Smart City Mission – Features, Strategy and Challenges

Across the world, the pace of migration from rural to urban areas is increasing rapidly. According to United Nations, by 2050, about 68% of the world population will be living in urban areas and India is no exception. While the urban Indian population is currently around 31%(Census, 2011) of the total population, it will be over 50% by 2030 as projected by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Considering the enormous importance of urbanization, Smart City Mission(SSM) has been launched by the Government of India in 2015.

Smart City initiative drives economic growth, improves the quality of life, facilitates local development with the help of digital and information technology, follows best practices of urban planning, utilizes public-private partnerships and policy change through smart solutions. A ‘Smart city’ is an urban area that is highly advanced in terms of sustainable land use, transport & communication, market viability, and overall infrastructure. It is a city where technology is the principal source for providing essential services to residents and focuses on sustainable and inclusive development.

Features of Smart Cities:

• Competitiveness: It refers to the city’s ability to create employment opportunities, attract investments, professionals, and labor, and provide an edge to other cities. The ease of doing business and the quality of life-work it offers determines its competitiveness.
• Sustainability: It includes social sustainability, financial sustainability, and environmental sustainability which lasts for the future.
• Quality of Life: It includes inclusiveness, entertainment, ease of obtaining public services, cost-efficient healthcare, quality education, safety and security, transparency and accountability, opportunities for participation in governance, and a pollution-free environment.
• Housing and Inclusiveness: To expand housing opportunities for all; especially for the poor and marginalized.
• Greenery: Increase the aesthetic value of cities by developing greenery within and outside along with well maintained open spaces like the park
• Pollution Fewer cities: Reduce pollution by promoting public transport or establishing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling).
• Identity to the city: Based on the main economic activity of the city such as local cuisine, healthcare, education, arts and craft, heritage, sports, textile, dairy, etc; the city can be identified under the Smart City Mission.
• Smart Solutions: For infrastructure and services development use smart solutions. For example, to make cities less vulnerable to disasters, use fewer resources for development, and provide cheaper services to citizens through smart initiatives.

The Core Infrastructure  of a Smart City would include the following:  

Adequate water supply assured electricity supply, sanitation facilities including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility, eco-friendly public transport, affordable housing especially for the poor and marginalized, robust digitalization and ITC connectivity, Good governance especially e-Governance, inclusive governance and citizen participation, safety, and security of citizens particularly women, children and elderly, health and education facilities and sustainable environment constitute the core infrastructure of Smart City.

Coverage and Duration of Mission:

The Mission covers 100 cities and is being implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and all state and union territory (UT) governments. Initially, its duration is of 5 years (FY2015-16 to FY2019-20) but the Ministry has extended the timeline to June 2023 due to the Covid pandemic.

Pillars of Smart City:

Institutional Infrastructure, Physical Infrastructure, Social Infrastructure, and Economic Infrastructure constitute the basic pillars on which a smart city rests and it works towards ensuring the best for its people, regardless of social status, political affiliation, age, income, gender, etc. These are

• Institutional Infrastructure: It refers to the activities that relate to the governance and management of urban areas. The information & communication technology (ICT) has provided a new dimension to this system making it efficient, accountable, transparent, and citizen-centric. It includes participatory governance, e-governance, and inclusive governance.
• Physical Infrastructure: It refers to cost-efficient and intelligent physical infrastructure which has urban mobility systems, the energy system, the water supply system, sewerage system, sanitation facilities, solid waste management system, drainage system, etc., and all are well integrated through the use of technology.
• Economic Infrastructure: For a city to attract economic opportunities, investments and to create the appropriate employment, it has to first identify its core areas and competence, comparative advantages and strength, and analyze its potential for generating appropriate economic activities.
• Social Infrastructure: It is related to the development of human and social capital. Along with education and healthcare; it includes creative arts, sports, children’s parks, gardens, and open spaces. The city must have facilities that bring disadvantageous sections i.e. SCs, STs, minorities, disabled people, and women into the mainstream of development.

The Strategy of Smart Cities Mission:

The strategic components of area-based development in the Smart Cities Mission are as follows: City improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment), and city extension (greenfield development) plus a Pan-city initiative in which smart methods are applied to cover a large part of the city.

• Retrofitting: It introduces planning in an existing built-up area to achieve Smart City objectives, along with other objectives, to make the existing area more efficient, effective, and livable. In this, an area consisting of more than 500 acres is to be identified by the city body in consultation with citizens.
• Redevelopment: It affects a replacement of the existing built-up environment and enables the co-creation of new structures with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use, increased density, and new technology.
• Greenfield Development: It introduces most of the Smart Solutions in a vacant area with innovative planning, plan to finance, and plan implementation tools (e.g. land pooling/ land reconstitution) for affordable and sustainable housing especially for the poor.
• Pan-City Development: It envisages the application of selected Smart City Solutions to the existing city-wide infrastructure. Application of Smart Solutions will involve the use of technology, information, and data to make infrastructure, governance, and services better.

Implementation and Financing of Smart City:

The implementation of the SCM is to be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). It will plan, appraise,  approve, finance, implement, manage, organize, monitor, and evaluate the Smart City projects. It is headed by a full-time CEO and has nominees of Central Government, State Government, and ULB. The Mission is financed by Central Government to the extent of Rs. 48,000 crores over five years as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) and an equal amount have to be contributed by the State and ULB; therefore, nearly Rupees one lakh crore of Government/ULB funds be available for Smart Cities development across India.

Challenges Faced by Smart City Mission:

1. Design-related challenges: The smart city concept is based on the belief that technology can solve any problem without fundamentally changing lifestyles which may be an oversimplification of reality. Seeing the diversity of a country like India, the heterogeneity of its cities cannot be accommodated in a linear vision that is backed by technology. Also, the combined funding from the union and state governments, as well as the urban local bodies, for all cities is less than Rs 1 lakh crore which is disproportionately a small sum to develop 100+ Smart Cities. Smart city projects have sidelined state ministries and agencies by establishing direct contact and transfer of funds to urban bodies by the Centre. Also, the municipal commissioners, who are trained to administer the city, are struggling to make the transition in their roles from city administrator to city planner.
2. Implementation-related challenges: Implementation of any mission related to urban infrastructure is the biggest challenge; as seen in Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) nearly 54 percent of such projects are yet to be completed even after 15 years. Selection of  Investment model and continuity of model is a big issue; as many private investors back off such large scale mission. Also, most ULBs have limited technical capacity, manpower, and financial crunches. And for timely completion of the project, all clearances should use online processes and be cleared in a time-bound manner.

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