Takshashila's Centre for Smart Cities Governance

1. CENTRE FOR
SMART CITY
GOVERNANCE
The Takshashila Institution is a think
tank and school of public policy.
Independent. Nonpartisan. Networked. Fall 2015 Takshashila Institution

2. Raison d’etre
Motivation
01
For the first time, the Indian
government wants
smart cities
02 Cities are the engines
of economic growth
03
Indian cities need to be able to
absorb & provide jobs to millions
every year
04
A lot of the ideas and solutions are
coming out of Bangalore05
Need to enable innovations for
India & the world

3. Creating one of the
leading institutions
for city studies and
governance
India has recognised cities are a
driver of growth and development
Smart cities need smart leaders and a
smart citizenry
Bangalore has created many
institutions & leaders who have
shaped how cities are governed
across India

4. | 7
Focus on education and training
Conduct lighthouse research
Continuous public engagement
Politically engaged but non-partisan
& independent
Start in Bangalore, but go national
How are we different?

5. 8-fold path towards municipal governance
Activities
1. What is a city?
2. Essentials of micro planning
3. Public finance
4. Project management: Getting things
done
5. Managing stakeholders
6. Economic reasoning
7. Enabling jobs & businesses
8. Ethics and public decisionmaking
An 8 class course for sitting municipal
administrators, engineers and leaders
across India
Nitin Pai
Pavan SrinathKarthik
Shashidhar
V Ravichandar Raj Cherubal

6. Civic Leadership Incubation Programme
Activities
Training the next generation of
politicians and civic leaders of India’s cities
Concept Track
Field Track
Practice Track

7. Nagara
The Democracy Game
Activities
An interactive role-playing game that
teaches how a democracy works – for
RWAs, nonprofits, schools ++
Smart City Policy
Engineering Toolkit
An easy-to-read toolkit of flashcards that
deconstructs deep knowledge into an
easily accessible set of flash cards

8. Research & Writing
Activities
01 Let’s start measuring city GDPs in India Reimagining a networked government
How does a city work when everyone
has a smartphone?
Injecting fresh, bold ideas into public debate
Developing a city economic
vibrancy index
Can we have an Indian Metropolitan
Service (IMS) like IAS?
How do you improve ease of doing
business, city by city?
Getting people to pay for parking
and water
02
03
04
05
06
07
08 Going vertical with India’s cities

9. Sets of flashcards that can
teach key topics in urban
governance and city to a busy
and diverse set of people.
Policy Toolkit
Fresh, bold research on that
confronts the aspirations of
600-million urban Indians. It is
lighthouse research that
seeks to change narratives
and broaden the horizon of
ideas.
Research
An international conference
each year on urban themes
such as Securing Smart
Cities; Growth through city
reforms; Entrepreneurship &
the city.
Conference
An annual 3-month training
programme for aspiring civic
leaders in Bangalore on city
governance and local action.
In association with BPAC.
Activities
B.CLIP
A 4 week training programme
for civic administrators,
municipal commissioners and
city engineers and leaders.
Run 1-2 times per year.
Govt Training
A role-playing game that
teaches participants how
decision making works in a
democracy. To train and
expand the horizons of school
and college students as well
as RWAs and civil society
members in Bangalore.
Nagara