Making cities Smart remains an illusion/ mirage and a fallacy in this world, which is illogically and irrationally being chased and promoted by politician, administrators and people in the power. How can cities be made Smart, both conceptually and physically, when cities are marked by dualities and contradictions, when it cannot take care of its stakeholders; Create ownership among them; provide them basic infrastructures, amenities and services; assure them appropriate employment and economic options; provide them with reasonable shelter; ensure healthy living. Cities cannot be made Smart till poverty continue to rule the cities; where planning remains marginalized/diluted; where multiplicity of agencies continue to operate and rule in contradiction to each other; where decision made remain mired with subjectivity; where there is total lack of ownership; where leadership has no understanding of the city growth and development and where manpower deployed remain inadequately qualified to understand and address the issues of urbanization. Cities would require more focus and will need care and caution, provided with the input of professionals who can lead the cities to make them more livable. I think need is to move from and focus on promoting livability rather than smartness. How can we achieve the objective of livability, should remain the agenda for all professionals and stake holders involved with making cities Smart.

1. Designing Smart and Inclusive Cities in India
*Jit Kumar Gupta
Introduction
Cities are known to be the most innovative and complex creation of human beings. They have
showcased the journey, achievements, rise and fall of homo-sapiens on this earth.
Accordingly, they have been integral part of human history. Cities have existed in the past
and shall continue to exist, define, script and showcase the unending story of human growth
and development. The unending journey undertaken by cities is now treading on a fast pace
of development in a territory, which is both unknown and difficult to define. Three major
developments define the contemporary Urban world, which have their genesis in growth in
size, number and spread of human settlements; increase in the proportion of population that
lives in urban centres and transformation of the society based on large proportion of
population making urban centres as place of residence besides following a pattern of life
which has its origin and character in urban environment. Combination of these three major
developments has created a system which is both powerful, deep seated and self- reinforcing.
It has rapidly changed the spatial organization and economy, which has impacted both local
and global environment.
Cities, as economic and social system in space, dominate the global canvas not only in terms
of concentration of population but also concentration of Industry besides being principle
centers of economy and polity; large consumer markets and highly trained workforce.
Accordingly, they represent most viable and suitable places with significant, social and
economic achievements. As engines of economic growth, cities are known to be creators of
wealth, generators of employment and promoters of economy and prosperity. Cities have
been centres of innovations and trade & commerce. They have always attracted people in
large number to its fold to provide them immense opportunities of growth, achievement and
development through skill and entrepreneurship. They also offer optimum location for
services and facilities, which require large population threshold and markets for its
operational efficiency. Despite housing large population at higher densities and adverse living
conditions, cities are known to offer opportunities and quality of life better than its rural
counterparts.
Urbanization in India is known for its massiveness of population and spread. According to
Census 2001, with level of urbanization standing at 27.7%, 278 million Indians lived in 5161
urban agglomerations. This number increased to 377 million in 2011 with agglomerations
also increasing to 7935 and level of urbanization going up to 31.1%. Last decade (2001-
2011), will be known for two reasons in the parlance of Indian demography. For the first time
in the demographic history, Urban India added more population (91 million) as compared to
Rural India (90 million), putting India on the fast trajectory of urbanization. Secondly, for the
largest growth in the number of towns placed at 2774(from 5161 to 7935), with almost entire
increase recorded in the category of census towns (2532). Statutory towns increased by
merely 242, accounting for only 9% of the increase in total number of towns. Based on

2. massive differential between urban and rural growth rate (2.1% against 0.7%), by 2030, out
of projected population of 1.4 billion over 600 million people may be living in urban areas
and number of urban dwellers will share parity with rural population by 2050 AD. Next four
decades are likely to witness enormous growth in terms of numbers of urban centres, their
size and population. As per estimates made in World Urbanization Prospects –The 2014
Revision Report of Department of Economic and Social Affairs , United Nations, India by
2030 will have 7 Metro cities with population exceeding 10 million and 2 cities of
population above 5 million. It is also estimated that by 2050 AD number of Metro Cities will
go beyond 100 and 10 million plus cities will be 9 with Delhi becoming second most
populated agglomeration in the world. In the given context urban centres are likely to emerge
as major settlements, housing large proportion of Indian population. Urban India besides
housing large population concentrated in a limited area, will also make sizeable contribution
to the national and global economy. With highly positive correlation between urbanization
and GDP, it can be safely visualized that urban centres will be major drivers of Indian
economy and story-writers of its growth and development. This calls for critically and
objectively looking at the urban centres in terms of their pattern of growth and development
and evolving strategies which make them more productive, smart, efficient, healthy and
sustainable.
ISSUES & OPTIONS
Cities contain both order and chaos. In them reside beauty and ugliness, virtue and vice. They
can bring out the best or the worst in humankind. They are the physical manifestation of
history and culture and incubators of innovations, industry, technology, entrepreneurship and
creativity. Cities are the materialization of humanity’s noblest ideas, ambitions and
aspirations, but when not planned or governed properly, can be the repository of society’s
ills. Cities drive national economies by creating wealth, enhancing social development and
providing employment but they can also be the breeding grounds for poverty, exclusion and
environmental degradation(UN Habitat Report, State of World’s Cities 2008/2009-
Harmonius Cities). Indian cities are no different from the global pattern defined above.
Indian urbanization is distinguished by dualities and contradictions where growth and
development is marked by deprivation and opulence. Despite showcasing distinct advantages
and critical role, urban centres have not been growing in a planned and rational manner.
Emerging urban scenario on Indian canvas portrays large number of slums over-shadowing
the city growth; where slums and state-of-the-art buildings are rubbing shoulders; where
poverty and prosperity compete with one-another; where unplanned development has
emerged as the order of the day; where informal sector govern the growth and development
of cities and where basic amenities and services are eluding the majority of urban residents.
Majority of urban centres continue to face problems of acute housing shortage and rapid
uncontrolled growth resulting into haphazard expansion with sub-standard infrastructure,
adversely impacting the quality of life of majority of urban residents. The existing
inadequacies have resulted into inefficient traffic and transportation besides uncontrolled
rapid growth and proliferation of informal sector. Poverty and environment have emerged as
the major issues and greatest threat to the urban dynamism. In addition, urban centres are fast

3. emerging as large consumers of non-renewal resources and energy, adversely impacting the
sustainability, both at local and global level. They are also generating enormous amount of
waste which is grossly polluting water, air and land based necessities essential for human
existence, growth, development and survival.
Looking at the entire context, Indian urbanization can be called a urbanization of poverty,
urbanization of population and urbanization of pollution, marked by large concentration of
people in a small area. Rapid growth of urban poverty; inadequate and inefficient state of
service provision and delivery; unregulated expansion and large scale pollution have emerged
as some of the major concerns of urban growth and development and have made the Indian
cities most un-harmonious. The present state of affairs of urban sector can be largely
attributed to the way majority of urban centres are being planned, developed, managed and
governed. In the Indian context, urban planning mechanism remains both diluted and
confused.. Plans for the city are prepared by agencies which are not based at the local level
and have very little knowledge and understanding of the local problems, potential and
aspirations of the local people.. Most of these plans are prepared without adopting any
consultative process. Where adopted it is limited to few elites, with the result city plans
excludes majority of residents to whom the entire process is supposed to serve and promote.
There is lack of clarity as to who would be responsible for promoting planned development
of urban centres. Despite the fact 74th Amendment Act came into operation in 1992, still the
subject matter of urban planning has not been handed over to the urban local bodies. Being a
state subject, each state has its own agenda and pattern for urban planning. In most of the
cases, there exist large number of state/ local level agencies operating in the domain of urban
planning at local level to the exclusion of urban local bodies. In this scenario of duplication
and overlap, planned growth of cities has emerged as the major casualty. In addition to
planning, urban governance is conspicuously ineffective and resultantly inefficient. Most of
the urban centres are being managed and developed by proxy. There exists no single agency
which has the power to direct the growth and development of the city in an integrated
manner. In the process ,urban areas are unable to meet the basic needs of shelter with the
result majority of urban poor which migrate to the cities have no option but to find/ create
make shift shelter while encroaching on every possible available derelict public/private land.
The resultant rapid growth of slums in the city indicates the exclusion of majority of urban
residents from the formal process of creating shelter. In addition, majority of cities are not in
a position to provide basic and essential services of water, sanitation, sullage, transportation,
accessibility, power etc to majority of its residents, creating adverse and inhuman living
conditions and poor quality of life for urban poor. This makes cities highly inefficient,
unproductive, unsustainable, exclusive and discriminatory.
In order to leverage the inherent potential of urban centres and make city growth &
development rational and inclusive, it becomes critical that urban centres are effectively and
efficiently governed through a well defined and innovative system of planning and
development. Effective, efficient and people centric urban governance can be put on
professional pedestal only through the mechanism of participatory planned development. In
this context, role of physical planners and planning profession assumes critical importance to

4. usher an era of high quality of urban planning and governance . For promoting state of art
planned development, Government of India has now come out with the agenda of planning
smart cities. Initially government plans to develop 100 cities in the country under the scheme,
for which dedicated funds to the tune of Rs 7000 crores have also been provided. Scheme
envisions developing one satellite town for each mega cities above 4 million population, all
1-4 million population cities, all state capital cities including North- Eastern states, 20 cities
which have population in the range of 0.2 to 1 million and some cities of tourist and heritage
importance. In addition, some new towns would be developed in the Hills and Coastal areas
with no population threshold. In Search for appropriate solutions, paper looks at the various
options and strategies which can go into the making and planning of Smart Cities in the
Indian context.
DEFINING SMART CITIES
Smart cities is not a new concept. The concept has been used globally in the past to
promote cities to make them more liveable, have major concerns for urban ills
pertaining to energy consumption, adverse quality of life, poor governance , poverty,
transportation hiccups, environment, resources, sustainability , lack of basic services,
poor service delivery etc, using technology as the basic input. Accordingly, the term has
been defined differently by different people keeping in view the basic and essential
needs of the city and available technology.
A smart city is typically defined as’ an environmentally conscious city that uses
information technology to use its energy and other resources efficiently’. Another
definition refers, Smart city in relation to creation of a knowledge infrastructure.
However, as per Caragliu and Nijkamp ; “ A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when
investments in human and social capital and traditional and modern communication
infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with
a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action.’ Forbe
identified eight key aspects that define a Smart City: ‘smart governance, smart energy,
smart building, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology, smart
healthcare and smart citizen’.
Looking at various definitions, a city can be made Smart if it is Governed Smartly,
Planned Smartly, Developed Smartly, Operated Smartly and Financed Smartly. This can
be achieved through a high degree of committed leadership duly supported by a well
defined vision, a strategic approach, state of art and innovative planning, high degree of
planning expertise, committed bureaucracy, quality development, quality manpower,
transparency in decision making, involving citizens and communities in decision
making and project planning/ implementation, optimizing resources, creating
partnerships , promoting accountability, ensuring efficient service delivery and using
technology(ICT) in day to day operations and strategic planning.

5. PROMOTING SMART GOVERNANCE
Urban Governance as an issue, as an option and
as a strategy to leverage the inherent potential of
urban centres has been well recognized and has
assumed critical importance in the context of ever
growing role and importance of urban centres in
the overall economic growth, employment
generation and contribution such centres make to
the national/state wealth. Accordingly, good
urban governance ranks high on the agenda of promoting smart cities. With urban centres
growing larger and larger, urban governance becomes critical because of the impact it has on
the life and liberty of innumerable urban dwellers. With cities becoming centres for large
investments, centres of large concentration of population and providers of specialized
services and amenities, their effective and efficient functioning assumes added importance.
With India following a policy of economic liberalization, globalization and deregulation,
urban centres in general and large urban centers in particular are going to attract lot of
investment. Urban centers are likely to emerge as the hub around which entire Indian
economy and polity would gravitate. Accordingly, it would be essential that appropriate and
supportive environment is created in these centres to attract investment, contribute to the
national economy and wealth, provide employment, eradicate poverty and ensure appropriate
quality of life to make them more inclusive, equitable, productive and sustainable. If urban
centres have been termed as engines of economic growth, urban governance can rightly be
called wheels of such engines. Urban governance accordingly becomes more relevant and
critical, because capacity of a nation to pursue its goals of economic, physical and social
growth is contingent upon its capacity to govern its towns and cities effectively and
efficiently.
Urban settlements are vital because they define the agenda for human living and working.
Accordingly, the overall objective is to improve social, economic and environmental quality
of urban settlements and the living and working environment of all people, particularly of the
urban poor. Based on this premise in 1996, the Habitat Agenda identified, adequate shelter
for all and sustainable human settlements as the international priorities. Subsequently, UN
General Assembly in its special session and World Summit on Sustainable Development in
2002 stressed the need for, promoting more sustainable urbanization through better urban
governance. Considering that urban planning is both central and critical to promote better
governance of urban settlements, proactive role and importance of urban planning is
accordingly stressed. Urban Planning has the capacity and capability of promoting
sustainability and leveraging planned and rational growth besides making connections
between people, economic opportunities and the environment. It also has the potential to
reduce poverty and promote quality of life for all the urban dwellers through the generation
of social and economic opportunities. Urban planning has enormous potential and capacity to
usher an era of rational growth and planned development, provide space and platform for

6. affordable living and ensure basic services and amenities and quality of life in urban centres
to poorest of the poor to lead a dignified life. However, urban governance in India is
conspicuous by its absence. Cities, as already stated, are being run by proxy by state and
bureaucracy. If cities are to be made smart, then it will be critical to create local leadership
having vision, knowledge, expertise, capability and capacity to launch city on the path of
rational and planned development. Leadership also needs to be made accountable to people
and state for all the decisions made. Adequate framework for checks and balances will have
to be created at the local level in order to avoid misuse and abuse of power and authority and
promote accountability. State must allow and incentivize the local bodies to take up the onus
of managing cities and supporting communities to create quality leadership. In addition to
creating local leadership, it will be critical to provide quality supportive manpower at the
local level having expertise in planning, development, management and financing the urban
growth. State must create a dedicated cadre of CEOs for the cities from bureaucracy and
professionals to work at the local level to make them the city smart on the pattern adopted in
Singapore.
PROMOTING SMART DEVELOPMENT
Looking at the existing scenario of ever increasing and all pervasive poverty; growth of
slums on a scale never known before; high degree of traffic congestion and obsolescence
prevailing in urban settlements; acute shortage of basic amenities and services in the towns
and cities, haphazard and unplanned development emerging as the accepted pattern of
growth, a new regime of urban planning emerges as the basic necessity to improve the
developmental framework of urban centres and make them smart. Urban Planning has been
found to have considerable effectiveness and impact in leveraging smart and inclusive cities
through:
i) Reducing new slums formation through slum up- gradation and ensuring
adequate supply of land for development of affordable shelters in safe and
accessible locations.
ii) Reducing vulnerability to natural disasters through carefully siting and
planning urban settlements and designing them as energy efficient and green
settlements by addressing key issues of climate change.
iii) Creating Environment friendly cities through adopting a new regime of
transportation based on least priority for personalized mode of transport, using
more efficient and economical city forms, making cities more compact and
humane, creating sustainable built environment besides putting in place legal and
governmental systems which are promoters of state of art planning and
development besides good governance.
iv) Building sustainable economic growth based an adopting livelihood focus in the
urban planning, helping in the process reducing urban poverty and rural-urban
migration by creating appropriate level of gainful employment opportunities. Re-
planning declining cities and derelict areas and reusing/ recycling urban land
leading to sustainable economic growth and better cityscape and quality of life.

7. v) Creating safer and crime-free cities by adopting planning based on
inclusiveness and partnership and providing a comprehensive framework for
different interest groups to work together for a common purpose. Planned
reconstruction and a governance approach used in the post- conflict reconstruction
in strife-torn cities, have been found to be highly effective to create and promote
sustainable communities.
vi) Enhancing quality of life in human settlements by addressing human, social ,
cultural , environmental and natural aspects of settlements and infrastructure
through the mechanism of urban planning, recognizing that poverty remains
central to planning of urban settlements.
vii) Generating Resources by leveraging the inherent potential and capacity of urban
centres to generate resources for development of basic infrastructure and services
and providing amenities which are critical to human sustenance, quality living and
rational growth. Planned development has capacity to usher a new era in the
regime of generating fiscal resources through the mechanism of using land as a
resource , levying development charges both internal and external, land use
conversion charges, granting development rights, trading floor area ratio, transfer
of development rights, accommodation reservation, granting air
space/advertisement rights etc.
viii) Creating land bank in urban centres through the mechanism of framing land
pooling and distribution schemes by involving land owners as co-partners in the
planning and development process. Town Planning Scheme in Gujarat and
Maharashtra can be taken as role-models for promoting planned development and
creating land banks for providing housing for the poor and laying down road
network beside creating open spaces and institutional sites and generating
resources for physical, social, hard and soft infrastructures.
RE-INVENTING SMART PLANNING
Promoting planned development and involving Town Planners have amply
demonstrated that good urban planning can lead to good urbanism and usher a new era of
quality living, better community life and
good governance. Areas developed
under mechanism of planning have
clearly shown that they offer better
quality of life and environment as
compared to un- planned parcels.
Chandigarh, New Delhi, Gandhinagar,
Bubhaneshwar, Manesar, Gurgaon,
Noida, Panchkula, Mohali etc. are few
examples of planned development which have amply demonstrated the effectiveness of
urban planning. Master Plans and Development Plans prepared for various cities have
considerably redefined the destiny of existing towns and cities and have put them on the
path of rational growth and development. Building Bye-laws and Zoning

8. Regulations/Development Control Regulations have also helped in promoting rational use
of land and enabled construction of buildings which meet the basic requirement of quality
living besides ensuring air, light and ventilation within the buildings. However, despite
numerous efforts made, inherent, potential/strength and genesis of art and science of
planned development has not been fully appreciated and put in operation in leveraging the
smart growth and development of urban centres. Most of the sufferings, maladies and
poor quality of life prevailing in Indian cities have their roots and genesis in the gross
neglect of urban planning. Urban planning remains central and critical to promote smart
cities and this fact must be duly acknowledged, appreciated and accepted. No city can be
made smart unless it is backed and supported by a comprehensive, integrated, innovative,
state of art, effective and efficient mechanism of urban planning.
However, in order to make urban planning supportive of Smart cities, we have to look
for new innovative and better options and put in place a new planning regime in
operation considering the pattern of yrban growth and urban dynamism. It needs to be
appreciated that present form and pattern of physical planning and town planning will not
be able to meet effectively challenges of 21st century in terms of rapid and massive
urbanization of population, urbanization of poverty, urbanization of pollution,
environment, ecology and natural disasters. Planners need to revisit their planning tools,
planning processes and planning options/ strategies in the changed context. They need to
be made more innovative, responsive, flexible, effective and efficient in order to meet the
emerging urban dynamism and challenges.
Master Plans /Development Plans have
been extensively used by urban planners to
usher an era of planned development and
redefine future growth pattern of the cities.
But in practice, these plans have emerged as
the major roadblocks in the planned growth
and development of the cities. Master Plans
have been known to be rigid, consumers of
enormous time and resources, based purely
on land use, addressing merely
physical/technical issues, difficult to interpret etc. In the process, Master Plans have put
the planning process on the back foot with planning chasing the city growth and
development. With considerable time taken for preparation, approvals and following
detailed and cumbersome procedural/legal requirements, cities continue to grow in the
absence of the planning framework in an illegal manner, with the result majority of
Master Plan proposals become obsolete, outdated and accordingly non-implementable.
Rigidly defined Land Use and Development Control Regulations often fall under public
criticism, resulting in more violations than compliance. Agencies involved in planning
are invariably far removed from ground realities, cities and citizens leading to formation
of non-realistic proposals. Agencies involved in implementation lack technical expertise
and financial resources for effective implementation. The existing administrative and

9. financial capacity and dichotomy in planning besides lack of will and absence of
dedicated agency , has led to non-implementation of Master Plans. This calls for re-
looking at the intent, content and scope of Master plans which need to be redefined for
bringing in more flexibility, making them less consumers of time and manpower in their
preparation , for imparting required level of dynamism to meet the emerging needs of
the cities and making them user friendly and promoters rather than controller of
development. Mechanism of preparing the Master Plans should be able to create local
ownership leading to its effective implementation. This would call for a new regime and
order of planning to be put in place for preparing better Master Plans by involving all
the stakeholders in a transparent and objective manner to ensure better quality of
planned/smart development of cities.
Planning approach to smart cities should invariably be based on looking at cities both
inward and outward. Since cities do not exist in isolation in space and have high degree
of connectivity with surrounding areas/settlements, accordingly most efficient cities in
the world have adopted Regional perspective and not just looking at cities growth. The
Regional approach/model has helped them in minimizing local competition and conflicts,
over/under investment in infrastructure and overcoming confusion over role and
responsibilities of various agencies. In the process, it has promoted co-operation, growth
of not only of the city but of the region. Bringing flexibility in planning will be critical to
promote smart cities in order to enable cities effectively meet and cater to the urban
dynamism. Master plans will have to be prepared in a manner that they serve as a
framework into which local projects can be fitted. Accordingly, Master Plans will have to
be reshaped as guide to evaluate and assess the new proposals in a rational manner
keeping in view the basic objectives and vision of city growth and development. The
master plans will not be merely land use plans which define the city once for all for next
two decades but will be made as documents which evolve along the city’s changing needs
and aspirations. However, flexibility requires great deal of skill and innovations. Cities
that have made a mark in urban planning have put in place a multi-disciplinary planning
department to do justice to the planned growth. Critical for making planning process
promoter of the smart cities will be to make the process both inclusive and participatory
.This would basically involve making planning a collaborative effort between parties an
stakeholders and not dictated by any authority. Such a process shall be based on an
intermix of top down and bottom up approach involving people, communities, NGOs,
CBOs, voluntary organizations and local
authorities.
SMART BUILDINGS
Buildings have critical role in making the cities
smart. No city can be made smart unless it is
supported by built environment, which is energy
efficient and intelligent because buildings use over
40% world’s total energy, 30% raw materials, 25%
timber harvested, 16% fresh water withdrawal and

10. are responsible for 35% of world’s CO2 emission, 40% municipal solid waste, 50% ozone
depleting CFC besides making 30% residents having sick building syndrome. With number
of people rushing, towards urban centres, energy requirements of cities due to buildings, is
going to rise sharply in future. As per Mckinsey Global Institute Report (April, 2010), ‘India
Urban Awakening :Building Inclusive Cities’, India would be required to create on annual
basis buildings to the tune of 700-900 million sqmts (equal to the built up volume of Chicago
City in USA) to meet the needs of urban India. Despite huge projected requirements , very
little focus is being given to mitigate the adverse impact on the environment caused by rapid
and uncontrolled growth of building industry. Thus building as a sector would require close
scrutiny and monitoring for effecting overall economy in the levels of energy consumption
and making cities smart.
Experience and studies have shown that adopting an integrated approach to design can reduce
energy implications of buildings. Integrated approach to building design would essentially
revolve round, rational site planning, shape and size of the buildings, built form, surface to
volume ratio; promoting building efficiency ,rationalising ratio between length and depth of
the building, using simple techniques of building structure, efficient structural design;
adopting principles of solar passive techniques , using energy efficient equipment,
controlling lighting, heating, ventilation ; using solar energy/air movement, reduced use of
transportation energy, low energy components; minimising waste, using local materials,
optimising landscaping etc.
Orientation is the most critical factor which needs to be effectively used in all building
designs in order to evolve energy efficient building design by making use of solar
light/heat/radiation and the wind energy. However, requirements of building design would
vary from region to region, state to state and within regions and states. Accordingly,
buildings with regard to sun and wind will have to be oriented differently in different regions.
In order to ensure that buildings make best use of solar and wind energy, it would be essential
that majority of buildings would have the site advantage of having best orientation where
such buildings are to be constructed. Accordingly, in this context town planners have
important role cast for themselves for ensuring that while preparing the layout plan of the
area, highest consideration is given to orientation so that maximum number of plots have the
advantage of best orientation. Once this is ensured at the planning level, it would be much
easier for the Architects to evolve a design which would be energy efficient. Further, the
planners should ensure that ratio of plot width and depth is fixed in such a manner that the
entire depth of built up area permitted on a plot should have
access to natural light during the day, minimizing the
requirement of artificial lighting. This would be particularly
important in case of row housing where plots have the option
to draw light from front and the rear only.
Designing with nature by making best use of existing natural
elements/sources and vegetation, offers the best option of
creating green buildings. In order to ensure that buildings are
designed as energy efficient, they must be designed to conform
Empire State Building

11. to the norms and standards laid down by the IGBC/LEED. In addition, concerted efforts
should be made to promote retrofitting of existing buildings to make them energy efficient.
Singapore has already drawn a master plan to make all the existing buildings green through a
collaborative policy framework involving residents, property owners and the government.
Retrofitting of Empire State Building of New York has led to achieving reduction of
electricity load for the building to the tune of 3.5 MW and reduction of green house gas
emissions by 1,00,000 tonnes over a 15 years period. The payback/recovery period for the
$13.1 million spent on retrofitting of building, has been laced at 3.5 years due to saving of
energy.
PLANNING SMART/SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
Cities are known to contribute 70% of green house gasses with majority of contribution
coming from transportation and buildings. With traditional fuels, transportation sector alone
contributes 45% of all total carbon emissions. Challenges posed by transportation sector
accordingly remain daunting and formidable in creating smart cities. To overcome these
challenges options would clearly hinge on promoting sustainability of urban transport in
order to make cities cleaner, greener and smarter. Promoting Sustainable urban transport
would accordingly form integral and essential part of any strategy to promote Smart Cities.
Smart cities would have different order of priority for transportation led by pedestrianization,
cycling , public transport with least priority going to personal transport. Smart cities will be
planned with priority for people and not for vehicles. In smart cities sustainable transport
would essentially call for minimizing use of personalized vehicles; promoting non-
mechanized/ non-fuel based options for travel; using public transport with large capacity run
essentials on non-polluting fuels /electricity; using state of art technology making vehicles
zero-emission; making cities more compact to limit the need of mechanized travel; using land
use planning to rationalize the travel pattern etc. It would also involve use of information
technologies as one of the mechanism to reduce travel by using homes as offices, schools,
libraries etc. Use of multi-storied buildings for making cities more compact can also be
considered as a distinct option for minimizing travel needs of the city.
Draft Concept note evolved by the Ministry of
Urban Development for the Smart Cities have
defined the transportation parameters for a smart city
in terms of maximum travel time of 30 minutes in
small & medium size cities and 45 minutes in
metropolitan areas; creating continuous unobstructed
footpath of minimum 2m wide on either side of all
street with right of way of 12m or more; dedicated
and physically segregated bicycle tracks with a width
of 2m or more, one in each direction, provided on all
streets with carriageway larger than 10m ;high
quality and high frequency mass transport within 800m (10-15 minute walking distance) of
all residences in areas over 175 persons / ha of built Area; access to para-transit within 300m
walking distance.

12. However, creating sustainable urban transport would require a multi- pronged strategy based
on leveraging the advantages of all modes of travel, involving communities and stakeholders
besides professionals engaged in urban/transport planning, development and management.
Increased use of environmentally- friendly public transport systems and halting of urban
sprawl in cities can substantially reduce emissions and make cities cleaner, greener, smarter
and sustainable. Our capacity to create sustainable urban transport, through state of art
cleaner and greener technologies with innovative city planning, development and
management would hold the key to the productivity, economy, quality of life, sustainability
and operational efficiency of human settlements and make cities smart.
PLANNING PUBLIC SPACES
Considering the criticality, role and importance of public spaces in the urban context, both
formal and informal, in making cities safe, such spaces have to be planned and designed with
utmost care, caution and sensitivity. Public spaces are meant to be used by people for
socializing and doing numerous other activities and these spaces provide platform for
fulfilling numerous obligatory urban functions. However, public spaces have never been
planned and designed with focus on human safety and security. In the parlance of planning, it
is presumed that public spaces created in the urban context are always safe because they
bring large number of people together and offer them the opportunity of coming face to face
which acts as a deterrent to any incidence to crime and criminals. However, based on studies
made and analysis carried out, it has been found that vulnerability of human beings to crime
have been found to be highest in the public spaces. The human vulnerability in public spaces
have its genesis in numerous factors which govern the location, shape, size, accessibility,
planning, infrastructures, maintenance, security, visibility etc of these spaces. Unfortunately,
in the urban context, planning and designing of public spaces have very low priority. In
majority of cases, public spaces are planned as a stop gap arrangement to fill urban voids and
are accordingly adjusted in left over spaces where no other urban function can be performed.
This positioning of public spaces, like parks and open spaces at community/ neighborhood
level, makes them unsafe for users and hot spots of crime and criminal activities..
Accordingly, it becomes essential that these spaces must not be treated as left over spaces and
must have a well defined locational criteria laid down for them to make them valuable and
useful for the community. In order to create inbuilt safety in public spaces, all public spaces
must be provided with high degree of visibility from all land uses and development which
enclose such spaces. In addition, these spaces must have high degree of human accessibility
to make sure that they remain approachable from all corners to improve their usability. In
general, public spaces which are more intensely used by diverse citizens conducting different
activities at different hours of the day are safer for all, and particularly for women. This is
because variety and diversity tend to promote tolerance and peace among citizens. In
addition, if there are more people present on the street during the day, there are more “eyes
on the street”, which can make it more difficult for an assault or robbery to occur. Blind and
dead corners leading to exclusion will have to be invariably avoided. Size of public spaces
will have considerable impact in making them safe. Considering the number of users and
functions to be performed, public spaces need to be planned based on these criteria. Their

13. size must neither be too big to create isolation and unused spaces nor such spaces should be
too small leading to overcrowding and congestion. Public spaces should never be located
along dead walls or at the back of rows of building blocks. Such locations make them highly
unsafe promoting incidences of crime.Public spaces have to be placed and planned in such a
manner that in addition to high degree of visibility, they must look pleasant and attractive for
users to make them preferred public destination. Any ill planned public space will always
lead to community not using them leading to their ultimate misuse and abuse. Element of
isolation has to be carefully avoided in the planning and designing of public spaces to
eliminate chances of committing crime. Public spaces must also be provided with essential
and basic amenities and facilities required by the user. However, these amenities should be
planned in most visible areas and must be made secure with adequate watch and ward staff.
All sitting spaces must not be enclosed but should be adequately perforated with low walls to
have high degree of visibility. Public spaces must be adequately lighted so that even at odd
hours people should be able to use them without any fear of crime. Public spaces, in addition
to being properly located, planned and developed would require high degree of maintenance
on regular basis in order to ensure that they donot fall in the trap of neglect leading to their
misuse and abuse. A well defined mechanism of maintenance of public spaces will have to be
put in place as integral part of their planning and development to make these spaces safe and
secure at all hours of day and night. Safety of these spaces can be appropriately ensured if
community, stakeholders and end users are actively involved in the planning, designing,
development and maintenance are . Adopting community based approach would be critical to
achieve the objective. In view of the above, it becomes important that location, planning,
designing etc of public spaces have to be within a well defined framework of norms and
standards. Planners would do well if this framework including their norms and standards are
made integral part of Master Plans/Development Plans, Zoning Regulation and Building Bye-
laws to ensure that such spaces create high degree of human safety and security which would
go a long way in making cities safe for its inhabitants in general and women in particular.
Involving actively women planners and architects in planning and designing cities, public
spaces and public buildings would help in creating better and safer places.
LEVERAGING SMART TECHNOLOGY
Smart cities, besides being smart will also have to be intelligent. They will have to be user-
friendly and supporters of higher order of quality of life. Accordingly, technology will form
integral part of these cities, which will be used extensively in planning, development,
management and day to day operations of such cities. Use of innovative/smart technology
will promote operational efficiency, bring economy, efficiency in service delivery and
promote high degree of urban governance. Globally, cities are extensively using Information
Communication Technology (ICT) to promote good governance, bringing transparency in
decision making and involving communities and residents in planning and decision making.
ICT is also used to reduce/bridging gap between people aspiration and administrative
decision making. ICT has critical role in rationalizing traffic and transportation, reducing
congestion, creating awareness among road users, informing drivers about the state of traffic
and helping them to plan their journeys taking least congested path, helping in reducing

14. clogging of junctions and reducing pollution and green house gas emissions. Monitoring of
service delivery and plugging leakage in services have been checked effectively with the use
of ICT. Technology has also been used to generate enormous data regarding city, its growth,
development and operations which serves as a valuable base/input for rational decision
making. Intelligent systems have been used to integrate data generated by different sources in
the organization at the city level and to bring high degree of integration among the working
of the various departments within the organization. Many cities have created interactive
portals to provide information and promote connectivity with people and for addressing their
grievances. Dimming/ switching street lights automatically by using real time data to save
30% on energy cost; using cameras at cross-sections to optimise traffic lights, cut travel
times while reducing air pollution and cost of tackling it ; using One Map, an online portal,
enabling government, business, organisations and residents to access geo-spatial data ;
using digital applications to register concern about streets that require cleaning and potholes
that need repair ; posting information online about pending changes to land use plan; sharing
data suggesting best bus route for any journey in the city ; engaging citizens as active
partners in planning and development process; providing drivers with real- time traffic
information to avoid congested roads and city authorities to track traffic volumes and plan
for new roads; creating world’s first solar powered bike lane to make cycle even greener,
have been effectively used by cities of Boston, Berlin, California, London, and Bucheon in
South Korea to make them smarter and harmonious.
CONCLUSION
Approach paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan- Faster
,Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth- prepared by
Planning Commission of India- listed six initiatives to
meet the challenges of Indian urbanization which included
stepping up investment in new urban infrastructures and
maintenance of assets; strengthening urban governance;
strengthening soft infrastructure; promoting long term
strategic urban planning; addressing needs of the urban
poor and ensuring environmental sustainability of urban
development.
McKinsey & Company in its Report- How to make a city
great- has outlined three pronged strategy to make cities great places to live and work. The
strategy includes, Achieving Smart Growth by Adopting a strategic approach, Planning for a
change, Integrating environmental thinking and Insisting on opportunities for all; Doing More
With Less by Assessing and managing expenses rigorously, Exploring partnerships ,
Introducing accountability and Embracing technology ; Winning Support for a Change by
Crafting a personal vision, Building a high performing team ,Creating a culture of
accountability and Forging stakeholder consensus. Forbe identified eight key aspects that
define a Smart City- ‘Smart Governance, Smart Energy, Smart Building, Smart Mobility,
Smart Infrastructure, Smart Technology, Smart Healthcare and Smart Citizen’.
Draft Concept Note on Smart City Scheme issued by Government of India, has identified
Smart City framework based on seven principles which include Attracting Young Wealth

15. Creators and others; Promoting Constant Physical Renewal; Creating Unique and Strong
City Identity ; Connecting to other Cities; Encouraging Innovative/Out of Box Thinking ;
Attracting Investors and Having Strong Political and Administrative Leaders
Looking critically and objectively at the entire
context of Smart cities, it can be fairly concluded
that effective urban designing and planning holds
the key to promote Smart cities and make them a
distinct reality. Lack of serious policies to manage
planned development of Urban India will
jeopardize its physical, economic and social
growth. Government of India, chartering an agenda
for developing 100 Smart cities is a welcome
initiative to promote state of art planning and
development of urban India. Earlier initiatives like JNNURM taken by the Government
of India focused on improving basic infrastructure and addressing poverty and issues
related to shelter for the poor besides promoting urban reforms. However, Government
program of developing 100 Smart Cities encompasses the entire gamut of city planning,
designing development, management and operation in an integrated manner. The
program would define a new regime and agenda for urban planning based on
innovations and out of box thinking. With large number of countries, having knowledge,
experience and expertise in the planning and developing smart cities, chipping in their
willingness to provide active support to program , it is hoped a new era of urban
designing will be ushered in the country. However, Indian urbanization and Indian cities
are unique in terms of its growth problems and potentials and according solutions and
options for developing Smart cities will have to be purely Indian. Options for developing
green field and brown field cities will also be different. Any attempt to implant borrowed
patterns will prove to be counterproductive.. Since Smart cities would require an
innovative and flexible approach in designing, it will be essential that Institute of
Architects and academic institutions imparting architectural and planning education
should be actively involved and help in redefining the planning and designing systems
which would make smart cities a distinct reality. However, it must be ensured that no
single approach can be universally applied to design smart cities. Each city being unique
in terms of its growth potential, accordingly would require different planning , designing
and development approach for achieving smart growth. . With urban centres holding the
key, future growth and development of the cities will be contingent largely upon the
proficiency, efficacy and efficiency of ‘Architecture and Planning Profession and
Professionals’. Promoting planned development, working with all stakeholders in a co-
operative/co-ordinated /collaborative manner, offers the best option of leveraging
economic, sustainable, rational and inclusive growth of nation, state and local
communities Biggest challenge in crafting a vision, leading the cities from front and
promoting smart governance at the local level will be providing appropriate level of
leadership and quality professionals. Government of India in collaboration with state and

16. urban local governments should work on this agenda, if the program of creating 100
smart cities is to succeed and become a distinct reality.
BIBLOGRAPHY
 Devas Nick and Rakody Carole (Ed) : Managing Fast Growing Cities.
 Gupta J K :Redefining Strategies for Leveraging Urban Infrastructure Development-
published paper
 McKinsey Global Institute: India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive Cities,
Sustaining Economic Growth, Report April, 2010.
 Ministry of Urban Development ,GOI: Report on Indian Urban Infrastructure and
Services March, 2011
 Census of India- 2011
 Indian Institute for Human Settlements Report ,November, 2011,’Urban India 2011:
 Government of India, Planning Commission; Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive
Growth- An Approach to the Twelfth Five Year Plan, October, 2011
 McKinsey Global Institute : How to make a city great, Shannon Bouton and six others.
 United Nations, New York : World Urbanization Prospects- The 2014 Revision, 2014
 Urban News Digest, Volume III, issue 9: www.urbannewsdigest.in, November,2014
Author:
* Jit Kumar Gupta
Chief Town Planner,
Sahara Prime City Limited
# 344, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh-160036.
E.mail: jit.kumar 1944@ gmail.com