A 'Guide' That Answers All Your Smart Cities Queries

The Union government has come out with the first list of 20 cities selected under the Smart Cities project. In order to simplify and make urban planners understand the modalities and technicalities of a smart city along with the aim to bridge the gap between local municipal governments and technology suppliers, the Smart Cities Council India launched the India Readiness Guide at a function held at Taj President in Mumbai on February 10.

The guide contains 80 case studies, with half of them focusing on the Indian context as well as some providing a global perspective to give a comprehensive 'vision' of a smart city, to help understand how technology will transform cities and how people will contribute in enhancing and realising the transformation.

The Smart Cities Framework captures the relationship between a city's responsibilities (what it needs to accomplish for citizens) and its enablers (the smart technologies that can make those tasks easier and smart citizen engagement that can make those implementations more inclusive). It outlines a series of objectives which together form the foundation of a citizen-centric, ICT-enabled smart city.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch Pratap Padode, Founder and Director, Smart Cities Council India, said, “The Smart Cities Council has launched this to help cities plan their blueprint better. It is further offering Readiness Workshops for municipalities seeking training and capacity-building.”

“This is a great step by India to put its mark on the global smart cities stage. With India's smart cities solutions presented in the form of case studies, India will now qualify with a host of smart case studies as an 'incubation lab' for smart cities solutions,” he added.

Eminent personalities like Philip Bane, Executive Director, Smart Cities Council, Washington; US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews & Director of the US Trade and Development Agency Lee Zak also joined event.

The occasion saw the convergence of over 70 speakers, including international experts, municipal and city officials from over 50 cities. Over 300 delegates, including technology experts, academics, urban planners, developers and architects were present.