Smart Cities for Sustainable Development

The COVID-19 Pandemic will stimulate a rethink of the shape and structure of cities. A likely post-pandemic model will be to restructure cities as being a number of mini cities where there is a much closer relationship between where people live and where people work. This will reduce travel times and the congestion that comes with this. This paper will examine the traditional form of Indian cities and the role of geometry from ancient texts that gave structure to temples, towns and cities. Finally, the paper will promote the polycentric approach to city planning as a realistic response to the COVID-19 pandemic that manages large cities as being a combination of many mini cities.

Cities are becoming an integral part of the human condition on a global scale. They hold the capacity to transform human life with increasing acceleration beyond what ought to be ever possible. However, at the same time, the everyday life experiences of humans in cities have become increasingly complex. These experiences need to be understood in order to shape urban conditions, and therefore, prevent crisis and consequently system collapse. Of particular concern is the doubt that we are able to achieve shared visions such as the New Urban Agenda and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) in relation to the human-caused COVID-19 pandemic and associated setbacks. The dilemma is deeply rooted in the human condition; in the way how reality is being conceived, impacts our health and solutions being offered to solve challenges in cities from a smart city perspective. Undoubtedly, to achieve the SDGs, we need to undergo a transformational change. In order to resolve this dilemma, this contribution suggests urgently renegotiating our ontology of practice. This new ontology of practice may embrace the concept of Intelligent Communities which aligns ‘thinking’ with ‘doing’ and enables meaningful actions that enrich everyday life experiences in cities in a way that yet has to be collectively realised.

The interaction between technology, community, and citizens is the core of smart city development. With the increasing penetration of Internet applications, digital governance is advancing constantly. As the basic carrier of smart city, future community is the embodiment of urban sustainable development. To change the situation of single national governance, the Chinese government has begun to integrate the concept of smart city into community construction, actively using big data to explore the digitization of community governance of the past five years. In some central cities of the eastern developed region, digital technology and community governance are gradually integrated to improve grassroots governance through community digital empowerment. Based on Hangzhou, Zhejiang, this paper discusses the necessity of using digital ways to promote the theory of grassroots governance; it expounds the importance of future community in relation to a citizen’s production and living, especially while responding to public health emergency (such as COVID-19), and proposals for achieving urban sustainable development.

The smart city concept has emerged in Egypt in the last 5 years with the start of the fourth generation of new cities, creating a gap between the policies dealing with new versus existing cities. In fact, the proposed strategic master plans for existing cities lacked the components of smartness and the true engagement of stakeholders. It rather focused on meeting the challenges resulting from the over densification, and informalities by a participatory approach that is still missing an appropriate common language between all stakeholders. The authors argue that smart cities’ vision will contribute to solving the issues of cities if linked to the regional context, especially involving new cities while achieving local resilience. The case of New Alamein and old Alamein is a clear interpretation that will be discussed and analyzed to determine the way forward to achieve the integrative vision. This chapter addresses the importance of an integrated approach that would ensure the successful implementation of the smart cities’ initiative in both new and existing cities through empowering the utilization of physical, human, and economic resources of the country. Particularly, the chapter provides insights into how to engage the various stakeholders to contribute to the Egyptian agenda 2030 to place the existing Egyptian agglomerations on the map of sustainable smart cities. The authors will provide recommendations on how to achieve a dynamic inclusion of all stakeholders, emphasizing their role to build sustainable, resilient, and smart cities. This would imply to determine the difference of scale, and level of smartness required to achieve a smart integration.

Since the term smart city was coined, theories and practices of smart cities have flourished. Regarding the practical aspect, smart cities have been built in various countries around the world in recent years, including in Japan, which has experienced the same global trends in the construction of smart cities since 2010. The present study identified achievements and remaining issues of smart city initiatives in Japan using a theoretical framework incorporating policy dimensions and stakeholders for these initiatives. In conclusion, Japanese smart city initiatives were characterized with environmental dimension based on ITC and chiefly implemented by the national and local governments. Further development is required in the health dimension and user-driven innovation as remaining issues for the coming smart city initiatives in Japan.

The Government of India launched the Smart Cities Mission in June 2015 to spearhead inclusive and sustainable development. In this chapter, we question the operational definition of ‘smart,’ arguing for a human rights-based approach to urban design. We examine the questions of democratic participation, based on the recognition of all people’s right to the city, and the failure of area-based development in providing critical urban infrastructure. With a focus on affordable housing and climate resilience, we show how the most marginalized communities have so far been sidelined in smart city proposals. Pan-city solutions and local deliberation provide two promising methods by which to achieve sustainable and inclusive urban growth.

Based on the extensive review of literature and reports on Smart city initiatives, this paper is essentially focusing on understanding the need and importance of human capital for inclusion and sustainability. A review of SDG India Index (2.0), Government of India shows that the scores of education and health care have considerable influence on the composite scores of the cities, showing the resulting influence of the sectors on human capital generation and, thus, can help in the sustainable development of Smart Cities. However, the analysis of 10 smart city proposals reveals the less impetus on these sectors. The finding suggests that in addition to development of physical infrastructure, inclusiveness and sustenance, the smart city mission requires an adequate emphasis on development of social infrastructure particularly in respect of education and health care.

India has rich culture and tradition of celebration of diversified festivals with belief and faith. It helps to inculcate cultural and traditional values in new generation. Now a days, nature of celebration of public festivals has been changed significantly; now public festivals are celebrated on mass basis with contesting way. The present nature of celebration of public festivals has socio-environmental implication in society. The present paper aimed to understand perception about the purpose of celebrating public festivals and present nature of celebration of public festivals in Solapur across demographic variables and its socio-environmental issues. It is found that there is a need to change the approach toward celebration of public festivals. It should be celebrated in eco-friendly, healthy, and peaceful manner.

Public space is gendered, where men have better access at all times of the day, while women have a purpose for their legitimate access to public spaces. City planning and public services are responsible for violence and intimidation faced by urban women, especially poor transportation and street-lighting make them more vulnerable. What indicates all this is that the fear of crime is continuously modifying a woman’s spatial realities. This paper, through a critical review of literature related to gender and urban planning, attempts to suggest directions for the planning of “inclusive cities” respectful to the specific needs of women, which can contribute to reducing violence and enhancing safety for women.

The “smart city” idea firstly referred in accordance with initiatives to that amount use digital or ICT-based innovation in accordance with enhancing the efficiency of urban capabilities and grow instant economic opportunities between cities. With the increase of humans residing in cities, the challenges confronted through Government, “Smart cities” is a current or modern approach to that amount allows the city according to use present-day infrastructure or resources more efficiently. The concept concerning “smart cities” has pretty these days inspired an alternative path over drawing near urban sustainability thru the sizeable arrival concerning ICTs, harmoniously mixed along human metropolis then city’s potential between rule current patterns on town improvement to lie emerged. Crowdsourced smart cities are proposed as a choice according to allow commons assignation among smart city debates yet decision-making—in particular when act along global digital corporations. A systemic decrial on the existing writing over Crowdsourcing systems used to be carried out then essential findings hold been summarized adequately. Crowdsourcing is defined as Crowd + Outsourcing. This paper describes Crowdsourcing for sustaining Smart Cities & their ICT practices.

Advancements in data processing Internet and broadband technology have emerged as a new paradigm shift for data generation, sharing and dissemination of Geospatial data and information. The online spatial data repositories and Geoweb services are providing various methods of data analysis and access to its users. These innovative data generation, sharing and access methods are enhancing the use of geospatial technologies across urban and other thematic domains. Today, the users of geospatial data are using internet platform for various geoscientific activities such as spatial queries, geovisualization, simple to complex computations for decision-making and by modeling for virtual reality. Besides, many organizations and individuals are hosting their data in online platforms as open data repositories which can be effectively used for development of smart geospatial solutions of real-world problems. Online geodata repositories and spatial information services provide a geocomputation framework for developing effective planning of urban areas. The geospatial data from online geodata repositories, web tool-services, APIs and mobile apps are being extensively used by GIS professionals and researchers in the country. Integration of emerging technologies such as Crowdsourcing through POI (Points of Interest), Internet of Things (IoT)-based Smart sensors, Digital Twin, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) can play a significant role in development of smart data solutions. The concept of self-sustainable city or Smart City is being implemented by various countries for providing smart citizen services. The smart city mission by Indian government is developing 100 cities across the country is an effort to provide smart solutions to area-based city planning. The location intelligence is integral part of the development of smart city mission. The smart sensors will provide location and seamless data using sensor network which can be integrated with geospatial technology in better decision making. The emerging technologies like Digital Twin to model simulated scenarios and use of Geointelligence-driven possible solutions would help in smart city planning. In this chapter, we will discuss about WebGIS technology, GeoWeb services, online Geodata Repositories and Access methods and understanding of emerging Geospatial technology of Digital Twin and Geointelligence in the context of Smart city planning.

Urbanisation is happening at an incredible pace throughout the world. On the one hand, the quality of life is improving through better job opportunities, better standard of living, but the environment in which people live, is suffering due to increased pollution and extreme weather events. With the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme climatic conditions, sustainable urban design is becoming more critical. Urban microclimate refers to the city’s local climatic conditions, which are peculiar in nature and are distinct compared to the surrounding environment. Cities are generally a few degrees warmer than their surroundings due to high heat capacity materials, reduced albedo, reduced open and green landscape. Besides, the flow of the wind is usually obstructed, leading to lesser dissipation of heat. The green/open areas and water bodies play a vital role in the city’s overall energy and mass balance, and the reduction of such spaces leads to extreme microclimatic conditions, rendering urban areas unhealthy. The current chapter discusses the assessment of microclimatic parameters like wind speed, temperature and humidity using computational fluid dynamics as a tool. This study focuses on the variation in local climate characteristics in different urban landscapes. The study results showed that urban land surface temperature is highly influenced by land use factors such as built environment, soil conditions, green cover, and urban and street canopy. The chapter also shows that regulation of microclimate parameters is possible through proper planning of urban spaces, which is crucial for sustainable development of the urban environment and healthy living for city dwellers.

“Energy mix” is the combination of different primary energy resources, i.e., coal or natural gas to produce secondary energy for direct use, i.e., electricity. There is a rising demand–supply gap in energy demand of Indian cities due to its expanding urbanization and requires revamping cities energy-mix for inclusive growth and resilience to climate change. Hence, the study tries to conceptually rectify the relevance of investment in renewable energy for triggering energy efficiency in fostering vision for developing sustainable cities in India through a content analysis method of various government and international organizations reports like IEA, NITI Aayog, World Bank, TERI institute report, etc. Further, an overview of government policies, FDI (Foreign direct Investment) inflows on PPP framework and cases of some foreign countries is also provided with few recommendations in devising a robust energy policy for Indian cities.

The growth and development of a town basically depend upon the presence of different types of economic activities at various levels. Economic activity precisely replicates the significance of a town. When the concentration of any one type of economic activity is at a greater proportion, then it dominates the town’s economic life and thereby becomes the major livelihood of the people. When more than one type of economic activity is present at a higher proportion in a town, such towns illustrate the outstanding economic performance and thus they can be identified as economically potential hubs. Towns that have a strong economic hold will achieve phenomenal growth and experience an accelerated rate of development. Digital technology has created a platform for the public to avail smart services quickly and effectively. It has also helped to obtain quality infrastructure and effective governance. Economic activity and smart services play a key role to escalate the city’s spread. A town that does not show much significant performance in any type of economic activity will not contribute much impact on the growth of the town and they are categorized as a single diversified group. This paper examines the changing patterns of economic activities of Hyderabad, Warangal and Nizamabad towns in Telangana state from 1961 to 2011. The statistical tool used to find out the concentration of each economic activity in these towns is the standard deviation (SD) method. Standard deviation (SD) from the mean was therefore calculated for each economic activity in each town and put under an appropriate category. This method has been applied to SMART and AMRUT cities selected for the study and the level of economic activity of these towns is studied and analyzed.

An urban heat island occurs when a geographic region is significantly hotter than nearby regions. Varanasi has been experiencing the same impact for the past decade, and it is increasing. The effects of UHI are investigated in this analysis using Landsat-8 data from March and May 2018 for a case study of Varanasi. The distribution of LST was extracted as of Landsat-8 TM data using an algorithmic rule, which was combined with the NDVI and thus, the NDBI calculations. Furthermore, the relationship between LST, NDVI and NDBI was examined to see how UHIs influenced green and settled spaces. As a result, UHI in Varanasi city is concentrated mainly in the suburbs. In addition, the research discovers that a correlation between LST and NDVI shows that green space has lower UHI, while a correlation between LST and NDBI indicates that settled land has higher UHI at various points in the study area.

The main aim and objective of the study is to analyse the smart city feasibility by the application of the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) in Guwahati city. The data has been collected using both primary and secondary source. The primary data has been collected from the field using the technique of questionnaire, interview and group discussion. The secondary data has been collected from the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), Guwahati Municipal Development Authority (GMDA), Assam Science and Technology and Environment Council and Census Board of India. The data collected has been categorized into strength, weakness, opportunity and threat for the city. The strength of the city is its strategic location, numerous educational centers and institutions, medical facilities, affordable rent house, recreational places and natural water bodies, the Brahmaputra river and numerous small streams, heritage and Culture. The opportunities of the city are to develop into a regional hub-education, commercial and IT, to become an ecotourism destination, development of Brahmaputra for public service, to improve public transport system, Convergence agenda with other mission/plan/scheme, look east policy, emerging industrial belt, E-Toilet and portable toilet. Urban Expansion/Urban sprawl, rising vehicular population, sewage and pollution finding its way into this storm water drainage, earthquake zone, underground water depletion, theft, disappearing of small enterprises are the main threats of the city. Sanitation is acute problem in the city.

Urbanization creates enormous social, economic, and environmental changes. Climate change is seen twenty-first Century’s biggest scourge to health of the population. Rapid urbanization and climate change have led to increased burden and mortality from non-communicable diseases and new and resurgent infections. Hence, with rapid urbanization and climate change, resilience planning is very crucial. City-specific Urban Health Program’s successfulness count on the specific planning while factoring in the local context and factors as each city is different. The intent of this case study for Surat city is to look into the likely influence of urbanization and climate change especially high temperature and rain (flood) on Surat’s Urban Health. The possible interventions in the form of integrated operational resilience action plan are developed.

Environmental vis-à-vis industrial pollution is a widespread problem that influences both human health and agricultural productivity. Rapid industrialization leads to substantial increase in the generation of industrial wastes leading to contamination of air, water, and soil. The contamination of soils by heavy metals is a significant problem as it negatively influences soil characteristics which in turn influence crop productivity and food quality. In present study, we focused on the characterization of some physical, chemical, and biological parameters of soil for soil quality assessment in agricultural fields near to Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) in Mindi area, which is one of the most polluted areas in Vishakhapatnam, India. As paddy is the major field crop grown in this area, cropped and corresponding adjacent fallow area with and without exposure to effluents were selected. Soil samples were collected from different locations, i.e., in paddy growing site exposed to effluents (PGSEE), in Paddy growing site without exposure to effluents (PGSWE), Fallow Lands without exposure to effluents (FWE), and Fallow lands exposed to effluents (FEE) were collected from Mindi area of Visakhapatnam. All soils were observed with low N, low P, and medium K status except PGSWE. FEE were highly concentrated (mg kg⁻¹) with in Cu (7.8), Zn (15.5), Pb (87.8), and Cd (1.8) as compared to paddy cultivated fields. Dehydrogenase activity, i.e., mg Triphenylformazan (TPF) formed 24 h⁻¹ g⁻¹ of soil ranged from 0.54 in FEE–2.31 in PGSWE whereas, Soil microbial biomass Carbon (SMBC) values were in the range of 139.5 (PGSEE)–194.5 (PGSWE) µg g⁻¹ of soil. Results show that the soil quality of both fallow and agriculture land near Hindustan Zinc limited are severely affected by the effluent coming out of the industry and require immediate attention from the people living in this area.

One of the many important global problems is rapid urbanization. This very critical social and economic trend has given rise to much discussion in the last 30 years and has become a key political topic. Understanding its dynamics and trends is critical for developing effective policies and making more informed decisions in planning. Many dimensions to urban land growth have been identified in related literature, including drivers, relationships with other factors like population, impacts, and measurement methods. In this study, urban growth in the Kalimpong Municipality area is analyzed spatio-temporally using remote sensing and population change from 1991 to 2015. The objectives of this study are: (i) identifying the major land use changes in the Kalimpong Municipality area from 1995 to 2015 and (ii) study of the pace of urban growth and its demographic change in the municipality from 1991 to 2011. Multi-temporal satellite images were used during the study period, to identify and extract changes in land cover classes. Results show that the land cover classes with significant changes are the built-up land and the tea garden, with the former steadily increasing and the latter steadily decreasing. Results also show the highest rate of growth in urban land was between 2005 and 2015. In comparison to population, both show an increase over the study years, but urban land shows a higher rate of increase indicating dispersion.

Approximately 50% of the world population is living in urban areas and it is estimated that this number may increase up to 70% by 2050. Availability of jobs, quality education, better living space, advanced technological development, better sanitation facilities, and better management of resources are the pull factors of inward migration in an urban region. Therefore, demand for urban water is also increasing rapidly. Water is not only consumed for indirect uses but also required for indirect purposes mainly in industries and other sectors. This study investigates the water consumption pattern in smart cities, by categorizing the consumption into three usages. Warangal from Andhra Pradesh and Jaipur from Rajasthan states were selected as sample districts. These two districts have been selected because of the availability of similar data, as this study presents a comparative analysis of two smart cities representing the northern and southern physiographic regions of India. The required data were collected from selected smart cities of Warangal and Jaipur and comparative analysis has been done for the water consumption data categorized into domestic, commercial, and other allied purposes for the periods 2013–14 to 2017–18. This study entails the relationship between time-varying predictors (water usage in different sectors in terms of lakhs) and outcomes (water bills collected by using the water among the sectors in terms of lakhs). Apart from the estimation model and panel regression, ANOVA is also used to analyze and validate the data.