Smart cities need a human face too

Today, Indian cities have become highly congested and chaotic, with urban planning taking a virtual backseat. City planning overlooks various critical elements such as the provision of clean water to citizens, sewage treatment, robust road infrastructure and efficient transport networks.

Urbanisation in India has become the victim of systemic inefficiencies and policy paralysis. Less emphasis is given on modern methods of planning of towns and cities, which ensure better health to its residents, efficiently manage their time, saving natural resources such as fuel and making more land available for productive usage. Hence, there needs to be a paradigm shift from the old-fashioned and conservative approach to a broadminded and modern approach of urban planning.

The major Indian cities were developed by the British more than 100 years ago. The population of these cities in those days was meagre and the social and economic needs were very different from what it is today. The cities gradually began to expand haphazardly with the growing population, without taking any futuristic planning into account. Except for some, such as Chandigarh, Noida, Gurgaon or Navi Mumbai, there have not been many examples of planned development within cities. The government’s recent announcement of 100 smart cities and AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation of 500 cities) are a step in the right direction, which will give a major boost to a futuristic urban development.

However, strong emphasis and focus needs to be given to urban planning. Efficient utilisation of space, resources and health of residents will go a long way in laying the roadmap of future cities. Analysing the planning and layout patterns of existing modern global cities could give a good perspective on modern planning.

A detailed study of some of the best planned cities such as New York, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Bogota, Seoul, and Sao Paolo shows the adoption of two significant concepts: dense and mixed-use development, and pedestrian-focussed cities. Adopting these concepts can help us achieve the goals of maximum development in minimum space, efficient utilisation of resources and health of citizens.

Dense cities are vibrant economic hubs. Density and mixed-use planning make infrastructure and service delivery in a city economically viable. This includes IT, health, emergency, education, sports and cultural services. In denser environments, these provisions will have more people in their catchment area and construction will need to be less spread out to reach end-users. The per capita cost of providing infrastructure decreases as density increases.

Mixed-use cities also allow for better use of space and optimum infrastructure for use round the clock. For instance, car parks can be used by people in offices during the day and by people in shops and restaurants at night. Residence, work and leisure should be within walking distance, thereby reducing travel time, traffic, pollution and stress.

Density is the key to a make public transit work and also to ensure safety. The point partly explains why Delhi is more unsafe than Mumbai. Dense pedestrian-focused cities prevent crimes unlike cities spread on vast lands. Dense cities that have streetfront stores have taken a big step in creating an automatic safety measure.

Trying to build a car-focused city through broad roads can worsen the traffic problem. The United Nations Environment Programme has showed that chronic traffic congestion amounts to time and productivity losses and such costs can add up to nearly or over 10 per cent of GDP.

A pedestrian-focused city has a lot more advantages, such as improved health of citizens. The same can also help us address diseases like diabetes. In the West, the walkable urban design is now being recognised as a key tool to building healthy societies. More people on the streets will also mean opportunities for social interaction, thus facilitating a socially inclusive community.

Smart cities are crucial for India to be competitive and productive. With the ‘Make in India’ campaign in full flow, India has become a preferred destination for setting up facilities which means greater need for land, escalating traffic, more people on the streets, etc. Dense, mixed use and pedestrian-focused planning will help make our cities economic engines, job creators, safe, healthy and equitable.

Urbanising in an efficient manner provides a valuable opportunity to drive economic growth and improve standard of living for our millions of citizens.

The writer is the founder and MD of the House of Hiranandani

COMMENT NOW