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SMART
Partnerships for SMART Cities 6 00,000 villages rapidly changing6 ,000 small towns growing up fast6 0 mid-size cities already on a downward spiral7 mega cities comprising metropolitan areas bursting at their seamsT his is the current trend of India’s urban growth. There are other descriptions of present day urban India that look at climate vulnerability, traffic snarls, water shortages, power break-downs, increasing crime and social alienation, decreasing neighbourhoods and parks.
Then there is yet another face of the Indian city scene - the changing demographic of the urban population. Over 35% of India’s urban population today is in the age group 17 to 35 years. This is the technology savvy young India connected to the world and replicating good solutions where they can. They are looking at SMART ways of car-pooling, urban roof top farming and recycling waste. They use social media to form walking and cycling clubs, explore city forests and go bird watching. They capture urban spaces with flash mobs motivating citizens to connect with their cities. These ‘urban clubs’ tell us of the experience that the youth desire in their urban life. How can the city scale up these experiences and work with its citizens so that all of us - the kids and the elders, the working and the stay-at-home moms, the service class and the entrepreneurs connect with our cities, our local parks and our urban landscapes. And, in doing so, promote safer, greener and more sustainable cities. The challenge is to convert ‘fads’ of urban environmentalism into sustainable city systems by directing the energies from: • ‘no- car Sundays’ into cities having safe barrier-free sidewalks and linked cycle tracks • ‘zero waste campaigns’ into mandatory neighbourhood composting and entrepreneurial systems for collecting segregated household garbage • ‘save and safe water rallies’ into comprehensive water management at household, neighbourhood and municipal levels • tree plantation drives into integrated urban bio-diversity and eco-system management The problems of the cities are complex with many inter-dependent variables. We will need SMART ways by which we can bring citizens, municipalities, small enterprises, institutions and corporate businesses together to change the face of our cities. Following are a few examples of win-win partnership possibilities for vibrant and sustainable cities: • Civil society, municipalities, academia and city tourism promote the natural heritage of the city making common citizens aware of the city’s water bodies, forests and fauna. People now study them, enjoy them and in the process conserve them and benefit from these eco-system services as in the Peekskill wetlands of New York and in the Nallah parks closer home in the city of Pune. • NGOs, city municipalities, businesses, waste management enterprises and resident associations join hands to create a system for city level solid waste management like in the Cebu city in Philippines and also use innovative solutions such as decentralised waste water treatment systems and artificial wetlands preventing raw sewage from reaching the rivers as done in Hong Kong and London. • Bicycle companies, transport departments and universities come together to set up ‘rent a bike’ schemes as in Paris, Montreal, London reducing motor load on the roads. The possibilities are many, the solutions exciting - many have gone beyond pilot levels. We need to borrow the ideas, indigenise them and get going. These simple and integrated measures that bring people, science, business and governance together is what will make our cities really SMART. q Zeenat Niazi
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