The Government of India’s “Smart Cities” initiative is imperative to develop more self-sufficient urban areas, as a means to drive and accommodate economic growth and promote the well-being of its citizens. The smart cities programme should aim at capitalizing urbanization using it to work as a part of a national growth strategy with goals of inclusiveness, sustainability and economic development.
The elementary premise of developing a smart city is to improve our infrastructure network and efficient services. For a country like ours, they present an opportunity to turn urban growth in to sustainable development.
Smart cities should precisely aim to:
- Facilitate economic activity
- Focus on equality of opportunity and access
- Improve health and well-being of the residents.
- Conserve energy and natural resources.
- Promote safety
- Foster culture and community
According to me, there are
two fundamental elements which go into achieving the above mentioned goals, without which all other works would get wasted and the potential of a smart city would be compromised.
- Dense and mixed with high quality public transport.
- Pedestrian focus rather than private car focused transit.
Dense and mixed use development Dense cities are vibrant economic hubs. Density and mixed use planning makes infrastructure and service delivery economically viable. This includes IT, health, emergency, education, sports and cultural services. In denser environments, these provisions will have more people in their catchment area and construction will need to be less spread out to reach end users. The per capita cost of providing infrastructure decreases as density increases. A vertical development is more efficient than a horizontal development.
Mixed used cities also allow for better use of space and optimum infrastructure for use round the clock. Occupants of commercial buildings create activity during the day and residential buildings at night should be within walking distance, thereby reducing the travel time, traffic and pollution and stress.
Density is the key to a make public transit work and also to ensure safety. The point partly explains why Delhi is more unsafe than Mumbai. Dense pedestrian focused cities prevent crimes unlike cities spread on vast lands. Dense cities that have street front stores have taken a big step in creating an automatic security measure.
Pedestrian focus rather than car focused transit Trying to build a private car focused city through broad roads can worsen the traffic problem. The United Nations environment programme has showed that chronic traffic congestion amounts to time and productivity losses and such costs can add up to nearly or over 10% of a region or country’s GDP. Road deaths and injuries is at an intolerable high level which would further increase with private car oriented development.
A pedestrian focused city has a lot more advantage like improved health of the citizens. The same can also help us in addressing diseases like diabetes. In the west, walkable urban design is now being recognized as a key tool to build healthy societies. More people on the streets will also mean opportunities for social interaction thus facilitating a socially inclusive community. Building an expressway through the heart of a city destroys its capability of ever being a great city.
Smart cities are crucial for India to be competitive and productive. With the make in India campaign, India has become a preferred destination for setting up facilities which means greater need for land, escalating traffic, more people on streets etc.
Dense, mixed use and pedestrian focused planning will help make our cities economic engines, job creators, safe, healthy and equitable. By urbanizing in an efficient manner, we have a valuable opportunity to drive economic growth and improve standard of living for our millions of citizens.
Authored by Surendra Hiranandani Mr. Surendra Hiranandani, the Founder & Managing Director of
House of Hiranandani, is the leader in quality constructions and real estate development. He has more than 35 years of work experience in the constructions industry and is the technical and architectural genius behind the Company’s outstanding reputation for quality and innovation.
Photo Caption:
Mr. Surendra Hiranandani, Founder & Managing Director of House of Hiranandani
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