Exploring the Attributes of Smart City from Organisation’s Perspective

As, India is resonating its commitment to sustainable development at global fronts, it is essential to consider that the sustainable development of a nation is derived from the well-being of its regions at granular level. However, the dichotomy is that though India is marching toward being a global leader, its cities are finding it difficult to combat with the challenges of migration, urbanization, and disparity. Acknowledging the challenges faced by some of the emerging cities, the Smart Cities Mission was launched in the year 2015 to strengthen the economic, social, and physical infrastructure of 100 cities. However, the achievements of the mission have not been very convincing due to several reasons. One of the major reasons identified is the lack of region-specific study to explore the persisting challenges. Considering the sparsity of such studies, this study is an attempt to explore and highlight the fundamental challenges faced by different types of organizations in Prayagraj (earlier known as Allahabad, one of the 100 cities proposed for smart cities mission). A comprehensive literature review and field survey have been conducted for the study followed by usage of principal component analysis to estimate significance of various attributes of acting as barrier for organizations operating in the city. The findings of the study suggest that factors such as lack of proper power supply, unsupportive government policies and political environment, poor technology adoption rate and unavailability of skilled workforce act as major hurdle. There is a need to focus on removal of major barriers, i.e., energy by using alternate source of energy, ensure supportive investment, and development policy to enhance the attractiveness of the city. The methodology followed could be used to analyze the city and stakeholder specific issues in other proposed smart cities.