Chandigarh, the capital of both Indias Punjab and its neighboring state Haryana, is a very special city.
It rose from the ashes of Indias bloody partition.
The city was given its present day shape by legendary architects such as Albert Mayer and Le Corbusier.
Today, Chandigarh has been designated to become a smart city.
India has an ambitious Smart Cities Mission.
Will Chandigarh and others emerge as genuine smart cities in India?
Will there be a surge in smart cities globally?
These are important questions that need to be answered.
What is a smart city?
There is technically no such thing as a smart city.
Asthe Atlanticwrites, The term smart city is interesting yet not important, because nobody defines it.
Smart is a snazzy political label used by a modern alliance of leftist urbanites and tech industrialists.
To deem yourself smart is to make the nimbyites and market-force people look stupid.
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However, there are certain commonly-accepted criteria.
In that case, we could say perhaps that a city was smart.
Perhaps the answers to these questions lies in the way smartness is introduced by the powers that be.
This smartness could be used as leverage to increase the competitiveness of any given city.
Chances are that such places would bring formerly online concerns onto the streets.
Curb your lifestyle today for a brighter tomorrow
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The lofty plans of smart cities also come with their own unique price tags.
As an example, let us go back to Chandigarh, India.
However, this rapid urbanization of the world also means accommodating new people in the emerging smart cities.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 1.5 million people are added to the global urban population each week.
It is in the developing world that this trend can be seen in its most active.
This urbanization is leading to a rapid explosion in the smart city market as well.
PwC estimate that this market is set to reach a staggering US$757.74 billion by 2020.
Do Indias poor population have a place in these dreams?
The central government did not allocate even a single penny to Chandigarh in 2018-19 for the project.
According to theHindustan Times, the basics havent even been put in place.
But the plans remain only on paper.
But these are not the countries where most of the world lives.
This will take some time.
These nations also tend to be resource-challenged and poor.
As for smartness, do not expect much.
The primary focus of the Journal is to educate and inform no hype, just facts.
