"Resilience" – An important aspect of Smart Cities

VARINDIA- INDIA'S FRONTLINE IT MAGAZINE

A high-level industry round table was convened at the India International Centre, New Delhi on 9th December, 2014, to discuss the importance of developing smarter, resilient cities in India. The event was the culminatin of eight years of research and demonstration projects undertaken by TARU Leading Edge and other ACCCRN partners in India. The attendees included Shri Shankar Aggarwal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development; Shri H. K. Das, IAS, Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs; Prof. Jagan Shah, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs; Usha Raghupathi, NIUA; experts from MoES, TERI, IIT Delhi, IRADe, SPA, TARU, UNDP, ICRIER, ICF, APCO, CISCO, ICLEI and others. Shri Shankar Aggarwal provided an introduction to the concepts of smart and resilient cities, outlining the Government of India’s perspective on the issue. Shri H. K. Das’ remarks addressed the issue of smarter and resilient cities from the perspective of national safety, security and disaster management. The panel discussion was moderated by Usha Raghupathi from NIUA.  In the discussion, G. K. Bhat, Chairman, TARU, mentioned about the smart city projects that have been carried out in Indore, Surat and Gorakhpur. The subsequent discussions were wide-ranging, but participants agreed on the importance of the following points: •           Ensure India’s Smart Cities are also resilient cities: Our smart cities must be designed to be resilient to physical, social and economic challenges, address emergencies and stresses. The most urgent and significant emergencies and stresses being faced today relate to severe weather conditions and climate challenges. Cities must be able to respond to adverse events and deliver basic amenities and services in good as well as bad times to all citizens.  •           Employ smart methods to manage limited natural resources: Energy and water scarcity are likely to pose additional challenges to urbanization in India. Smart cities in India, therefore, need to focus on achieving very high efficiency in water and energy use. Important solutions will include the conjunctive use of water from local resources, micro grids for solar energy, green buildings, and the use of big data and third-party monitoring systems to design water-saving incentive structures. •           Use early warning systems to mitigate risks: By integrating satellite-based monitoring and functional near-real time flood/drought models, we can significantly reduce disaster-related losses that several parts of India face every monsoon. The Orissa cyclone and Surat End-to-End Early warning systems represent successful examples. Early warning systems can also be used to improve preparedness for heat waves. •           Provide reliable access to services necessary for compact and smart cities:  Compact cities are less land and resource intensive and create options for energy and water efficiency. However, a major precondition for smart and compact cities is the efficient and reliable 24X7 supply of water and electricity. •           Promote network-informed planning: Smooth flow of information about lifeline services such as water, energy and traffic is vital to the efficiency of urban systems. The networks which support these systems should continue to function even under stress. Networks can achieve synergies by integrating modular micro-grids with city-wide systems (so that even if one part fails, it does not affect the whole system). Cellular systems with some degree of autonomy based on subsidiary principles, such as mesh-based communication networks and mobile telephony systems, are ideal for the Indian context. •           Create an enabling environment for the private sector and communities: The private sector and communities can play important roles in promoting resilience. Communities can contribute to local resource and services management, while Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) can serve as bulk suppliers and regulatory/monitoring agencies. The private sector is essential to help meet housing demand and promoting efficiency through the use of better technologies. The traffic surveillance system of Surat shows the potential for private partnerships with governments. •           Introduce community-up planning: There is need to introduce bottom-up planning starting with the community/colony upwards. New, context-informed tools, methods and processes need to be developed to realize the synergies between communities and cities. ULB staff should also be trained to become bulk service provider-facilitators and regulators in addition to their current role as retail service providers. •           Employ big data for ULB management – regulating urban metabolism: Urban metabolism is complex and continuously evolving as technologies, demography and the economy evolve. Cities need to build integrated big data on critical topics such as housing, infrastructure, services, mobility, economy, demography and health. E-governance systems, databases, bulk water/energy consumption, traffic data, etc can provide sufficient information to manage urban utilities and ensure the resource use efficiency across the cities. •           Harness big data to target services and infrastructure on the poor: To achieve universal access to services, subsidies should be focussed towards the poor and concentrate funds on infrastructure development. With the availability of big data on floor areas, location and spending behaviour, it should be possible to focus subsidies to those who cannot afford them.  This method along with differential infrastructure extension fees will enable the generation of surplus revenue to finance infrastructure expansion, as well as creating the right incentives to conserve water and energy. •           Shift the focus of traffic solutions from mobility to access: “Forced commuting time” can be reduced by introducing mixed and compact land space usage. Multi-modal origin to destination transport solutions can also provide comfortable travel between the start and end points of travel. As temperatures are expected to rise to uncomfortable levels, totally air-conditioned, minimum wait time travel and transfer facilities are necessary. Mobile-/Web-based applications can also play an important role.