Smart Cities and a Sustainable Future

While there is no formal definition of what constitutes a smart city, there is a mental image we all have of a futuristic world, lit with neon, cars zooming above us in the skies, as we convert a suitcase into a massive villa with the touch of a button, with assistance from our favorite robot. With this kind of Jetsons imagination, it might seem that we are far from living in tower smart cities, but in principle, any city that uses technology to solve its problems can be classified as a smart city. By the second definition, we are already living in the midst of smart cities.

Smart Cities are already in action. While most of their workings are unseen, their benefits are well within our reach. Every time we use the FastTag lane in a toll booth, or swipe an ID card to enter an office, or pay our local grocer through UPI, we are witnessing smart solutions in action. On a more national scale, the government’s drive to digitize documents through DigiLocker, or introducing the very ambitious Hyperloop from Mumbai to Pune are all part of a robust effort to make the future we imagined a reality. Say for instance, the multiple billboards across Delhi which track air quality index of a neighborhood in real time – smart solution

While the near-term impacts of smart cities will largely revolve around transport, hopefully we’ll soon see it being used in other sectors like recycling, especially around water and sewage, as initiated in Israel. This will be the important goal of Smart Cities in fact. In a recent session on sustainability with India@75, I had the opportunity to interact with various luminaries who are leading the charge for Smart Cities in India. It is safe to say that we all agree, the ultimate goal of Smart Cities should be to make life on earth possible with minimal carbon footprint.

Energy dependencies continue to skyrocket as we face a global climate change catastrophe. We are seeing record migration into cities from rural areas as that’s where economies thrive and opportunities bloom. But cities are energy guzzling units which suck resources from the environment. The aim is to ensure these hubs of economic activities are grounded in sustainability. This will be possible by rolling out initiatives such as the introduction of eScooters, dedicated cycling lanes, increased use of nuclear and solar to generate clean fuel, and reducing dependence on burning fuel through technology in metro cities to enable a better future for the planet. As populations grow and the average living age for humans increases, the stress on zero carbon footprint will only increase by the year. I am quite positive that with robust data, we can use technology to design solutions which are the need for the hour. Using data, we can track key verticals where footprints are higher and drive eco-friendly solutions. Self-driving cars, which are going to be the norm in the very near future, combined with EVs can tremendously bring down transport emissions. Vertical gardens such as the ones erected in Singapore will be a huge contribution to improving the quality of air.

However, none of these endeavors will be possible without active participation from all stakeholders with a direct effort between government, communities, and businesses. As a nation, we have already shown the political will to take a step in this direction and now the ball is firmly in the private sector court to implement it. These may not look Blade Runner-esque, but at least they are utopian rather than dystopian.