The Indian Government has truly stepped on the accelerator with respect to smart cities by announcing an initiative to convert 100 cities to smart cities by 2018. This is imperative because cities are already bursting at the seams, and India’s growth of population has to be accompanied by a commensurate growth in urban infrastructure. While numerous state governments have announced their smart city plans, the approach to become a ‘smart city’ has been different. Some cities have been extremely successful and are rated extremely well in many social, economic and urban components, while some have been found wanting. If India has to truly derive the full potential of the idea of ‘smart cities’, it is crucial to do a comprehensive assessment can look at their current state, and benchmark themselves against the best ranked cities.
It is in this context, that Express Computer, one of India’s most respected IT publications with a focus on expertise in smart cities, to launch the second edition of the report, ‘Assessment of Indian Cities for Smart City Transformation’. In this year’s report, performance based assessment has been conducted for 20 major Indian cities in terms of the operational effectiveness of the urban services being delivered to its citizens. More importantly, the report assesses the effectiveness of the strategies of 10 cities in a period one year, which gives an indication of the approach for other cities to emulate. The researchers have employed a combination of analytical and comparative methods of research in this report. The methodology includes desk research, internal assessment and the analysis of the quality of life in the city on the basis of parameters like power, water, transportation, hospitals, disaster management, administration, etc. The information has been obtained mainly from research papers and various public reports and statistics, and through various resources owned by the government and the city administration. We believe that this assessment will help policymakers and city administrators to understand current and emerging needs of the city and assist in developing strategies to make it more attractive, prosperous and sustainable while advancing towards the wellbeing of its citizens and communities.
The city-assessment, compiled in this report, is expected to serve as a benchmark for further driving the conversation on smart cities. Smart cities are truly an opportunity to transform India, and we believe that this report will help cities accelerate towards their goal of improving the quality of life for the common citizen.
Read the full report from PWC here