The key features of the winning cities
The journey of the winning cities since the inception of the mission is an interesting one. In January 2016, for the first round, 20 cities were announced as winners under the Smart Cities mission. This was soon followed by 13 cities under the fast track category and the announcement was made in May 2016. Then, in September 2016, 27 cities were announced as those selected in the second round of the challenge and in June 2017, 30 cities were announced as winners of the third round of the challenge. At the time, the total proposed investment in the 99 Smart City Mission would be ₹ 2.03 lakh crore.
As per the ministry, the key features of the smart cities would include the following: Providing equal housing opportunities for all; Endorsing mixed land use in area-based developments; Preserving and evolving open spaces; Promoting a variety of transport options; Providing a new identity to the city; Applying smart solutions to infrastructure and services in area-based development to expand them; Creating walkable localities and reducing blocking, air pollution and resource depletion, apart from improving local economy; Making governance citizen-friendly, technologically advanced and cost-effective.
Ensuring climate change resilience
One of the winners in the fourth and final round of the National Smart Cities Challenge conducted by the Union Ministry of Urban Development, Kavaratti is an island and the capital of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. It’s a census town with a population of 11,211 and is also the name of the atoll upon which the town stands. For islands, in India and across the world, the biggest threat today is climate change. Kavaratti is a popular tourist destination and famous for its white sand beaches and quaint lagoons.
The Smart City proposal for Kavaratti was prepared by the Centre for Environment and Development, Thiruvananthapuram and it laid an emphasis on establishing a harmony with nature. The total project cost was pegged at ₹ 526.61 crore.
‘Kavaratti is an eco-friendly city co-existing in harmony with nature for nurturing a resilient, clean, green and healthy environment. Kavaratti is special in its geographical location(strategic location), natural beauty, and the lagoons surrounding the island with the beautiful Coral biodiversity which makes Kavaratti very unique in the country.’
Kavaratti envisions strengthening its location as a transit-oriented island for the remaining islands of Lakshadweep. It also aims to promote itself as an ideal location for scuba diving and snorkeling and improving the livability by making it a climate change resilient island city.
The ‘Coral Paradise of India’, Kavaratti has envisioned to ensure Smart City outcomes with a focus on its fragile and unique ecology, strategic location, total health care, increasing connectivity between islands and mainland, use of innovative technologies and to develop as a zero carbon footprint and climate-friendly city. CORAL stands for Conservation, Optimisation, Rejuvenation, Accomplishment and Livablilty.
Strategic efforts to restore natural ecology
Another winner, Diu of the Daman and Diu union territory, had submitted its priorities and needs in its proposal. The strategic focus and blueprint for the Smart City Proposal is built on three focus areas of economy, society and the environment in the following manner – tourism industry (economy), local community (society) and natural ecology (environment).
Total population of the Diu Municipal Council is 24,196(as per 2011 Census) and 27,220 (as per 2016 assessment)(as per 2011 Census) and 27,220 (as per 2016 assessment) and the total number of households stand at approximately 6,805 households. The Diu municipal council conducted preliminary interactions with the stakeholders for sensitization on the smart city mission and to obtain preliminary views on smart city initiatives. This would help in initiating and strengthening the citizen engagement procedure, create a list of stakeholders and to put a schedule in place.
The vision of Diu Smart City is to develop Diu as a zero carbon footprint city and to promote it as tourist destination. In the process, the focus has to be on preserving its cultural and architectural heritage and to enhance the socio-economic condition of the inhabitants. The development is to be done in a sustainable manner while conserving eco-fragile areas in the zone.
Improving quality of life
Uttar Pradesh’ Saharanpur envisions improving quality of life and leveraging economies of the wooden handicraft and other agro industries. Like Diu, Saharanpur also listed its priorities and vision for the Smart City Mission by extensive engagement with citizens, representatives of various public groups such as senior citizen associations, women association, government departments and organisations, Indian Industries Association, Mandi Samiti, Wood Craft Design and Development Society, etc.
The assessment was also done based on the understanding of the city and an evaluation of its needs. Considering the profile of the city situated in Uttar Pradesh, a SWOT analysis was done and a strategic blueprint was generated. The goals of the city were listed following intensive brainstorming sessions with urban planners, architects, technical experts and stakeholders. The primary goal being finding pragmatic solutions to provide a better quality of life for the citizens.
Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Durga Shanker Mishra had said, “The first learning is that cities are for people, for its citizens, and not just for corporations and bureaucrats. Citizens have demonstrated that they can come together to think, aspire, benchmark, and create targets for what their city needs to do and what will be best for citizens. The main learning from Smart Cities is to identify how to get more from less and how to make cities more inclusive. There is no definition or specific explanation of Smart Cities.”