With the Central Government’s move towards launching Smart Cities in India, the concept has become the latest buzzword of this year.

Interestingly, Smart city means different things to different people. The notion of Smart City, therefore, varies from city to city and country to country, depending on the level of development and willingness to change and reform.

For India, a Smart City will mean an urban space which will provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens. It would provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens. A smart city would yield for a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas and creating a replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities.

The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City would include:

• Adequate water supply
• Assured electricity supply
• Sanitation, including solid waste management
• Efficient urban mobility and public transport
• Affordable housing, especially for the needy
• Robust IT connectivity and digitalization
• Good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
• Sustainable environment
• Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and
• Health and education

Mr. Narendra Modi in his speech said, “Cities in the past were built on riverbanks. They are now built along highways. But in the future, they will be built based on availability of optical fiber networks and next-generation infrastructure.”

In terms of Smart Solutions, the following illustration can help to elaborate the concept further: