Approaches to Innovative Urban Planning: A Case Study of Three Cities.

With the onset of globalization and nations growing, there has been a rampant rise in the need for urban spaces. These urban spaces are a manifestation of the newer versions of spatial requirements and circumstances, and are leading to the  development of the concept entitled “Smart  cities”. These smart cities are slowly turning out to be the ultimate requirement of development, which is why it is essential to understand them and their functional aspects.

Now, the accepted definition of a “smart city” encompasses a  city which is able to use Information and Communication Technology [ICT] infrastructure, eventually making inhabitants' life better by managing resources, providing technology based public services and allocation of assets efficiently and effectively. However, they are not just limited to incorporating ICTs and they also extend to a model which promotes the phenomenon of sustainable development. In fact, in a report by Juniper Research in 2023, it was found that smart cities would reduce costs to a staggering amount of $249 billion by 2028. This would lead to a growth rate of 158 %, reflecting the importance of this phenomenon.

This phenomenon is an embodiment of a futuristic approach, and a result of the rapid urbanization process.  This is why it is important to assess and incorporate their essential features. As a result, this study would focus on two cities: Shanghai, China and New York, USA which would be compared to the strategies implemented in India’s silicon valley Bangalore.

1. Shanghai:

Shanghai was found to be the leading smart city, for the second year in a row in the year 2023. The ranking which analyzed the nations on the basis of aspects like transportation, infrastructure, urban connectivity, established certain key areas which led Shanghai to be the top city. The city is intended to be a financial hub for China, and as a result businesses and the public sector are being pushed to embrace new technologies. As a result, Shanghai has been constantly pushing for the adoption of newer forms of technology and is responsible for making the Yangtze River Delta, a hub of technology driven development.

The past, present and future of this smart city is infused with good governance practices. The foundation of the city was planned using the Law on Urban planning of China where the core components were as follows: realizing economic goals, social development and clear planning in accordance with the principle of “Socialist Modernization”. This philosophy has eventually culminated into the contemporary practices and one of them is the adoption of Suishenban Citizen Cloud. The service basically provides online access to over 1,000 public based services which cover facets like birth registration, social security services, tourism etc. This service ensures that the citizens are able to perform all such activities online with zero hassle, improving citizen experience. Another facet is the strong deployment of 5G technology throughout the city. The nation has even proposed the 5G-A Application Empowerment Upgrade Action Plan (2024-26), which is a framework to enable  transition of the city to 5G-A technology.

The city also has a whole range of new forms of infrastructure projects in the pipeline, which would further speed up this integration. In June, 2024, Shanghai Engineering Design Institute declared a new project for smart urban management, which would be launched in the nation after inspection. The whole system would work on a grid system, and would consist of using Artificial Intelligence technology. A pilot project at the Yangtze River Bridge, already uses such a technology to analyze tunnel traffic.

1. New York:

The fact that New York is at the second rank in the aforementioned ranking of smart cities, feels quite predictable, but the city has had its own fair share of challenges. The city which is considered to be the cultural and financial capital of the world, is one of the most populous cities in the USA. The city currently houses 8.5 Million people and is expected to accommodate 66% of the global population within its boundaries by the year 2050. This means that the city needs to create efficient urban spaces.

The way in which the city plans to do this is by conserving natural resources and reducing environmental impact. As a result, the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation (MOTI) of the city has introduced an array of efforts to implement technology driven green initiatives. Systems like lighting upgrades, effective waste management, smart water metering are a few snippets of practices, improving the quality of life for its residents. The city has also introduced the Accelerated Conservation and Efficiency (ACE) programme which provides funding for further research into such energy efficient retrofit projects.

Strategies like OneNYC 2050,  further build upon this objective by widening the scope of these green initiatives to accommodate factors such as vibrant democracy, equity, efficient mobility etc. This has led to the evolution of projects like the Transit Signal Priority [TSP], which provides for a separate lane for buses to move across the city.  This would decrease instances of traffic congestion and would enable the buses to move in the city easily. These instances prove that New York aims to build its smart city by making the life in the city smoother for its residents by adopting technology.

In the light of the experiences from these two cities, it is important to assess the initiatives which are taken in India to understand the extent of our development. India launched its Smart City Mission in 2015, and has a few urban cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru. However, these cities are plagued with limited resources and a growing population. They are in a dire need to create public infrastructure which facilitates the growth of the city as well as the economy.  As a result, India’s initiatives will be analyzed through the state of affairs in Bangalore city.

1. Bangalore:

Over time Bangalore has implemented a range of projects which has stimulated the “Smart city mission” in the city. LED lighting of city infrastructure like Vidhana Soudha, creating spaces for women staff under Project Rashmi are a few instances wherein changes have been introduced.  They are further followed by a range of road projects which are qualified by the state to fall under the objective of the “Smart city mission”.

The city has also introduced the Bengaluru Sustainability Manifesto, which promises to reach the objective of a green and sustainable city by 2030. A range of events like the Aralikatte Charchegalu have been introduced under its realm to “ensure” that the city is able to achieve this aim.

However, the realistic state of affairs is quite poor in the city. The growth in the city has been found to put increasing pressure on its natural and economic resources. The city is marred with issues like poor quantity of transport resources, traffic congestion, inequity in resource allocation etc. The list is in fact quite long. The city is a prime example of bad planning and poor implementation of really good objectives.

A similar state of affair exists in other urban cities as well. With cities like Delhi battling with intense levels of pollution and poor quality of life, the objective of smart city mission in India feels too far fetched. The Smart City mission has been proclaimed to be dommed right from its inception.  India’s cities have struggled with the adoption of new ICT technologies for some time, which is quite evident from the fact that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had to launch a new programme called the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) in 2021 to enable smooth transition of technology to urban cities. There have been a few other initiatives like the India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), National Urban Learning Platform (NULP) which focus on effective planning and implementation of urban cities. These initiatives do serve as a ray of hope, even though they heavily rely on proper implementation.

It is important to understand that even the two aforementioned nations have their own fair share of struggles with issues of lack of proper space, poor state of inclusivity etc. But they are slowly taking initiatives backed by good implementation strategies, which is lacking in India. As a nation India needs to focus on innovation and research to strengthen its capabilities. It also needs to understand what “smart city” as a concept entails. Overall, it is important to understand that smart cities are not just a reflection of development. Rather, they are a testimony to how the governance structure prioritizes the needs of a dynamic society.