Strategies for Planning Smart Cities in India
Strategies for Planning??Smart??Cities in India
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????????????????????????????????????????????????????* Jit Kumar Gupta;[email protected]
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INTRODUCTION
Representing most viable and suitable places, with significant, social and economic achievements, cities are known to be creators of wealth, generators of employment and promoters of economy and prosperity. As centres of innovations, trade and commerce, cities have always attracted people to provide best of the options and ??opportunities of growth, achievement and development through skill and entrepreneurship. Offering optimum location for services and facilities, which require large population threshold and markets for its operational efficiency, cities are known to offer opportunities and quality of life better than its rural counterparts despite housing large population at higher densities and adverse living conditions.
?Emerging as the most powerful, vibrant, economic and social system in space; dominating the global canvas in terms of concentration of population and Industry; operating as the principle centres of economy and polity; housing large consumer markets and highly trained workforce, building rational, sustainable and smart cities will be the greatest challenge and task, world will have in next few decades.?City building will be one of the greatest political agenda and issue faced globally by all the governments in the decades to come. Considering the role and importance of cities, future success and failure of the governments will be largely contingent upon and judged by how vigorously, imaginatively and realistically governments meet the basic needs of the residents and provide them with essential infrastructure and services, to promote quality of life.
INDIAN URBANISATION
?Housing 377 million urbanites in 7935 urban centres, with urbanisation level standing at 31.1% (Census 2001), India urbanisation is known globally for its complexity and massiveness. With 42.6 % urbanites opting for 53 metropolises, Indian urbanisation is also known for its polarisation and concentration in larger cities. Emerging as the second largest urban system globally after China, Census 2011, will be known for two distinct reasons in the parlance of Indian demography. For the first time, Urban India added more people (91 million) as compared to Rural India (90 million) during the decade 2001-11, launching India on the fast trajectory of urbanization, despite housing merely 31% population of the country. Secondly, largest increase of number of towns, placed at 2774 (54% from 5161 to 7935), was also recorded during the same period. However, majority (91 %) of increase in the number of urban settlements was recorded in the category of Census towns, whereas growth in number of Statutory towns was only marginal (9%). 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. By 2050 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 after Tokyo. Population projections, made globally based on massive prevailing differential between urban and rural growth rate (2.1% against 0.7 %), Urban India by 2031, will house 600 million people out of projected population of 1.4 billion, with number?of urban dwellers sharing parity ( 800 million) with rural population by 2050 AD, when India will have a population count of 1.6 billion to emerge as the most populated and?largest urban system 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. It is estimated by 2030, contribution of urban India to the national economy will be of the order of 75%. 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, planning, development and management before evolving strategies which make them more productive, smart, efficient, healthy and sustainable.
REDEFINING PLANNING
Urban planning?is known to be a process concerned, primarily and essentially, with the development and?use of land; protection and use of the environment;?public welfare; and the?design?of the?urban environment including air, water besides?infrastructure?passing into and out of?urban areas, such as?transportation,?communications, and?distribution networks. Planning, referred to as?urban and regional planning,?is considered interdisciplinary ,which includes social, engineering and design sciences. Although predominantly concerned with the planning of human?settlements?and communities, urban planning is also known to promote the planning and development of resources and conserving areas of natural environmental significance (Wikipedia). Accordingly, urban planning emerges as the most powerful tool and critical element, guiding and defining the destiny of the urban settlements besides rationalise the growth and development of urban settlements involving conserving natural and manmade resources.
Looking at the entire context?and considering the contours and complexity of such a city, creating smart cities would require new order and tools of urban planning,. New order of planning should revolve around making planning people centric, transparent, community oriented and flexible. Focus of planning shall be to minimize prevailing urban dualities and contradictions and to promote development based on equity, inclusiveness and providing opportunities to all. Master Plans, which have been used by planners as the panacea to overcome all the urban ills, will have to be redrawn /redefined with appropriate innovations/changes made in the intent, contents and scope of such plans. New order of Master Plans will not be merely land-use plans, defining/freezing the city future once for all for next two decades, indicating the use of every parcel of land in the city. They will take a ‘whole city’ approach to planning and will focus on the urban form, shape and typology of the city. Since cities are dynamic entities, ever changing, ever shaping, evolving and devolving, they will require plans which?would ?provide inbuilt flexibility to cater to urban dynamism. The Master plans would accordingly be dynamic in nature, growing and evolving with the growth of towns. New breed of Master Plans would be based on state of art technologies and a distinct vision, evolved after detailed study, analysis and understanding of the city fabric/structure and?its growth potential duly supported by detailed planning and development guidelines. The vision shall be achieved through well defined missions for different facets of city. Each development project shall be evaluated in the context of defined vision and guidelines, by a multi-disciplinary team of experts, by involving different stakeholders before accepting. The city planning shall not be dictated exclusively by planners but will involve larger set of experts representing different shades of city planning, growth and management to rationalize decision making. Architects, urban designers, landscape experts, service providers, environmentalists, transport experts, conservationists, art and culture historians and sociologists etc will have major role to play in defining the contour, intent and content of the smart cities. The legal framework defining the intent, content and procedure of preparing the Master Plans will also need?a detailed review and revision in order to prepare Better Mater Plan. Such plans shall be prepared based on a well- defined consultative process involving city, citizens and?communities besides using state of art technologies to make them more accurate, objective and transparent.
?New order of planning will have energy/ resource conservation as the major focus besides minimising the carbon footprints of the city. In addition, city shall be planned to achieve tangible and intangible goals, which shall be defined as integral part of city planning and development process. In order to make cities energy efficient, urban planning process shall be geared to make the city compact, to reduce travel and extent of service network, to bring economy and operational efficiency in the city. In this context, the focus of the city shall be people. Planning shall also promote better relationship between living and working by adopting the mechanism of transit oriented development. In this pattern, the focus shall be to provide housing, offices, work areas, commercial and institutions, along the mass transport network within walking distance. Green spaces on the defined norms shall form integral part of urban living and working in order to promote highest order of environment and ecology. Smart cities will be planned on the basis of inclusiveness, self-reliance and self-sustainability, having minimum impact on local and global environment and ecology. Considering the major implications of urban areas, being largest consumers of energy and resources, generators of waste and emitters of green house gasses , largely due to transportation and built environment, the new regime of planning will focus on minimising travel and create buildings which are least consumers of energy and resources. Smart planning will focus on creating cities which are highly energy efficient made possible by adopting shape and size of the city which involve minimum travel and services
Globally efforts are being made to plan and develop replicable models of smart cities. China, in collaboration of Singapore governments, has already planned and launched, Tianjin eco-city as a smart city, for a population of ?????????3,50,000, spread over an area of 30 sq.kms. Three Harmonies involving social harmony, economic vibrancy ?and environmental sustainability besides Three Abilities including practicability, replicability and scalability have been taken as the guiding objectives of?smart planning and development,. City has been developed on a most derelict/non-arable site to save precious agricultural land, with planning based on mixed land use and transit oriented development principles. City mobility has been based on green transportation involving increased use of public transport and non-motorised modes based on walking and cycling. Higher order of quality of life has been achieved by planning extensive green (vegetation) and blue ( water) networks,?as integral part of city fabric. 22 quantitative and 4 qualitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been used for ensuring appropriate quality of life to the all the Tianjin residents, including poorest of the poor, to lead a dignified life on sustained basis. City development is based on well-defined standards in terms of amenities, services, air-quality, environment, ecology, noise, carbon emission, wetland, buildings, plantation, green spaces, accessibility, housing and employment. To ensure smart growth of Tianjin, on latest technology and innovations, Research &Development has also been integral part of city growth and development agenda. ?Tianjin is envisioned to be a thriving city which is socially harmonious, environmental friendly, resource efficient and a role model of sustainable development. Tianjin eco-city provides a replicable model of planning smart cities in India with appropriate modifications.
REGIONAL PLANNING
In addition, to looking inward, new regime of urban planning will also be looking outward so as to link the city with its surrounding areas/settlements. No city exists in spatial isolation. Every city has its periphery/area of influence to support it. This zone of influence varies with the size, location, primacy, accessibility, population, nature of specialisation, administrative status, amenities, services etc. The existing pattern of urban planning ignores the critical role and importance of periphery in sustaining/rationalizing the city growth and development. In fact majority of prevailing urban ills have their genesis in ignoring the planning, growth and development of surrounding urban/rural settlements. Accordingly, new regime of urban planning will be based on an approach which would involve inward and outward looking at the cities. Most smart and successful cities of 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; reducing uncontrolled migration and growth of slums; making provision of basic services and infrastructures; Avoiding over/under investment in infrastructure and overcoming confusion over role and responsibilities of various agencies. In the process, Regional Planning is known globally for its potential, capacity and usefulness in promoting integrated growth of both urban and rural settlements; ensuring higher order of co-operation and growth of not only of the city but also of the region besides making city smart. Accordingly, considering the fact that villages number more than 6,40,000 and house 69% of Indian population, no Indian city can hope to become smart unless urban planning is integrated with rural planning. Looking outward, can also help in achieving the objectives of integration and decentralized planning, enshrined in and mandated by 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
Green buildings
Buildings are known to constitute the large mass and occupying majority of space of the city. Buildings are also known to showcase the personality and architectural vocabulary of a city besides providing the ambit within which all human beings perform their basic functions of living, working care of body and spirits. Built environment is known to dictate the health and hygiene of the city because 80% of human life span is spent within the building and responsible for consumption of 50% of the global energy. Accordingly, buildings have critical role in making the cities smart and sustainable. No city can be made smart unless it is supported by built environment, which is both energy efficient and intelligent because buildings are known to use over 40% world’s total energy; 30% raw materials; 25% timber harvested; 16% fresh water withdrawal and 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 rising urbanisation, globalisation and increasing technological innovations, 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 built up 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 for making cities smart. Experience and studies have shown that adopting an integrated approach to design can reduce energy implications of buildings. Adopting Integrated approach to make ?building design most energy efficient and sustainable ?would essentially revolve round; ?making optimum use of orientation and site climate; rational site planning; evolving optimum shape, built form and size of the buildings; rationalising surface to volume ratio; ?promoting building efficiency; optimising ratio between building length and depth; using simple techniques of building structure and?evolving efficient structural design; adopting?principles of solar passive techniques, using energy efficient equipment, controlling lighting, heating, ventilation ; using solar energy/air movement; reducing embodied and operational energy ; minimising waste, using local materials, optimising landscaping etc. ?Designing green buildings can be considered as the best option to reduce carbon and energy footprints of the buildings and to make them sustainable. Globally, all nations are using the mechanism of green buildings to make buildings least consumers of energy. Even the Sustainable Development Goals, evolved by the UNO are asking nations to critically look at the role of buildings and make them highly energy efficient to promote global sustainability. In India, states are offering incentives in terms of additional FAR at zero cost to promote the green rated buildings. ???????????Designing Green buildings essentially involve practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a?building's?life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction. ?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 to the norms and standards laid down by the IGBC.
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 ?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 ?was laced at 3.5 years due to saving of energy.
?SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
In this era of rapid and massive urbanisation besides buildings, transportation poses the greatest challenge for the professionals to make cities sustainable. 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 is known to contribute 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 should accordingly form integral and essential part of Smart Cities planning and development strategy because transportation is known to be the function of land use and shape and size of the city adopted. Accordingly, land use pattern and shape/size of the city adopted should lead to reduced travel demand. In order to rationalise the transport in the city we have to change our attitude and approach to urban planning. The strategy for transportation should revolve around – planning for people and not for ?and vehicles & promoting accessibility rather than mobility. Once we start planning for people, preferred order of priority for transportation will be led by pedestrianisation, cycling , public transport with least priority going to personal transport. Smart cities will be planned with priority for people and not for vehicles and promoting sustainable transportation. 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 mechanisms 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 on 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. 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.
?Looking at the existing patterns of movement in urban areas, it can be clearly observed that Indian urban scenario is largely dictated by road transportation; increasing individual vehicle ownership; low road capacity; poor road geometry; high degree of fuel inefficiency; large obsolete vehicular population; heterogeneous traffic; inefficient and inadequate public transportation; high degree of environmental pollution; low priority for traffic planning;?low priority to eco-friendly transport modes ; poor traffic management; large mismatch between vehicle density and road capacity; multiplicity of agencies involved and absence of unified traffic regulatory authority; acute problems of parking; high rates of accidents etc. These peculiarities of urban transportation require innovative strategies, as detailed above, to address effectively the transportation issues and make urban transportation promoters of economic growth, operational efficiency and urban productivity besides creator of environmental sustainability.
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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 impact it has on the life and liberty of innumerable urban dwellers. With cities becoming centres for large investments, large concentration of population and providers of specialized services and amenities, their effective and efficient governance??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 attracting large investment.?Urban centres have emerged as the hub around which entire Indian economy and polity is gravitating. Accordingly, it would be essential that appropriate and supportive environment is created in these centres to attract higher level of investment,; contribute to the national economy and wealth; provide large employment, eradicate poverty and ensure appropriate quality of life to make them 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.
For promoting sustainability, Habitat Agenda,1996 has identified, adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements as the international priorities. Subsequently, UN General Assembly and World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 stressed the need for, promoting more sustainable urbanization through better urban governance. 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 order to create quality and accountable leadership at the local level, City Mayor/President and other office bearers of the urban local bodies must be directly elected ?by people and held accountable for governance. 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 managers. Pattern adopted in Singapore for urban governance can be used as a model, with appropriate modifications, to promote high degree of urban governance at the local level.
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, governance and day to day operations of such cities.?Use of innovative/smart technology will promote operational efficiency, bring economy, create 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 being 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 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 co-ordination 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/having 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
?Cities have been part of human history. They have existed in the past, continue to exist in present and shall also dictate the human journey in future. Cities are known to be areas, which have showcased and scripted story of human growth and development. They are also known to offer mankind, platform for innovations and opportunities. However, looking at their context, as areas of large concentration of activities and human beings, besides growth and development, cities are known globally for their dualities and contradictions, where poverty and prosperity, high rise buildings and slums rub shoulders and where development is marked by exclusion. Cities are also known to house best and the worst of mankind. ?In order to make cities supportive of quality human living, their planning, growth and development needs to be rationalised, made more sustainable, inclusive and smart. Smart city offers best opportunity and option to make cities rational. How best we make use of this opportunity would hold the key to make cities smart, sustainable, liveable, productive, effective and efficient.
BIBLIOGRAPH
·??????Charles S. Ascher; What Are Cities For? Research Articl ; November 1, 1945;?
·??????United Nations; Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Report on World Urbanization Prospects, Revision; 2014
·???????Mckinsey Global Institute; Report on ‘India Urban Awakening :Building Inclusive Cities’ April, 2010),
·??????Government of India; Ministry of Home Affairs; Census of India, 201
·??????businessfeed.sunpower.com/articles/written-what-is-a-green-building; July, 2016 -
Author:
*??Jit Kumar Gupta
Ex- Director, College of Architecture
IET, Bhaddal, Punjab , India
# 344, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh-160036.
E.mail: [email protected]