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Living in times of smartphones, smart homes, smart cities is just one step further in this digitalised effective living. While there is no universally accepted definition of a smart city to answer this question of "what I smart city". It can be said that everyone has a different perspective and it means different things to different people.
Therefore, the smart city concept in India varies from city to city and country to country; depending on the level of development, willingness to change and reform, resources and aspirations of the city residents. A smart city in India would have a different connotation than what it will have in Europe.
So, even if there is no one way of defining a smart city; the central government's mission of Smart City has some definitional boundaries; to guide cities in the Mission like a smart city. It should contain a wish list of infrastructure and services that describes his or her level of aspiration.
To provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, urban planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system. Which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development-institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. Which can be a long term goal and cities can work towards developing. Such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of 'smartness'.
PROMOTING MIXED LAND USE IN AREA BASED DEVELOPMENTS:
The major feature of the mission is planning for 'unplanned areas' containing a range of compatible activities. And land uses close to one another to make land use more efficient. The States will enable some flexibility in land use and building bye-laws to adapt to change;
Housing and inclusiveness – expand housing opportunities for all.
CREATING WALK-ABLE LOCALITIES: In the populated country like India, creating spaces which have less congestion, air pollution and resource depletion. It helps to boost the local economy, promote interactions and ensure security.
To positively impact the transportation, the road network is created or refurbished not only for vehicles and public transport. But also for pedestrians and cyclists, and necessary administrative services are offered within walking or cycling distance.
PRESERVING AND DEVELOPING OPEN SPACES: Unlike the most urban cities in the country there is focus on building parks, playgrounds. And also recreational spaces to enhance the quality of life of citizens. It help to reduce the urban heat effects in Areas and generally promote eco-balance.
PROMOTING A VARIETY OF TRANSPORT OPTIONS: Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), public transport and last-mile para-transport connectivity, these are all the features which will be a part of the smart cities
MAKING GOVERNANCE CITIZEN-FRIENDLY AND COST-EFFECTIVE:
A core feature of a smart city is that they increasingly rely on online services to bring about accountability and transparency. Especially using mobiles to reduce the cost of services and providing services without having to go to municipal offices. Smartly powered cities will have e-groups to listen to people and obtain feedback and use online monitoring of programs and activities with the aid of cyber tour of worksites;
SMART INFRASTRUCTURE: The mission offers potential for the application of smart solutions to infrastructure and services in area-based development to make them better. This may include making Areas less vulnerable to disasters, using fewer resources, and providing cheaper services.
Unlike any other, this mission is one of the very first MoUD programmes which is using the 'Challenge' or competition method to select cities for funding and using a strategy of area-based development capturing the spirit of 'competitive and cooperative federalism'.
Apart from the structure of the programme, there will be crucial roles of the states and ULBs in the development of Smart Cities as there will be a massive need for smart leadership and vision at this level and ability to act decisively will be important factors determining the success of the Mission.
Capacity Assistance a term used to describe the on-going support with the water service authorities (typically local governments) to unable in different roles of planning, monitoring, regulation, etc in sustaining rural water supplies.
Having said that smart cities schemes achievements would be in the fact that there will be understanding the concepts of retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield development by the policymakers, implementers and other stakeholders at different levels will require capacity assistance.
This mission also requires a major investment in time and resources will have to be made during the planning phase before participation in the challenge distinct from the conventional DPR-driven approach.
The people matter for the Smart Cities Mission. It requires smart people who actively participate in governance and reforms which means citizen involvement is much more than a ceremonial participation in governance.
After all, what is the smart city? They are what the people make it, and smart people involve themselves in the definition of the smart city, decisions on deploying Smart Solutions, implementing reforms, doing more with less and oversight during implementing and designing post-project structures to make the Smart City developments sustainable.
The participation of smart people will be enabled by the SPV through increasing the use of ICT, especially mobile-based tools and lead to smart city mission success.
Visit http://smartcities.gov.in to know more about the various steps of implementation of the scheme.
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