Indiasurbanchallenges

TheUnionCabinetsnodonWednesdaytothe100smartcitiesprojectandanewurbanrenewal
mission is an important first step toward dealing with an old problem that has only got
progressively worse over the years: urban liveability. A shade less than a third of Indias
populationnowlivesinurbanareas,overcrowdedcitiesandtownswithinfrastructureburstingat
theseams.Thisproblemwillonlyworsenwithlittleornointerventionhappening.Theproportion
oftheurbanpopulationcanonlygoinonedirectionupwardasmoreIndiansmigratetothe
cities and towns in search of jobs. Cities are engines of growth, and as a result attract a lot of
people.Thecountrysurbanpopulationcontributesover60percentofIndiasGDPin15years
this will be 70 per cent. On the other hand, there is little incentive for people to migrate out of
cities.Earlierattemptsatprovidingbetterurbaninfrastructureoratcreatingnewtownshipshave
notbeenabletodealwiththeissueofliveabilitysatisfactorily.Evensuccessfulspecialeconomic
zones have had to contend with the issue of lack of social infrastructure, which usually means
accesstoavenuesofeducation,health,arts,sports,andsoon.Therearenumerousdefinitionsofa
smart city but the Modi governments idea of one usefully encompasses institutional
infrastructure(governance),physicalinfrastructure,asalsosocialinfrastructure.
TheCabinetapprovalmarksthefirstofmanysteps,asalsotheeasiest,thatwillberequiredfor
the project. The challenges start now. Of course there is no doubt that this has created
tremendous enthusiasm amongst many possible stakeholders, including service providers who
havebeenpartofsmartcityprojectselsewhereintheworld.CountriessuchasJapan,Singapore
andGermany,amongmanyothers,haveevincedinteresttobeapartofthis.Yet,initsscaleand
complexity the project will be second to none. The official estimates of per capita investment
requirementisRs.43,386fora20yearperiod,oratotalinvestmentofRs.7lakhcrore.Creatinga
smart city isnt just about creating the physical infrastructure roads, clean water, power,
transportandsoon,thingsIndiafindsdifficulttodelivertoitscitizensnearlysevendecadesafter
Independence.Itishopedthatpublicprivatepartnerships(PPP)willdeliverbutthemechanism
seemstoneedalotoftweakinginorderforittowork,afactacknowledgedintherecentBudget.
The big challenge will be to create selfsustaining cities, which create jobs, use resources wisely
andalsotrainpeople.Thisalsomeansmoreautonomyforthesecities.Whetherthatcanhappen
isamootquestiondependingheavilyonthematurityoftheIndianpoliticalsystem.
Keywords:SmartCityProject,smartcity,urbanplanning

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