India Rides The Smart City Bandwagon

The government has recently released the list of first 20 smart cities… Here’s a lowdown on the project.

- Krishna Mukherjee

Smart connectivity, smart infrastructure, smart living, smart governance, smart people, smart economy, are the key building blocks of a ‘smart city’. Rapid urbanization and migration into cities, simultaneously with the problem of scarce resources, have compelled governments around the globe to curate their smart cities models sans wasting any time.

Over 60% of the world’s population will be urbanized and live in cities by 2025. And the rapid expansion of city borders will force them to expand outward and engulf the surrounding daughter cities to form mega cities, each with a population of more than 10 mn. It is expected that by 2023, there will be 30 mega cities globally, with 55% of these in developing economies of India, China, Russia and Latin America.

In India, the market is set to see mass urbanization with the urban population, which is currently 31% of the total population and contributes over 60% of India’s GDP, expected to leapfrog to nearly 75% of the national GDP in the next 15 years. And with this, the urban population is going to touch 843 million by 2050. This type of trend was last seen in China, which is an apt example of mass urbanization in the recent past.

Mass urbanization puts pressure on limited floor space index and calls for some innovative ways to resolve complexities, improving the quality of life, and reducing overhead expenses.