Smart Cities—Opportunities and Challenges

It is of utmost importance to modify all the material which is mostly used for personal and commercial purposes. At a certain instant of time, people are getting annoyed by the present parking system so a new smart technology is introduced which proves to be more economical and eco-friendly in all aspects. This report is presented to highlight the working performance of the smart parking system and the implementation of Intelligent Transport System. This report is also presented to analyze the reliability of the smart parking system.

Continuous rise in energy demand with exposure in the field of smart grid creates new opportunities for energy management in both residential and commercial sector to reduce energy demand. Smart energy management system incorporates the demand response tool to shift and reduce the energy requirement. Further, this system also schedules the energy usage effectively depending on environmental parameters, load consumption profile, user priority index and energy price. Deployment of smart meters creates several opportunities to control the load profile with demand response enabling appliances. Smart energy management has the potential to reduce the carbon emissions with cost-effective energy usage involving renewable energy sources and consumer perspectives. Due to this rising interest toward smart energy management technologies, a review article based on techniques involved in energy monitoring and controlling based on consumer behavior is presented. Further, the implementation of artificial intelligence techniques and optimization approaches involved in optimal load scheduling in a residential sector are also presented.

The hospital wastewater treatment is challenging, owing to complex constituents additional to conventional wastewater parameters. Many research works have evaluated sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) performance but in terms of hospital wastewater treatment work is still lacking. This study performed a comparative study of sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and (MBR) in treating hospital wastewater. The SBR exhibited 88% removal efficiency in BOD5 removal exceeding MBR 78%, while in case of COD removal, SBR exceeds far well ahead with 86% removal efficiency as compared to 65% removal in case of MBR treatment. The removal efficiency is also validated by removal efficiency of total suspended solids (TSS) 87% and 83% and for mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) by 85% and 80% for SBR and MBR, respectively. The findings of the study aid in providing a comprehensive understanding, in order to select/adopt appropriate guidelines in selection of MBR and SBR applications for hospital wastewater treatment.

The inefficient use of electricity and the forgetting habits of humans related to manual controlling of lights results in wastage of electricity in both residential and commercial sector. The proposed design can get rid of this physical/manual switching and provides the energy-efficient environment. This lighting control design is programmable, cost effective and provides easy installation. It employs AT86C51 microcontroller with IR sensor modules for monitoring and controlling the LED light as per occupancy inside the room. Specifically, the developed design is used to monitor the entry and exit of occupants inside the room. It automatically senses the person’s location and then displays the room occupancy with the glow of LED light. The LED light remains on as long as the person lies in the range of proximity of IR sensor; otherwise, it switches off. Classroom environment is considered as test bed for this analysis. The result analysis shows the effective and efficient usage of lights and thereby causes the energy saving with the rising energy demand. Keil microvision software is used in compiling the code.

The impact of rising temperature due to climate change and its potential implications on human life in the past decade has become an issue of utmost significance. Rapid unplanned urbanization and its impact on land use change can be visualized spatially as well as temporally using remote sensing data combined with GIS. The present study computes the change in land surface temperature (LST) with the change in land use class. Landsat data for four different time periods from 1991 to 2017 was acquired to compute land use and LST using supervised learning and mono-window algorithm, respectively. Land use spatial patterns revealed that built-up increased from 1.85% in 1990 to 21.49% in 2017, and the vegetation reduced to half in this time period. LST was computed using modified emissivity method pointed out a rise in minimum temperature in the city, especially in the regions of recent development. Changes in peri-urban buffer zones and urban zones show a stark difference in temperature due to regions converted to open areas. The study points out that if the urban growth is allowed as usual, it would contribute largely in increased urban heat islands.

Steel corrosion in concrete is one of the main causes for the degradation of the structural members. Corrosion of steel causes internal damages in the reinforced structures which effects the durability and performance of the structure. In current investigation, total of 13 beams of size 1 m × 0.15 m × 0.15 m were casted and beams are subjected to accelerated corrosion, rates are varied incrementally by 5–15% and the beams were strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets, glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) sheets, and CFRP plus GFRP sheets together and compared with controlled beam. Load-carrying capacity, flexural strength, ductility, and toughness are studied. Investigation shows that the beam strengthens with combination of CFRP and GFRP shows a better load-carrying capacity as compared to controlled beam; however, it can even achieve good results if bonding strength between sheets and beams is taken in consideration.

Ensuring clean air quality for the population is a priority consideration in many metro cities of the world particularly in middle- and low-income group South Asian cities. Urban population are exposed to various pollutants from vehicular and industrial sources. In a typical urban area, its population are exposed to more than 100 different chemical species. An extensive literature review has established the link between exposure to the classical pollutants and ill-health endpoints ranging from increases in asthma attacks, increases in acute bronchitis and decreased lung function to hospital admissions for respiratory-cardiovascular diseases and congestive heart failure. Communicating air quality through air quality index (AQI) system has become one of the major tools of air pollution information systems and is widely used for local and regional air quality management in many metro cities of the world. The metropolitan city of Delhi is the capital of India and is considered among one of the most polluted cities of the world. The study analyse the air quality for the City of Delhi, India with the help of AQI system proposed by EPA. A significant correlation was observed between air quality data with health data.

The hilly regions are developing at a very rapid rate. The anthropogenic activities due to road construction increase the instability of slopes along highways. Aim of this study is to prepare a landslide susceptibility map along State Highway 32. Landslide susceptibility maps along road section prove a good tool for effective mitigation and management of the landslide hazards. The parameters considered in this study are slope, aspect, elevation, drainage density, lithology, soil and distance from fault. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used for evaluating various parameters and ranking them. Landslide Susceptibility Index (LSI) is calculated by using weighted linear combination (WLC) technique. The final landslide susceptibility map is divided into four categories from low to very high susceptibility zones. It is found that around 65% of the area lies under high and very high landslide susceptibility. The results of the study can be used by the urban planners, transportation planners and highway engineers.

Among the various renewable energy resources, photovoltaic (PV) power has emerged as one of the most promising source and has become the most attractive solution for smart energy in the form of a clean and green resource. As the PV panel characteristics are nonlinear in nature and vary greatly with the operating conditions, hence it becomes very much important to ensure that PV panels operate at the optimum point for which effective tracking algorithm has to be incorporated. Further, the power conditioning module plays a very crucial role for PV system interfacing, as it has not only to ensure system reliability and stability, but also to maintain the power quality simultaneously. In this paper, novel control techniques for all these challenges have been proposed. Here, a model-based (MB) technique has been applied that ensures effective tracking in dynamic conditions, where the environmental parameters change rapidly. Also, the control strategies for PV inverter have been designed based on the concept of active power filter (APF) that overcomes the limitations of commonly applied passive filtering scheme and provides a promising solution for eliminating harmonic distortions, thus improving the PV power profile. Hardware platform has also been used for experimental measurement of real-time parameters through sensors and data logger.

Non-destructive testing methods are important methods for civil engineers to monitor the structures periodically and ensure safety and serviceability without damaging the structures. In the present study, non-destructive testing (NDT) was carried out on plain and fly ash concrete mix using two techniques, i.e. ultrasonic pulse velocity and rebound hammer to evaluate the age-dependent compressive strength. The compressive strength of the specimen obtained using NDT was also compared with the experimental results. Laboratory investigations on pulse velocity were carried out by using PUNDIT and rebound number by using rebound hammer on 100 × 200 mm cylinders of plain and fly ash concrete at the ages varying from 28 to 180 days. The amount of fly ash replacement by cement was varied from 25 to 60%. The compressive strengths of the all the specimens have been obtained from the pulse velocity and rebound number reference charts. It has been observed that the compressive strength of fly ash concrete mix and plain concrete obtained by using PUNDIT are comparatively similar at all ages due to the homogeneous nature of fly ash concrete, whereas in case of rebound hammer, the strength gets reduced significantly for high-volume fly ash concrete.

In the recent times, the concept of smart cities has gained momentum and has received considerable attention of urban planner, administrators, policymakers, etc., as a response to the complex problems associated with the unprecedented urbanization. However, citizen engagement or public participation is the key element in the smart-city concept to optimally reach the objectives. The intention of smart cities can only be met by making the communities smart and enabling the end-users and local people to involve in city governance. This article investigates the role of public participation in decision-making, transforming the same into a smart city in the real sense. The article also highlights the adaptable tools and techniques for effective public participation and limitations of this approach in the existing planning machinery in India. The paper facilitates a review of literature from varied research fields is accomplished to understand the role of community participation in smart-city context and to identify the different tools and techniques, empowering people to participate in city governance to make it smart.

Traffic conditions nowadays are in a grim situation caused by daily congestion and accidents. Thus, traffic state forecasting is considered as one of the most important traffic management techniques on roadway networks. Owing to financial and economic constraints, uses of sensors and cameras along the road are not a feasible option. Henceforth, probe vehicles equipped with GPS and other sensors are gaining prominence and are frequently used in developed countries to collect traffic data. In the probe vehicle concept, vehicles themselves are acting as roving traffic detectors, which are not bound to specific and fixed locations along the road infrastructure. In this paper, a sensor fusion model based on the extended Kalman filter and measurement inputs from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors to improve absolute position estimation and to collect traffic data using ultrasonic sensors and dashcam has been presented. The proposed methodology has been tested for prevailing mixed traffic conditions in Prayagraj city. On the basis of the analysis of collected data, this paper presents a systematic solution to efficiently estimate the traffic state of large-scale urban road networks.

In the last two decades, automation and artificial intelligence improve accuracy as well as the quality of product and reduced processing time due to enormous advancement in the technology of robotics. At the present time, the most crucial factors in the modern world are scarcity of energy resources for global demand. Due to environmental issues and legislative straining, electrification is a glaring inclination to renovate performance and sustainability of the transportation system. Solar photovoltaic technology is an important research area to convert solar energy into useful electrical power. So far, robot extracts electrical energy stored in the batteries to run its mechanical, electrical and electronic devices to perform several tasks for industrial as well as commercial work. The robot can operate in a hazardous environment for a long duration of time without human assistant with high accuracy.

The economic growth in India has led to the unprecedented infrastructure development, and as a result, the consumption of raw materials for the construction industry has grown at a very fast pace. Thus, they account for the significant contribution toward greenhouse emissions. In the current global scenario, the faster construction process has become the only mandate to fulfill the demand for infrastructure. However, the construction industry must follow the sustainability paramount to manage its environmental impact. Hence, this study has aimed to address these concerns by using recycled materials such as fly ash (FA), silica fume(SF), and recycled fine aggregate (RFA). The main aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with recycled fine aggregate on the flow/rheological properties of fresh self-compacting mortar. Self-compacting mortar is made with cement and fine aggregate in which the cement was replaced with various proportions of FA and SF and the natural fine aggregate with RFA. The mortar mix composition has been finalized as per EFNARC guidelines. A total of twenty mixes is prepared by using different proportions of mineral admixtures and different types of sand for this experimental investigation. The flow properties of mortar are assessed in terms of slump flow through flow cone and in terms of V-funnel efflux time through V-funnel test. The flow tests are performed at varying water/powder (w/p) ratio and varying the dosage of superplasticizer (SP). The cube specimens of mortar are also tested at various ages to determine the strength. The influence of RFA on the flow properties of mortar was observed. It is noted that mortar made with RFA has shown a gradual decrease in the flowability due to its high water absorption and it demanded more SP dosage to maintain the flowability. For a better understanding of the effect of morphology of SCMs on the flow properties, the mortar flow properties were investigated with binary and ternary combination of SCMs. From the result, it is observed that the self-compacting mortar can be prepared with RFA at ternary combination of binder (cement + SCMs) to achieve the desired flow characteristics at its 100% replacement level.

The existing water monitoring system of India is incapable to regulate the excessive water flow which leads to potential water wastage. The overpopulation, unrestrictive water supply, irregular monitoring, and lack of awareness are the major hurdles for the deployment of smart water system (SWS) in India. In this state of the art, we present a simulation-based work to monitor the water flow in accordance with the demand for water by several regions. In our experiment, we have designed a protocol which regulates water flow according to the priority value. The proposed priority-based water distribution (PWD) protocol executes through two phases. The initial phase assigns priority values to the geographical belts like an emergency belt (EB), residential belt (RB), and industrial belt (IB) by the utility center (UC). In the second phase, we install a sensor-based smart valve which is regulated by the UC corresponding to the priority values of several belts. This novice method is addressing one of the open challenges of smart water grid (SWG), i.e., data analytics over wireless communications.

Wastewater adversely affects humans and another animal including metal like Pb, As, Zn, Hg, and Cd in wastewater (domestic or industrial). These toxic metals affect human health and are a serious threat to the environment by the precipitation, adsorption, accumulation in the food chain and non-biodegradable nature, respectively. In the present study, treatment of industrial wastewater in terms of toxic Pb(II) removal was investigated by the using of copper oxide alginate (CuO/Alg) nanocomposite. The CuO/Alg nanocomposite was prepared by chemical reduction method in solution phase, and synthesized particles size were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The wastewater sample collected from WWTP of the local electroplating industry is located in Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi. A series of experimental approaches have been used to remove Pb2+ from industrial wastewater with CuO/Alg nanocomposite, which includes sorbent mass, competitive ion, contact time, and SEM. The SEM image of CuO/Alg nanocomposite showed that particles had a sheet-like shape and mean diameter of about 18.09 nm. The test was performed under the batch condition to determine the adsorption rate and uptake at equilibrium from single component solution. The maximum uptake value of Pb2+ in single component solution was 118.40 mg/g from wastewater. The CuO/Alg nanocomposite identified as the most promising sorbent with an effective potential of removal of Pb2+ from wastewater is due to their high metal uptake.

Experimental test has figured out to investigate behavior of remaining compressive strength concrete prepared using normal and high strength grades. For the same purpose, cube-shaped and cylindrical-shaped specimens of concrete material were casted and consecutively subjected to heating and cooling condition in laboratory-controlled environment. A hold period of three hours was provided to impart heating–cooling phenomenon inside the electrical furnace at four different set of temperatures. The elevated temperatures chosen for the present compressive behavior study are 200, 400, 600 and 800 °C. Strength was also determined at ambient environment for the purpose of comparing the effects of thermal loads on behavior of strength. Significant loss in compression strength has been visualized by plotting the curves for different set of concrete mixes at various temperatures. The compositeness of concrete results as one of the main reason in controlling strength loses inculcated due to elevated temperature. The outcomes of the current experimental work are termed useful while understanding key mechanical characteristics of concrete under the effect of overburdened thermal loads.

A human greed is never ending which gives rise to social as well as environmental externalities. In the past decade, India’s extraordinary urbanization has analogous growth in primary energy demand. With urban per capita scenario, commercial energy prompts three times higher energy demand than rural areas because urban areas are the foundation of energy and CO2 emission giving rise to climate change. This paper will first review the traditional practices and approaches in the context of the low-carbon cities and related climate-resilient cities initiatives, as development strategies for addressing and highlighting urbanization challenges. An attempt has been made through this study to explore the major root causes and factors of climate change and variable ideas of low-carbon resilient cities. The article is an exploratory type, in which different practices worldwide for a low-carbon and resilient city model have been incorporated.

In this research work, an attempt has been made to do a comparative study of MMFX bars in place of Fe-500 bars which are used extensively in building construction industry these days. The average tensile strength of which vary from 620 to 1030 MPA as compared to the tensile strength of conventional Fe-500 bars which is in the range of 500 MPA. As in the case of normal Fe-500 bars, the main issue was of rusting hence to overcome this high chromium content is mixed for making the MMFX bars. The chloride content is also taken four times higher in case of MMFX bars than the normal carbon steel bars. An attempt has been made to check the savings in quantity of steel by providing reinforcement with higher capacity as compared to Fe-500. At the same time, a cost model is also tried to work out to check its overall feasibility as per Indian condition. The findings of this report will benefit the cost consultants as well as researchers who have keen interest to implement and encourage the use of smart materials for building smart cities.

The objective of this research is to design and model a hybrid system using photovoltaic (PV) and battery, integrated with grid system using hybrid optimization model for electric renewables (HOMER) software. The model is tested using three different battery types: lead acid (LA), vanadium redox (VR), and zinc bromine (ZnBr) flow batteries. It has already been mandated that 10 per cent of the smart cities energy requirement should come from solar energy. Solar rooftops can go a long way in providing a clean and green living environment in these smart cities. Solar energy can be harnessed by installing solar panels that can reduce our dependency on non-renewable sources of energy, but due to the intermittent nature of solar energy and its variability, the need for battery energy storage becomes mandatory to stabilize the operation of such hybrid systems and to store the surplus energy produced and supply it at a time of insufficiency. These battery types are compared in terms of system sizing, economy, technical performance, and environmental stability. A case study of an Institutional area of New Delhi is carried out to compare the performance of individual batteries. The results demonstrate that the hybrid system using ZnBr batteries is the most favourable choice. Using this configuration, the economic parameters, including net present cost (NPC) and levelized cost of energy (LCOE), are found to be lowest and emissions into the atmosphere are found to be optimum.

With the growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the data generated through these devices is also increasing. By 2030, it has been predicted that the number of IoT devices will exceed the number of human beings on earth. This gives rise to the requirement of middleware platform that can manage IoT devices, intelligently store and process gigantic data generated for building smart applications such as smart cities, smart health care, smart industry and others. At present, market is overwhelming with the number of IoT middleware platforms with specific features. This raises one of the most serious and least discussed challenges for application developer to choose suitable platform for their application development. Across the literature, very little attempt is done in classifying or comparing IoT middleware platforms for the applications. This paper categorizes IoT platforms into four categories, namely publicly traded, open-source, developer-friendly and end-to-end connectivity. Some of the popular middleware platforms in each category are investigated based on general IoT architecture. Comparison of IoT middleware platforms in each category, based on basic, sensing, communication and application development features, is presented. This study can be useful for IoT application developers to select the most appropriate platform according to their application requirement.

Lime-based mortar interlayer plays an important role in structural and architectural construction. Lime mortar undergoes repetitive changes in temperature when it is exposed to its service environment. Change in temperature has a significant effect on the thermal deformation of cement mortar and even affects directly the durability of century decade monuments and structure under extreme regions. This paper deals with thermal deformation of lime mortar, which is the prime constituent of cement and the oldest construction material by measuring its deformed geometrical configuration. In the first part, it is aimed to investigate the thermal deformation of mortar cube, its changes in length and mass of the specimens continuously measured during the heating and cooling cycles within the range of temperatures of −20 to 70 °C. The second part of this paper aims to investigate the pore formation and pore size distrubution in lime and lime mortar sample using optical microscopic images. Although a careful visual inspection can provide very good accuracy information, it has inherent limitations in assessing the structural integrity, and also, visual inspection can provide limited information to a damaged facility. In this paper, a detailed pore distribution analysis has done using digital image processing tool for better interpretation of thermal damages in lime mortar. The above-proposed tool can be used as aided tool for retrofitting and conservation of many architectural heritages.

The study reports about the improper and poor municipal solid waste management system in the city of Jammu and highlights other issues like lack of public education, scientific techniques, machinery and legislation in the area that solicit immediate attention. The main aim of this research is to conduct a SWOT analysis (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) of the municipal solid waste management system (MSWM) in Jammu city and propose an indicative solid waste management (SWM) plan by analysing both internal and external factors of SWOT. The city produces a whopping 350–400 MT (metric tons) of solid waste daily at a rate of 0.45 kg/cap/day, with contributions from domestic, institutional, commercial and street sweepings as 0.3, 0.03, 0.10 and 0.02 kg/cap/day, respectively. The operational efficiency of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) is 50% and at present, only 18 wards have the facility of door-to-door collection of waste. Out of the total waste dumped by the JMC, the ragpickers collect only 20 MT of waste for recovery, reuse and recycling purposes. This study, therefore, not only attempts to improve the MSW problem in the city but also emphasizes the need of smart waste management systems that would further help in the development of a more habitable and environmentally friendly smart city.

A smart city aims at sustainable economic development of the existing city for providing better quality of life with judicious use of natural resources by participation from the common people. The quality of life can be improved by applying smart technological solutions to the day–to-day life activities and ultimately enhance the quality of living in the city. The Smart Cities Mission in India was launched on 25 June 2015, for five-year duration in its first phase. The mission targets to transform 100 cities into smart cities by 2020. The paper mainly focuses on studying and analysing the process involved in the Smart Cities Mission of India for New Tehri city in the state of Uttarakhand, India.

As industrialization and urbanization are escalating, so is the water resources scarcity and pollution problem as well as energy demand. Urbanization and development have been a great threat to the water resources and play a major role in water pollution problem if not planned in a sustainable way. Nowadays, more focus is on water recycling and reuse. Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging technology providing a great alternative approach compared to conventional water/wastewater treatment techniques. FO works on the principle of differential osmotic pressure of feed solution, FS (low osmotic potential) and draw solution, DS (high osmotic potential) with no hydraulic pressure and low fouling. FO has been applied in various industrial applications, viz. food and beverage, textile, oil and gas and pulp and paper, etc. Many FO membranes and DSs of desired characteristics have been developed and studied. But, still, there are many challenges and issues that need to be considered and resolve. This paper provides the information on the FO process, membrane fouling, DS concept and applicability of the FO/FO-hybrid technology in the various sectors.

India has witnessed rapid urban transformation in the recent decades, and the ongoing ‘Housing for All’ and ‘Smart Cities’ mission of the Central Government has added new thrust to search for alternate technologies. Considering huge housing shortage in EWS and LIG segments, India’s construction industry needs to evolve and start embracing smart construction technologies for mass housing addressing sustainable and inclusive development. The use of industrialized manufacturing using prefab technologies for smart construction has today emerged as a preferred and promising alternative to the conventional in situ construction practices to ensure speed, safety, strength and sustainability. This paper deals with the case of a mass housing project for EWS and LIG category in Narela, Delhi, using an emerging technology branded as ‘3-S’ prefab technology for smart construction. Needless to say, such prefab technology for smart construction would play a key role in meeting Government’s crucial missions of ‘housing for all’ and ‘smart cities’. Use of such modern smart construction technologies would thus strengthen Government’s commitment towards inclusive and sustainable development.

Observing and understanding atmospheric processes and impacts of air pollution in urban areas is essential for a sustainable and healthy city. Knowledge of temporal and spatial distribution of air quality at the landscape scale is essential for regional climate control and urban planning. For this purpose, spatial analysis of atmospheric aerosol concentrations and air pollution data by geo-statistical methods is carried out. The present study is focused on the megacity Delhi and its surrounding areas which are one of the most polluted urban regions in the world. The relationship between land-use structure and satellite retrieved AOD has been analyzed for the first time over Delhi, and the impacts of topography on the aerosol distribution have been discussed. It is observed that the major part of central and east Delhi showing built-up area depicted highest aerosol concentrations including high particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), whereas the surrounding areas around Delhi mostly having agricultural farmlands show lower values of the same. Further, application of stochastic modeling technique in analyzing the future trends of aerosol optical properties was performed using the Box–Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. After rigorous evaluation, the ARIMA (1, 0, 0) × (0, 1, 2)12 was identified as the best predictive model for the time series under study, suggesting a simplistic modeling technique for determining the future values of AOD. This can provide a comprehensive approach that state and local authorities can use to deal with environmental protection issues.

Smart City Mission is an intervention to enhance the urban livelihood with various steps taken by the collaboration of government and special purpose vehicles towards its implementation. The goal is to study the policies and their implementation in the development of Jaipur under this mission. The objective of this study is to observe and analyze the status and effects of the convergence of various bodies in the implementation of the various projects under Smart City Mission and critically analyze the status progress and concerns of the groundwork of projects in the study area. This paper covers a field trip analysis of the Jaipur walled city within the limits of the stretch Surajpole to Chandpole where the ongoing projects are observed and their immediate interactions are analyzed under categories of mobility, infrastructure, and heritage. We used a qualitative interviewing approach with the project heads of the various implementation bodies to understand the challenges faced and their vision towards the end of this mega project. The study shows that implementing “advanced and innovative solutions” while being unable to benefit people on all spheres of life is not a smart solution towards what the mission stands for.

This paper presents an overview of the techno-economic feasibility analysis of hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) of interest that can be used in smart cities. A case study of an institutional area of New Delhi is carried out to compare the various configurations of HRES using hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) software and choosing the best configuration among them on the basis of various parameters which are prerequisite for the development and sustainability of a smart city. These configurations were considered in two different modes, grid-connected and the isolated mode, and were compared on the basis of economic parameters like calculation of cost of energy, net present cost, and life cycle cost of the plant, technical aspects, and the impact on the environment. The HRES model proposed here serves a load demand of 3113 kWh/day. After performing the load data analysis and simulation, the results showed that the grid–PV–battery hybrid system configuration could bring financial benefits, improve the power reliability and energy security and lead to less greenhouse gas emissions and thus reducing the cities’ impact on the environment.

The increase in penetration of renewable energies or clean energies in power sector and their integration with existing conventional grids generates the need for design and implement good controller circuits in its hardware model. This paper is having a discussion over dSPACE 1104 controller circuit and its use in a solar system. dSPACE controller board overview with its operation has been given in detail. The controlling action of the controller board is being shown here. dSPACE DS1104 card and its use of RTI library to design the control system that can connect a simulated model with the controller board has been shown. Lastly, solar inverter controller circuit with controlling operation and connection of inverter circuit with dSPACE controller circuit has been given that can be used in future implementation of dSPACE 1104 controller circuit in a PV simulated model hardware prototype. From this paper, the readers will get to know about dSPACE 1104 controller board and its idea of implementation in any simulated prototype model.

In India, there is a very less awareness about the formal recycling of electronic wastes. The recycling is taken into account informally to make profit in terms of money. The current study has been carried out in order to examine the recovery potential from residues collected from e-waste sites at Delhi NCR location. All these recycling works are done informally and unorganized manner. Informal recyclers adopt techniques such as pyro-metallurgy (using heat), hydro-metallurgy (using acid) and electro-metallurgy (using current). After extraction of precious metals, the remaining residues are not properly dumped into landfill sites. These residues are just thrown on lands without any precautions. However, in these remaining residues, still there is a quantity of precious metals that are affix. Au is one of the prime precious metals which is found to be present in satisfactory amount in all the samples of e-waste. However, of all the metals, the lowest concentration of cobalt metal has been observed, and highest concentration of copper metal has been observed in all e-waste samples of the study. The key to success in terms of e-waste management is to develop eco-design devices, properly collect e-waste, recover and recycle material by safe methods, dispose of e-waste by suitable techniques, forbid the transfer of used electronic devices to developing countries and raise awareness of the impact of e-waste. A national scheme such as EPR is a good policy in solving the growing e-waste problems.

An attempt was made to investigate the removal of nitrogen and phosphorous from municipal sewage using four aquatic plants (two emergent plants—Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis and two floating plants—Eichhornia crassipes and Lemna gibba). Batch studies were carried out in five reactors. Each batch reactor was having an effective volume of 49L. All batch reactors were fed with municipal sewage. The NH4-N, NO3-N and PO4-P concentrations were measured at an interval of three days. Results of this study indicate that the highest removal efficiencies of NH4-N were observed as 80% and NO3-N and PO4-P were 75% using the emergent plant (Typha latifolia) at an hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 21 days. The final value of treated effluent NH4-N, NO3-N and PO4-P concentrations were found to be 7.5, 1.48 and 3.0 mg/L, respectively. The primary cause of the removal of nutrient from municipal sewage using Typha could be the presence of vigorous roots of this plant providing an expanded surface for microbial growth compared to other aquatic plants.

With the rapid advancement in IOT devices and networking technologies in recent years, the concept of smart cities has emerged as an important paradigm. A smart city is a heterogeneous network of ubiquitous sensors, along with intelligent processing and control systems. A smart city monitors the residents in real time and facilitates its inhabitants with intelligent services in terms of health, transportation, energy, governance, etc. Thus, security and privacy have become inevitable concerns for such systems. Therefore, ensuring security and privacy in smart cities is essentially needed in order to enhance trust and confidence level among citizens, thereby increasing their participation and trust with the services. STRIDE, a popular threat modeling technique developed by Microsoft, is widely used for modeling security threats in a complex system. In this paper, authors have made an attempt to model security-related threats in smart cities using the STRIDE methodology, categorize them accordingly, and suggest possible countermeasures for each threat.

In the present world, municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rates are increasing on a day-to-day basis per year due to the technical advancements and urbanization. This rapid move up in MSW generation causes the problem of waste management in open landfill. Extensive endeavors and very hard attempts are going on in the world to develop sustainable techniques for use of MSW. Incineration of MSW is one of the methods to reduce volume of waste in landfill that contribute toward development of smart cities. Various research programs are being conducted to determine properties of municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) ash in order to assess its viability for using as an embankment or fill material. Usually single-criterion decision-making tool is a conservative approach used to evaluate the suitability of material which is not an optimal solution where all the parameters are not looked into it. Keeping in view, the study aims to get the best suitable material by making a compromise solution between various parameters. In the present study, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tool, VIKOR method, is used which incorporates the effect of all the parameters that can enhance the material selection results closer to the ideal condition. Examples are being incorporated to illustrate the suggested method. Alternatives D and E have been ranked 1 in the illustrated examples on the basis of VIKOR ranking and both the alternatives also have an acceptable advantage and suitability over other alternatives.

Smart Cities Mission is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India launched in 2015 with an aim to develop a total of hundred Smart Cities in different states of India. The primary objective of this programme is the urban redevelopment and retrofitting to make existing cities smart, sustainable, and citizen-friendly which will ultimately lead to economic growth and improvement in the quality of life. The Smart City Mission, however, lacks to incorporate resilience as one of its objectives. India is vulnerable to disasters of all types, ranging from earthquakes, floods, droughts to terrorist attacks. The risk of disaster is compounded in an urban area due to densely populated areas, lack of planned development, stress on existing infrastructure, socio-economic imbalance including others. The focus of this study is to develop a holistic resilience maturity model for a smart city in India that can be used to incorporate resilience in planning, development through a stage-wise maturity. This paper used three Indian Smart Cities—Chennai, Surat, and Pune, all of which are a part of the Rockefeller 100 resilient cities, as the basis of the study. A detailed analysis of the proposals of these three cities was carried out and based on the same a resilience maturity model was developed. Though Indian cities are studied, the maturity model can be applicable to other developing countries having similar smart cities.

City can be accurately measured by its impact as a node of various land use units which diffuses the social, political and economic effects in the region. City region reflects association of multiple municipalities’ and scales of government in which responsibility for urban and regional development is distributed formally as well as informally. Smart cities are dominating the current paradigm of planning with a focus on the use of information and communication technology for the development of the society. In India, it is exemplified under the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ where the emphasis is laid on the promotion of core infrastructure and application of information and communication technology to improve the quality of life in urban areas. Modern development concept of intelligent urbanism as defined by Christopher Benninger through 10 axioms or principles guides the city planning which would help the regions to achieve the results of India’s smart cities mission. The intelligent urban region strives to create a balance between economic, environment and social development- three pillars of sustainability. The concept composed of ten principles integrates the planning and management discourse in the preparation of a spatial plan for the region. The paper tries to highlight the impacts of spatial development and planning of the Bhopal city region, in light of these ten principles considering its functionality. The paper tries to understand how the evolution in the planning of Bhopal has impacted the spatial and sectoral development of the region and its achievement of ‘smartness’.

Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD) is the major cause of demise in many developed countries. In order to convert a city into smart city, the well-being of humanity is of extreme importance. Numerous factors have raised to this horrible condition, some of them are; inadequate exercise, unhealthy diet, lifestyle, smoking and environmental pollution including industrial effluent and vehicle tail emission. Higher concentration of air contamination adversely affects people with the respiratory disorder and other kinds of lungs and cardiac disease. Growth in medicine and health care technology is the backbone for transforming the city to smart city. CAD is one of the majorly observed heart diseases in India and it is distinguished by the settling of greasy ingredients on arteries wall causes swelling, widening and hardening that results in an obstruction of blood flow through artery wall. This paper reviewed the risk and current status, impact of the environment on the heart and its various way to cure. Angioplasty is another technique to unblock the artery vessel using different kinds of stent and is being extensively used in the medication of CAD.

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) has been carried out for the district of Pathankot. The earthquake data has been collected from different seismological agencies, e.g. NDMA, IMD, ISC-UK and USGS, and a comprehensive earthquake catalogue has been developed. Several ground motion prediction equations have been reviewed to select a GMPE appropriate for carrying out PSHA. Earthquake hazard parameters have been estimated in terms of peak ground acceleration and spectral acceleration. The seismic hazard maps of the district have been prepared at various return periods at different probabilities of exceedance. The results show that the district can experience strong ground motions originating from earthquakes originating in north-west Himalayas. Therefore, structures must be designed using the hazard parameters determined considering the local tectonic setup of the region. The developed hazard maps would help engineers and architects involved in planning and design of earthquake-resistant structures and retrofitting works.

The concept of ‘smart city’ is gaining popularity around the globe for a sustainable and liveable urban future in the last two decades, and several developed countries have tried to transform their existing cities into ‘smart cities’. Now, a few developing countries are also trying to transform their cities into smart cities or even develop afresh infrastructure. However, these developing countries are facing challenges in the development of smart cities. Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to identify the significant challenges related to the development of smart cities and prioritise in the Indian context. We have identified ten significant challenges through a systematic literature review to accomplish the research objective. Further, these ten challenges are prioritised using ‘weighted aggregated sum/product assessment’ (WASPAS). The highest ranked challenge is the ICT infrastructure which requires a lot of effort and resource. This study provides a basic understanding of the challenges related to the development of the smart city in the Indian context which can be helpful for the formulation of the policies related to the transformation/development of smart cities. There is some limitation of this study such as the identified challenges are limited and adopted methodology is based on the expert’s input which can be biased.

The smart city aims to ease the city-related decision by facilitating its citizen with the appropriate information at the right place and at the right time. IoT-based systems provide a foundation for smartification of services by enabling person-to-object and object-to-object communications. However, there is a challenge in integrating the IoT in city services to make the city smart. This paper put forward an objective to identify and prioritise the challenges in the implementation of IoT in the smart city. IoT devices represent emerging decentralised computing era and have capability to communicate with other computing devices over a network. Ten challenges to IoT implementation in making cities smart were identified using literature review and expert’s opinion. Further, TOPSIS approach is used to analyse the identified challenges. The findings suggest that the major challenge is IoT interoperability, as companies are developing IoT solution independently by utilising different platforms which result in poor integration in the devices and data security issues. The companies need to develop an open-source platform to promote an interoperable framework. The study will help the practitioner and policy planner in realising the potential challenges in IoT implementation and easing the life of the citizen.

A short but descriptive paper has been presented to understand various researches that have been made recently on shallow tunnelling in soft soils and the challenges faced during the construction. In a smart city, smart means of communication is vital, which should be safe and green mode of transportation. Due to the scarcity of space on the land surface of the urban and developed areas, there has been an increase of demand in the extensive use of underground structures. These constructions are often situated at shallow depths. Hence, there arises the demand for smart tunnels which requires a better understanding of various factors which influence the response of a shallow tunnel in soft soils is highly required. This understanding is enhanced with the help of the previous research papers on this specific issue which are a reliable and trustworthy source of information. Therefore, the sole purpose of this paper is to analyse various research works that have been accomplished in the field of shallow tunnelling in case of soft soils.

More than half of the total land area of the Indian subcontinent is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity. Earthquakes cause damage, and assessment of parameters and factors affecting performance of buildings becomes desirable in order to understand the aspects and phenomenon of the same to make or design better earthquake-resistant buildings. Performance of a building is often expressed in qualitative terms like poor, average, good, better, etc. However, the same can be expressed in quantitative terms too and compared with respect to one another. Analytical hierarchical process (AHP) is a well-known multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique to express qualitative measures in quantitative terms. In order to handle ambiguity of the qualitative assessment by humans, the concept of fuzzy theory was embedded by many researchers to the AHP technique. The current study focuses on the development of performance assessment index (PAI) of buildings using fuzzy AHP technique. The index developed is applied on buildings damaged in 2011 Sikkim earthquake. These buildings are ranked on the basis of the performance score. The advantage of such indexing model is that it can help in anticipating a certain level of performance behaviour, comparing or ranking of the buildings on the basis of performance levels in a the occurrence of a seismic event. In other words, the current study can be used to predict the survivability and performance of a building in case of a likely earthquake. The proposed model for performance evaluation based on fuzzy AHP is simple and hence holds the potential for practical application.

This is a conceptual paper interfacing community engagement and migration flows in relation to smart cities’ development. The paper notes community engagement as a crucial variable, in general and with reference to the aspired for impact on migration flows. It conceptualizes community engagement as an operationalizable construct for strategic design. The idea of community engagement is there in most multi-stakeholder projects and initiatives. Enhancing design and execution for making it count for superior performance of smart city initiatives is what we seek to develop here. The paper is also oriented to deliver an agenda for field research based on hypotheses it comes forth with.

The smart cities comprise of low, medium and high rise buildings usually RC (Reinforced Concrete) framed structures having masonry in-filled wall panels both at exterior and interior faces. Any damage caused due to blast/bombing to such structures may cause larger damage to life in vicinity of the event area. Keeping view to this aspect the present endeavour has examined the effect of air blast on masonry in-filled RC framed wall acting from various angle of detonation (0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°). The deliberation will discuss the findings entertained.

In soil-pile-structure interaction non-linearity of soil plays very important role. The problem is furthermore complex when the piles are passing through liquefiable soil medium. In practice, for obtaining the internal response of soil-pile subjected to Seismic loading, many researchers and geotechnical engineers have used simple methods. In this paper a simple program based on Finite-element, i.e. “SAP2000” is propounded to examine the influence of seismic loading on deflection and bending moment of laterally loaded piles passing through liquefiable soil. In SAP2000, to simulate soil-pile interaction “Beam on Non-linear Winkler Foundation (BNWF)” model is used. In BNWF model, piles are modelled as a beam element and the surrounding soil is modelled as spring element. 3 × 3 pile groups in liquefiable and non-liquefiable soil are considered and a parametric study is carried out to analyse their seismic behaviour. The influence of different ratios of depth of pile to depth of liquefiable soil layer and effect of stiffness of the soil on the seismic behaviour of the soil-pile system are examined. Response spectrum and time histories are applied to analyse the response of pile during earthquake.

The need for subway transportation systems has been increased in many important cities. The most tunnels are constructed in congested city areas hence the risk of damage to surrounding infrastructure is very high. Any subsurface construction will generate ground vibrations that resulting in ground settlements and lateral movements, which have the potential to cause damage to the existing surface and underground structures. The subway development in computing technology has led to the use of the finite element method (FEM) in the analysis of the surface subsidence has been increased in recent years. In the current study, a 2D analysis of the varying depth of tunnel and effect of existing pile-supported structure on the settlement of ground surface is carried out by using PLAXIS finite element software. The result of the varying depth of the tunnel, existing pile-supported structure above the tunnel and the used of grout anchor on the ground surface settlement shown in terms of the Gaussian distribution curve. Results show that when pile lengths are sufficient to bear superstructure load then stresses are less on tunnel lining so it resulting in a low ground settlement and vice versa.

India is predicted to be one of the world’s fastest-growing large economies for this decade, according to projections from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A lot of this growth is attributed to the operations of various multinational companies (MNCs) setting up their businesses in the country. Additionally, the plan set in place by the Indian Government to bring up numerous Smart Cities augurs well for the MNCs from a business point of view. But, most MNCs face logistical problems in connection with transportation of their material and the flow of information. The research objective of this paper is to describe the current state of Indian logistics service and identify the logistics barriers that foreign firms have encountered in India. Identification of the barriers in the system is a good first step towards rectifying the logistical systems. This work lays an affirmation to the observation that an ‘Incompatible Supply Chain Model’, along with ‘Poor Skills of Logistics Professionals’ and ‘Low Rate of Technology Adoption’ collectively act as the primary driving barriers to the Indian logistical system. This paper portrays the interdependence between various factors in the logistics industry that act as barriers for MNCs while carrying out business in India. After listing out the barriers, a hierarchy is formed using the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and MICMAC techniques to find the individual importance of each barrier and in what capacity it contributes to the problem.

In the current era, the public is receiving much devotion to hybrid electric vehicles as the subsequent technology pattern in the road transport sector. Three-wheeler ‘battery’ vehicles are extensively used for intracity transport facility in Indian cities. These vehicles are known as smart e-vehicle and have the potential to mitigate the carbon emissions of conventional vehicles. The driving range of three-wheeler e-vehicle is greatly affected by the gradient of terrain/highway. The projected research emphasis the highway gradient effects on a three-wheeler e-vehicle performance. Next, to examine the effects of road gradient on the three-wheeler e-vehicle, the dynamics motion equations are modelled and derived. Appropriate three-wheeler e-vehicle design parameters and constants are taken from the literature survey. Finally, simulations of the dynamic vehicle model are performed in the MATLAB® simulation tool to compute road gradient effect of zero degrees, three degrees, six degrees, nine degrees, twelve degrees and fifteen degrees, respectively.

This study aims to describe the experimental work to illustrate and evaluate the mechanical behaviour of concrete with waste ceramic (floor tiles) coarse aggregate. Concrete included the following materials natural fine aggregate (NFA), natural coarse aggregate (NCA) and waste ceramic aggregate (WCA). Concrete was prepared with WCA replacing in NCA in absolute volume percentage in of 0, 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100%. All the concretes were prepared with similarity aggregate size gradation and workability. In the hardened case, the concrete performance was evaluated by split tensile strength, compressive strengthen, flexural strengthen and combined flexural and torsion. The results show significant improvement in feasibility the partially replacement of NCA by WCA, in spite of the mechanical behaviour of concrete reductions with the rising replacement of NCA by WCA in case of compressive, tensile and flexure strength, whereas in case of combined flexural and torsion, it is increasing up to 20% replacement.

The reduction in fossil fuel reserves on a global base has initiated a serious exploration of renewable energy sources to satisfy the present energy demands. Among the different alternative energy sources, the solar energy is a clean and unlimited energy source; hence, it could play a vital role in the solar home-based system in a developing country like India. There is a requirement for a continuous supply of energy, which cannot be satisfied by the alone solar system because of regular variation of the solar irradiance. It has been found that installed capacity is extended 20 GW in February 2018 in India, and it will achieve around 100 GW in 2022. Hence, the grid-connected solar home-based system is now being used to fulfill the energy demand. In this paper, cost of 20 kW grid-connected solar home-based system in India is analyzed. This work presents the finest scheduling of grid-connected solar home-based system for efficient and economical operation of the system. The proposed system is best suitable for a rural area having the lowest price of energy as INR 3.15/kWh.

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.

Air pollution is one of the prime factors responsible for poor health of mankind. With the advent of technology, industrialization and urbanization, there has been an increase in the pollutants which are hazardous to the mankind. As per the WHO statistics 2016, Delhi, the capital of India is fifth most polluted city. In the present work, an attempt has been made to develop an artificial intelligence-based prediction model. Meteorological parameters such as temperature, vertical wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed have been incorporated as input parameters in order to predict PM2.5 concentration present in the air. The authors have been successful to develop an algorithm which is able to forecast PM2.5 up to one day advance. The efficacy of the algorithm is determined by coefficient of correlation, mean square error and root mean square error, respectively. The results obtained are very promising after an extensive simulation of the neural network for both 70/15/15 and 80/10/10, respectively. The maximum R value obtained is 0.923.

Water is one of the key issues in the development of smart cities. Water availability and water demand are the two key aspects in the management of water resources. The present work deals with the water availability in a river basin as it is a basic source for water supply in most of the urban centres but today’s climate change is considered as one of the most grave issues in front of humanity. Thus, it is of utmost importance to analyse the effect of extreme climatic events on water availability in a river basin. Study of river water flow essentially involves mathematical modelling to simulate and forecast future scenario, enabling the water resources planners in making realistic water management strategies to support smart cities. Hence, the present paper intends to study climatic variability in the Chaliyar river basin through rainfall–runoff modelling and describes the application of Nedbor-Afstromnings Model (NAM), to analyse its suitability, efficiency and performance in Chaliyar basin of Kerala, India.

In this paper, design and simulation of carbon nanotube (CNT)-based input buffer for high-speed digital transmission has been performed. Design and simulation of CNT-based input buffer are compared with that of conventional metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS)-based input buffer at 45-nm-technology node. The structures, used in this scheme, have a differential amplifier. A differential amplifier is used to amplify the difference of the two input signals which are transmitted on a dissimilar signal path. The proposed structure is designed and simulated using HSPICE. The key characteristics of the proposed device, like response time graph and DC analysis for both conventional MOS and CNT-based input buffer, have been computed Vdd = 1 V, width of channels WP = WN = WCNTFET = 381.5 nm, number of CNTs (N) = 20, pitch (S) = 20 nm, diameter of CNT (DCNT) = 1.5 nm. It has been observed that CNT-based input buffer results in high performance in comparison with MOS-based input buffer. It is also observed that the performance of CNT-based input buffer mainly depends upon CNT number (N); inter-CNT pitch (S), and diameter (DCNT) of CNTFET.

In order to develop a smart city, the role of smart transportation infrastructure system is essential, which will improve the ability to connect and improve the quality of human being by saving time and energy. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to improve the soil for the construction of smart structures. In the present paper, the aim is to study the variation of load carrying capacity and shear parameters of soil after introducing granular columns of varying diameter. Results show that the granular columns derive the strength from the soil confining them. The granular columns also help in easy drainage and reduction in pore pressure. A series of CBR and direct shear test were performed after the installation of granular columns at the centre of the specimen by varying the diameter in the soil where it was found that there was an improvement in load carrying capacity and shear strength parameters of the soil. The study also presents swelling behaviour of soil against time.

Severe earthquakes are considered as a major hazard with a potential to cause substantial physical losses, economic losses and casualties. At the same time due to population inversion, new settlements are compelled to find their space in higher earthquake-prone zones. The probability of such terrible earthquake events cannot be ruled out for the near future. It is, therefore, quantifying risk and developing strategies which are vital for the disaster mitigation. In this study, a general procedure of seismic vulnerability assessment based on the fragility function is presented. The fragility function corresponding to seismic performance of reinforced concrete frame is obtained and presented as tool for vulnerability assessment. The work presented here aims to direct a quick and simplistic approach towards vulnerability assessment of RC framed building with the help of fragility curves.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization are paving a way for emerging economies to become more advanced, but these activities also trigger environmental problems. Among many of these problems, the biggest and the most persistent is the air pollution. According to the WHO database, Indian cities are leading the list of world’s most polluted cities, with 14 of the 15 cities featuring in the list are Indians, which has been declared badly affected due to air pollution, and the worst among them is Kanpur. Years of studies and research have recognized the industrial sector as mainly responsible for polluting the city. As reported by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, during winter months, the major contributor to air pollution is particulate matter like dust and soot accounting for around 76%, 15% has been contributed by biomass burning and about 8% by emissions from vehicle, whereas, in summer season, the percentage contribution of particulate matter came down to 35% with equal contribution from vehicular emissions. Meteorological data reveals that 20–80% part of the day mostly during winter months, the average wind speed remains between 2 and 4 m/s. This shows that the dispersion of pollutants in the winter season is very less, trapping particulates and toxic metals in the atmosphere to remain persistent for months. The exposure to these pollutants resulted in harmful diseases linked to the cardiovascular system, respiratory systems, nervous system, premature birth, mortality, and illness. Various efforts have been initiated by the authorities to control the increasing level of pollution, like constructing new roads and pavements, mass rapid transit service to cut car pollution, planting more trees and promoting battery-operated transport. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is also making a budgetary allocation of about 7 billion rupees ($104 million) for installing more systems to monitor air quality in cities and installing equipment to settle the dust like water sprinklers. Despite all these efforts, the Air Quality Index of the city has remained much below the national average. In this scenario, this paper focuses on the studies made so far associated with the causes, sources, impacts, and outcomes related to air pollution levels in the city from the available literature. This paper has also highlighted the air pollution scenario of neighboring country China and its policies intervention in battling against a similar situation.

Increasing population, rapid urbanization and hasty industrialization are assisting gradual shift in human residence from rural to urban. Any city trying to become a smart and sustainable one must provide a better quality of life for its citizens and address the problem of degrading air quality and increasing pollutant emissions. The solution for these problems requires selection and decision-making among a number of candidate emission-control-alternatives that need to satiate a number of technical constraints, policy criteria and regulations. For a given pollutant and emission source, a number of control technologies are available; hence, it is coveted to choose the best combination among them to reduce emissions to a desired standard. Because of its applicability, flexibility and ease of computation in solving large-scale practical problems, dynamic programming-based approach appears to be the appropriate and feasible choice for optimal air pollution control technology selection for an urban metropolitan area. Current study develops a dynamic programming (DP) model that determines the optimal selection strategy, after defining different parameters, at a minimized total cost. The usage and applicability of the proposed model were illustrated with a representative case study of a simulated city with three major sources of pollution. It is inferred that DP is ideal for the ‘multiple sources—multiple control technologies—single air pollutant’ optimization problem.

This research work aims to design a “green airport” to meet the energy requirements for day-to-day functioning of the airport. Designing a green airport involves re-creating a structure using methods that are environmentally responsible, physically sustainable and resource-efficient. The airport will become a sustainable high-performance structure. For this purpose, thermoelectric generator is being used to generate and fulfill electricity demand of an airport, using temperature gradient and solar energy. The runway of the airport will be designed to utilize the kinetic and potential energy of the aircraft and convert it into heat/electrical energy. The airport taken into consideration for design is the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The electricity cost incurred by an airport using non-renewable sources of energy is calculated and compared to the cost incurred if non-renewable sources were replaced by thermoelectric generator on the runway.

In this paper, we have observed that the smart cities leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) for improved citizen services such as utilities, including energy consumption, transport management, etc., in order to reduce consumption of resources, curb wastage and bring down overall costs. A smart city can be fashioned out of an existing city as well as constructed as a greenfield project. The number of devices increases manifold in smart cities. A significant component of the challenge in communications in smart cities is the challenge of ensuring 5G communication in cellular and HetNets. Ad hoc networks can also be considered for deployment on need basis in smart cities. If the requirements of these formulations merge, then the solutions of one can be deployed for the betterment of the other. The first and foremost requirement of large data transfer in smart cities is bandwidth; fortunately, mmWaves have emerged as promising candidates for 5G networks. These can be deployed for setting up the communications in smart cities as well. The paper examines the protocols, simulators and initial feasibility analysis of introducing mmWave communications in smart cities. The scenario in a smart city has been modelled through wireless mobile network comprising i.i.d. Poisson distributed nodes for ad hoc networks and an infrastructure-based wireless mobile network at varying mobility of nodes.

Groundwater is a very useful resource of water for domestic, industrial and agricultural necessities in Greater Noida. Groundwater withdrawal has increased in the last two to three decades due to the requirement of water in domestic, agricultural and industrial field. A part of Yamuna–Hindon River is incorporated for the study area. A careful study of water balance of a basin is essential for the effectiveness of groundwater management. The behaviour of the flow system and water balance was assessed by groundwater flow modelling. MODFLOW was established to quantify groundwater using steady-state finite difference model with 26 groundwater data from tube wells in Greater Noida region. Location map and well inventory are used to evaluate the groundwater level, direction and surface features. Different boundary conditions are used to recharge the ground by rainfall and irrigation returns, seepage losses from unlined canal and horizontal flows using diverse boundary packages available in Visual MODFLOW. In this study, hydraulic conductivity and recharge parameters are analysed by MODFLOW and are shown the sensitiveness of the model. For more optimistic urban groundwater intercessions to be executed in urban cities, we have to energize increasingly incorporated, foundational and quantitative assessment of the possible pathways, mediations and communications. This is progressively conceivable with the utilization of connected and coordinated demonstrating where groundwater procedure models, physical models and water industry models can be coupled and illuminate financial appraisal, where the estimation of water, in the entirety of its appearances, is progressively being perceived.

Electrochemical-based approaches have gained much attention as sustainable, eco-friendly and cleaner methods of treatment technologies as they are less sludge producing. The presence of excess fluoride in drinking water supplies is responsible for dental, skeleton and other forms of fluorosis. Among various defluoridation techniques available, electrocoagulation (EC) process was experimentally applied and optimized aiming higher removal efficiency along with minimum energy consumption. Electrocoagulation process was employed at batch scale using both aluminium and iron electrodes, and a comparative assessment was carried out. The effects of initial pH (4–10), applied current (0.2–1.0 A), initial F− concentration (5–20 ppm) and reaction time (5–30 min) were explored. The EC reactor was optimized for initial F− concentration of 20 ppm, applied current of 0.5 A, pH 6 and reaction time of 20 min using aluminium electrodes giving 97.6% removal efficiency and energy consumption of 0.0195 W hour per gm of fluoride. Operational cost was also analysed, and it was found that among the two, aluminium electrodes outclassed iron electrodes in terms of higher removal efficiency proving cost effective as well.

On the path of accelerated urbanisation, India contains four of the world’s ten largest cities Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. Bengaluru is prominent among the world’s fastest growing cities that have attracted abound of the population, capital, and investments with robust connectivity. As a result, the pressure of the metropolis has swept over its carrying capacity, thereby affecting the resources, infrastructure, ecological diversity and land therein. Various ‘cities’ related multifaceted categories such as ‘sustainable cities’, ‘smart cities’, ‘digital cities’, ‘resilient cities’, ‘low carbon cities’, ‘eco cities’, and ‘liveable cities’ are into discourse which are still framing the distinctive character of cities which would have impression on the theoretical understanding and on the policymaking. This raises an issue of sustainability and quality of life for its citizens now and for future as well, under which, Bengaluru has to make key decisions on land use, sprawling peripheries, infrastructure, transport, and energy. This demands for a careful and rational provision of planning keeping in mind the issue of imbalance without forsaking the pre-requisite of the regions. The following research makes an attempt to analyse the urban environment; an emphasis on the associations of distributed aspects of urban growth, their relation and the resultant influences taking the study area of Bengaluru of Karnataka state. The outgrowth of centre towards periphery is gaining importance wherein the spatial as well as temporal changes in urbanisation helps in witnessing the prevalent land use changes provide insight of rate, extent, and direction of sprawl.

Urban areas are the centres of economic activities having vital infrastructure. Damage to these infrastructures can have a bearing not only on the country but also globally. Urban flooding is generally caused due to inadequate drainage system in an urban area. Owing to rapid urbanization, the extent of open spaces for percolation of surface water in the ground has considerably reduced. Inadequate drainage system coupled with large intensity rainfall has often been the major cause of urban flooding. Water may even enter the sewage system in one place and then get deposited somewhere else in the city on the streets. Major cities such as Mumbai in 2005 and Chennai in 2015 have witnessed the loss of life and property, disruption in transport and power and incidence of epidemics. This demands the need for management of urban flooding. The present paper analyses the reasons for Chennai flood of 2015 that affected several sub-urban areas of the city, especially those in the basin of River Adayar. The factors analysed in this paper are the effect of the series of rainfall events in the month of November–December 2015, operation of Chembarambakkam Lake, effect of increased urbanization and infrastructure and the local storages which play a major role in flood moderation in catchment. This paper also discusses the how well the flood events have been managed in terms of emergency preparedness. The paper finally tries to comprehend the key areas where the improvement is required in terms of urban flood preparedness.

Photo electricity is treated as the most essential natural energy source and has been used extensively for photovoltaic (PV) power production. But the insignificant efficiency and nonlinear behaviour with numerous local peak power points under varying insolation conditions of PV systems halt the progress of solar electricity power production. We know output behaviours of PV system are affected by surrounding elements like solar irradiance, temperature and shading conditions, which have a direct impact on peak power point tracking of solar electricity. Therefore, an excellent (MPPT) technique is of the utmost need for efficiency advancement of PGS and functional under dynamic environmental conditions. The same issue is overcome by an algorithm, namely particle swarm optimization (PSO) along with Cuk converter.

Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan is facing the serious problem of scarcity of water. Over-exploitation of the groundwater and the contamination of water are adding to the problem. There are poor management and misuse of water due to instability and the long war in the country. A chain of a large number of shallow wells is created to meet the requirement of rising population. It led to the over-exploitation of groundwater and the water table is declining very fast. Some of the existing wells are already dried. The grave situation can be imagined by the fact that around 85% of the population of the city is dependent on groundwater sources particularly hand pumps installed by individual households. Another problem of the city is the contamination of groundwater resources due to lack of a sewage system and treatment before its disposal. This paper elaborates the current status of water resources in terms of availability and its quality. Basin boundaries of water systems do not follow the administrative boundaries. Hence, cooperation and commitment at local, national and international levels, among various institutions, and organizations are needed to manage the looming water crisis in the capital of Afghanistan. This paper stresses the need for city-specific water policy for effective management of water resources. Population growth regulation in water-scarce areas is also required to contain the impact of the water crisis. The water policy will ensure environmental sustainability, enhanced productivity, groundwater recharge and biodiversity.

Coal-based thermal power plants are the main source for electricity generation in India which leads to the production of huge quantities of flyash and later its disposal problems. To solve this problem many researchers have used soil–flyash mix as a smart material for the construction of roads and embankments. The researchers have proposed different quantities of flyash in the soil to get the engineering behaviour in terms of better stability but a few of them have taken into account the durability consideration. The present project deals with the durability of various mixes of soil and flyash. Locally available soil and flyash obtained from CRRI, New Delhi was mixed at different proportions. Index properties of these materials were determined initially. Heavy Proctor Compaction Tests were performed on these mixes to get the OMCs to be considered for the determination of CBR values. The durability of these mixes was determined in the form of CBR values passing through five weathering cycles to simulate five years in actual. To simulate the Delhi climate, the CBR moulds were kept for 4 days at 50 °C (representing summer season) → 1 day at room temperature → 4 days submerged in water (representing monsoon season) → 3–4 days at room temperature → 4 days at 0 °C (representing winter season) → 1 day at room temperature as one weathering cycle. After five weathering cycles, CBR values were determined for the mixes. It is found that the CBR values before weathering cycles decrease with respect to that of pure soil up to 10% flyash. The soil + 15% flyash mix got more CBR value. For the soil, the CBR value decreases after passing through the five weathering cycles. The CBR values after five weathering cycles increase with increasing percentage of flyash. This shows that the use of flyash in the soil not only increases the CBR but increases the durability of the mix.

Due to rapid urbanization and limited availability of resources, it is need of the hour to make cities sustainable, greener and smarter. The idea to make cities smart is essential in point of view of increasing population in urban areas and to meet the demand smartly. Nanotechnology has applications in various fields such as in industries, agriculture, biomedical and military equipment. Nanotechnology has the potential to make cities smart by using different nanomaterials for energy storage, smart building construction, infrastructure, smart textiles, environmental remediation and nanoscale photonics technologies to mention a few. In the present article, authors have attempted to provide insights into the ways by which nanotechnology can be utilized for developing smart cities.

Recently, the ‘Smart Cities’ project in India is a topic of discussion at most of the academic forums. The need for smart cities was felt in order to accelerate the pace and size of economic growth and hence economic development in Indian economy. The present paper tries to investigate the environmental aspect of Smart Cities Mission in India. The study argues that smart cities will in future help in protecting our environment from deterioration if job opportunities are also created simultaneously in the periphery regions of future smart cities which will minimize the migration rates in the smart cities. The study finds that there are 23 future smart cities in India which will experience problem of severe environmental degradation due to intra-state and inter-state migration if satellite regions are not developed all together in terms of employment opportunities specially in the primary and secondary sectors. This is specially required for the cities which are already in the list of world’s top most polluted cities and are also named in the list of future smart cities of India. The study asserts that the development of periphery regions will trim down the movement of people from less developed regions to future smart cities, thereby, reducing the burden on natural as well as man-made resources in the future smart cities.

This paper presents the effect of building construction in hilly areas of Garhwal Himalaya (Dunda to Bhatwari) and its susceptibility with respect to the landslides. For susceptibility, the first step is to prepare the landslide hazard zonation map in terms of various thematic layers like slope, drainage, land use and land cover, geology, structure and roads using GIS and remote sensing. Susceptibility of the element like the construction of buildings and roads has been calculated with respect to LHZ using the weighted linear combination method. This will help in planning future developmental activities and according to which corrective measures can be taken to mitigate the disaster.

Greenhouse gases emissions and exponential growth in pollutants due to excessive consumption of fossil fuels have become a major problem worldwide. At the same time, smog problems due to agricultural residue waste burning are making habitats of Delhi’s lives difficult. In the year 2018, we have already witnessed a week “smog out” situation in Delhi which is primarily caused due to crop residues burning in Punjab, Haryana and other neighbouring states. Thus, it is essential methods to curb and control pollution via efficient disposal of agricultural waste. Interestingly, agricultural waste materials such as sugarcane bagasse, rice husk, rice straw and plants leaf have the potential to serve as a substitute of fossil fuels. In general, agricultural waste such as sugarcane bagasse falls under the category of lignocellulosic biomass having lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose as major constituents. These wastes lignocellulosic waste biomass can be converted to fuels and chemicals via different methods such as chemical conversion, biological conversion, catalytic conversion and pyrolysis. However, pyrolysis of lignocellulosic waste is most appropriate and feasible method which does not essentially require the involvement of severe chemicals. In the present manuscript, a detailed overview of various pyrolysis methods will be discussed for waste biomass conversion to produce fuels and chemicals. Post this, the application of pyrolytic processes will be extended to other solid waste materials such as plastic waste, e-waste and municipal solid waste to produce energy and chemicals. Eventually, potential impact of these technologies on pollution control and sustainable waste management will be presented.

Water is a precious natural gift to mankind. Smart cities can be build only if uninterrupted supply of water is available. Climate change causes variation in the availability of water. These variation are required to be reassessed in order to construct fully functional smart cities. Statistics reveal that consumption of water has increased threefolds in comparison to rate of increase in world population. If population is doubled, water demand will increase sixfold. Due to climate change, careful planning of water resources is necessary to meet the water demand. Hydrological cycle of particular region depends upon atmospheric temperature. Analysis of temperature trend using CRU data over basin will reflect the increase in temperature over past 113 years and change in precipitation pattern. Precipitation and runoff are affected by increase in temperature. It is therefore important for effective operation of water resources to predict stream flow considering climate change. Forecasting of stream flow helps decision makers to decide the scheduled release from reservoirs and hence improves the operational strategies. CRU data analysis is done to predict temperature trend and to assess the response of the basin to global warming. Using Mann-Kendall nonparametric test, trend of annual surface air temperature of 56 stations is estimated. For annual maximum temperature, thirteen stations exhibited increasing trend, at twenty-six stations, decreasing trend is predicted and seventeen stations indicated zero trend. In case of annual minimum temperature, forty-two stations indicated increasing trend, nine stations reflected negative trend and five stations exhibited no trend. Analysis of last 113 years data for 56 stations predicted enhanced warming and change in precipitation pattern.