Why cities are difficult to master and serve

Construction is one of the largest industries in India, and least sustainable as it entails copious usage of non-renewable resources. Government’s decisions related to development of Smart Cities are vitally essential but sustainable execution, however, needs to be the paramount factor in decision making, otherwise, we are likely to confront many disasters that are linked to the cumulative effect of these ambitious projects. So how do we strike the right balance? The answer is adopting right sustainable measures during construction, active participation of citizens to maintain the built environs after handover, trained government machinery to manage modern facilities and by adopting right city governance policies. Today in the Smart Cities Mission, funds have been allocated at various levels for capacity building of municipal staff. Proper assessment frameworks with input and output metrics and tying them up with results on the ground would help address these issues. The various awards for waste-management, water management and other smart features has brought cities one step closer to result orientation. All these challenges can only be managed by collective action and rational discipline. Therefore, it is critical to prepare for that in a structured fashion, writes E Jayashree Kurup, Director Wordmeister Real Estate & Cities and Communications Advisor, National Institute of Urban Affairs says in a three-part analysis of human resources, digital technologies and economic independenceClick here to read more on...