Write a brief note on concept of Smart city.
- More than half of the present world's population lives in urban areas. This shift from a primarily rural to a primarily urban population is projected to continue for the next couple of decades. Cities, megacities, generate new kinds of problems. Difficulty in waste management, scarcity of resources, air pollution, human health concerns, traffic congestions, and inadequate, deteriorating and aging infrastructures are among the more basic technical, physical, and material problems. Ensuring liveable conditions within the context of such rapid urban population growth worldwide requires a deeper understanding of the smart city concept.
- These cities are increasingly described with the label smart city. One way to conceptualize a smart city is as an icon of a sustainable and liveable city.
Definitions of Smart City
- A city well performing in a forward-looking way in economy, people, governance, mobility, environment, and living, built on the smart combination of endowments and activities of self-decisive, independent and aware citizens.
- A city that monitors and integrates conditions of all of its critical infrastructures, including roads, bridges, tunnels, rails, subways, airports, seaports, communications, water, power, even major buildings, can better optimize its resources, plan its preventive maintenance activities, and monitor security aspects While maximizing services to its citizens.
- A city connecting the physical infrastructure, the IT infrastructure, the social infrastructure, and the while maximizing services to its citizens.
- A city “connecting the physical infrastructure, the IT infrastructure, the social infrastructure, and the business infrastructure to leverage the collective intelligence of the city".
- A city striving to make itself “smarter" (more efficient, sustainable, equitable, and liveable) the use of Smart Computing technologies to make the critical infrastructure components and services of a city which include city administration, education, healthcare, public safety, real estate, transportation, and utilities - more intelligent, interconnected, and efficient”.
- In the approach of the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, 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, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. The core infrastructure elements in a smart city would include:
a. Adequate water supply
b. Assured electricity supply
c. Sanitation, including solid waste management
- Efficient urban mobility and public transport Affordable housing especially for the poor Robust IT connectivity and digitalization Good governance, especially e-governance and citizen participation The purpose of the Smart Cities Mission is to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to Smart outcomes. Area- based development will transform existing areas (retrofit and redevelop), including slums, into better planned ones, thereby improving liveability of the whole City. New areas (greenfield) will be developed around cities in order to accommodate the expanding population in urban areas. Application of Smart Solutions will enable cities to use technology, information and data to improve infrastructure and services.
- Comprehensive development in this way will improve quality of life, create employment and enhance incomes for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged, leading to inclusive Cities.
