (ICT) it in-

crease efficiencies, reduce costs and

enhance the quality of life.

- Wikipedia defines a city as Smart when

investments in human and social capi-

tal and traditional (Transport) and

modern (ICT) communications infra-

structure fuel sustainable economic

development and a high quality of life,

with a wise management of natural

resources, through participatory

action and engagement (Caragliu et

al, 2009)

- Accenture defines it as A Smart City

delivers public and civic services to citi-

zen and businesses in an integrated

and resource efficient may while ena-

bling innovative collaborations to im-

prove quality of life and grow the local

and national economy

So what's 'Your Smart'? :

What citizens think are their needs,

have to get shaped into the city develop-

ment plan for making it smart. So, no two

cities by default are expected to be identi-

cal; the corollary being: a Designer or Plan-

ner just cannot do a cut & paste job. De-

signers & Planners need to customize each

citys design & development plan to its peo-

ples need, if the city is to become smart.

Therefore, finally what needs to be

kept in mind by planners, designers, pro-

viders and implementers is that:

- Each city has its own citizen priorities

and aspirations and hence needs to

customize 'smartness' to its specific

wants to cater to its specific needs.

- Smartness measure for one may be

frivolous for the other!

Therefore each city needs to aggres-

sively focus on making smart its service

needs in terms of both physical and IT

enabling infrastructure. A few examples

showcased here make this vital element

clear. See Figures 9, 10, 11 & 12 of global

smart cities who have customized 'smart'

to suit their prioritized needs.

- In terms of public services, London,

Seoul, Sydney, Chicago has features in

the cultural sports, these cities have a

special focus on sports facilities, mu-

seums, cultural venues and other ser-

vices to the public;

- The public services provided by Bue-

nos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and other

public places obviously embodies the

characteristics of the Latin nation, which

offer dance, rallies, public entertain-

ment, information and services.

- London, New York, Hong Kong pay

more attention to the real estate man-50

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URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

Smart Cities

What are

smart cities

These cities are

technology-driven and

use planned

infrastructure to

improve the standard

of living

Investments

$41 trillion

investments in

smart cities are

likely in

20 years

Why

smart cities

By 2030, 60% of

world's population is

expected to live in cities

and towns. Governments

worldwide are working

to build them

The Plan

100 smart cities in

India that Narendra Modi

led government plants

Old cities are also

planned to be

converted into

smart cities

Why India

needs smart cities

340 million -

expected Indian

population

by 2030

creasing efficiency, effectiveness and in-

clusiveness of public services, promoting

transparency and reducing corruption in

the public sector, helping governments

go green, facilitating effective disaster

management, favouring an enabling envi-

ronment for economic growth, as well as

promoting social inclusion through equi-

table access to services.

Whole-of-government approaches,

which are enhanced through ICTs, can

promote Integrated and inclusive service

delivery. The application of ICT in govern-

ment provides opportunities for multi-

stakeholder engagement by strengthen-

ing collaboration mechanisms, both within

the public sector and with relevant actors

outside, such as business, civil society,

communities and individual citizens. It

allows for broader participation in na-

tional and local policymaking and service

delivery through new channels and mo-

dalities of communication.

This 2014 Survey shows that progress

in e-government development has been

attained through increased e-participa-

tion, growth of the mobile channel and

social media, expanded usage and the bur-

geoning of open government data.

To truly become globally competitive,

our cities will need to work hard to develop

softer aspects beyond just growth: their

institutional effectiveness, social charac-

ter, financial maturity and global appeal.

In other words, emerging market cities

should be able to make the leap from

attracting just capital to attracting talent

as well. The two fold need is of building/

retrofitting for basic infrastructure and

putting integrating ICT to it so that a city

transforms to a smart city.

These cities will be competing not only

amongst themselves, but also against cit-

ies in the developed world, which have leg-

acy advantages, such as strong educa-

tional and infrastructure foundations,

built up over decades.

Emerging market cities will have to

leapfrog over their peers. Time will tell

how many will succeed and which of the

developed world cities will be able to main-

tain their primacy?

Smartening the Nation - The India Chapter

Urbanization in India has significant

implications for the future development of

the country.

By 2030, India's urban population will

trend to little less than twice that of the

agement, this may be related to the

density of city population.

- Due to national attention, Shanghai

and Beijing behave comprehensively

in terms of online service.

- Chicago, London, Sydney and other

western cities put more emphasis on

children's services in the family life

services.

- Due to the embodied religious senti-

ments factors, Cairo has particular

management in the religious envi-

ronment.

But what these cities do not lose out is

in terms of business & citizen services, as

these cities to be 'smart', know that they

need to be responsive to citizen wants &

equally be concerned to facilitate busi-

ness opportunities.

However, though individually each is

sustainable, the difference shows up when

ranking each one in a group;

Like in financial status the cities, Paris,

London, New York and Singapore belong

to the best cities in financial services.

Meanwhile, Moscow and Sydney are better

at setting up business.

Between comparables, London,

Berlin, New York and Toronto are better at

labor service while the production of Tokyo

is the best.

Each smart city is concerned about

the fields of environment, safety, educa-

tion, health, transportation in public man-

agement, but the focus of each city varies.

Thus, ICT & smart technologies are thus

focused more in each case commensu-

rate with its own priority rating.

Transportation is a common problem

faced by large cities, many cities open up

the related applications and services, and

for example, Buenos Aires has developed

a mobile application that is related to

transportation.

London, Sydney, New York and Hong

Kong put more emphasis on environ-

mental protection, not only is there the

administration of the estate, but also

there are the appropriate managements

on the forests, islands and other public

natural resources.

E-politics is an area that is used by

many capitals of countries, such as, Seoul,

Beijing, Moscow, London, Paris, Berlin

etc, paying more attention to E-politics

features.

From the perspectives of the applica-

tions of the medium and the levels of ac-

tivity in public management, no doubt that

New York, Seoul and Tokyo are better.

Talking beyond today

A post-2015 development agenda

that is both unified in focus and universal

in form is emerging, tackling poverty erad-

ication and sustainable development.

Such an agenda would have major

implications for the expected role of e-

government in supporting its implemen-

tation. It is shown by a 2014 Survey, that e-

government can contribute towards the

post-2015 development agenda by

strengthening national capabilities, en-

hancing governments' performance, in-

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Figure 13 - Smart Cities' Quality of Life: The Need, Merit, Means & Money

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

Urban share of GDP in India

1970-71 1980-81 1993-94 1999-2000 2009-10 2030-31

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

37.7

42

47

52

63

75

United States. And Indian cities will gen-

erate close to 70% of the GDP. This will

exert tremendous pressure on urban in-

frastructure and services. It is, therefore,

imperative that we find innovative solu-

tions for the urban challenges of growth

and sustainability. (See Figures 13 & 14)

Though the concept of smart cities is

relatively new in India, we seem to be on

the path to creating them. During UPAII

Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban

Development said, Under JNNURM

Phase II, every state will have at least one

smart city. And with P.M Modi on driving

seat this has transformed to 100 new

smart cities on plan.

The transformation on ground with

big budgets , investment, plan, and kick off

is yet to be seen. The 2015-2016 Union

Budget stayed away from using the term

smart cities, unlike the one in 2014-2015

which made a special mention, but that

doesn't imply that this P.M 's government

is swaying away from smartening the

nation.

Last year's budget allocated $1.27 bil-

lion for the development of 100 smart cit-

ies. (Note all amounts in this article are in

U.S. dollars.) In this year's budget, fa-

mously touted as the country's first fed-

eral budget, the government has made

provisions for "smart practices and smart

living." For urban development, $1 billion

has been allocated to the Urban Rejuve-

nation Mission, while $84 million is mar-

ked as the spend on habitation and devel-

opment of 100 smart cities.

Despite not finding any mention in the

new budget, the government is creating

the building blocks which are paving the

way for 100 smart cities. The provisions

mentioned in the Budget 2015-16, if truly

practiced, will provide a roadmap to the

state governments to help create and gov-

ern smart cities more effectively. Improv-

ing India's infrastructure is definitely the

first step towards building it as a smart

nation.

Some important features of the bud-

get that confirm Modi government's con-

tinuing interest in smart cities include:

Infrastructure: Infrastructure has been

given much more emphasis this year with

the setting up of a National Investment

and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) with an

annual flow of $3.4 billion.

An increased private players partici-

pation is expected with the government's

decision to take into it's ambit some of the

risks in order to make PPP more attractive.

The Overall investment in infrastruc-

ture will climb up to be just under $12 bil-

lion in the year 2015-16, over the year

2014-15 from the Centre's Funds and

resources of Central public sector enter-

prises (CPSEs).

Roads and railways also have been

provided an additional allotment of $4 bil-

lion while the DMIC corridor which too is

to have some greenfield smart cities has

seen an allotment of $200 million for

basic infrastructure. This means a direct

and indirect infusion of around $40 billion

will be towards infrastructure.

Tourism: To kick start the tourism sec-

tor in a radical manner, the government

has envisaged landscape restoration,

signage and interpretation centres, park-

ing, access for the differently abled, visi-

tors' amenities, including securities and

toilets, illumination and plans for benefit-

ing communities around them at various

heritage sites. Swachh Bharat Fund has

been created to facilitate channeling of

money from individuals and companies

for one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's

pet schemes. The contributions will be

given tax exemption. The programme en-

tails an investment of nearly $34 billion

over the next five years to construct 120

million toilets in India by 2019.

Renewable energy: Tapping the

power of sun, renewable energy capacity

has been revised to 175,000 MW till 2022,

comprising 100,000 MW solar, 60,000 MW

wind, 10,000 MW biomass and 5,000 MW

small hydropower. Five Ultra Mega Power

Projects of MW 4000 each have been

planned with all clearances in advance (

i.e. in 'Plug & Play' mode) for private sec-

tor participation which are expected to

unlock investments up to $17billion.

Digital India: This is a $19 billion gov-

ernment initiative that seeks to transform

the country into a connected economy,

attract investment in electronics manu-

facturing and create millions of jobs. The

National Optical Fibre Network Programme

is rolling out an optic fibre network of 0.75

million kms, networking 0.25 million vil-

lages. A sum of $42 million has been allo-

cated for the Digital India Programme and

telecommunication and electronic indus-

tries manufacturing under a Make in India

plan. An e-biz portal has been launched

which integrates 14 regulatory permis-

sions at one point in order to facilitate

ease of doing business in India.

Money to states: Opting for coopera-

tive federalism, thus giving more power to

the state governments of the country, Bud-

get 2015-16 has accepted 14th Finance

Commission's recommendation of sub-

stantially higher devolution of Union taxes

to States. At 42% devolution, it is expected

that the states' share will increase from

$55.6 billion in year 2014-15 to about $87

billion in 2015-16, a quantum jump, which

would enable them to address their spe-

cific needs through flexibility in design,

implementation and financing of pro-

grammes and schemes. This would allow

the states to have better financial ability in

fulfilling the needs of their cities.

Direct benefits transfers: According

to the Economic Survey of 2014, there are

about 125.5 million Jan Dhan bank ac-

counts,17,757 million Aadhaar ( social

security) numbers and 904 million mobile

phones in the country. To prevent leak-

Figure 14 Increasing Urban Share of GDP in India

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Key Features

Wi-Fi hubs to

provide 100%

internet coverage

at 100Mbps

Mobility through

surface-level &

elevated roads

Buildings

based on

green

technology

Top-notch

water and

solid waste

management

100%

metered

power

connection

High-frequency

mass transport

and dedicated

bicycle mlanes

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ages of social benefits from reaching the

under-privileged, direct transfer of bene-

fits has been initiated. A sum of $1 billion

has so far been transferred directly, as

LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) subsidy to

115 million LPG consumers. This is to be

extended further with a view to increase

the number of beneficiaries from 10 mil-

lion to 100.3 million.

Social security: A functional social se-

curity system for all Indians will be created,

especially the poor and the under-privi-

leged. A Senior Secondary School is to be

built within 5 km reach of every child and a

provision to be made for medical services

in each village and city. An allocation of $17

million has been made for Nirbhaya Fund

formed for women's security and safety.

Innovation: An Atal Innovation Mission

(AIM) will be established to involve aca-

demics, entrepreneurs and resear-chers

and draw upon national and international

experiences to foster a culture of innova-

tion, R&D and scientific research in India.

Liveability: There's also a provision

for Swachh Bharat Cess, which will be

used to improve the quality of life and pub-

lic health.

India - The Larger Agenda

India's Smart City plan is part of a

larger agenda of creating Industrial Cor-

ridors between India's big metropolitan

cities. These include the Delhi-Mumbai

Industrial Corridor, the Chennai-Bangalore

Industrial Corridor and the Bangalore-

Mumbai Economic Corridor. It is hoped

that many industrial and commercial cen-

ters will be recreated as Smart Cities

along these corridors. Similarly the idea

is to shore up 'Smart Cities' on major

ports for a seamless business process.

In India Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka

and Kerala are few of the states where

maximum number of smart cities would

be developed in coming years.

The idea is to splurge the country with

infrastructure & make it ICT enabled. Both

are priority for growth. And this calls for

huge investment and very diligent appli-

cation of plans for success.

Technology drives Smart Business

Several industry experts have given

various definitions for India's smart city

and in all of them; technology has been

mentioned as the major enabler .It is

believed across the world that a city can

only grow on a sustainable basis if there

are opportunities for economic develop-

ment, entertainment, education, health-

care and many such services.

Instrumental in the development of

Smart Cities are partnerships with tech-

nology firms like IBM and Cisco. IBM pre-

pared the Integrated Communication

Technology (ICT) Master Plan for Dighi

Port Industrial Area in the DMIC that also

provides for the establishment of an Intel-

ligent Operations Center which uses IBM's

Smarter Cities software to integrate data

from various agencies at one command

center.

Cisco prepared the ICT Master plan of

four smart cities under the DMIC project-

Dholera in Gujarat, Shendra in Maha-

rashtra, Manesar in Haryana and Khush-

kera in Rajasthan.

And in Bangalore, Cisco is converting

a 5 sq. km area around Electronics City,

the IT-Hub in the city's peripheries, into a

Smart City. Cisco entered into a partner-

ship with the Electronic City Industrial

Association (ELCIA) to establish an Internet

of Things (IoT) innovation hub that would

help companies develop software appli-

cations that can be deployed in the 100

smart cities.

With the first phase of the project at

Electronics City underway in 2015, Cisco

now has set aims to leverage the experi-

ments it carries out in the Living Lab

there for its projects in other Smart Cities.

Existing cities such as Hyderabad,

Surat, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Manga-

lore, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Mumbai

and Chennai have launched initiatives

related to the deployment of advanced

communications systems, metro rail sys-

tems, traffic management systems,

smart meters, GPRS for solid waste man-

agement, GIS to manage property tax, on-

line water quality monitoring, online buil-

ding plan approval schemes to name a few.

(See Figure 15 'Delhi goes the GIFT way'.)

Foreign Governments & Agencies pitch in

They show their presence wherever

they see business and India is no excep-

tion. india too can strike deals for develop-

ment & trade translating into growth. The

government has already realized the need

of International bodies and private sector

for building smart infrastructure.

Asian Development Bank declared its Figure 15 Delhi goes the GIFT Way

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commitment in supporting India's 100

smart city projects. While speaking in

Delhi's Sustainable Development Sum-

mit 2015, Takehiko Nakao, president,

Asian Development Bank says, ADB is

also firmly committed to supporting

India's 100 smart cities initiative. The

use of technology and intelligent systems

will improve urban services for the poor,

including sanitation and affordable trans-

portation, Nakao added.

U.K & Singapore

The United Kingdom (UK) is collabo-

rating with India for developing the

Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor

project with the help of private companies

from Britain. India has also got into an

agreement with Singapore to use its ex-

pertise in smart cities and urban planning

for developing the 100 Smart Cities.

MoU with Spain

Earlier this month, Spain has also

shown interest in transforming Delhi into

a Smart city. Jaime Garcia-Legaz Ponce,

Minister of State for Trade of Spain in a

meeting with M Venkaiah Naidu has

shown interest in transforming Delhi into

a Smart city. A memorandum of under-

standing (MoU) between the two coun-

tries in this regard will focus in evolving

master plan for transforming Delhi into a

Smart city

MoU with USA

India has already signed three MoUs

with the USA to develop three smart cities

in the cities of Allahabad, Ajmer, and

Visakhapatnam. As per the agreement,

the U.S will help the cities in project plan-

ning, infrastructure development, feasi-

bility studies and capacity building. This

opportunity, has been seized by the US-

based communications systems company

Avaya. It implement its new Fabric Net-

work Connect technology in India's Smart

city project. The technology includes com-

ponents such as surveillance, communi-

cations and sensors to enable Internet of

Things (IoT), which has already been

used in Bangalore International Airport.

The solution allows airport network to

carry out simultaneous applications such

as universal flight information system, air-

port operations software and SAP ERP

system, critical voice service and Com-

mon User Self-Service (CUSS).

Tie-up with Germany

Germany too has shown willingness

to enter into partnership with India for

developing three Smart cities across the

country. A six-member joint committee

has also been formed to design a plan and

identify the cities within a time frame. These

decisions came at a meeting between

Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah

Naidu and the German Minister of Envi-

ronment, Nature Conservation, Building

and Nuclear Safety, Barbara Hendricks,

who said that the Government of Federal

Republic of Germany was keen to be asso-

ciated with India's smart city project.

Some New Smart Cities in India

Many a New Smart City has been

planned by States of Maharashtra, Kerala,

Chatisgarh, A.P, to usher in growth. Some

are in private sector too, like Palava near

Mumbai by Lodha group (Figure 16).

Naya Raipur (Chattisgarh)

The newly created state of Chhattisgarh

in November 2000, led to Raipur being con-

sidered for the capital of the state. Naya

Raipur a new city 20 kms from existing city

of Raipur, is being developed as the state

capital of Chhattisgarh and the city will

emerge as the country's first smart city

with modern facilities. The government

has planned to build new city as 'Green

City', designed as citizen and visitor frien-

dly city. The authority is to adopt best prac-

tices for water harvesting, waste water

recycling and use of nonconventional

sources of energy.

The development plan includes an

area of 80.13 kms, which will house

500,000 inhabitants by 2031. It has well

defined zones for institutions, housing,

commerce, light industry, recreation and

extensive parks, including a green belt.

Figure 16 - Palava Smart City, Mumbai: A

view of Palava city: The Lodha Group's city,

near Mumbai, is based on the 'walk to

everything' principle, where every home is

five minutes from utility services. Energy,

transport, water and waste management,

are controlled by a command centre.

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

The development plan 2031 consists of 3

layers Core Zone, Peripheral region and

Airport Zone. In order to reduce the car-

bon emission and use of personal modes,

the authority has planned an integrated

network of Bus Rapid Transit and Light

Rail Transit.

Kochi Smart City

Kochi Smart City, covering over 246

acre, is an IT township project, promoted

by UAE based Dubai Holdings and Gov-

ernment of Kerala. The expected project

completion is by 2020 and has potential

for around 90,000 jobs. (See Figure 17).

The first phase of the project was

scheduled for March 2015 completion.

With 8.8 million sq. ft. of built up space of

which at least 6.21 million sq. ft. this pro-

ject will be specifically dedicated for IT/

ITES/allied services.

Smart City Kochi's master plan include

IT offices, retail and F&B, hotels, residen-

tial apartments, schools, colleges, hospi-

tals, parks and open green spaces, and will

be self contained compact urban habitat.

Gujarat International Financial Tec (GIFT)

Spread over 886 acres and at a dis-

tance of 18 kms from Ahmedabad airport,

GIFT city is conceptualized as a global

financial and Information Technology ser-

vices hub. GIFT city is the first of its kind in

India and is supposed to create 5 lakh

each direct and indirect jobs respectively

(See Figure 18).

An example of modernization is its

solid waste management system wherein

solid waste will be removed by suction

from homes and offices through pipelines

conveying directly to a waste processing

plant (See Figure 19).

With 1,000 MW electric supply, piped

natural gas, centralized AC system, inter-

national fibre landing system and many

more, it will develop world class inte-

grated multimodal transportation system

(MRTS/ LRT/ BRT), aiming for 90% popu-

lation movement by public transport.

New Cities (Delhi- Mumbai industrial cor-

ridor)

Seven new smart cities are being dev-

eloped along the proposed Delhi Mumbai

Industrial Corridor (DMIC) by respective

states with help of foreign aid. Work on

two was planned to begin in 2014 with

expected scale up to 24 new cities by 2040.

These 7 new cities are

- Ahmedabed / Dholera (900 sq km /

Gujarat) [See Figure 20]

- Shendra / Bidkin (84 sq km /

Maharasthra)

Figure 17- Smart city 'kochi'promoted by UAE's Dubai Holdings with Kerala Govt.: 2020 Completion Target

Figure 18- 'GIFT' Smart City Unique Global Financial Hub First of it's kind in India

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Author's Bio

The author leads our Delhi bureau. An

Engineer and qualified ADR professional

(NALSAR alumnus), Sadagopan Seshadri

has been a senior Contract Management

Professional in large national & Inter-

national Companies. His domain experi-

ence is in Building Products, Cement plants

and Mega Power project execution. He

has been an expert visiting faculty and

univ. examiner for Contract Management

at the SSAA, IP University, New Delhi.

Being passionate about Environment he

has now turned to Landscape Projects

design teamed with like-minded architects

& engineers for sustainable landscapes

development He is vocal with his views on

these areas through his writings.

He can be reached at:

design2xcel@gmail.com

- Manesar / Bawal (380 Sq km / Haryana)

- Khuskhera / Bhiwadi / Neemrana

(150 Sq km / Rajasthan)

- Dighi Port Area (230 Sqkm /

Maharashtra)

- Dadri / Noida / Ghaziabad (250 Sq km /

Uttar Pradesh)

- Pithampur / Dhar / Mhow (370 Sq km /

Madhya Pradesh)

Port Cities

Indian government is working on an

ambitious plan to build one smart city

each at the country's 12 major ports, at an

estimated total investment of ` 50,000

crore, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has

said."Each port will construct one smart

city. Each city will be built with an expendi-

ture of about ` 3,000-4,000 crore," said

the Minister for Road Transport, High-

ways and Shipping."

These will be green smart cities.

Aspirations need Arithmetic back up!

Though Mr Modi pledged 70.6 billion

rupees shortly after poll win to kick-start

his goal of developing as many as 100

energy-efficient, technology-driven smart

cities, some have sought to rein in expec-

tations. The concern is of millions of Indi-

ans pouring into cities from poorer rural

areas every year, straining already stret-

ched affordable housing, public transport

and basic services, and for this much

more money is needed.

Diane Farrell, acting president of the

US-India Business Council, said compa-

nies would only become involved in the

city's projects if there was a clear profit to

be made.Right now the cities are in a

phase where they are putting all of their

aspirations on the table, but then you have

to sit back and work out how to pay for it,

Ms Farrell, who visited India as part of

a US fact-finding delegation in January,

this year said.Cities cannot be reliant on

US companies for funding or foreign gov-

ernments, they need to develop success-

ful PPPs [public-private partnerships],

she said.

Thus, though the intent of govern-

ment may be true, the means need to be

found to develop cities and jobs. And the

latter part is what is stemming concern

from many a quarter including prospec-

tive investors.

Caution ! ' Achtung' - Pay Attention Please:

If you thought India was far behind

other countries in terms of smart cities,

think again. There may be many aspects

of 'Smart' attributable to a city that we have

not really understood in a 'wholesome'

fashion and are just looking at 'smart' as a

fancy concept. If that is the case, then we

need to shift focus, perceive the 'reality' of

being 'smart', be 'down to earth' and only

after being clear about ' smart' we should

venture further in this direction. So the

first step is to understand what we want.

We can get only what 'we ask' for and

not what 'we think we are asking for'!

When a leadership expresses itself, the

policy maker, conceptualiser and imple-

menter should all be on the same page.

Terms and concepts expressed by such

proposers (lacking domain knowledge)

should be understood by domain experts

in real context of what was meant and then

reasonably transformed to real goals. Oth-

erwise, what we are heading for is a disaster!

When you look at the challenges fac-

ing India's cities, it's easy to start hyper-

ventilating,said Anil Menon, responsible

for developing smart city strategies in India

at tech giant Cisco. As I already said, all

across the world, growth on a sustainable

basis is possible only if there are opportu-

nities for economic development, enter-

tainment, education, healthcare and

many such services; all put together in a

balanced viable & optimal mix.

Therefore even before concrete

pours for work to begin in a big way on the

government's ambitious smart-city pro-

ject, there does seem to be justified con-

cern over the initiative possibly turning into

an elitist concept that strays away from

what it really means to be 'smart'. And it is

essential to realise that 'smart' is not just

only about 'Technology'.

Well, then it is a vital area of contem-

plation, that should be matter of yet 'an-

other story'! w

Figure 20 - Dholera smart city smart transportation, connectivity, clean energy and more

Figure 19- GIFT: High rises as one shown, with

sparkling glass facades would form a necklace

around the river curve, much like Shanghai

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