Smarter Cities Seminar 2013 Making Delhi Smarter
School Of Planning and Architecture New Delhi
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Edited by Antara Tandon | Shruti Shubham Design by Anish Prem Kumar | Amit Joseph Kurien Venugopal Agrawal | Kanika Jain Seminar Coordinators: Prof. Jaya Kumar | Prof. Ranjana Mital Š School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi 2014 Disclaimer The editors are not responsible for any content in the papers. The papers have only been edited and compiled to suit the graphic format of the book. The authors of the papers do not claim any ownership over text that has been referenced or already published elsewhere. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. Published in 2014 by Department of Architecture School of Planning and Architecture 6-Block-B, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi 110002 India Printed in New Delhi
SEMINAR 2013 Research and Documentation B-Arch 5th Year
2013-2014
SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE New Delhi
Preface
Seminars in Architecture, has been an important event on the School calendar for the past seventeen years. Each year students of final year work in groups on selected topics, researching various aspects and case examples to eventually present their arguments through a multimedia presentation to faculty and students and other invitees. Selecting topics for research that are relevant and interesting has always been a challenge. This year, however, making the choice was relatively easier. Media references to the DMIC project and the DMICDC proposal to develop new cities as ‘Smart Cities’ sparked of a discussion among faculty and students about the relevance of the ‘Smart City’ concept in India. Whereas the intention to ‘expand India’s manufacturing and services base and develop DMIC as a ‘Global Manufacturing and Trading Hub’ and the expectation that the project will provide ‘a major impetus to planned urbanization in India with manufacturing as the key driver’ was not contested, it was felt that the idea of the ‘Smart City’ needed to be reviewed to ‘fit’ the Indian context. Discussions on sustainable development and energy conservation in design studios invariably make reference to local socio-physical factors. By extension developing a city that was efficient, sustainable and had active citizen participation (as one of the definitions of a smart city) would necessarily require a programme that is tailored for a close fit with ground realities. Especially when a popular book on business management celebrated ‘Jugaad’ the Indian way of finding a frugal, flexible and instinctive practical solution; as the most appropriate in these times of resource scarcities. The most popular identifications of smart cities were researched and the Indian city with particular reference to Delhi was explored along the following dimensions: Governance, Economy, Inter-city mobility, Intra-city mobility, Built environment, Un-built environment, People, Urban villages, Planned shelters, Energy, Materials, and Wastemanagement. Each of the seminar groups explored their respective topics with the overarching objective of finding an ‘Indian’ way of being “Smarter’. The selected papers in this publication are evidence that they were able to establish this fairly successfully. As before, this may be attributed to the hard work, capabilities, and commitment of the students and their advisors.
Jaya Kumar Professor Dept. of Architecture
Ranjana Mittal Professor Dept. of Architecture
The Team
Antara Tandon Editor
Shruti Shubham Editor
Anish Prem Kumar Graphics
Amit Joseph Kurien Graphics
Venugopal Agrawal Graphics
Kanika Jain Graphics
Editors’ Note
The smart movement has gripped our generation like never before; from smart cars to smart phones and in keeping with this universal theme we decided to focus on bringing this enthusiasm into our cities and its inhabitants. These seminars hope to carry forward the work done in this genre and contextualize it to India. It required us to recalibrate certain preconceived notions and ceaselessly argue it throughout our research. We are in the enviable position of being makers of a future in which we will be walking as future builders of this country and moreover as future citizens, and in these months of hard work we believe that this will equip us to critically analyze and shape the steps taken to the future. This could thus be a living example of Crafting the Future. From all our advisors and coordinators to the animated and effective classroom discussions we learnt to negotiate challenges and move to creative solutions. This seminar series forced us beyond our comfort zone of classroom architecture, as we delved into varied aspects of city life viewing it through different prisms. From governance to waste management, all our interactions fostered new insights and perspectives. This journey, with its highs and lows was truly memorable and enriching, for the friends we gained and resource professionals we networked with. Seeking expertise from diverse fields has provided with the much needed depth in understanding systems of planning, governance and management of a megapolis. And above all, this engagement made us more aware citizens who can make informed choices in shaping their future. Think smart, get smarter. Antara Tandon Shruti Shubham
Smarter Cities Cities have been witness to the evolution of mankind and stand as a testimony to our attempts to advance and progress in all realms. It was only time that cities too became a reflection of this ‘smart’ race. As we understood what had been defined as ‘smart’, we felt the need to rephrase it to ‘smarter’ as smartness refers to a city/ system that adapts itself to the changing need of its populace and the society while embracing the past and envisioning the future. This seminar series bring forth our viewpoint to what will define the cities of our future. From the warp of governance and waste management to the weft of the economy and the built environment, it attempts to weave together a new and smarter urban fabric.
Smarter cities School Of Planning And Architecture
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4 days. 14 seminars. 1 Theme.
Venue:
4 -7 th
November Auditorium, Architecture Block School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
Slums Unbuilt
Slums
Planned shelters People
Urban villages
ges
Planned shelters
Energy
Energy
Materials Materials
Waste management Waste management
S.P.A NEW DELHI
S.P.A NEW DELHI
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event schedule 11 AM
12 PM
2 PM
Historical Historical overview overview
4TH MON Governance
orical overview
5 TUE Economy TH
Economy Governance
Historical overview
Governance Governance
Unbuilt Unbuilt
Slum S
Governance Unbuilt Slum Economy Historical overview Governance Unbuilt S Historical overview HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SMART GOVERNANCE SMART ECONOMY Advisor : Mr. Amit Khanna Advisor : Mr. Madhav Raman SMART CITIES Advisor : Mrs. Arpita Dayal Economy Economy Inter-city Inter-city People People Planned Plannes Unbuilt Slums Materials
Governance
istorical overview
3 PM
Unbuilt
Slums
Economy Economy Inter-city SMART INTER-CITY MOBILITY
Materials
Inter-city Inter-city
People People Plannes Intra-city Planned
People Planned shelters management Governance Unbuilt Historical Intra-city Intra-city Built Built Urban villages villages SMART INTRA-CITY overview SMART BUILTWaste Urban SMART UNBUILT MOBILITY ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT
Advisor : Mr. Sandip Kumar
Advisor : Mr. Sandip Kumar
Advisor : Mr.Gaurav Shorey
Energ En
Advisor : Mr.Sandeep Menon
Inter-city People Unbuilt Slums Materialsshelters GovernancePlanned Unbuilt Waste management Slums Historical overview
Unbuilt
Intra-city Intra-city Materials
Slums
TH 6 Intra-city WED
Built
BuiltBuilt
Urban villagesEconomy Energy
Urban villages Urban villages
Energ En
Inter-city S.P.A NEW DELHIPeople
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Inter-city Planned shelters Waste management Inter-city People S.P.A NEW Planned Governance Unbuilt Slums Materials Historical Intra-cityoverview People BuiltEconomy Urban villages Energy DELHIshelters Was SMART PEOPLE SMART URBAN VILLAGES SMART SLUMS SMART PLANNED Advisor : Mrs. Anjali Mittal Advisor : Mrs. Amritha Ballal Advisor : Mrs. Mukta Naik SHELTERS Advisor : Mrs. Moulshri Joshi People GovernancePlanned shelters Unbuilt Waste management Slums Materials Intra-city
TH 7 BuiltEconomy THU
Inter-city Urban villages Intra-city
Built
Planned shelters EnergyPeople DELHI BuiltS.P.A NEW Urban villages Waste management Energy Historical overview
Unbuilt Inter-city ban villages
Slums Materials People S.P.A SMART Planned Energy NEW DELHIshelters SMART ENERGY MATERIALS
Advisor : Mrs. Gaurav Shorey
Urban villages
Advisor : Mr. Pashim Tiwari
Governance
Unbuilt
Slums
Waste management SMART WASTE MANAGEMENT Historical overview
Governance
Unbuilt
Materials
Slums
Materials
Advisor : Mrs. Mridha Chidambara Economy
NOVEMBER People Built
Built Urban villages 2013Energy SMARTER CITIES SEMINAR Planned shelters Urban villages Waste management Energy 4-Block-B, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi 110002
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Coordinators: P r o f . J a y a K u m a r, P r o f . R a n j a n a M i t a l Intra-city School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
Planned shelters People
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Energy smarter Energy
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Contents
1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 17 2
SMARTER GOVERNANCE 37
3 SMARTER ECONOMY 61 4
SMARTER INTER CITY MOBILITY
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5 SMARTER INTRA CITY MOBILITY
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SMARTER BUILT ENVIRONMENT
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SMARTER PEOPLE 169
8 SMARTER URBAN VILLAGES 9
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SMARTER SLUMS 209
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SMARTER ENERGY 229
11 SMARTER MATERIALS 243 12
SMARTER WASTE MANAGEMENT
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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SMART CITIES IE 4th NOV TH MONDAY 12 PM MOND AY
4 NOV 12PM
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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Advisor: Mrs. Arpita Dayal I Architect Assistant Professor S.P.A. Chairperson: Prof. Mandeep Singh | HOD Urban Design, SPA New Delhi Resource persons: Mrs. Satmohini Isha Srivastava Ray | Research Officer NIUA, India Habitat Centre
Presented by: Edson Mnkande Maulik Yagnik Mukhtar Ahmad Velyne Ingti Katharpi
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Abstract Today we live in a world with depleting natural resources and increasing communication, decreasing personal interactions and increasing competition. Some of us are aware of the situation, some are unphased and some are trying their level best to make the world a better place for the current generation and the future generations to come. Is it justified? Do we continue to sit back and watch the competition slowly turn into a race for the depleting resources, or can we find a solution to save the planet from our ignorant use of our surroundings? Where do we start? Where do we stand? We can’t take a decision for or against a situation, unless we understand what is wrong with it. Like every problem solving process, we need to get to the root of the problem. We need to understand its pros and cons, would it be best to completely remove the seed causing the problems or do we mould it and use it to our advantage? What is in store for us tomorrow? With the advancement of technology and communication, we are able to reach anyone and anything with the push of a button, or in some cases, with the mention of a word or sound, or even the swipe of a finger or a card. Accessibility has increased in the context of information exchange, but where are we really headed? ‘Smart Cities’ is a fairly new concept that cities in Europe and the west have adopted to be better than they were before. It is an idea to make the best of our surroundings and resources to meet demands and requirements and also create a better place to live in all aspects that collectively make a self sustaining city. But there is a shortcoming in assuming that the European and western explanation of ‘smart cities’ can be accepted as the global understanding of smart cities. We do not live within the same context; our history, traditions, culture, customs, architecture, socio-economy, etc. are different. Applying the same understanding and solution to a problem with a different context would not be wise. It would not heal but deteriorate the situation further. In our seminar, we are looking at cities today and trying to understand how we arrived at this point from the origin of settlements, having Delhi as the context of our study. We will try and break down the city in parts with regard to the issues that the city dwellers and environment face every day; and along the way, we would like to re-introduce the concept of smart cities in the Indian context as smarter cities for a better future.
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Figure 1.1 The evolution of man; Source: www.becreative.al
Research focus The ways in which cities around the globe can make themselves smarter are as varied and multilayered as the different sizes and shapes of the world’s urban areas. Cities face different problems. For one might be dealing with transport, or crime, while for another sustainability, streamlining public service provision and access to technology for all, might be important. There is no onesize-fits-all model. In recent years, the basic question of how can people live ‘smartly’ in the city has become the main focus of policy makers, public industry and private industry alike. A lot of money and capital are being invested in research, and development projects with the aim of developing truly smart cities. This paper will attempt to explain the following questions- what is a city? How did it come into being? Where did it all start? What is it that we are progressing towards? Why there is a need of developing smarter cities? What is a truly smart city?
Nomads, Permanent to city’s settlements The scientists belive that the earth is over 4.5 billion years old, and that the present day humans, i.e. homo sapiens, first appeared in Africa 200,000 years ago. Humans were basically nomads till the start of civilization( i.e. Mesopotamian civilization 6500 BC) and some who still continued to be nomads travelled across the earth to different locations and settled along other banks of rivers like the Indus and the Hwang Ho, which were cradles to their respective civilizations.
Figure 1.2 Development process of smarter cities; Source: Authors
Figure 1.3 Early settlements; Source: http://www.mcz. harvard.edu
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Figure 1.4 Settlements of cities; Source: Authors
Earlier settlements (Nomads) Nomads travelled east from place to place, from oasis to oasis in search of food and water till they reached the fertile banks of the river Indus, where they discovered the possibility of agriculture and settled down in the fertile lands where they permanently resided. They started off as a little cluster of one family, but along with time, their families grew, other nomad families joined their cluster and the cluster grew and turned into a large settlement.
City as a boiled egg As settlements grew, the usage of water and resources increased and disagreements arose over territorial issues. These disagreements led to wars which convinced people to build walls around their settlements from further attacks and also to keep a check within their own territory. The urban form resembled a hard-boiled egg; the city was a dense, compact centre, protected by defensive walls from the evils of the wider world. The Central Business District or CBD was limited to a small section of the city generally near the waterfront, the market and/or a site of religious or political importance.
Figure 1.5a Core cities; Source: Cedric Price
Figure 1.5b Core cities; Source: Cedric Price
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City as a fried egg (industrial revolution era) With the growing population and density, the people started to live outside the walls, which led to rebuilding the walls around the constantly widening perimeter. Successful invasions led to rebuilding of cities on the previous site or relocating to a different site, but the basic plan for a city was more or less the same. A public centre with the market and the religious institutions, the palace or the royal living quarters would be on one side which would be near the river, while the other living quarters for the military and servants and trader would be on the other side of the public place which would be near the main entrance through the walls into the city.
Figure 1.6a Core cities; Source: Cedric Price
Figure 1.6b Core cities; Source: Cedric Price
City as a scrambled egg (contemporary) Change in governance and advancement in warfare technology from hand combat to distance combat, the walls around the city were neither protecting nor containing the population. New age technology and lifestyles led to living outside walled cities more acceptable, more the norm than an option for the outcast or the spilled over. Walls were torn down to give way to bring together the separate settlements that continued to thrive within the walls and outside of it. The increasing size of the settlements had its own issues of inaccessibility of resources and also the issues that arose from disorganised growth. To solve those problems, transport routes were planned along with dispersing or scrambling the resources from the centre to the rest of the parts of the city, which led to what we see as the planned cities of today.
Figure 1.7a Major transport; Source: Cedric Price
Figure 1.7b Scrambled egg cities; Source: Cedric Price
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The growth and challenges of metropolitan cities in India Since we are talking about cities in the Indian context, we could take Delhi as an example. Delhi is now a metropolis and a city so big that it has more than 10 divisions to it and area of 1,484 square kilometres making it the largest Indian city, and also the second most populous city. It an amazing city with a huge green cover, ridges, parks, and monuments with high rise buildings, malls and flyovers along side. A city that has existed over centuries and the centuries of existence are still alive within.
The rise of Delhi: A city of 11 cities 5000 Years ago: At the time of the Mahabharata War, the five Pandava brothers built an immense and highly sophisticated fortress called Indraprastha and ruled the country from there.
Figure 1.8 Delhi Map; Source: delhi-tourist-map.html
8th Century: Lal Kot built by the Tomar was renamed Qila Rai Pithora after Prithvi Raj Chauhan It was a thirteen-gated fort in Delhi. 12th Century: Mehrauli, built by Qutubuddin Aibak 1303: Siri, built by Alauddin Khalji 1321–1325: Tughluqabad, built by Ghiyasuddin Tughluq 1325–1351: Jahanpanah, built by Muhammad bin Tughluq 1351–1388: Firozabad, built by Firuz Shah Tughluq 1538–1545: Dinpanah built by Humayun and Shergarh built by Sher Shah Suri, both in the area near the speculated site of the legendary Indraprastha 1451–1526: Lodi Complex, built by the Lodi rulers and the least significant of all the dynastiesof Delhi Sultanate 16th Century: 19th Century: Shahjahanabad, the walled city built by Shah Jahan from containing the Lal Qila and the Chandni Chowk. It is presently “Old Del hi”. 19th Ct - 1947: Lutyens’ Delhi or New Delhi, the city built by the British on the south- west, declared Capital on 12 December 1911.
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Post Independence initiatives taken by Delhi 1950s: Delhi witnessed massive urban growth and rehabilitation colonies for refugees from Pakistani. 1957: Nehru introduced central authority to control and regulate the expansion of Delhi. DDA and MCD were established. 1970: HUDCO was formed to deal with housing problem for the weaker section 1974: DUAC-Delhi art commission was created to regulate aesthetic and architectural aspect of Delhi. 1981: MPD 2000 focused on balancing and integrated development, the master plan based on functionally zoned land use. The population of Delhi hit 5.4 million, and was estimated to reach 8.25 million and 23 million in 2001 and 2021 respectively. 1995-2002: Delhi metro railway corporation (DMRC) was created and elevated rail truck systems was introduced in Delhi. 415 km of rail truck system was completed at an investment of 400 billion rupees Delhi Smart Initiatives The Government of India (GOI) has introduced the (NeGP)-National e-Governance Plan, to expedite deployment of IT in governance with a clear vision of improving delivery of public and government services to all citizens, business people and all other stakeholders. It is believed that quality of services is possible only by adoption and implementation of e-Governance principles. E-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency. As the initiatives of the Central and State governments is to bring public services closer to the citizens, Government of NCT of Delhi aims to create a state where “all citizens can transact with the government electronically, with the services being provided online while ensuring that there is no digital divide”. (india.gov.in)
Issues in Delhi Delhi’s urban infrastructure and services are the foundation for economic, cultural, social and environment dynamics in creating the city’s structure, liveability, functionality and sustainability. Much of the urban infrastructure in Delhi is in relatively poor shape. The JNNURM has started making some changes but the pace of infrastructure investment and financial deficits are too large to catch up with the expanding informality and growth in the city size. Though there have been continuous attempts to solve issues in Delhi, they still remain unsolved or in some cases, lead to other issues .
Figure 1.9 Problems in Delhi; Source: Authors
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Transportation
Figure 1.10 Inter and Intra city mobility; Source: Seminar logo
Some of the core issues facing Delhi today are the increase in vehicular traffic without significant roads expansion. Lack of effective public transportation has further forced people to use personal vehicles. The large percentage of residents still walk or cycle but traffic accidents and absence of a pedestrian friendly environment make walking or cycling a risky endeavor. The traffic seems to get worse and more congested every day with the mixed traffic, which cause inordinate delays. There is not adequate public transport which leads to dependency on private vehicles for commuting between their workplace and home. With more vehicles on the road, there are more parking problems and more encroachments.
Housing
Figure 1.11 Planned shelters, Urban Villages, Slums ; Source: Seminar logo
Housing is recognised as one of the basic requirements for humans. The house provides significant economic security and social status in the given society. From the psychological point of view housing will has a direct effect on the health, education and efficiency of the workforce and their families. From the social point of view, housing not only promotes economic activities, raises quality of life, but also acts as a strong motivating force to generate voluntary savings. People living in unhygienic and improper houses are likely to suffer from reduced productivity, deterioration of their health condition , family unrest and they sometimes fall prey to bad habits. Therefore housing occupies a very important and indispensable position in the day-to-day life of a human being. The housing situation in Delhi needs special attention. The city is facing affordable housing shortages, migration and high population growth make the scenario even worse. The shortage of affordable housing results in the growth of unplanned settlements, slums and unauthorized colonies. Around 30% of the population in Delhi lives in squatter settlements. (nic.in) Delhi needs to re-think about the existing trends of housing re-development, in which many projects are dedicated to middle and high class people, while economically weaker section people are left behind and some of them are left homeless regardless of the city’s economic boom.
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Delhi is also faced by unsafe housing, which is mainly caused by self-built and poor construction which puts dwellers’ life in danger. Other housing issues include lack of social services and infrastructure.
Water and electricity shortage
Figure 1.12 Energy management, Materials ; Source: Seminar logo
The price of both water and electricity has doubled in the past few years, but the supply seems to run short. The government claims that there is no shortage, but the problem lies in the distribution during which a large amount of the resources are wasted. The biggest water body i.e. the Yamuna river is a hot bed of sewage and muck instead of being a source of water. Canals are sewage outlets; hence water cannot be stored. Rain water harvesting is not done successfully. Ever since the privatisation and introduction of private distribution companies to distribute power in Delhi, we have been hit by regular clamour for increasing rates as distribution companies are suffering huge losses. Delhi is facing water and power shortages. The disruption of power especially during the peak of summer when the demand of power is maximum also affects water supply in the city. The shortage of these important services is caused by the loss during transmission and supply. It is also very important for responsible agencies to engage with the citizen in proper ways to preserve power and water. Do people bother to conserve water and electricity to the best that they can?
Pollution and waste disposal
Figure 1.13 Waste management , Un-built Environment ; Source: Seminar logo
The environment that we live in is constantly being damaged due to our careless way of usage of resources and materials and their disposal. As mentioned, water is already polluted. The vehicles on the roads cause air pollution, and their honking causes noise pollution. Construction activity across the city causes dust pollution. Certain materials generate more waste than others; inadequate outlets, garbage bins and inefficient waste management causes further pollution, and consequently, the waste produced creates mounds of waste dumping landfills which turn into
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hills around the city. The rise in population, immigration and the growth in economic activities in Delhi have led to increase in pollution. Post Independence, Delhi has transformed to become a major centre of governance, health, commerce and industry .The land use regulations have been flouted and the green cover has dwindled. Vehicular pollution is estimated to contribute 67% of the total air pollution load in Delhi (nic.in), 25% of air pollution in Delhi is generated by industries coal based thermal power plants (nic.in) The growth in population and economic activities has led to more production of garbage. The efficient ways of garbage collection is very important including methods of reducing waste production and recycling.
Economic growth
Figure 1.14 Economy , Governance ; Source: Seminar logo
The economy of India is the tenth-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) The country is one of the G-20 major economies and a member of BRICS. On a per-capita-income basis, India ranked 141st by nominal GDP and 130th by GDP (PPP) in 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). India is the 19th-largest exporter and the 10th-largest importer in the world. The economy slowed to around 5.0% for the 2012–13 fiscal year compared with 6.2% in the previous fiscal (www.wikipedia.com, 2012). Recently, the value of the Indian rupee has been decreasing.
Population and the moving demography
Figure 1.15 Built Environment, People; Source: Seminar logo
Delhi, the National Capital Territory of India is the biggest city in India and a metropolitan region that includes the national capital city- New Delhi and NCR region. According to 2011 census, Delhi has a population of 22 million making it the world’s second most populous city. Delhi population is mainly caused by migration and high reproduction rate. High population growth increases the load on the limited infrastructure available in the city and increases the demand for social services.
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Safety and security There has been an increase in crime in the recent decades and even more in the past few years. People avoid certain areas after a certain time; drivers on the highways are advised to avoid picking up hitchhikers. The city is as unsafe for men as well as women. Barb wires and higher boundary walls seem to be the solution for many during construction of homes or institutions, but the visual disconnect also gives rise to insecurity. Higher walls, more complex locking systems, increased security, more security checks; are they the solution to make the inhabitants feel safe and secure in the city?
Other issues that are faced by Delhi include: • Lack of literacy and proper education: • Gentrification: • Inclusive economic growth
These are few of the many issues that one could pick and try to solve. But trying to work on just one aspect at a time would not solve the issues of the city as a whole.
Figure 1.16 Intelligent cities; Source: Droege, 1997
Figure 1.17 Digital cities; Source: Siemens USA
City concepts Intelligent Cities Initially intelligent cities had been defined as reconstructions of cities as virtual cities. The term intelligent cities has been used broadly to refer to ‘digital city’, which covers a wide range of digital and electronics applications that are related to digital spaces of communities and cities. (Droege, 1997) Intelligent cities can therefore be defined as multi-layer territorial systems of innovation, that integrate knowledge-intensive activities, the institutions for cooperation in learning and innovation, and also digital spaces for communication and interaction with the aim of maximizing the problem-solving capability of the whole city. The characteristic of an intelligent city can be distinguished due to its high performance in the field of innovation, since innovation and solving of new problems and arising issues are the main features of intelligence. (www.wikipedia.com, 2010) Dimensions of an intelligent city • The intelligence, inventiveness and creativity of the individuals • Institutional knowledge and innovation. • Communication infrastructure, digital spaces
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Digital Cities The term Digital City refers more to a connected community with broadband communications infrastructure; flexible , and also with service-oriented computing infrastructure which is based on open industry standards and innovative services in order to meet the needs of governments and their employees, public, citizens, businesses and other stakeholders
M.E.S.H. Cities M=Mobile | E=Efficient | S=Subtle | H=Heuristics This concept uses mobile devices and the networks that support them provide the bottomup, real-time information conduit to supply feedback about a city. These systems along with heuristic analysis of the feedback allows for a non-intrusive management of city systems. (www. meshcities.com)
Figure 1.18 Ubiquitous cities; Source: i2cat.net
Figure 1.19 Garden cities; Source: www.city-aalysis.net
Garden Cities The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by “greenbelts�, containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and agriculture.
Enhanced Cities An Enhanced City is a term that we use to define a city that introduces technology to support a specific city function or an end user experience. Typically these technology systems do not talk with each other and therefore they do not fully provide the holistic benefits.
Figure 1.20 Enhanced cities; Source: Authors
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Sustainable Cities A sustainable city or eco-city is a city designed with consideration of environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimization of required inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution - CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register first coined the term “eco-city” in his 1987 book, Eco-city Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future. (Register, 1987)
Figure 1.21 The relation of the above city concepts with smart city concept; Source: http://masdarcity.ae/ en/30/sustainability-and-the-city/
What is a smart city? “Smart city is the latest and recent concept when it comes to creating the cities of the future. The Smart cities are expected to be the key foundation in combining a sustainable future with continued economic growth and job creation.” (Copenhagen Cleantech Center) A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when the investments in human, social capital, traditional and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high standard of the quality of life, while taking into consideration management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement with people in a given community. Smart cities use information and communication technologies (ICT) as the weapons to be more intelligent and efficient especially in the use of resources, which result in cost and energy efficiency and savings, also improving service delivery and the quality of life, while reducing environmental footprint. (www.wikipedia.com, 2013)
Smart city concept
Within the past few years the concept of smart city has become very popular and many Industry players like IBM and Siemens have specific practices and programs dedicated to make cities smarter and efficient. A lot of investments have been dedicated to the design and construction of smart cities. Smart city concept is still new and policies, design and planning of the smart cities face some difficulties and challenges. Due to this reason, the smart city concept appears to have different meanings in different fields. The concept seems to be not only complex but also vague; some experts use the term “smart city” to describe advances in greening and sustainability of the city while others use the term to highlight the infusion of ICT to improve the life of city dwellers. Another description involves high level of citizen engagement in policy making, governance and implementation as key attributes of the smart city. Still there is no consensus so far within the experts, academics and professionals on the characteristics of smart cities. A “smart city” is resilient, since it possesses the capacity, the desire, and an opportunity for sensing, responding to, recovering, and learning from all natural and man-made disasters.
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A “smart city” follows a sustainable approach in the management of its economic, social, and also ecological resources to make sure that they have vitality going into the future. A “smart city” infuses information for automated and human; individual and collective in decision making on optimal allocation of available resources, also on design of systems and processes, and the citizen engagement. A “smart city” allows intelligent decision making through leveraging all information via available technology, platforms, and policies across the community, infrastructure, systems, resources and citizens. A “smart city” is operating as a seamlessly integrated platform where all information links the various public infrastructures, systems, community organizations and citizens goals and their values. A “smart city” emphasises on engaging citizens in planning and design of public spaces and public activities and governs the use of public resources in open and collaborative governance platforms All the abovementioned concepts of cities look into a single or a few issues, but none approach the city with a holistic concept that is digital as well as intelligent; one that could locate a problem, analyse it and solve it according to the situation; well planned, in terms of land use and development; sustainable and eco-friendly. A smart city would be one which has all these characteristics fused together to make up a self sustaining efficient city that is safe and secure for the citizens, without compromising on the quality of living for the current generation and the ones to follow.
Characteristics of smart city
There are six characteristic points that make a city smart: 1. Smart economy 2. Smart people 3. Smart governance 4. Smart mobility 5. Smart environment 6. Smart living
Smart economy With respect to economy or jobs, a Smart City is described as a city with a “smart” industry. That implies especially industries in the fields of information and communication technologies (ICT) as well as other industries implying ICT in their production processes. Also for business parks or other districts comprising of companies associated with this field the name Smart City is used. • Innovative spirit • Entrepreneurship • Economic image & trademarks • Productivity • Flexibility of labour market • International participation • Ability to transform
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Smart people The term “Smart City” is also used regarding the education of inhabitants in terms of their educational grade. In some other literature the term Smart takes into account the level of qualification • Affinity to lifelong learning • Social and ethnic plurality • Flexibility • Creativity • Cosmopolitanism/Open-mindedness • Participation in public life
Smart governance In some literature the term Smart City is referred to the relation between the city-government, the administration and its citizen. Good governance also refers to the usage of new channels of communication for the citizens like “e-governance” or “e-democracy”. • • • • •
Participation in decision-making Public and social services Transparent governance Political strategies and Perspective
Smart mobility Smart City is furthermore used to discuss the use of modern technology in everyday urban life especially, modern transport technologies. Logistics as well as new transport systems which improve the urban traffic and the inhabitants’ mobility. • Local accessibility • National and International accessibility • Availability of ICT-infrastructure • Sustainable, innovative and safe • Transport systems
Smart environment The term Smart City is also used regarding to the security/safe, green, efficient and sustainable, energy • Appeal of natural conditions • Pollution • Environmental protection • Sustainable resource management
Smart living To sum up, there are several fields of activity which are described in literature in relation to the term Smart City: industry, education, participation, technical infrastructure: • Cultural facilities • Health conditions • Individual safety • Housing quality
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• Education facilities • Tourist attraction • Social cohesion
Figure 1.22 Smart economy; Figure 1.23 Smart economy; Source: www.interaction.ie Source: www.interaction.ie
Smarter dimensions of smarter Indian cities
Someone may say that an Apple I-phone is the best. Another argues that Samsung has those same features for a more affordable price. HTC was the first to introduce touch screens in phones. Nokia has Windows 8 interface and is much more durable. But it is all relative and depends on the perspective of the user according to what he requires. In the same way, someone in the European and western cultures, deciding what makes a smart city maybe invalid in the Indian context. India has a diverse and rich culture and history which is different from the European context. Although cities might face similar problems today, the solutions may vary with the changing context. (Audience response, 2013) In the Indian context, where population is higher and still going through development compared to the other international counters, the characteristics have to be broken down and analysed further in the same intensity as the rest.
Making Delhi smarter
To start on the journey to make Delhi smarter, right principles and goals have to be made clearly that will help to realize this dream into reality. In Delhi the basic goals for a smart city might include creating a liveable, resilient, and sustainable city. These goals might increase the value of life in the city and also improve the lives of the people and citizens that interact with and reside within Delhi. The next important step is to recognise the above basic goals as a function of infusing different information into the fabric of the future city. Technological devices like mobile phones, smart phones and computers can be also used to enable citizens to leverage information while they conduct their day to day activities. These technological tools may be used at the same time to enable planners and designers have accurate situational and awareness of the city. Smarter governance is the key, which comes from us. But also the being smarter needs both smart technologies and smart ideas, which can be adopted and fit into the given society. (Audience response, 2013) This year seminar of 2013 titled THE SMART CITY, the discussion will be based on how smart is Delhi and how much smarter can it be made. The focus will be on six different dimensions which are broken down further into eleven issues for better clarity of the different aspects and layers that comprise to make a city holistically smarter. 1. Smart Governance 2. Smart Economy 3. Smart Mobility – Inter-city 4. Smart Mobility – Intra-city 5. Smart Environment – Material 6. Smart Environment – Built
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7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Smart Smart Smart Smart Smart
Environment - Un-Built Environment – Energy Environment - Waste People Living
Figure 1.24 Smart diagram to define smart city; Source: Authors
Figure 1.25 Making Delhi smarter; Source: Authors
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Acknowledgements We would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone responsible for making this seminar successful. This project would have been incomplete without their invaluable contribution. First we want to thank the Seminar Co-ordinators Dr. Ranjana Mittal and Prof. Jaya Kumar, for making the seminar a reality. They have successfully steered us through the entire semester with their endless patience and abundant energy. We would like to thank our guide Arpita Dayal. We are very grateful for her guidance and support. We thank her for opening our minds to this subject, for pushing us whenever we hit a dead end and for inspiring us to aspire for better results. We are also grateful to Mrs. Satmohini Isha Srivastava Ray for taking out time from her busy schedule and providing us with her valuable inputs. The discussion with her provided us with a better perspective on our topic. Our friends and peer have accompanied us on this exercise and made it a colorful venture. We thank them for their presence and encouragement.
Bibliography Seisdedos, Gildo (2012). “Qué es una Smart City?”. Bit 188: 35–37 Pacione, Michel (2005) Urban Geography: A Global Perspective, 2nd edn London: Routledge. Cities and Development, page 39. Livi- bacci, Massimo (2001), A concise history of the World population, 3rd edn, oxford Blackwell. Engels, Friedrich (1845) The Conditions of the working Class in England, Marx/ Engels Internet archive, available at www. marxists.org/archive/mars/works/1845/condition-working-class/index.htm( assesed 4 SEptember 2013) Dyson, Tim (2001) ‘A partial theory of world development: the neglected role of the demographic transition in the shaping of modern society’, international journals of population Geography, 7:1-24 Droege, P. (1997). Intelligent Environments - Spatial Aspect of the Information Revolution. Copenhagen Cleantech Center. Danish smart cities: Sustainable living in an urban world. copenhagen capacity. Copenhagen Cleantech Center. Danish smart cities: Sustainable living in an urban world. copenhagen capacity. Bairoch, Paul (1988) cities and economic development from the Dawn of History to the present, Chicago,IL: university of Chicago press. Droege, P. (1997). Intelligent Environments - Spatial Aspect of the Information Revolution. Register, R. (1987). www.wikipedia.com. Retrieved 2013, from www.wikipedia.com. Internet sources: http://www.devalt.org/newsletter/may94/of_7.htm http://www.iihs.co.in/wp-content/themes/education/resources/Urban-Infrastructure-Services.pdf http://www.delhi.gov.in/DoIT/DES/Publication/socio/hc58.pdf http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/04bspec.htm http://delhi-masterplan.com/zonal-plans-mpd-2021/mixed-use/ http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679062/5-ways-the-smart-city-will-change-how-we-live-in-2012 http://www.idc-gi.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=IDC_P23432 http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/green_buildings/overview/index.html http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680538/what-exactly-is-a-smart-city http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680538/what-exactly-is-a-smart-city http://enewsletters.constructionexec.com/techtrends/2013/06/the-impact-of-smart-cities-on-the-construction-industry/ http://www.business-digest.eu/en/2013/07/09/the-impact-of-smart-cities-on-people-and-organizations/ http://www.hitachi.com/products/smartcity/download/pdf/whitepaper.pdf www.cisco.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.cisco.com. www.meshcities.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.meshcities.com. www.thevenusproject.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.thevenusproject.com. www.wikipedia.com. (2010). Retrieved 2013, from www.wikipedia.com. www.wikipedia.com. (2013). Retrieved 2013, from www.wikipedia.com. http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120301/srep00296/full/srep00296.html http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Fort_Kochi_City_Map_1672.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Map_of_Portuguese_Cochin.jpg http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/malabar/cochin/salmon1729.jpg http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/malabar/cochin/portuguese163.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Plan_de_la_ville_de_Cochin_(Cochim)_Paris_1761.jpg
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SMARTER GOVERNANCE Advisor: Mr.Amit Khanna | Architect Amit Khanna Design associates, Faculty, S.P.A. Chairperson: Dr.Ashis Sanyal | Retired Director e-Governance Department of I.T., Government of India Resource persons: Dr Rajendra Kumar | Joint secretary e-Gov, Deity, Government of India Mr. Chetan Vaidya | Director School of planning and Architecture, New Delhi Dr A.B. Pandey | DDG UIDAI, West, Government of India
Presented by: Amit Joseph Kurien Atul Shekhar Kaushik Naarayan Kushagra Keshav Rimeka Dora Ranee Shivali Gupta
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Abstract India’s rapid urbanization in the past decade gives us a preview of an inevitable future, housing the second highest urban population in the world. As cities emerge as the engines of innovation and growth, there is now a need for a pragmatic management system to provide adequate services to every citizen in the present as well as the future city (Lodhi, 2013). The National capital territory (NCT) of Delhi, one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world, faces problems like overpopulation and lack of resources. This has made governance at both state and centre increasingly complicated (Lodhi, 2013). How can the Delhi government devise a sustainable and inclusive strategy to address these issues? Owing to greater inter-dependence, redistribution of global power and the advent of the age of information technology, the role of governments are slowly changing from that of service providers to service regulators. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) finds itself useful in many fields like municipal services, transportation, etc. as an instrument for “e-governance”. This should enable governments to receive data, interpret it and act swiftly. Yet the prevailing government structure, on many occasions, ends up delivering too slowly in this fast-paced world (Lodhi, 2013). Can a smart government keep up with the continuously evolving lifestyle, culture and technology? Can we effectively transit from “citizen in-line to citizen online”? As of 2010, only 30% of the Indian population had access to the internet and over 70% had a mobile connection. This statistic highlights the need to reach out to the remainder or rather the majority of the population through “Mobile Service Delivery Gateways (MSDG)”. The government is presently setting up this MSDG in collaboration with network sv ervice providers as well as essential service providers like banks. However, forming a connected government is just the beginning of a smart government (Sanyal, 2013). We ask, how could a smarter government take this newfound connectivity as a medium to rekindle democracy and public participation in the decision making process?
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Defining SMART According to the Oxford dictionary website www.oxforddictionaries.com, a smart person is clean, tidy and well dressed. He/ She is also considered smart if he/she is quick witted and intelligent. A machine that is programmed and capable of some independent action is smart too. In an attempt to define smart processes, Wikipedia states, “The term smart is a mnemonic, based on criteria for evaluating and re-evaluating. Each letter of SMART addresses the different criterion for judging whether an object is smart. The letters broadly conform to the words: Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound” (Graham & Marvin, 1996).
Figure 2.1 Smart mnemonic; Source: Graham & Marvin,1996
Hence, a ‘Smart‘ procedure can be defined as an intelligent and self-aware systematic process that enables us to overhaul any existing mechanism into a faster, cheaper, efficient and effective system with the help of the newfound Information Communication Technology.
Defining SMART Cities Goodall states that a city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Many cities have a particular administrative, legal or historical status based on local law. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing and transportation (Goodall, 2013). What then, would a smart city be if it has to be all of the above and much more? Caragliu(2009) suggests, “The concept of a smart city has been introduced as a strategic device to encompass modern urban production factors in a common framework and to highlight the growing importance of information and communication technologies, social and environmental capital in profiling the competitiveness of cities”. According to Giffinger(2007), a city is smart when its investments in social capital and communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and maintain high standards of living, along with a wise management of natural resources through participatory action and engagement.
Figure 2.2 Classification of the aspects of the smart city; Source: Wikipedia
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A city needs a management system – an organization - to function smoothly. This organization is the governing body. How does this governing body adapt and change in the smart city?
Defining Governance According to Professor Anil Laul(2001), governance is a consequence of human settlement. Governance is the interaction of processes, information, rules, structures and norms that guide behaviour toward stated objectives that affect collections of people. It often involves the allocation of scarce resources including public goods, the coordination of diverse participants and stakeholders, the establishment of clear processes for decision-making and the resolution of conflict (Johnston & Hansen, 2011). In other words, the use of institutions, structures of authority and even collaboration to allocate resources and coordinate or control activity in society or the economy is governance (Bell, 2002).
Defining SMART Governance The implementation of a set of processes and underlying information technology capabilities that enable information to flow seamlessly across government agencies and programs may be termed as smart governance. This should make the government intuitive towards citizen’s needs. It will also enable the government to provide high quality citizen services across all government programs and activity domains (Giffinger, 2007). Smart governance is about the future of public services, greater efficiency, community leadership, mobile working and continuous improvement through innovation. It is about using technology to facilitate and support better planning and decision-making, improving democratic processes and transforming the ways that public services reach citizens (Giffinger, 2007). SMART governance thus refers to these objectives: • To improve the performance of the administration • To enhance accountability and transparency • To keep politics away from policy implementation and nurture true democracy “Smart governance does not mean replacing the present setup of government. It involves making use of the state-of-the-art technology to provide better services to the people while undergoing transaction or seeking information from the government. It is all about making the government SMART (Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent)” (Sanyal, 2002).
Understanding governance structure To understand governance we must also understand the terms ‘State’ and ‘Government’.
State State refers to a set of people living within a desired territory having an elected or nominated sovereign with a government to rule over them (IGNOU, 2008). The most commonly used definition is Max Weber’s where he describes the state as a compulsory political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a certain territory (Colin, 2001).
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Government
The system by which a state or community is governed is termed as Government. The state elects the members of the government in a democracy (Oxford, 2010). In other words, Government enforces state policy. A government normally consists of legislators, administrators and arbitrators. Each successive government is composed of a specialized and privileged body of individuals who monopolize political decision-making and separate status and organization from the population as a whole. Their function is to enforce existing laws, legislate new laws and arbitrate conflicts (Barclay, 1995).
Figure 2.3 Evolution of the Delhi government; Source: Authors
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Evolution of the Delhi Government The given figure aptly summarises the history of the Delhi government. Since we are concerned mainly with the future of the government, we shall dwell on the past only as much as is necessary.
Government Structure The Government of Delhi is the supreme governing authority of Delhi and its nine districts. It consists of an executive, a judiciary and a legislative. The present Legislative Assembly of Delhi is unicameral, consisting of 70 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) (Government of Delhi, 2013). Executive The executive is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state. The executive branch executes the law led by the Lieutenant Governor (Government of Delhi, 2013). Judiciary The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. It also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make law (which is the responsibility of the legislature) or enforce law (which is the responsibility of the executive), but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case. This branch of the state conducts the task of ensuring equal justice under law. It usually consists of a court of final appeal (called the “Supreme court” or “Constitutional court”), together with lower courts (Judiciary, 2013). Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Delhi, also known as Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral law making body of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Seventy Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) meet at the Delhi headquarters (Delhi Legislative Assembly, 2013). The present Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, is also the Leader of the House (as of this date). The list below forms an abridged version of the remaining organization of the Delhi government: The Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Urban Development, Revenue and Irrigation & Flood Control • The Minister of Education Transport, Gurudwara Election & Administration • The Minister of Power, Development and Food & Civil Supplies • The Minister of P.W.D. Land & Building, Employment and Welfare of SC/ST • The Minister of Social Welfare, Women & Child Development and Languages • The Minister of Industries, Labour, Law Justice & Legislative Affairs and Election • Directorate of Family Welfare • Department of Higher Education • Food Adulteration • Department of tourism etc. • Public Grievances Commission • Delhi State Haj Committee • Development Corporation Ltd • Delhi Tourism & Transportation
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• • • • • • •
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Delhi Transport Corporation Delhi WAKF Board Human Rights Committee for Arrestees BSES Yamuna Power Limited Etc. Hospitals And Medical Institutions Academies And Institutions Local bodies (GNCTD, Delhi Govt. Portal, 2013)
Figure 2.4 Touch points of the Delhi government; Source: www.Delhi.gov.in
There are numerous ministries in the government of Delhi. Each ministry has a direct or indirect connect with the citizens who they are supposed to serve. Owing to the sheer number of ministries as well as the population, the Delhi government requires a framework through which citizens could access all these assemblies, boards, institutions, departments and municipal bodies for their services.
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Existing Governance in India The government of India provides services under many categories, viz., agriculture, art & culture, commerce, communication, defence, education, environment & forest, finance & taxes, food & public distribution, foreign affairs, governance & administration, health & family welfare, housing, home affairs & enforcement, industries, infrastructure, information & broadcasting, labour & employment, law & justice, power & energy, rural, science & technology, social development, transport, travel & tourism and youth & sports (Topics, 2013). The Indian government has had the vision to convert the entire government process to an electronic format for some time now. Many initiatives like the e-seva, NeGP, e-Taal are breaking boundaries with the help of the internet. However, all these initiatives are unable to reach every citizen. The root of the problem lies at the identification method. Before a government can serve its citizens, it must first be able to identify every one of them. Until recently, India had no Identification program. Every Citizen availed services via his/her ration card driver’s licence, or passport etc. as a proof of identification. Identification of the citizen In order to govern in a smart way, the process has to start with the identification of the citizens. Each citizen has to be accounted for in order to make the transaction points between the government and the citizens hassle-free. Unique Identification, or Aadhaar, is a step forward for India in this direction. Being under Mr Nandan Nilekani’s care, it aims at: • Becoming the single source of identity verification. Residents need not repeatedly provide supporting identity documents each time they wish to access services such as obtaining a bank account, passport, driving license, etc. • Providing a clear proof of identity. This would facilitate the entry for poor and underprivileged residents into the formal banking system and the opportunity to avail services provided by the government. • Giving migrants mobility of identity. • Providing financial inclusion with deeper penetration of banks, insurance and easy distribution of benefits of government schemes. (Commission, 2013)this citation is not clear-which Commission? In order to make its job simpler, the government classifies its citizens into the following groups: • Rural Indian • Student • Defence & Paramilitary Personnel • Differently Abled • Environmentalists • Government Employee • Job Seeker • Non-Resident Indian (Community, 2013)
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After identification, the next challenge for the government is to ensure proper service delivery and tax collection. This entire system has migrated to an electronic format through various E-governance initiatives.
E- Governance The transaction points are where the citizen gets to interact with the government for services. Anything from procuring a birth certificate to applying for a motor license falls under the scope of a transaction. The government too requires input and output from the citizens in the form of tax collection, complaints, statistics and feedback. Until recently, all the departments were accessible independently and each department reached out to the citizen separately. One also had to make multiple trips to avail a simple service like a water connection or making a complaint. This led to lengthy procedures and therefore slow responses during interaction. Along with the initiation of National e- Governance Plan, the nation and its capital slowly made itself available through the internet. NeGP is collaborating with the National Informatics Centre and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing to create a nationwide network of all the government bodies.
National e-Governance Plan The vision of NeGP is to “make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man.” Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is evolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy, reliable access over the internet. (National e Governance Plan) The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) comprising of 31 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components on May 18, 2006. These are the “vehicles” for Electronic Service Delivery (National e Governance Plan). There are three kinds of e-services extended by the MMPs: •G2C or Government to Citizen Services (accessed by the Citizens) •G2B or Government to Business Services (accessed by the Businesses) •G2G or Government to Government Services (accessed by Government Departments) The mission mode projects have a common objective- modernization of the government with the help of Information and Communication Technology. These MMPs are in-turn divided into State, Central and integrated MMPs.
Central MMPs
1. Income Tax 2. Central Excise: 3. Insurance 4. Immigration, Visa and Foreigner’s Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) 5. MCA21 6. UID 7. National Population Register 8. Pensions
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9. Banking 10 Posts
State MMPs
1. Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems 2. Agriculture 3. Public Distribution System 4. Education 5. Health 6. Employment Exchange 7. e-Panchayat 8. Municipalities 9. Treasuries 10. Commercial Taxes 11. e-District 12. Road Transport 13. National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) 14. Land Records 15. Police
Integrated MMPs
1. National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG) 2. India Portal 3. Electronic Data interchange (EDI) for e-Trade 4. e-procurement 5. e-Courts 6. e-Biz 7. Common Services Centres (India) Each Project in the above stated list has a vision, strategy, implementation methodology, evaluation method detailed quite vividly. While some schemes migrated online comfortably, others still find difficulty in becoming relevant in the age of communication.
Access to services The Indian government also provides options to file/lodge complaints or FIRs, book tickets for various transport facilities, obtain certificates, licences and documents, register for scholarship, vehicle, employment exchange, placement, etc., online on their website www.india.gov.in. It is also possible to get information on different helpline services offered by the Government agencies, write feedbacks on the various services, donate for a cause or relief funds of various Central and State Governments using the aforementioned site. However, to avail a service, one has to write out a complaint or fill out a form and address it to the necessary authorities. The E-SLA initiative in Delhi has helped bring the citizen many steps closer to the various government departments and the services they offer (Services, 2013).
Service Level Agreement An agreement is a contract between two or more parties. ASP (Application Service Provider) is one that manages and distributes services and solutions to a wide area and the end user. Thus, a service level agreement stipulates and commits the ASP to a required level of service. An SLA contains a specified level of service, support options, enforcement or penalty provisions for
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Figure 2.5 Concept of E-SLA; Source: www.Delhi.gov.in
The explosive population growth rates and the increase in pace of life has led the government to believe that an online portal with access to all government departments and their services was necessary. As of now, the Delhi government has brought 116 services under e-SLA project such as BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd., Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Police, Directorate of Education, Directorate of Family Welfare, Trade & Taxes, etc (Department Service Codes). These services are accessible under one banner in the internet portal. Any service, such as, procuring an electrical connection, filing complaints about the water pressure, etc. are available in the portal. In order to promote transparency and accountability in the government’s delivery systems for its citizens, the Union Cabinet has approved a bill called ‘Right of Citizens for TimeBound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011’, which is pending in the Parliament. They offer, the quality of services provided as well as timeliness of delivery. Officials who fail to deliver services in time will be penalised (www.prsindia.org, 2013).
Figure 2.6 E-SLA as the link between the departments and citizens; Source: Authors
Bhagidari Bhagidari is an initiative of the Government, which promotes people’s participation in the development process. It empowers the citizens to look after local civic problems at the decentralised community level. It creates a formal system of connection and interaction between resident, civil society organizations and relevant government departments (Bhagidari Citizen-
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Government Partnership) Bhagidari projects focus on improving access to services by increasing their provision, utilization and coverage. It makes a strong case of provision of welfare through associations (Johnston & Hansen, 2011). This project is a method by which the government, which was previously unable to reach out to all its citizens, could now reach out, resolve problems and collect taxes. In addition, Bhagidari has strong focus on environment governance: • Water: the management of water supply and reserves, ground water recharge, rainwater harvesting by residents and institutions have commenced through community initiatives. The Delhi government provides financial and technical assistance for such programs. For example, Conservation of water through rainwater harvesting project in association with Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in Panchshilla Co- operative House Building Society Ltd. This enabled harvesting of about 176 million litres of water resulting in increase in sub soil water level. As per the National Forest Survey, the total forest cover of Delhi has increased from 26 sq km in 1998 to 326 sq. km in 2007. • Clean Air: Several campaigns like ‘Say no to Plastic Bags’, ‘Say No to Fire Crackers’, ‘Save River Yamuna’ was launched to prevent air pollution, involving schoolchildren and citizens of Delhi. (Bhagidari Citizen- Government Partnership) Both, Bhagidari and e-SLA together form the main platform for the interaction of the government with its citizens in Delhi. Other e-governance initiatives include: • Bhoomi (record of rights tenancy and crops) • e-Seva (bill payments and other consumer services) • Gyandoot (agricultural and educational information). (Kumar, 2007) A plan as massive as the NeGP requires an enormous investment in infrastructure. Considering the demography of India and Delhi, the servers must be capable of handling the traffic.
Infrastructure The infrastructure for the NeGP may be broadly categorised into four parts, SWAN, SDC, CSC and GIS.
State Wide Area Network (S.W.A.N.)
The Government has approved the Scheme for establishing State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) across the country. Under this Scheme, technical and financial assistance provided to the States/ UTs for establishing SWANs to connect all State/UT Headquarters up to the Block level via District/ sub-Divisional Headquarters, in a vertical hierarchical structure with a minimum bandwidth capacity of two Mbps per link. Each of the State / UT can enhance the bandwidth up to 34 Mbps between State Head Quarters and District Head Quarters and up to 8 Mbps between District Head Quarters and B Head Quarters depending upon the utilization. Steps initiated to integrate all SWANs uses the National Knowledge Network (NKN) in which 21 states are participating. SWAN envisages a converged backbone network for data, voice and video communications throughout a State/UT (National e Governance Plan).
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Figure 2.7 SWAN distribution chart; Source: NeGP
State Data Centre (S.D.C.) State Data Centre (SDC) is one of the important elements of the core infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives of National e-governance Plan (National e Governance Plan). State Data Centre would provide many functionalities like Central Repository of the State, Secure Data Storage, Online Delivery of Services, Citizen Information/Services Portal, State Intranet Portal, Disaster Recovery, Remote Management and Service Integration etc. SDCs would also provide better operation & management control and minimize overall cost of Data Management, IT Resource Management, Deployment and other costs. Apart from the above, state and national service delivery gateways are being set up to ensure that Government services are accessible to the common man in his locality through common service delivery outlets (National e Governance Plan)
Common Service Centre (C.S.C.) A common service centre is a Multiple-services-single-point model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single geographical location. These centres provide a physical facility for delivery of e-Services to the rural and remote locations where availability of computers and internet is currently negligible or absent (Common Service Centers, 2013).
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Geographical Information System (G.I.S.) Mapping Cities are changing constantly. The drafting of master plans takes place once every 20 years. Although this plan helped in appraising and planning the long-term vision of the 20th century cities, the short-term problems are becoming increasingly difficult to resolve at the current rate of change of the globalized city. The need of the hour is a real time 3-dimensional, layered digital mapping solution. GIS or Geographical Information System is one such solution where anything from forestland, plot ownership, land-use, road networks, and ground water supply can be analysed together. This would in-turn help architects, planners, environmental planners, the sanitation department and the housing boards in taking collaborative decisions. (Kumar, 2007)
Efficiency, feasibility and effectiveness At this stage, one may question the whole proposition of the government. Although the reform in governance is necessary, did the initiatives produce the expected results?
Does e- governance really work? An Assessment study was done by the Government of India to understand the impact of e-Government projects. The areas under the study included municipal corporations of, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and New Delhi. Focussing on NDMC, one can observe the following. The major services considered under this project were birth certificate, death certificate and utility bills. 657 utility bill payments, 83 birth certificates and 21 death certificates were sampled (GNCTD, Department of Information Technology)
Figure 2.8 Sample size of study; Source: Department of Information & Technology:
Figure 2.9 Sample size of study; Source: Department of Information & Technology:
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We can see that the number of people using computerised methods are almost equal to those using manual methods. People are slowly becoming more comfortable with the idea of using a computer to apply for a certificate or pay bills. The maximum number of people who undertake these functions are within the age group of 30-40 years. Except in the case of birth certificates, the number of people preferring manual methods are more than half. Citizens above 40 years of age still prefer to apply for birth certificates manually. Almost 50% of these prefer online bill payment to manual. A very small percentage of young people are a part of these functions.
Figure 2.10 Bar graph showing gender percentages of transactions; Source: Department of Information & Technology
Figure 2.11 Bar graph showing education percentagesof transactions; Source: Depart ment of Information & Technology
67% of the users are males and only 33% are females. Citizens prefer to pay bills online but the percentage of manual to computerised users for application of certificates is almost 50-50. It is very clear from the graph that people with a higher education believe in computerisation of functions as compared to those who have minimal schooling. Illiterate people form an almost negligible percentage in all the cases.
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Figure 2.12 Bar graph showing occupation percentages of transactions; Source: Depart ment of Information & Technology
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Figure 2.13 Bar graph showing income percentages of transactions; Source: Depart ment of Information & Technology
It is very clear from the graph that people with a higher education believe in computerisation of functions as compared to those who have minimal schooling. Illiterate people form an almost negligible percentage in all the cases. The executive/clerical class records the highest number of people who avail these services yet they still prefer to do it manually. Workers/labourers make up the second highest percentage. Interestingly, almost 50% of the labour class opted for online methods of application. Students also prefer online methods to manual and their usual motive is to pay bills. Citizens belonging to the middle-income group avail these services with almost 50% of the group opting for computerized means of application.
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Figure 2.14 Bar graph showing number of trips for transactions; Source: Department of Information & Technology
Figure 2.15 Bar graph showing waiting time (in minutes) for transactions; Source: Department of Information & Technology)
There seems to be no significant reduction in the number of trips after computerization. For services such as obtaining a Birth Certificate, the number of trips has increased as compared to the manual system. This procedure generally requires one extra trip for signatures as the medical officer sits in another department/office. Bill payments took one trip in the case of both manual and computers. Overall, the waiting time is high in both the services in manual delivery. Computerization has reduced the wait by 15-50% for Utility Bill Payments. Clearly, Delhi’s e-governance initiatives are only half as effective as they intended to be. There are numerous reasons for this ineffectiveness-poverty, computer illiteracy, poorly designed websites and improper implementation of policies. It is also interesting to note that most of the web sites were mostly still under construction or just dead ends. All of the services are yet to become fully functional. The implication is much broader here. India’s government is, at present, only half as equipped to handle the population it intends to serve.
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The investment towards e-governance initiatives is already quite high. SWAN alone cost over 3,400 crores (Sanyal, 2002) and UID costs about 2,00,000 crores (UID will cost Rs 1.5 to 2.0 lakh crores). The opposition to the UID scheme argue that the ‘enormous’ cost of the project is not justified “for a poor country, where 70 per cent of the population has no toilets” (ThinkUID, 2012). We need to understand that even though our cities are gearing up for the ICT future, they will continue to struggle with most basic of problems. Sanitation, housing, poor drainage of the city are still yet to be tackled and we simultaneously have to evolve our existing governing techniques and technology. To a legislator, these problems are a nightmare, but for a layperson, the ‘Aam Aadmi’, these problems are opportunities for Jugaad innovation.
The Jugaad governance model Jugaad demonstrates the day-to-day ability of the ordinary Indians to solve problems under conditions of constraint and scarcity, and to seize opportunities in the most challenging circumstances. (Radjou, 2012) According to N. Radjou, Jugaad is not just a unique method of thinking and acting in response to challenges. It is a way of life for many Indians. The use of the ‘missed call’ system to communicate prearranged messages freely is such an example. Many entrepreneurs already practise Jugaad as a means of addressing the socio economic issues of their respective communities. (Radjou, 2012)
Figure 2.16 Communication device popularity, Source: Authors
Innovation is going to be critical for India- for not only growth and competitive advantage, but also to ensure that our future development is sustainable and inclusive. Our country faces a range of unmet needs related to critical areas such as health, education, agriculture, energy, and skills. It also faces immense challenges related to demography. (Radjou, 2012) Our unique needs call for a new model of innovation that focuses on affordability and inclusive growth and lifts people at the bottom of the pyramid out of poverty and deprivation.
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For decades, the trajectory of innovation has reflected the priorities of the developed world: India cannot follow that path. Our innovation must instead focus on the poor, and their most essential wants. The old consumption- intensive approaches cannot work, given the sheer scale of our needs and our vast populations: instead, our innovation needs to be frugal with scarce resources, affordable for our poorest citizens and environmentally sustainable. (Radjou, 2012). The above chart easily gives us an idea as to what is most widespread as a communication device. The mobile phones unprecedented domination and the internet’s miniscule user base leads us to believe that the government would not be reaching out to anyone if it were not up to the mobile governance initiative. These low cost, frugal and yet innovative approaches are viable solutions to the Indian problem of reaching out. Our innovative thinking also has to leverage the unprecedented advantages provided by this changing landscape of connectivity and collaboration. Countries like Kenya are leveraging the crowd sourcing software ‘Ushahidi’ infrastructure to get large people to collect quickly for causes. They use ‘Uchaguzi’ as a government-tracking website that holds and displays critical data regarding various issues. Both these software deliver information over Twitter, SMS and user groups. The country has a dearth of resources and proper connectivity, yet they use the existing network to make the most out of it frugally and flexibly. Indian CEOs often express their concern about India’s low investment levels in R&D compared with archrival China. While it is important to boost the R&D investment to achieve potential in the coming decades, one must not overlook the key strength of the existing Indian ecosystem: the ability to use Jugaad to create products and services in an organic, bottom up fashion using limited resources. Rather than disregarding it as a ‘poor man’s approach’, we must recognise that it is an effective tool that can be formalised to help governments innovate faster, better and cheaper in today’s volatile environment. (Radjou, 2012). Many NGOs like ‘Janaagraha’ are setting up low cost websites, which are enabling real world action in cities like Bengaluru. One of their subsets, www.ipaidabribe.com, helps calculate and assess the extent of bribery and the depth of corruption in the city. Previously, there was no method in existence to calculate these figures. Skeptics said that no one would be foolish enough to admit to paying bribes publicly, but NGOs believed that with the option of anonymity, people would muster enough courage to do what is right. As of now, the recorded bribe money in Bengaluru is about 54.7 crores. These initiatives make us want to rethink the entire nature of the e-governance venture. Although much good was intended, not much was done (Radjou, 2012).
The future of Indian Governance The Indian government is trying to become a connected government. They are yet to envision the steps beyond. There are many out of the box solutions to the problems faced by cities.
Highlighting the mayor’s role According to political theorist Benjamin Barber, “Democracy is in trouble”, he adds, “We live in a 21st-century world of interdependence and brutal interdependent problems. Yet, we look for solutions in politics and democracy and political institutions designed 400 years ago”. What about this asymmetry between contemporary challenges and archaic dysfunctional political institutions?
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Cities have witnessed many the birth and death of many political institutions; cities are the cradle of democracy. They are older than nations and states. Delhi is much older than India herself. Barber suggests we deviate from politics towards cities and urban areas. As mayors run the cities that are epicentres of civilization, perhaps, it might be sensible to highlight their role. (Barber, 2013) According to Barber, mayors are better suited to govern cities because they are: • Pragmatists: They get things done. • homeboys: they are usually from the city they govern • Trustworthy: when compared to legislators “Cities are profoundly multicultural, open, participatory and democratic: they work together on big issues that national leaders are apparently only able to fight about. There is lots cities can do even when opaque stubborn nations refuse to act,” says Barber (Barber, 2013). It is not only important to shift responsibility from one elected leader to another, but also from the leader to the masses. It must encourage voluntary participation.
Bottom up governance According to Jennifer Pahlka, governments are not exploring newer avenues for better forms of governance. Her initiative, Code for America, had programmers design apps for governments. One such app helped the city of Boston to ask people to adopt municipal amenities. This helped the Boston government maintain these amenities at a surprisingly low cost. Such forms of initiatives spread virally, smoothly, organically and naturally. Government’s initiatives are usually far slower, more expensive and conceived from a top down manner. These apps represent a new generation of people tackling the problem of government - not as the problem of an ossified institution-but as a problem of collective action via digital technology (Pahlka, 2012). Stripped of all the politics and bureaucracy, government is, at its core, in the words of Tim O’Reilly, “What we do together that we can’t do alone”. Alternatively, a government is a platform - and not necessarily a digital one -where citizens can help each other. This does not mean that our government is redundant, but that it is a connector between people. In many cases, neighbours and community solve the problems of a citizen faster, cheaper and effectively. We need not call the municipal services for every small problem. That would be too expensive. We spend a lot of energy electing a leader and then sit back, relax and wait for them to reflect our values and meet our needs. A simpler method would be to govern oneself.
Smarter governance in Delhi “The Government would implement a comprehensive programme to accelerate e-governance at all levels of the Government to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability at the GovernmentCitizen Interface.” – Hon’ble Prime Minister’s (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) Declaration on Independence Day - 15th August 2002.
This vision is still being realised today. Delhi has various initiatives committed to bridging the gap between citizen and government. Thus, a smart Delhi government would soon be quick, efficient and available online for various services. The smarter Delhi, which is the next phase of development, would be inclusive, sustainable, connected, democratic and participatory.
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As of now, the strategies devised by the government to become smart only enable the government to reach citizens and hear out their problems. This is a transparent system. Democracy is less about transparency and more about participation. “Transparency is openness in one direction” (Shirky, 2012.)
Participatory governance To begin a more participatory method of governing Delhi, new avenues need exploration on largescale collaborative governance. Computer programmers have already solved this problem. A version control system is the equivalent of a governing methodology in the computer programming community. Most companies ran top-down control systems until, one Linus Torvalds, started git, a collaborative place where open source communities could all simultaneously work on projects. Here, the version Control system was far more complex, but it suited the open source ideology of openness, speed and full access to all the source code. This complex method enabled people who were mutually non-existent to collaborate on the same project. For example, a programmer in New York and a programmer in Bengaluru can collaborate on a project without even knowing about the others existence. (Shirky, 2012) This has brought about a revolutionary concept of “co-operation without co-ordination”. (Shirky, 2012) Large-scale groups now find it relatively easy to collaborate for common causes. The system, Clay Shirky (2012) suggests could become a new structure for legislation. Imagine a future where citizens can make additions and suggestions to bills uploaded online. Administrators can approve or reject these suggestions - much like Internet groups on Twitter and Facebook.
Self-governance As mentioned earlier, government is a tool to empower people to help themselves. A smarter Delhi government could crowd source people to help with many of the problems that the government continuously struggles solving. This can happen via apps and schemes on mobile. The Mobile Service Delivery Gateway could be a critical tool in the path for the future. This could even put India back on the path of Swaraj. Swaraj can mean generally self-governance or “self-rule”. Gandhi envisioned Swaraj long before the smart movement but it lost its relevance post-independence. Swaraj lays stress on governance not by a hierarchical government, but self-governance through individuals and community building. Today, we are equipped with the right tools to rekindle this vision.
Acknowledgements We would like to express our deepest gratitude for numerous individuals and organizations for their help and support. Some of them being Dr.Ashis Sanyal, Dr Rajendra kumar, Mr. Chetan Vaidya, Dr A.B. Pandey, and Mr. Amit Khanna. Many thanks to our parents, faculty and classmates for their input and critique.
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Bibliography Caragliu.A, D. B. (2009). Smart cities in Europe. From Serie Research memoranda 0048: http://ideas.repec.org/p/dgr/ vuarem/2009-48.html Giffinger, R. (2007). Smart cities- Ranking of European medium-sized cities. Vienna: Centre of Regional Science, Vienna UT. Bell, S. (2002). Economic Governance and Institutional Dynamics. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press. GNCTD. (2013). From Delhi Govt. Portal: www.delhi.gov.in Commission, P. (2013). From UID: http://uidai.gov.in/ http://www.prsindia.org/downloads/bills-pending-in-parliament/. (2013). From PRS Legislative Research. Goodall, B. (1987). The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography. . London. student. (2009). From www. thefreedictionary.com: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/student civil service. (2009). From www.thefreedictionary.com: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/government+employee Vasuki, A., Khullar, M., Chitnis, P., & Kumar, P. (2000). MRTS: Concepts, Conflicts and Contradictions. U.G. Dept. of Architecture. New Delhi: School of Planning and Architecture. Vajpayee, A. B. (2002, August 15). Delhi, NCR, India. Sanyal, A. (2002, November 21). Seminar on e-governance from Nov 21. From The Times of India: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-11-20/chandigarh/27307139_1_e-governance-egovernance-sixth-national-conference Radjou, N., Prabhu, J., & Ahuja, S. (2012). JUGAAD INNOVATION. Noida: Random House Publishers India Private Limited. Quinstreet, E. (2013, September 4). Service Level Agreement. Retrieved September 4, 2013 from Webopedia: http://www. webopedia.com/TERM/S/Service_Level_Agreement.html Lodhi, D. M. (2013, May 21). Smart Governance. From http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-178791-Smart-governance Laul, A. A. (2001). Seminar on Smart Governance. Sir JJ College of Architecture. Kumar, B., Mate, S., Prakash, A., Sharma, M., Talukdar, M. J., & Verma, V. R. (2007). A new Urban Paradigm for DelhiPeople’s Participation and Information Communication Technology. U.G. Dept. of Architecture. New Delhi: School of Planning and Architecture. Kejriwal, A. (2011). Swaraj. Harper Hindi . IGNOU. (2008, August 6). Governance in india. Retrieved July 22, 2013 from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPpIb8ZHy8U Gupta, R. (2012, August). Making Transport Infrastructure Pro-poor. e-gov , p. 5. Graham, S., & Marvin, S. (1996). Telecommunications and the city: Electronic spaces, urban place. London: Routledge. GNCTD. (n.d.). From Department of Information Technology. Transport governance: Public transport management that works for passengers. (2008). From Public Transport Users Association: http://www.ptua.org.au/campaigns/govern/ Common Service Centers. (2013, October 7). From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Service_Centers Benjamin Barber: Why mayors should rule the world (2013). [Motion Picture]. Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government (2012). [Motion Picture]. Goodall, B. (2013). City. From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City Government of Delhi. (2013). From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Delhi Judiciary. (2013). From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary Delhi Legislative Assembly. (2013). From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Legislative_Assembly Topics. (2013, October 22). From National portal of India: http://india.gov.in/topics Community. (2013, October 09). From National Portal of India: http://india.gov.in/people-groups/community Services. (2013, October 21). From National Portal of India: http://india.gov.in/services Department Service Codes. (n.d.). From esla: http://esla.delhi.gov.in/ Sanyal, A. (2013, September). Smart Governance. (Author, Interviewer) UID will cost Rs 1.5 to 2.0 lakh crores. (n.d.). From thinkuid: http://thinkuid.org/SubPage.aspx?n=126 ThinkUID. (2012, Jan). Cost of the UID project. From www.ThinkUID.org: http://thinkuid.org/SubPage.aspx?n=110 Clay Shirky: How the internet will (one day) transform government (2012). [Motion Picture]. India, G. o. (n.d.). National Portal of India. Retrieved October 15, 2013 from http://india.gov.in/ Johnston, E. W., & Hansen, D. L. (2011). Design Lessons for Smart Governance Infrastructures. From International City/ County Management Association: http://icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/301540/Design_Lessons_for_Smart_Governance_Infrastructures HindustanTimes. (2012, January 20). Governance. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2012, 21 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governance IBM. (2010). Six easy steps for smart governance. IBM press. Live, I. (2013, April 8). Youtube. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from Narendra Modi pitches for more governance and less government: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WbFqxVKasY Nations, U. (2012, November 20). Agenda 21: U.N. Global Governance. Retrieved July 21, 2013 from Youtube: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TRso_3x5zc Now, E. (2012, February 20). National Conference on Governance - 29th January 2012 at NCUI Auditorium, New Delhi. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j1-wnIpg3Q ukindia. (2010, March 23). Prof Judith Rees on Adaptation to climate change: Policy, economics and Governance. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glMuCzubhQg (n.d.). (Department of Electronics and IT, Govt. of India) Retrieved August 31, 2013 from National e Governance Plan: http://negp.gov.in
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SMARTER ECONOMY Advisor: Mr. Madhav Raman | Architect, Anagram Architects Chairperson: Mr. K.K. Pandey | Economist, IIPA. Resource persons: Dinesh Mohan | Professor of Transport Planning, IIT Delhi Amitabh Kundu | Professor, JNU Delhi Partha Mukhopadhaya | Senior Fellow, CPR Sumangla Damodaran | Professor, Ambedkar University Mukta Naik | Professor, SPA New Delhi Mr. Chetan Vaidya | Director, SPA New Delhi
Presented by: Aditi Gupta Antara Tandon Avinav Malhotra Kanika Jain
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Abstract “Cities are the powerhouses of the economy”- Edward Glaeser Cities have been centers of economic activity since their inception. They are an agglomeration of people, activity, opportunity and ideas, which are subject to physical dimensions of space. Urban economics focuses on these spatial relationships to understand the economic motivations underlying the formation, functioning, development and management of cities. In this paper we explore linkages between economics and city form. As students of architecture we observe how the city’s spatial structure impacts economy and efficiency; or vice versa. India is witnessing large scale urbanization, pressing the need for efficient management of the limited resources. Our research framework is thus classified into size and density, land management, service management and social development. Through the aforementioned categories, this paper explores planning decisions, policies and organizational framework that have an economic impact on the city of Delhi. The location of industries for example influences the city demographic, urban form and transport networks. The analysis keeps in mind the need for socio-economic development and to remain inclusive, which is reflected in decisions taken by policy makers and communities. The choice to implement a decision may have one of two consequences, but nevertheless should be aimed towards positive change. At the heart of all cities lies financial growth and interaction, thus it becomes imperative that we understand urban economics. An understanding of the interdependence of economic motivations and societal changes is essential for architects, planners to recognize and address while planning and designing the spatial fabric of the city. Built forms may facilitate or inhibit, shift economic equilibrium, encourage or discourage, or otherwise affect socio-economic activity and growth. Therefore as architects and future planners, it becomes extremely important to monitor the constantly evolving spatial structure of cities and use it to supplement our knowledge of urban design. The ‘smarter city’ movement is fast gaining ground world over, with new cities being planned world over. This ideology has also spread to India. Delhi is one of the largest agglomerations in the world making it extremely critical to manage its resources efficiently. Through this paper we attempt to define a smart city as one which constantly evolves, to remain sustainable with reference to Delhi. The paper raises a few questions on the relationship between the spatial structure of the city and its impact on its efficiency. Since economics is a study of how resources are managed and allocated, the paper raises important questions regarding the status quo of essential public utilities (water, electricity) and land-a crucial resource. This paper focuses on the impact economic decisions have on the city’s inhabitants.
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Why Smarter Indian City? India houses 17.5% of world population, on 2% of world’s land (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 2011) therefore putting immense pressure on its limited resources like land, water etc. As per 2011 Census reports, urban population in India is 31.7% of the total population, that is 286.2 million people (IIHS, 2011). This figure is set to rise to 600 million people by the year 2031, leading to a significant jump of 200 million people in urban areas in just 20 years (Planning Commission Of India, 2011). In 2011 there were 3 cities in the world with a population greater than 10 million and 53 cities with population greater than 1 million. Delhi being one of the three had a population of 16 million (Figure 3.1). (IIHS, 2011). The graph drawn for ‘53 million+’ cities of India, occupy a negligible proportion of land approx. 1%, housing almost 15% of population and generating an output of approx. 33% of GDP(Gross Domestic Product).
Figure 3.1 Graph showing comparison of resources utilized by cities v/s their productivity; Source: IIHS Analysis: 2011
The share of contribution of urban areas to national GDP has increased from 52% in 2004-05 to 62-63% in 2009-10 (Planning Commission Of India, 2011), therefore highlighting the need for cities to develop ‘smartly’. The important question to be raised here is what attracts people to cities? In cities, people, travel less; and consume more. Cities generate jobs and together they generate ideas.
Figure 3.2 Dynamic relationship between urban form and its parameters; Source: Authors
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These are the benefits arising out of proximity and competition, in other words, the benefits of agglomeration. Agglomeration centres like Nehru Place, chemists in a local shopping market, car showrooms in Mohan co-operative help us understand the benefits of clustering, and thus aid in designing cities. To summarize the above, in a city, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts where people become smarter by being close to one another. These, economic moves aimed at agglomeration have a direct impact on city structure and conversely, the urban form affects the economic output of the city which will be elaborated upon in the following sections. It is thus becomes essential for India and its cities to comprehensively plan and approach its urbanization, as this affects the present economic growth, resources and above all its people. This paper therefore explores the economy of a smart-er Indian city taking the case of its megapolis and capital, Delhi. Retrofitting a city to be smarter mainly beckons authorities to manage it efficiently. This efficiency needs to be evaluated periodically to sustain smartness.
Theoretical Background Urban Economics “Urban economics is broadly the economic study of urban areas; as such, it involves using the tools of economics to analyze urban issues such as crime, education, public transit, housing, and local government finance. More narrowly, it is a branch of microeconomics that studies urban spatial structure and the location of households and firms.�(Quigley 2008) Cities having agglomeration benefits are able to generate unprecedented economies of scale and become centers of economic activity. With increase in employment opportunity and the promise of a better life, migration from rural to urban areas results in increasing population and in turn economic output. Urban economic theory conceptualizes cities as a trade- off between agglomeration benefits and congestion costs. (Rossi-Hansberg, 2007).
Figure 3.3 Cities as sites of opportunity; Source: Authors
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Theories of Urban Economics Edward Glaeser: Glaeser’s economic approach to urban policy emphasizes the need to focus on people, rather than places. The ultimate need for the policy is to anticipate the mobility of people and firms. The need to account for this spatial proximity of people to other people and resources leads to a linear utility function defined as spatial equilibrium which can be summarized in a simplified equation as:Income + Amenities – Housing Costs – Transportation Costs Although this model may not hold with increasing decentralization and poly-centric cities, equilibrium would be achieved with a balance between benefits of density and density costs.
Atanu Dey: Larger cities tend to produce disproportionately more of the innovations, advances and the production of all types of goods and services. A larger economy is better equipped to withstand changes in the global market. Stability is a function of its size. Atanu Dey believes a person living in a mega region is eight times as productive in terms of goods and services and twenty four times as productive in terms of innovation as compared to a person not living in a mega region. Division of labor and specialization allows greater creation of wealth that goes against Jane Jacobs views that division of labor is merely a management issue and does not affect productivity (Jacobs, 1970). Dey believes that India has an advantage where cities can be built from scratch and there is no burden of legacy for example India leapfrogged the telecommunications system’s twisted copper wire stage and went straight to the more efficient wireless systems illustrating that sometimes it helps to arrive late. However, Jayati Ghosh (2013) believes that a country cannot leapfrog important development stages like industrialization. While larger maybe better, administering and managing a large economy is difficult.
Geoffrey B. West The conventional way to compare and rank cities for instance on their wealth creation or crime, is to use the rank order of per capita measures of performance. However, per capita indicators conflate general effects of urbanization, common to all cities as a function of their population size, with local events and dynamics that are specific to particular places. Well known composite indices rate urban performance and quality of life primarily as linear combinations of per capita quantities. The author explains that this approach is unsuitable for characterizing and comparing cities because it ignores the fundamental emergent phenomenon of agglomeration resulting from non-linear interactions in social dynamics and organization as cities grow. This theory when applied to a city implies that for a certain increase in population leads to direct impact on GDP, crime rates, AIDS, income. But after a point the relationship exhibits non-linearity due to economies of scale resulting out of agglomerations. This nature also holds true for the level of innovation in a city.
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City’s Spatial Structure Parameters Size and Scale: The physical parameters that define a city including population and geographical limits offer innate advantages for it to be efficient. There exists a correlation between city size and efficiency as illustrated by the theories of Glaeser, Dey and West in the previous section. Urban Size: The larger city and city size debate started by Alonso in 1971 (Camagni, 2013) questioned ‘how big is too big?’ and ‘how big is big enough?’ on one hand and on the other argued that optimal city size will vary from city to city and society to society. There may not exist a single optimal size to achieve maximum economic efficiency although there is no doubt that benefit of scale stems from proximity and sharing of resources. The most populous cities are seen to have the largest share in the state’s or country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nationally and internationally
Figure 3.4 Table showing global cities with GDP; Source:Various
Denser cities optimize resources and energy by clustering people together in smaller footprints. These models largely theorized for mono-centric cities calculate cost with a Central Business District in view. Higher densities at the core result in greater efficiencies of people, resources and infrastructure. Low-density zoning although ensuring large open spaces to city dwellers, lead to urban sprawl increasing the infrastructure network and its capital and operating costs. (Bertaud, 2001) This theory has also been studied extensively by Edward Glaser. Urban Densities: The theories mentioned in the previous section may not apply to the Indian context as they are poly-centric. Added to that most Indian cities are already high in density compared to other international counterparts and hence have an advantage to be efficient with high levels of agglomeration and economies of scale. Delhi (NCT) is one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world; therefore it has potential to be highly efficient. With scale and density at its disposal, it becomes critical to look at the urban form that can augment the economic interactions of the city and make it smarter.
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Figure 3.5 Factfile of major Indian cities; Source: Various
The density of Delhi is not uniform, varying from 3500 p/Ha in the illegal settlements to 37p/ Ha in the Lutyen’s Bungalow Zone. (Grover, 2010) The distribution of densities within this city with different regional planning concepts like district centers, group housings and urban villages require different approaches to be efficiently managed. Integrated planning and management models would help a city function along a successful agglomeration principle. (Atiqur Rahman, 2010).
Spatial Equilibrium All cities aim towards achieving high levels of efficiency and settle at different levels of equilibrium. Although always in dynamic equilibrium, certain decisions made in the city like transport systems and industry location or events of international importance tend to shift this equilibrium quotient.
Figure 3.6 Dislocation impacting equilibrium; Source: Authors
To enunciate on this, we examined the relocation of industries from Delhi to its periphery. The writ petition filed by MC Mehta was passed in 1996, resulting in massive industry relocation. The move had ecological motives and we speculate it to have agglomeration benefits outside the city but the fact that this trade off was met with increased transportation expenses to move goods and labor in and out of the city must be taken into account. It also affects family setup, consumption pattern and often leads to change in employment By resettling people near the factories, there is a high cost involved for laying water-supply networks, upto the tune of Rs.20,250/- per DU (MoHUPA, 2013). Also, when a government decides to subsidize the cost of transportation to bring people
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to the city from faraway places, it impacts this spatial relation by encouraging people to reside at the periphery as compared to people residing in the city center and paying greater housing rents. Urban costs (Sidorov) usually include housing and transportation costs as the large consumer expenditure. Land policies like the Land Acquisition Act and Land Ceiling Act also tend to sway the equilibrium by shifting the interests of the people. The land policy regulations tend to sway the equilibrium of a city; impacting people of various income groups in different ways, conforming to affordability of services and travel costs. A deeper understanding of the impact of these policies across different age groups and income groups (Mukhopadhaya, interview) would equip the agencies responsible to plan ahead in a more comprehensive way, making the city respond promptly and hence smarter. Similarly, Transit Oriented Development being debated by UTTIPEC has two facets. Intended to increase the reliance on the public infrastructure it in turn results in increasing cost of land, making it unaffordable for most of the metro users to reside (Mohan, interview)
Figure 3.7 Dynamic relation between metro and land value; Source: Authors
This dichotomy needs a smarter policy where the distance from the metro and the housing cost meet a balance. This equilibrium is achieved when location costs equal location benefits. (Camagni, 2013) These decisions while increasing productivity in one sphere may decrease it in another. A case of win-win is rarely seen in urban spatial strategies. The choice to implement certain policies will never be a solely technical decision; political and social undertones will set the priorities to be achieved.
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Land Management Land is a critical resource at the disposal of an urban area; therefore its management also assumes certain significance. Upon observation one realizes the apparent relationship between demand and supply of land and its price which in turn is heavily influenced by urban policies adopted by the government. Today, cities of developing countries, like Delhi are facing increasing pressure in land management due to fast changing socio economic patterns, increase in population and rapid urbanization (Mukhopadhaya, 2013).The physical planning processes have not been able to effectively assess the pace of economic development. This situation has led to alteration in the framework of physical development within and outside the city (Uttarwar, 2012). The government took certain initiatives to ensure efficiency in land management, which have had adverse effects. Some of the core issues lie in: policies and regulations, zoning and finance. It has been suggested that to overcome these constraints it will be necessary for governments to recognize the natural market and work with it, rather than ignore or oppose it as at present. (Sivam, 2002).
Government Policies and Regulations Land is a limited city resource, leading to increased competition. Government adopts various methods like preparing land policies, establishes various agencies which in turn also formulate regulations to ensure planned and controlled development of the city. However, it has been noted that excessive regulations and irrelevant/old policies lead to higher rate of informal and unplanned development (Dowall, 1992) (Bertaud, 2002). The point to be highlighted here is that these frameworks have created artificial land scarcity which has led to large scale establishments of these informal settlements. Amidst this, the major outcome of these informal approaches is the relatively efficient provision of low-cost shelter (Dowall, 1992). The regulations and legal framework setup by the government provide housing which is often inadequate and the price of which is beyond the affordability of the target population.
Figure 3.8 Demand and Supply of land; Source: Authors
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As a result of which these people often have to step outside the formal land market to gain access to land (Sivam, 2002) (Dowall, 1992). Generally, in cities of developing countries the informal land market is much bigger than the formal market and has been found to flourish in vacant or peripheral city land. In the case of Delhi it was noted to provide housing to 49% of population in 2000 (Sivam, 2002). These developments by the virtue of being informal are not equipped with basic infrastructure services like water, electricity, roads etc. The social and economic costs of rent control regulation in India, along with the Urban Land Ceiling Act outweigh the benefits they were intended to provide (Bertaud, 2002). Land use regulations have both costs and benefits, which vary with time therefore making it imperative for constant evaluation of the existing policies. When regulatory costs exceed benefits, regulations should be modified or revoked as they can impose a serious drag on the economic development.
Zoning Policies and Master Plan “There are many cities that still have master plans prescribing the direction of urban growth, where the broad objective is to guide the development for a specific time period and proficiently fulfill the objectives of government. However, experience has shown that master plans tend to be static and fail to consider the consequences of the changing economic demand for space.” (Sivam, 2002) An example highlighting the above statement: any change of land use, requires lengthy negotiation under Master plan regulations to become effective. This is particularly crucial at the periphery of these cities, where agricultural land is converted to urban land use. (Bertaud, 2002) This phenomenon is also observed within the cities in the form of “dead land” within city. Dowall (1991) notes that these plans also ignore how households and the commercial sector alter their demand for land as prices change. In addition, some regulations have a negative impact on the spatial structure of cities. In many cases master plans limit the amount of built up area on a piece of land in centrally located areas, pushing development to the periphery of the city. Gurgaon and Noida have taken advantage of Delhi’s shortcomings with high economic activity supported by dense residential option in the formal sectors (Audience Response, 2013). As a result, public infrastructure has to be extended further and commuting trips become longer. Bertaud (2002) believes that these controls are not objectionable per se, but the parameters used are often arbitrary and have been set without taking into account the efficiency of city structure or the affordability of different social groups” (Bertaud, 2002)
Finances In most of the developing countries finance systems for consumers and developers are not well developed. It has been noted that institutional financing is limited to only formal settlements which constitutes about 20% of home purchases in these countries (Sivam, 2002).Lower income people having small savings are mandated to pay for property outright making it difficult for them to buy home. Often even after government subsidy, land costs are beyond the reach of the targeted population. For example, in Delhi, the middle-income group eventually occupies housing constructed for the lower-income group, because the low-income target group cannot afford it. Therefore, the target group sold their houses for a premium, (Sivam, 2002) making it an investment opportunity for the affluent.
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Taxes In Delhi, taxes do not appear to pose a limitation on the private buying and selling of land. The main land transfer levy is the stamp duty, which is a percentage of the declared land price varying from state to state. It is widely believed that record transaction prices (calculated on the basis of circle rates) are substantially understated in order to reduce transaction taxes and fees, and ‘‘for conversion of black money into white money’’ (Sivam, 2002). Parallel governance in the form of land and parking mafia are taking away a large part of public finance that could help provide services and infrastructure (Audience Response, 2013). Property tax and stamp duty constitutes 24% of MCD revenue. The corporation uses these funds for the maintenance of the city, like-upkeep of roads, parks, run schools and dispensaries etc. Thus broadly it can be concluded that inappropriate circle rates have a direct impact on the condition of roads and parks in a city. To conclude, it can be argued that tax instruments have largely been unsuccessful to contribute to the efficient use of land. So far, they have been isolated revenue-generation instrument, and even as such they have been unsuccessful (Baken & Van-der Linden, 1992).
Figure 3.9 Zoning failure results in daily travel of people in the city; Source: Authors
Figure 3.10 Black market booming; Source: Authors
Examples A car is allotted 23sqm for parking as per ECS(Equivalent Car Space), which in the case of Delhi is predominantly on public land. On the other hand a family in EWS Economically Weaker Section) housing scheme is allotted 25sqm (UTTIPEC, 2010)
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Figure 3.12 Re-evaluating priority; Source: Authors
Based on the number of private vehicles-cars and motorcycles registered in Delhi in 2011 it has been calculated that the area occupied them equals 5% of land in Delhi “Delhi allots more public land per day for parking cars than it does to house its poor. And all this for only 20 per cent of city’s population which have a family car, based on figures of the 2008 Household Survey by the Department of Transport, GNCTD. “ (UTTIPEC, 2010) Municipal Corporation of Delhi charges a vehicle registration tax on sale of new cars, this rate is not only grossly low about 5%, but is also levied only once during the sale of the car. These policies in no manner aid in reducing the number of cars in Delhi. Moreover the parking charges in many of government owned parking are kept at Rs. 10 for 12 hours, exclusive of any consideration of the market rents in the localities. Taking the case of Greater Kailash locality, where the rent for 23sqm in a residential area works out to Rs.6900 per month and a commercial space in Rs.25000 per month (UTTIPEC, 2010).
Figure 3.13 Calculated parking rates in correspondence with land value; Source: Authors
Levying a charge of Rs. 600 per month/car (calculated at Rs. 10 for 12 hours) is by no means comparable. So, cars get a sizable hidden subsidy in the form of cheap parking land. It is this subsidy that allows more people to own cars.
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Utility Management Overview of utilities Water: The Delhi Government reconstituted the Delhi Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Undertaking into the Delhi Jal Board for management of water supply and sewerage and waste water collection, treatment in the National Capital Territiry of Delhi. DJB has succeeded in meeting their operating expenses from 2010-11. No ‘Non-Plan’ Assistance was provided to them during 2010-11 and 2011-12. DJB has repaid principal amount of Rs.81.36 crore to Delhi Government during 2011-12 for first time since its formation. (Survey, 2012-2013) Electricity: From a single state electricity board (Delhi Vidyut Board), the entire electricity utility has been divided into 7 independent companies: namely three distribution companies (BSES-Rajdhani, BSES-Yamuna and NDPL), one transmission company (DTL), two generation companies (IPGCL and PPCL) and one holding company (DPCL).Government assistance is not being provided to any of the government owned companies except DPCL for the CPSU dues and as subsidy through the private distribution companies to the consumers. Transport: The handling of the transport utility is fairly complicated, in its ownership and hence maintenance of roads is undertaken by different agencies (NHAI, PWD, MCD, NDMC, DCB, DDA and DSIIDC).Besides this, there is an intrastate bus system maintained by DTC and a centrally funded MRTS run by the DMRC. The DTC generates working loss that is the deficit between its operating costs and incomes. This loss was compensated for by the NCT in the form of non-plan loan, non-plan grant, conversion of interest into non-plan loan and additional subsidy. This policy has seen drastic change since 2011. The GNCTD has 15% equity share in DMRC and avails tax benefits to post complete recovery of operational costs. (RITES, 1995) NHAI: National Highway Authority of India; PWD: Public Works Department; NDMC: New Delhi Municipal Corporation; DCB: Delhi Cantonment Board; DDA: Delhi Development Authority; DSIISC: Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Cooperation; DTC: Delhi Trasport Corporation; MRTS: Mass Rapid Transit System; DMRC: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
Identifying inefficiency Losses in water The total demand of water of Delhi is estimated at about 750 Million Gallons Daily out of which, the Delhi Jal Board procures 600 MGD of water. With 30-40% loss during treatment and another 20-30% loss during distribution, it finally only manages to supply 210 MGD or 28% of the total water requirement of Delhi. This leads to a lot of illegal connections depleting our water resources without being accounted for (Raghunandan, 2012).
Losses in Electricity Aggregate Transmission and Commercial losses are calculated to measure the efficiency of the overall distribution business. It was stated to be 18.5% in 2010-11, much better than 52% in the pre-privatization reforms era (pre 2002). The major contributors to state Public Sector Units
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profit in 2009-10 were Pragati Power Corporation Limited (Rs.147.34 crore), Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited (Rs.120.67 crore), Delhi Transco Limited (Rs.93.09 crore) and Delhi Power Company Limited (Rs.59.40 crore). (CAG, 2010) Data from the CAG report shows how the Electricity utility has posted per unit profits since 2008 which derives from efficient manpower management and restructuring of contracts with GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited).
Figure 3.14 Tracking down leaks in the water supply systems; Source: Authhors
Figure 3.15 Privatisation improving efficiency; Source: Authors
Losses in Transport While the DTC was continually identified as a loss making enterprise, state policy has changed since and funding earlier listed as non-plan loan is now listed as non-plan grant. The state govt. has released non-plan grant of Rs. 700 crore in the year 2012-13 to cover the deficit of 666.35 crore (Survey, 2012-2013) The losses of DTC were mainly attributable to deficiencies in financial management, planning, implementation of projects, running of operations and monitoring (CAG, 2010)
Privatization as a means to improve efficiency Electricity and distribution: To cope with immense losses, the DVB was reconstituted and the distribution services were privatized. Distribution companies (DisCom) were to receive 16 percent guaranteed revenues on their assets till 2007. Precondition for this was that they achieve their AT&C loss reduction target and that their investments are approved by the Regulatory Commission. (Stamminger, 2002) To keep electricity prices down and to avoid a tariff shock, a loan of Rs.2,600 crore or of maximum Rs.3,450 crore was granted to each transmission company. As the losses of DISCOMs decreased every year, they were slowly able to charge consumers the full price of supply and so the money needed to fill the gap between actual electricity supply costs. The loan had to be repaid by GENCO, TRANSCO and the three distribution companies within 13 years to the holding company. (Stamminger, 2002)
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This model was criticized because it was understood that too many large concessions were granted to favored bidders that would eventually have to be paid by the consumers and taxpayers themselves. This naturally resulted in a high return of equity for the private companies. The apparent lack of incentive on the part of the companies to decrease AT&C loss beyond the targets and excessive billing to compensate for stolen units were shortcomings of the privatization model. (Haldea, 2002) Water treatment and generation: It has been asserted, as in 2005, that the privatization of the water utility is merely a limited contract for management of water distribution given to some reputed private parties after a tendering process and that ownership of all water sources, treatment and distribution assets will remain with the government. It was further asserted that citizens in these pilot areas will surely benefit from 24x7 water supply brought about by more efficient management. (Raghunandan, 2012). This is not supplemented with any initiative aimed at increasing raw water input, water harvesting or increasing ground water levels, so the shuffling of already scarce water to certain agencies is questionable. Moreover, privatization does not cover any of the areas where water is currently being lost. The private partners, handling treatment, are given benefits and relaxation in operational norms to discount their profits. The whole structure is designed to facilitate higher tariffs and ever higher payments by the Delhi government and the citizens, while encouraging poor maintenance and infrastructure development, which remains with the DJB. (Raghunandan, 2012) “Privatization of services is an option but controls and regulations should be enforced. For example, Gurgaon Toll causes inconvenience to the customer at the expense of the private party. Also, parallel governance in the form of land mafia and parking mafia taking away a large part of public finance that could help provide services and infrastructure.� (Audience Response, 2013)
Subsidization as a means to improve efficiency Affordability Affordability is defined as a measure of the ability of an individual to purchase a particular item. In the case of water, when water costs make water unaffordable, it can pose a health and safety issue and a myriad of administrative and political problems. Water affordability, hence, is typically measured by the annual cost of water bills as a percentage of median household income. (Institute, 2012) Different income groups hence post different levels of affordability. According to the CPHEEO and the Ministry of Urban Development guidelines, the requirement of minimum water per capita daily is 227 litres. The agencies should strive to identify these levels of affordability and provide the threshold resources at affordable rates. Subsequent usage of extra resources may be charged at uniform rates to prevent illegal arbitrage.
Subsidy Levels of affordability within a community may vary according to quality of resources provided and the income brackets selected. The cost per unit to the respective agency depends on entirely independent criteria. Thus the cost per unit may rise higher than the levels of affordability. In such cases, the agencies will have to subsidize resources and recover operational costs elsewhere. These can be overcome only in two ways, reducing cost per unit/wastage/inefficiency through
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systems mentioned above or gradually increase rates with rising levels of affordability.
Critical Analysis
Affordability is an inherent characteristic of a particular income group in an urban setting. In a utility cost function it depends on the value that society puts on a certain resource as also on the cost of that resource per unit. This cost per unit is derived from the cost the government bears to produce and transmit a unit of the resource. Marginal costs are the costs to produce every subsequent unit of resource once all fixed infrastructure costs are taken care of. Both of these criteria go together and determine whether the agency profits from the endeavor. The economics of resources like water and electricity follow the law of diminishing returns .
Figure 3.16 Graph depicting law of diminishing returns and its application for differencial pricing; Source: Authors
That is to say that after crossing the basic threshold of bare minimum per capita consumption, every extra unit consumed provides lesser and lesser happiness, lesser and lesser utility. Strategies of revenue collection, like differential pricing try to mimic these curves, charging more for resources consumed beyond threshold limits. Errant privatization turns out unsuccessful precisely because of this difference between marginal costs and affordability levels. Privatization should firstly be targeted at areas of least efficiency. Secondly, they should be targeted to increase this efficiency, not increase marginal costs that translate to increased tariffs. The role of ICT in utilities sector
Power It is said by TERI that ICT can bring increase efficiency across all areas of power sector- generation to collection of revenues. In AT&C, which is the weakest link in the system, (distribution and collection of revenues) ICT can significantly bring about efficiency. Technology has the potential to contribute at consumer end areas- particularly in business process automation, revenue and commercial management, distribution system automation, consumer relationship management (CRM). The static distribution grid system is proposed to be converted to smart grid where information regarding usage is relayed real time to the distribution companies, increasing control
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and enable monitoring of the distribution system. In Delhi, TPDDL and BSES have employed smart meters, which aim to substantially reduce revenue loss incurred from huge AT&C losses (TERI,NASSCOM, 2011).
Water DJB aims to provide increased quantity of per capita water to its population. In the present scenario the water agency has to buy much of the water from other states, thereby incurring heavy expenditure. In India the water agencies are usually burdened with great quantity of unaccounted water due to leakages, thefts, metering inaccuracies and losses (TERI,NASSCOM, 2011). Some of the ways in which ICT can be useful in increasing water efficiency are by providing real time data on the usage of water like smart meters and GIS which could curb thefts, non-transparent billing, contamination level checks and leaks. Technology could also inform industries their pattern of water consumption, which could lead to reduction in their demand, in return providing cost benefits.
Figure 3.17 Table showing economic prosperity and life expectency across; Source: World Development Report, 1987
The table shows that a country can be very rich in conventional economic terms (i.e., in terms of the value of commodities produced per capita) and still be very poor in the achieved quality of human life.
Figure 3.18 Skewed relationship; Source: Authors
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Economic growth should be accompanied by economic development and the focus of investment should lie in developing human capital as professed by welfare economist, Amartya Sen. He believes that in the Indian context, it is imperative to focus on health and education. “The crucial lesson that emerges is that the old-fashioned view of ‘grow first and worry about human development later’ is not supported by the evidence. Improving levels of education and health should have priority or move in parallel with efforts to directly enhance growth.” (Ranis, 2004) Being a cyclic process Sen also states that economic growth generates extra income which when employed to meet social commitments will further lead to economic growth by increasing human capabilities (Sen & Dreze, 2013). The authors of this paper believe the same. The choices relating to economic growth are the ones that the government has to make carefully. Human development, as an efficient approach, is advancing the richness of human life, rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live. The economy is only a small part of it. Human capital can be invested in by directing funds into shelter and security; education and entrepreneurial development; and health and sanitation
Figure 3.19 Key sectors of investment; Source: Authors
Choice of investment: Housing and shelter as priority Around 2.15 million city inhabitants live in slums that constitute almost 13% of Delhi’s population (Delhi Planning Commission, 2012). The Census (2001) of India has defined Slum as “a compact area of at least 300 people or about 60- 70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.” Out of the 477 slums in Delhi, 475 are located in government land and only 2 are on private land. The entire cost of slum habitation is to be borne by the government & indirectly tax payers. Development projects like the MRTS have had a direct negative impact on the poor. Building the MRTS increases land values, displacing the poor to the periphery. This in turn calls for building low cost shelters for the poor. Dinesh Mohan, for example speculates that the DMRC could possibly be a costly mistake. (Mohan, Interview, 2013).The Metro carries only about 5% of the total population of Delhi (at peak traffic). Therefore the poor are being displaced at the cost of development for five percent of the city. The Metro has been running into losses since its inception. The government has huge debts to pay and yet, other cities in the country are getting similar MRTS systems. (JNNURM) The relevance of the Delhi Metro in The Delhi Transit system is being criticized. (Mohan, 2008)
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Comparing the cost of building the metro to the cost of rehabilitating the poor reveals interesting observations. The government spends 170 crore in constructing a kilometer of metro. The average size of a dwelling unit is 25sq. m. and the cost of building one unit is about 5 lakh rupees. If every km of the Metro was built in 170 crores, then for every km of metro, 3400 low income homes can be built. Despite being empirical, such statements put into perspective impact of governmental decisions. To elaborate upon this further, let’s examine the funding of metro’s pilot line (25km). The cost of constructing the project can otherwise fund to make 90, 100-bed hospitals in the city
Figure 3.20 Growth v/s Development tradeoff; Source: Author
Efficient diversion of revenues into development: Education and entrepreneurial development As mentioned earlier, education as a factor of human capital development, is the most critical input for empowering people with skills and knowledge. It strongly influences improvement in health, hygiene, demographic profile, productivity and practically all that is connected with the quality of life. It plays a major role in improving economic opportunities for people and enhancing their quality of life by building capabilities, enhancing skill levels and providing more employment. Govt. expenditure on education is currently under 2% of the GSDP. (Delhi Planning Commission, 2012).
Figure 3.21 Education has catalytic effect; Source: Author
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The literacy rate is 81% in NCT. Education is also known to catalyze economic growth through enhancing productivity, creating diversity advantages and capacity building. Educating a certain number of citizens leads to a chain reaction, which expands at an exponential rate. Therefore investing in education is a sustainable contribution to economic growth and socio-economic development (3.21 Education has catalytic effect; Authors). To support the above arguments, an institution that could increase its efficiency by redirecting funds and altering subsidy is the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Major functions of MCD are: city cleanliness, solid waste management, maintenance of gardens/dividers/circles, street light, biomedical waste, slaughter house, stray cattle management, community toilets, community halls, parking lots, development works in health and education, sanitation etc., property tax, licensing and advertisement. As discussed in the section of land management inefficiency, parking lots under the MCD are highly subsidized. Considering that only 17% of Delhi owns cars, and is therefore more affluent than the rest, parking is highly subsidized. Delhi’s Municipal Corporation charges Rs.10 for parking per parking spot per car. This figure is the lowest around the world. Land value in the city is one of the highest among cities in the world. MCD can optimize the revenue generated from parking and direct it into development for a healthier wealth distribution. Comparing the effect of increase in parking rates and channelization of this revenue into education, we find there would be a substantial shift in the number of children being educated and the quality of education. Parking space is charged at Rs.10/12hrs/parking spot in many areas of the city. If the rate was to be doubled, the extra revenue generated could educate 12 girls for 1 year or one girl through her school life. Each parking space charged at Rs.10/12 years for a month can otherwise feed 2 children for 6 months or 1 child for a year
Figure 3.22 Deriving social good from parking cars; Source: Authors
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Regularization/ privatization of institutions to make provision for development: Health and Sanitation In Delhi, health care facilities are being provided by both Government & NonGovernment organizations. Among the Government Organizations, Directorate of Health Services (DHS) of Government NCT of Delhi is the major agency related to health care delivery. Commonly reported averages of the health status of the urban population mask the worrying health conditions of the urban poor. The infant mortality for the poor is more than double at 94.4 as compared to average figure of 46 for urban Delhi. Similarly, under-five mortality rate is 135.5 compared to the urban average of 58.4. Only about one-fourth of the children are completely immunized by the age of one year amongst the urban poor population. Nearly 69% of the deliveries take place at home without a trained health professional which may risk the life of the mother and new born child. (MoHFW, 2007) Public health expenditure undertaken by the Government of Delhi, over the past twenty years, has consistently remained over 6 percent of the total plan budget. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan, Delhi allocated 10.35 per cent of its plan outlay for health - the highest by any state government s in the country. Delhi’s per capita expenditure on health is more than three times the national per capita expenditure on health. Despite these investments in health, the access of health services to the poor in Delhi is grossly inadequate. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the bed population ratio to be achieved by the year 2000 was 5/1000 population. However, even after the government’s efforts, in 2011, the hospital bed population ratio increased to only 2.55/1000 population. In Delhi, there are a multitude of institutions which manage health facilities. This results in a lack of clarity in roles and duplication of services. Aligning these different health facilities and allocating defined catchment areas to each facility will ensure more accountable healthcare to the slums and urban poor.
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Conclusions Size and Scale •
The fact that cities persist and thrive is testimony to the socio-economic benefits of agglomeration. Studying agglomeration advantages can help plan cities better. Isolated economic gain is rarely the sole motive for policy (specially governmental policy) Every city tends to spatial equilibrium. Various forces are at play to determine this shift in equilibrium. An understanding of the dynamic relation between these forces would help decision makers to realistically set and achieve targets and efficiently predict equilibrium state.
• •
There exists an upper limit to city size and where all these laws are applicable but as in the case of Delhi which has become a megapolis and there are large urbanized corridors linking one city to the next, these need to executed within the city in smaller pockets. (Audience Response, 2013)
Land Management • • • •
Informal land markets, created due to deficiencies in formal market, currently cover almost half of all land transactions and bringing them into the ambit of formal land transaction could greatly impact land revenues and pricing. Land management policy is formed with very static ideals and they are not equipped to change along with changing demographics and age groups. The policy formulated to tackle new problems hence tends to be disjointed from urban land policy. The idea of ownership of land has assumed greater importance than necessary. Ownership of land formalizes residence in the city and grants access to other utilities. A more robust long-term rental option is needed to offset the large divide in land values. Certain land uses in a city are necessary, even though their associated opportunity cost might not be optimum. There are inefficiencies in allocation and treatment of these land resources. Moreover, there is also need of more top-down identification of certain components, which are currently not addressed.
Utilities and Services • • •
It is important to identify areas where maximum losses are incurred by utilities and target those aspects while keeping sunk costs, permanent infrastructure costs, maintenance and running costs in mind. Privatization, while apparently looking to increase efficiencies greatly, might actually transfer subsidy given to operator onto the consumer. This creates greater per unit prices that are not accounted for. An in-depth understanding of equity in these partnerships and modes of subsidy is essential. The distribution of utility, while catering to affordability might still need to be subsidized. It is imperative that both these are balanced, along with other important factors like basic necessities per capita, and are hence differentially available and priced.
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Social Development • Projects like the Delhi Metro are capital intensive. There is debate on whether the returns on investment are worthy of this effort. Similar capital investment in other fields seems to offer better socio-economic returns and these diversions of investment need to be explored. • Generating revenues in one department, where they are marginal compared to total revenues and channeling them into other fields triggers cyclical socio-economic development.
Acknowledgements Firstly, we would like to express our deep gratitude to Professor. Madhav Raman for his valuable guidance and bringing out the better in us. Dr. Ranjana Mital and Dr. Jaya Kumar made this task enjoyable while fostering learning in all our interactions. We would also like to thank our resource persons Professor Sumangala Damodaran, Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Mr Partha Mukopadhaya and Prof. Dinesh Mohan for helping us resolve the complexity and enriching us by sharing their experiences. We would like to thank our fellow classmates for the untiring discussions and challenges they helped us negotiate through the course of this paper.
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SMARTER INTER CITY MOBILITY Advisor: Mr.Sandip Kumar | Architect Faculty, SPA New Delhi Chairperson: Prof. Dinesh Mohan | Chair Professor Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, IIT Delhi. Resource persons: Prof. Sanjay Gupta | Professor Transport Planning, SPA New Delhi Mr. Amitesh Kumar Sinha | Economics Department, Railways. Mr. Pawan Gupta | Architect
Presented by: Pratik Anand Rishi Gangwar Shivram Maurya
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Abstract The significance of mobility is deep rooted in the history of civilizations. Being mobile does not only provide economic and social cohere, it also gives you a sense of freedom and connection. It was the mobility which lead to the progress of civilization. Industrialization flourished due to mobility and made possible the exploitation of resources and the existence of urban nodes away from agricultural lands. It was the mobility that allowed the movement of large number of people to these urban nodes, leading to urbanization. Urbanization usually accompanies social and economic development, but in the global south the rapid urban growth on today’s scale strains its capacity to sustain efficiently. The seminar is focused on understanding the linkages between economy and mobility and their consequences. How the social aspect is being overlooked at the expense of understanding the technological and policy aspect. What are the adverse effects on the environment and what is the future picture when viewed under the mobility framework? This paper aims to explore the various aspects of managing mobility through different perspectives, basing its case in the global south.
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Introduction The significance of mobility is deep rooted in the history of civilizations. Being mobile does not only provide economic and social coherence, it also gives you a sense of freedom and connection. According to Vere Gordon Childe, civilization progressed with mobility and cities evolved as urban nodes. These urban nodes came up as a result of trade and social development. They became centres of concentrated economic activities and provided services and infrastructure to develop. Societies gain enormous benefits by being mobile, as economies have become more globalised and as the new communications infrastructure allows international networking and travel at a low cost. There has been a true internationalisation of all activities, and mobility forms an essential part of that process. At an early stage of the development process, and by implication in many developing countries, it is the provision of mobility which leads to widening of markets, increased production and associated multiplier effect of an economic and social nature. (White 1983) Cities in their present form are a result of industrialisation, when a large number of people moved to cities in search of jobs, mostly in factories, and since then there has been an unprecedented growth in the number and size of cities worldwide. This process is called “urbanization�. (United Nations, 2004) Improvement in transport and the relative reduction in transport costs have made it easier to commute between an urban area and its surrounding rural areas or to migrate temporarily from rural to urban areas. As a result, an increasing number of people find temporary or permanent urban employment in the urban areas. (Shyam 2008) In this rapidly urbanising world, half the global population lives in towns and cities. In little more than a generation from now, it is projected that two thirds of humanity will be urban. (United Nations, 2004) The characteristic and uniqueness of city is being lost due to lifeless, endless sprawl. In the past few decades the environmental and social consequences of rapid urbanization is being debated and regarded as unsustainable. Urbanization usually accompanies social and economic development, but in the global south the rapid urban growth strains the capacity of local and national governments to provide even the most basic of services such as water, electricity and sewerage. This leads cities to worst of their condition lacking adequate services and infrastructure and creates new kinds of problems like waste management, scarcity of resources, air pollution, human health concerns, traffic congestions. Inadequate, deteriorating and aging infrastructures is another technical, physical, and material problem. This, inevitably tends to make cities messy and disordered places. (Johnson, 2008) The policies and techniques implemented in the global north are irrelevant to the global southwhere the problems are almost diametrically opposite. In the global south, we are going to have to develop our own techniques-if necessary, from scratch-if we want to deal effectively with our own urban problems. (Charles, 2010) With the above mentioned perspective we have focused on inter-modality, mobility management, freight and passenger transport as well as the democratic and social aspects of transport.
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Sustainable mobility (Issues and Strategies) The urgency to overcome the abovementioned challenges is triggering many cities around the world to find smarter ways to manage them. Ensuring liveable conditions within the context of such rapid urban population growth worldwide requires a deeper understanding of the smart city concept. These cities are increasingly described with the smart city label. One way to conceptualize a smart city is as an icon of a sustainable and liveable city. Among many factors like governance, market, mobility, services, infrastructure, etc. which contribute to economic and social progress, mobility is especially important because the ingredients of a satisfactory life, from food and health to education and employment, are generally available only if there is adequate means of moving people, goods and ideas. (Owen, 1987)
Figure 4.1 Total number of registered motor vehicles in India(in million) 1951-2011; Source: Authors
Sustainable mobility includes all the three aspects of sustainability• Environmental (controlling energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission) • Social (equity of access, controlling road crashes, air pollution and physical inactivity) • Economic (saving time and money) The sustainable mobility approach requires clear and innovative thinking about the future of cities in terms of the • Reality (what is already there), • Desirability (what we would like to see), and • The role that transport can (and should) play in achieving sustainable cities. This balances the requirements along the physical dimensions (urban structure and traffic) against the social dimensions (people and proximity). (David, 2008) During the past fifty years, there has been an exponential growth in transport of both people and goods. The number of motorised road vehicles has surpassed more than 800 million world-wide and are, in many places, still growing at higher rates than both human population and GDP. This growth has several unintended consequences - and is now increasingly eroding some of the very benefits that transport has brought about. (Danish, 2008) At an urban level, a policy must designed to regulate the growth of the cities and to determine their structure and land-use pattern.
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Figure 4.2 Growth of city From Delhi to Delhi NCR; Source: Authors
After all, optimum city size is a relative term that must be considered in relation to what the developing countries can do for their city growth out of their extremely limited resources. (Patankar, 1985) The solution is widely perceived to lie in an integrated approach, combining: • A change in people’s transport behaviour and the way they live (affecting travel demand, landuse patterns etc.); • Technological improvements to raise efficiency while reducing environmental impacts and improving safety; • A pricing regime which incorporates the true costs of transport into decision-making, thereby influencing the overall consumption of transport services and promoting the least damaging mode of transport; A focus on accessibility, inter-modality and mobility management, to meet transport needs with the most efficient traffic volumes and patterns, while respecting quality and other social goals such as safety and security is desirable.(ECT, RTD Programme, 2001) In the case of India, the transport sector is grossly overstretched. The pace of economic development after the economic reforms has imposed a heavy burden on this sector.
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Issues (in India) First, there is a need to provide transport access to a large, un-served population for their integration with the markets and providing required services, lack of which leads to migration of people to urban areas. Second, there is an important distortion in the overall transport movement of goods. Despite the fact that a large part of India’s freight traffic comprises bulk materials and moves over long distances that can be served efficiently by rail and waterways. (RITES, 2007) This is imposing a high cost on the economy by way of much higher dependence on fossil fuels and high level of greenhouse gas emissions. On environmental considerations, hence, there is a need to encourage rail and shipping. Added to this is the lower cost of accidents associated with rail transport compared with road. Freight transportation by waterways is highly under-utilised in India compared to other large countries and geographic areas like the United States, China and the European Union. Cargo transportation in an organised manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala. This can be increased by integration of multiple modes of moving freight. Third, the transport efficiency is low. This includes: • • • • • •
Cost Time Infrastructure Technology Poor handling equipment at ports Theft
Figure 4.3 Comparison of modes of transportation of goods; Source: 12th Five Year Plan
Figure 4.4 CO2 emissions from various transport modes; Source: 12th Five Year Plan
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Fourth, capacity of different modes is low. Fifth, safety is a major area of concern especially in road transport. Over 1.3 lakh people are known to die annually in road accidents alone and their number is rising. Sixth, there is a near absence of an integrated regulatory regime for overseeing tariff setting, cost of operations, anti-competitive practices and accountability to consumers. (GoI, 2012)
Cases 1. Gothenburg - a greener solution to freight transport Gothenburg freight corridor is a good example of modal shift from road to rail. Key learning points: • Transitioning from truck to rail transport of freight is environmentally sustainable and strengthens the economy. • The system replaces a large number of short-distance truck journeys (<500km) with high quality rail services, providing cost-efficiency and high environmental performance. • Around 360 vehicle movements per day within the City of Gothenburg have been avoided. • The energy consumption of transport is reduced by 70%. Air emissions, costs, congestion, and the number of road accidents has decreased. Similar initiative have been taken in India also, with emphasis on high speed and efficient infrastructure to freight movement. 2. DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor) In 12th five year plan government of India laid emphasis on development of four major dedicated freight corridors, one of which is DMIC connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai to Delhi and other states along the way. • Corridor Development concept is primarily to take advantage of underutilized potential by ensuring effective integration between industry and infrastructure. • The Industrial Corridor Project is a State-Sponsored Industrial Development Project of the Govt. of India aimed at developing an Industrial Zone spanning across 6 States in India. • The project will see major expansion of Infrastructure and Industry – including industrial clusters and Rail, Road, Port, Air connectivity – in the states along the route of the Corridor. Vision • To create strong economic base with globally competitive environment Goal • Double employment potential in five years (14.87%) • Triple industrial output in five years (24.57%) • Quadruple exports from the region in five years (31.95%)
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Figure 4.5 Western freight corridor; Source: DMIC
Facts and Figures • The Project completion cost is estimated at Rs`95,860 crore. A major part of the project is being financed through multilateral/bilateral debt. JICA funding of 504 billion Yen (Rs 31,486 crore). The balance requirement would need to be met through Budgetary Support. • The average speed of freight trains will go up from 25 kmph to 70 kmph which will reduce the transit time by less than half from the present levels. • Railway technology would get a major up-gradation with the help of heavy hauled freight trains of 15,000 tonnes capacity and 1,500 meters length. Newer technology in signalling, train communication, track-maintenance and operations would get introduced in the Indian Railways system. • The capacity released by freight trains can be used for running more passenger trains at higher speeds after upgrading the existing mixed corridors of Indian Railways. • In addition, this initiative is expected to offer significant reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in transport sector of India. (GoI, 2012) Advantages of Industrial Corridor development approach • • • • • • • •
Closer economic integration Improvement in transit-transport efficiency Ensures balanced regional development Harnesses latent economic potential Enhances economic competitiveness Promotes regional trade and investment Promotes innovation and development of high technology regions Improved quality of life
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Figure 4.6 Existing waterways; Source: IWAI India
3. Inland waterways The Inland waterways provide a clean and efficient mechanism for transportation of goods across regions where quite often road movement may not be feasible or in any case more expensive. There is also a need to bring about legislative changes to make the creation of new waterways faster after technical assessment is made. (Planning Commission, 2011) India has an extensive network of inland water ways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 km, out of which about 5200 km of river and 4000 km of canals can be used by mechanised crafts. Freight transportation by waterways is highly under-utilised in India compared to other large countries and geographic areas like the United States, China and the European Union. (planning commission, 2011)
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Figure 4.7 Proposed high speed RRTS corridors connecting Delhi NCR; Source: Anonymous
4. RRTS (regional rapid transit system) For enabling a commuter to reach his destination, transportation should be guided by a modal mix that will lead to an efficient, sustainable, economical, safe, reliable, environmentally friendly and regionally balanced transportation system. The high speed connectivity between the regional centres of NCR and Delhi will make the physical distance shorter and allow these regional towns to capture the economic impulse and density generated by Delhi. Vision of RRTS • Hi-speed, high quality system, seated accommodation • Non-stop journey : 45-50 min to cover 100 km • Interchange with existing Metro • Broad gauge track and coaches • Will reduce accidents and congestion on road, • Will bring down pollution by reducing the number of private vehicles, will offer safe, efficient and fast transport in the NCR. The rail-based green field project will include laying of tracks for high-speed trains, which will then be integrated with the existing Delhi Metro railway to ensure first and last mile connectivity.
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Conclusion
What DMIC and RRTS is overlooking is the development of urban nodes along the corridor. An unguided development might lead them towards an unsustainable future. Uniform distribution of the ‘micro urban nodes’ can provide a uniform development of institutional & commercial support for an entire regional module, through the provisions in each such node. Uniform distribution of the ‘micro urban nodes’ also provides a uniform distribution of the work opportunity in industrial/institutional/agriculture- support through the provisions, in all the nodes. Development of a network of link roads will encourage uniform development along all the existing village roads. A severe lack of expertise in the country in almost every sphere of transportation which makes it necessary for a quantum jump in the capacity augmentation for all modes.
Environment and Mobility Concerns about the warming of the climate have been expressed for over 30 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) has developed much of the accepted basis for understanding the likely causes, future trajectories and impacts. • Globally averaged, the planet is ~0.75°C warmer than it was in 1860 and estimated to increase by 1.8-4°C by the end of this century • 20-30 % of species are at high risk of extinction • Change in frequency and severity of extreme climate • Snow cover and glaciers are decreasing • Rise in sea level by more than 0.2-0.6 m • Global food supply is at severe risk • Increase in health risks (IPCC, 2007)
Figure 4.8Uniform distribution of the ‘micro urban nodes’; Source: Authors
Environmental aspects include all the adverse side effects of transport on the environment, including air and water pollution, noise, vibration, visual impacts, social impacts and waste disposal. The transport sector is responsible for approximately 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions globally and is the fastest growing sector source worldwide. Between 2007 and 2030, global emissions from transport are expected to rise by 80 per cent. Three quarters of the contribution is expected to come from road transport. (IPCC 2007) Compared to a 2.1 per cent increase per annum in green house gas emissions from transport in the developed world, developing country emissions are expected to rise at a rate of 3.5 per cent a year to 2030 (IEA 2002). As India and China race to catch up with the 2.5 tonnes of carbon emitted
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per head in Europe or 5.5 tonnes per capita emitted in the US, the stabilization targets worldwide are 0.5 tonnes, similar to that of India now. Taking the case of India, from the 1980s to the present day, India has experienced a rapid rise in cross-pectoral and transport CO2 emissions, but from a very low base in per capita terms. India is currently the world’s fourth largest fossil fuel CO2 emitting country in aggregate emissions. India, and other developing countries including China, share only a ‘monitoring’ responsibility, due to low per capita emission. But they need to reduce their energy intensity by 20-25 % by 2020 which means CO2 emission can still increase, but at a low rate. Few measures to reduces the environmental effects of transportation are-
Fuel Economy For transport, fuel economy is the energy efficiency of a particular vehicle and is defined as a ratio of distance travelled per unit volume of fuel consumed. For freight it may be stated as ‘weight-specific efficiency and for consumer vehicles it is referred to as ‘passenger-specific efficiency’ Fuel economy plays important role in reduction of fuel consumption and also greenhouse gas emissions, which can be improved by : • Aerodynamics • Reduction in resistance by tyre • Multimodality • Awareness among people by star rating system, which is driven by BEE is the no. of stars given to the vehicle to show its fuel economy and make the user aware of its fuel consumption. • And emission standards set up by Bharat stage emissions standards, which users are needed to follow. There is a need for the government to take measures like• Standardisation, R&D funding, pilots and demonstrations, and • Policy measures towards specific clusters of technologies, such as propulsion systems, urban transport technologies, intermodal systems, air traffic management systems, travel information, and road traffic management and payment systems.
Figure 4.9 Urban air quality in select Asian cities; Source: Anonymous
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Conclusion Raw material manufacturers, tyre makers, vehicle giants and the Government need to coordinate their activities through a nodal agency. Academicians need to collaborate with the Government and help standardize protocols, conduct testing, accumulate relevant data and thus help in the implementation of stringent measures to optimize fuel consumption and reduce emission of pollutants. Consumer awareness is paramount and relevant proven data is required to educate them about fuel economy. In the long-term interest of the country, a concerted effort of all stakeholders will help enforce legislation that is comparable to the global regulations. R&D centres have to be set up to focus on high-performance that are cost-effective and possess energy-saving qualities. Raw material availability concerns continue to plague India.
Transport technologies require generic and specific policy support The research also identified implications for policy. Policy options to promote new technologies can be generic (trying to improve the conditions for innovation) or specific to certain selected technologies. Some experts on technology policy prefer generic options because these allow the market actors to come up with new ideas and the most cost-effective solution. However, the realisation of specific technologies often requires changes in legislation and regulations to remove barriers – generic policy action may be insufficient. Therefore a combination of the two approaches is recommended: • Generic measures are needed across the transport sector, such as standardisation,R&D funding, pilots and demonstrations. • Packages of policy measures should be directed towards specific clusters of technologies, such as propulsion systems, urban transport technologies, intermodal systems, air traffic management systems, travel information, and road traffic management and payment systems.
Figure 4.10 Transport CO2 emissions/person; Source: Anonymous
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Social Concerns The future is based upon certain sociological presumptions and thus sociology is central to its emerging contours and to its analysis. To examine one aspect of such a future, the role of travel and especially auto mobility within these emerging dystopias is important. (Urry, J., 2008) Mobility is playing an increasing role in human activities. While transportation infrastructure and services are increasing in efficiency, speed and comfort, with decreasing costs, a series of adverse impacts are leading to social concern. These impacts include pollution, accidents and motorised vehicle dependence. There is an emerging dilemma that growth in demand for transport could slowly strangle the transport system itself, constraining economic growth, damaging the environment and threatening mobility. (Schiefelbusch, 2010). Addressing the topic of people and communities as part of smart mobility is critical, and traditionally has been neglected at the expense of understanding more technological and policy aspects of mobility issues. The social impacts of transport and their distributional effects across various segments of society have traditionally been viewed as secondary or even tertiary concerns relative to economic and environmental impacts. (Markovich & Lucas, 2011) The importance of the social and distributional impacts of transport has historically been underestimated because: a) the issues cut across a number of different disciplines, are thus conceptualized differently and treated separately and there are a number of institutional barriers to be overcome before they are more widely disseminated within policy environments; b) these impacts are not all readily quantifiable in the way that environmental and economic impacts are, thus making them more difficult to assess and be integrated into transport policy; and c) they have generally been assigned low priority, and the lack of financial and political will observed more generally within the context of socially inclusive transport. So if these processes continued unchecked what kind of future can we envisage for society? The amount of traffic has reached a level where society is increasingly questioning its necessity, the means used and their consequences. • Social equity of policy changes and the implications for public acceptability – depending on the effects on e.g. income distribution, regional development and employment; • Accessibility to transport services such as affordable public transport, and also access to destinations from different parts of the European Union; • Effects of the transport network on social cohesion; • Care for marginal/disadvantaged/vulnerable groups – for instance ensuring physical access to transport services for people with mobility difficulties; • Working conditions for operatives. (ECT, RTD Programme, 2001) The transport sector itself has a big impact on society through the jobs it creates, not only through construction of infrastructure but also through the delivery of transport services. More than 28% of total market share is of transportation and communication in global south (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2012). With the increasing impact of new technologies and deregulation, working conditions have changed. Therefore, the application of social policies in the transport sector will be essential in protecting employees and their working conditions, while facilitating economic growth and competitiveness.
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Policy Making In Mobility According to United Nations development report on mobility and migration, 2009, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mobility is a basic element of freedom. It can bring large gains in capabilities for individual migrants and their families, source communities and countries, and destination places.â&#x20AC;? But, can the cosmopolitan and metropolitan cities handle the rising influx of migrants? Are the environment and society capable of bearing the adverse effects of such mobility? At an urban level a policy must designed to regulate the growth of the cities and to determine their structure and land-use pattern. As stated by Patankar, after all optimum city size is a relative term which must be considered in relation to what the developing countries can do for their city growth out of their extremely limited resources. (Patankar, 1985) So, to remain within the limit of available resources, we should question the need for mobility. Why are people moving away from rural areas and entering cities? Why is there a huge movement of people and goods, temporarily and permanently? As most of the movement is not a pure expression of choiceWhen the poorest migrate, they often do so under conditions of vulnerability that reflects their limited resources and choices.
Figure 4.11 Services pulling people to cities; Source: USP for India
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As a report by UNDP also states that, “The underlying drivers of mobility, including unequal opportunities between and within countries and rapid demographic change, are expected to persist and even intensify over the coming decades.” So, there is a need to maintain this freedom and reduce the unwanted or forceful movement as much as possible. Therefore, there is an important need for better policies and institutions at the national and regional levels. “New global study of urban mobility assesses the mobility maturity and performance of cities worldwide and finds most not just falling well short of best practices but in a state of crisis. Indeed it is not putting it too strongly to say that in many cities mobility systems are standing on a burning platform and if action is not taken in the very near future they will play a major role in slowing the growth and development of their host nation.” At the early stages of the development process, and by implication in many developing countries, it is the provision of transport that leads to widening of markets, increased production and associated multiplier effect of an economic and social nature. (White, 1983). There are certainly many cases where development could be seen to follow the provision of transport; the new railway lines into the then Gold Coast (1903) and Northern Nigeria (1912) stimulated spectacular expansion of cultivation for export-cocoa in the case of the former and groundnuts in the latter. (Mabogunje, 1980). Leinbach (1975) demonstrated the significance of transport for the stimulation of rubber cultivation and tin mining in Malaya while the opening up of Amazonia for better and for worse, followed the construction of access roads into isolated forest areas and associated expansion of agriculture, forestry and mining. (Kleinpenning, 1971). Gauthier (1970) establishes three relations between transport and development. • Positive- where an innovation in transport is responsible in a direct way for expansion of economic activity. • Permissive- where transport does not inhibit such growth when other stimuli are operating. • Negative- where the returns on investment in transport are less. There then comes the adoption of a transport innovation which over time is likely to diffuse spatially. Without going into the reasons, this diffusion process is likely to be very uneven spatially – it is easy to find examples of this in canal, railway and surfaced road networks and technologies like containerisation. There will then be the impact of the transport in stimulating both forward and backward linkages. [The forward linkages are the developments which result from transport innovation (e.g. farmers changing to cash crop production alongside a new or improved road) while the backward linkages are the multipliers resulting from the transport (e.g. the impact of railway construction on the demand for iron and steel, coal and engineering industries).] It was these backward linkages which persuaded Rostow (1960) of the leading role of railways in the take-off to sustained growth in countries such as the United States, Britain and Russia. However, even in these countries the railways never consumed more than about 20% of the iron produced, (Pawson, 1979) and it is now generally accepted that the Rostow stages of growth model is a far from satisfactory basis for explaining the progress of development in the Third World. The conditions of 19th century Britain are not replicated in developing countries- most obviously they may have to import everything that they need to build a railway system and this greatly reduces, although does not necessarily eliminate, the possibility of backward linkages. India is one of the few developing countries in which railways have had a considerable backward linkages effect, and is now able to sell its expertise and technology to other countries. In response, some 40% of World Bank loans in the 1960s went to transport projects and in many
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developing countries in 1950s and 1960s transport investment formed an even higher proportion of fixed investment. (Bejakovic, 1970). Having designated the years 1968 to 1978 as World Development Decade, and possibly dissatisfied with the outcome, the United Nations then embarked on the Transport Decade (1978-1988). In 1994 transport was again selected for special treatment by the world body. Large scale, capital- intensive transit projects are inefficient relative to other modes of transport in developing cities. Market power and market failures deprive riders of the efficient gains from large- scale transit projects. This is the most worrisome supposition of all because it is realistic in both common- sense and economics. Market power means that the managers and organised workers in a transit system which is undisciplined by competition may operate it sloppily or corruptly, depriving riders and taxpayers of the efficient gains. The effects are easy to predict – large cost overruns, politically favoured routing and stationed placement, and labour bills that are way out of line. (Barnett, n.d) Developing countries have fewer financing options open to them. For these and other influencing reasons those who are aiming to move people (or light cities, or provide clean water, or …) in tomorrow’s world need to plan their financing. (Barnett, n.d) For example, with low passenger tariff, suburban railways are a losing proposition. Railways charge only 13 paise per passenger kilometre while bus services in urban areas charge upward of 48 paise. The problem of suburban losses can be resolved only by hiving off this business as a separate corporation. As mentioned earlier, a joint venture between the Government of Maharashtra and Government of India (MRVC) has been set up for commercial exploitation of railway land and airspace and to augment the rail structure by raising funds through loans that will be paid back by levying a surcharge on passenger tariff. Similar ventures would be necessary to shed suburban business at other metropolitan cities. The general approach used by the decision makers in the evaluation of transport development is Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). Although, limited in its application since it concentrates on the direct user benefits of transport and evaluation of projects using traditional CBA does not satisfactorily justify the socio-economic interest of the public or the private sectors because it does not take adequate account of the likely regional impacts arising from the investment. (OECD, 2002)
Figure 4.12 Forces pushing people to cities; Source: Authors
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Policy goals specifically for transport infrastructure development may be • To improve the global competitiveness of regions, for example by improving the provision and/or quality of urban transport system (for travel to work purposes), enabling the available pools of skilled labour to expand. • To stimulate international trade by improving strategic links in the freight transport networks, including ports and cargo-handling airports as well as roads and rail infrastructure. • Social objectives, i.e. to redistribute economic activity between spatial areas, countries or sectors, in order to reduce income disparities and promote social cohesion. (OECD, 2002) Like with DMIC (DELHI-MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR) Talking about the freight transport network, in the 12th Five Year Plan the Government of India laid emphasis on development of four major dedicated freight corridors, one of which is DMIC connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai to Delhi and other states in the way. • Corridor Development concept is primarily to take advantage of underutilized potential by ensuring effective integration between industry and infrastructure. • The Industrial Corridor Project is a State-Sponsored Industrial Development Project of the Govt. of India aimed at developing an Industrial Zone spanning across 6 States in India. • The project will see major expansion of Infrastructure and Industry – including industrial clusters and Rail, Road, Port, Air connectivity – in the states along the route of the Corridor. Vision • To create strong economic base with globally competitive environment. Goal • Double employment in five years • Triple industrial output in five years • Quadruple exports from the region in five years • • • •
But, the project has lot of practical problems, like Land acquisition Investment Developing new centres from scratch, which usually take very long time Taking work force to new centres
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Figure 4.13 Cost Benefit Analysis; Source: Anonymous
Conclusion Major decisions that affect design and planning of cities are made by urban planners, politicians, policy makers, real estate owners and the government. The local people who inhabit the city usually donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have much say in how their city is being planned, designed or restructured. These design decisions may include planning out services like healthcare, education, transportation and other urban infrastructure for the city dwellers. The panel hopes to explore the middle ground between local people and decision makers. How can the decision makers tap into the grassroots level community activism to come up with better decisions regarding urban living? On the other hand how do the local people get access to the decision makers to get their voices heard with regard to the city? These are some of the questions we hoped to answer through this seminar. The quantitative improvements to infrastructure need to be made in the context of more qualitative considerations of safety, emissions, energy efficiency, climate change impact and social equity. IS IT POSSIBLE TO SUSTAIN DEVELOPMENT WHILE CREATING EQUAL RIGHTS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR PEOPLE TO BE MOBILE
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Acknowledgements We would like to express our deepest appreciation for all the people who helped us shape this study. First of all we would like to thank our co-ordinators Prof. Ranjana Mittal and Prof. Jaya Kumar for constant support and encouragement and for showing the right direction to complete this seminar. We are highly indebted to Ar. Sandip Kumar for his guidance as well as providing necessary information regarding the seminar and helping us in reviewing and refining our work. A special thanks to Prof. Dinesh Mohan, Prof. Sanjay Gupta, Er. Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Ar. Pawan Gupta for their valuable information on the subject. At last we want to thank all our colleagues for their great effort in organising and putting together the seminar under one theme.
Bibliography • GOI 12th Five Year Plan, India • B. David(2008), The sustainable mobility paradigm, Transport Policy 15 (2), 73–80 • Barnett, M.J.N., Bankers Plan Metros • Bejakovic, D.(1970), Journal of Transport Economics and Policies, IV • Correa Charles, (2010), A Place in the Shade, The New Landscape & other Essays, “PUBLIC TRANSPORT AS DNA” • ECT, 2001, RTD Programme • Correa Charles, (2010), A Place in the Shade, The New Landscape & other Essays, “MOBILITY” • Danish, 2008, Transport and Sustainable Cities • Gauthier, H., 1970, Geography, Transportation and Regional Development, Economic Geography • IPCC, 2007 • India Transport Portal, August, 2013 • Urry, J., 2008, Climate change, travel and complex futures • Johnson, B. 2008, Cities, systems of innovation and economic development • Kleinpenning, J.M.G., 1971, Tijdschrit voor Economische en Sociale Geografie • Leinbach , 1975, Transport and the Development of Malaya • Mabogunje, A.L. , 1980, The Development Process: A Spatial Perspective • Markovich L., Lucas K., 2011, the social and distributional impacts of transport • OECD, 2002, Impact of Transport Infrastructure Investment on Regional Development • Owen, W. , 1964, Strategy for Mobility • Owen, W., (1987), Transportation and World Development, London • Patankar, P.G. , 1985, Road Passenger Transport in India • Pawson, E., 1979, International Journal of Transport Economics, VI • Rostow, W.W., 1960, The Stages of Economic Growth • RITES, 2007, Report • S. S. Shyam, K. Vinay, 2008, Growing rural urban disparity in Bihar • Tiwari, G., (2003). Transport and land-use policies in Delhi. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 81 (6) • United Nations, (2004) • Unified Settlement Plan for India, 2012 • White et al (1983), Transport Geography • World Energy Council, (2007)
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SMARTER INTRA CITY MOBILITY Advisor: Mr.Sandip Kumar | Faculty SPA New Delhi Chairperson: Prof. Geetam Tiwari | Chair Professor Dept. of Transport Planning, IIT Delhi Resource persons: Prof. Dinesh Mohan | Professor Dept. of Transport Planning, IIT-Delhi Prof. P.K. Sarkar | Professor Dept. Transport Planning, SPA New Delhi Mr. Pawan Gupta | Architect Mr. Jagan Shah | Director National Institute of Urban Affairs Presented by: Anuj Khandelwal Ishan Khan Prachita Singh Sanket Suthar Tanuj Biyani
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Abstract Cities, like best of humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creations, have their own set of problems. The undesirable impact on environment, social and economic inequity, alarming levels of waste generation, densities of population entirely unsuitable for healthy living, etc. are some of the glaring issues which need to be tackled immediately. Even then, more and more people are moving to the cities and by 2050, it is estimated that cities will house 70% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population. (Habitat, n.d.) Smart movement across the globe is a response to this. It deems to address these issues and more by means of developing Information and Communication technologies and intelligent systems which are sensitive to the immediate conditions. However, as a developing country housing worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest population, can we afford to take up on capital intensive solutions? What is our context and our need? In the following paper, we explore the possibilities for our city to become smart, keeping transportation within the city our focus. We try and look at how people travel within the city; also how would they like to travel in the city. Is the question of transportation only about meeting the travel needs of a city or is it also about reducing these needs? If yes, then how? We look at how other cities are undertaking these challenges and what we can learn from them. Should we accommodate or go extreme and ban cars? And if we do, then what is the alternative? In the process, we stumble upon and address the bigger questions like who the city is designed for and how much right does one have over his/her city. Transportation, as this group comes to understand, is so much more than Mass rapid and Bus Rapid. It is essentially about people, as are our cities. Even then, we have let capitalism guide city growth. We NEED to be smart, but more importantly, HOW?
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Figure 5.1 & 5.2 Pedestrian crossing the road; Source: Authors
Walking in the city BOOM Another pedestrian gets injured. ”Why can’t you walk on the pavement? “ “Hello, where is the pavement?” Haven’t we been on the either side of this conversation many a times in the past? Sometimes while walking and sometimes while driving. The following clippings from a national daily highlight the vehicular growth and accident rate.
Figure 5.3 Vehicular growth in the city; Source: www.hindustantimes.com
Figure 5.4 Bicycles in the city, Source: www.hindustantimes.com
These clearly indicate that rise of private vehicles is not the smart way to go. Also, despite more people owning bicycles compared to cars, the accident rates are alarming. Then how does one travel in the city?
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Figure 5.5 Delhi in a day; Source: www.Delhi-2050.com
Delhi in a day We looked at who occupies the roads of Delhi at any given day and these are some things we found interesting: 10,000 buses, 6 million commuters and 600 routes, yet 18.7% cannot afford public transportation. Delhi has 75 lakh vehicles, each vehicle on an average requires 12.5 meter square of parking space, which essentially means that these vehicles occupy almost 95 square kilometers of land. This is equivalent to 1/15th of our city which is bigger than all of Rohini. Also, the city continues adding cars at the rate of 900 cars per day, despite 20 road accidents resulting in 5 fatalities daily. We waste 90 minutes stuck in traffic jams wasting Rs 10 crores worth of fuel daily. Even then, according to the RITES study, approximately half of all Delhi households still do not own a car or motorcycle (Finance, 2010) (TERI, 2010 ) Apart from the people, the city hosts about 40,000 cows jaywalking on the road, forming an important livelihood component. How do they move? However, the scale of Delhi is such that one cannot do without movement. We travel to work, to meet friends, relatives, for recreation etc. A simple walk from our house to the park is also considered travelling.
Figure 5.6 Area required for parking for vehicles; Source: Authors
Figure 5.7 Need to travel; Source: Authors
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Figure 5.8.1- 5.8.6 Condition of public transport; Pollution in delhi; Source: Authors
Transportation and the City The most obvious choice for long distance travel is public transportation because it is cheaper, better and more sustainable. However, long queues for buses force people to opt for private vehicles. Also, the design of our public transport does not account for human frailties like disabilities or age and is also not gender sensitive. When the bus or Para-transit finally arrives, there is no space for another person. Time ticks on and time is money. Nobody likes to wait forever. Tired of waiting, more and more people avoid public transport. This leads to the aforementioned situation of long jams and congestion on roads leading to an endless spiral of delay and wait. Add to it the fact that 72% of pollution in the city is due to transportation and we have come to an impasse where there is no scope for more.
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Figure 5.9-5.11 Impact of urbanization; Global pollution and Indian Cities; Size of settlement and movement; Source:Authors ; LSE Cities ; Anonymous
Urbanization, Transportation and Global Issues “Scientific evidence is overwhelming, climate change presents very serious global risks and it demands an urgent global response. The world as we know it will come to an end, if we continue on the same path.” (Stern, 2006) The biggest contributor to climate change is pollution. Transportation contributes to14% of global pollution. Indian cities are the biggest contributors to this, with Delhi in the lead. But how did we end up here? Humans were once nomads and movement happened between clusters. As we evolved, the size of the cluster increased. The beginning of 19th century brought a lot of change and with industrial revolution there was a drastic increase in the scale of movement and thus the size of settlements. Today, we recognise these bigger settlements as cities (Goodall, 1996). Cities initially developed as centres for exchange of ideas and products by bringing the people closer. In doing so, they became a transport solution themselves, one based on the principle of avoiding transport or at least reducing its necessity. (Habitat, n.d.) Economic, geographic and cultural factors drove the evolution of cities over time, but it was not until the widespread use of the private motorcar that the most basic concept of the city, that of physical proximity and coexistence, was seriously challenged. The cities became planned and led to a phenomenon called “urbanization”. “Urbanization is the sociological and spatial counterpart to economic processes that shift workers away from subsistence agriculture to more productive sectors. It is the physical manifestation
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of all the construction activity that accompanies rapid growth.â&#x20AC;? (Singla, 2009) What this essentially means is that as people move from agriculture to other activities which fetch better economic gains, we see some form of urbanization. It is an inevitable part of development. The living standard of the average Indian is currently untenable and we should expect some form of urbanization in the next several decades. Discouraging it may not be politically, economically or morally possible. (Habitat, n.d.) However, cities are hubs of production, consumption and waste generation. As cities grow, they consume more and more natural resources to meet the rising demand for food, water, energy, goods and services. (Singla, 2009)
5.12.1- 5.13.3 Urbanization and transportation; Source: Authors
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cities play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. The development of cities largely depends upon their physical, social, and institutional infrastructure. In this context, the importance of intra urban transportation is paramount. (Singh, 2005) As Cities expand, there is a consequential expansion of transportation needs. Urbanization brings with it increased affluence which results in increased wants. An increase in want transforms into an increase in need to move. There is daily mobility of people from their homes to the work place, to accomplish domestic needs and undertake journeys for social needs such as visiting friends and shopping.
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Mobility for an individual depends on adequacy, affordability, effectiveness, efficiency and comfortability of a transport system. Proximity to an expressway without access for people living in nearby areas serves no purpose. (Kannan, 2013) Thus, we have established that urbanization is inevitable and hence cities. Also, cities mean more movement. But this movement is not free of issues. It affects and is affected by many things like availability and costs of transportation alternatives, incomes of the population and accessibility to transport. Physical distances between activities affect the need for travel and the actual travel behavior. Whilst many researchers develop models to understand the travel behavior of individuals on a micro-scale, it is the collective manifestation of these individual travel decisions in terms of overall transport patterns observed within cities that are important for policy formulation. (Banister, 2002) Even though mobility is essential to the present lifestyle needs, it is one of the major contributors to environmental degradation which then leads to global warming and a whole set of problems, making the living environment unhealthy. Therefore, it should be done keeping the resource use in view, its efficiency, impacts and equity considerations. These require sustainable transportation policies and travel behaviors, to reduce the need for travel and make people aware of the costs of different modes of travel. Sustainable mobility can be achieved through less and better travel (comfort, quality, ambience, ease of access, cost, etc.) using less resources. The automobile has truly revolutionized society over the past century bringing benefits of increased personal mobility and access to the broadest range of goods and services. However, it has many negative impacts including environmental damage caused by emissions of pollutants. Increased automobile usage also creates substantial externalities in the form of congestion, increased traffic noise, accidents and loss of urban environmental amenity (Banister, 2002). The travel demand in metropolitan cities is increasing with the growth of population and economic activities. In order to support the required level of economic activities in urban areas, it becomes imperative to address the urban transportation issue. (Economic Survey of Delhi, 2012-13) Transport demand in most Indian cities has increased substantially, due to increases in population as a result of both natural increase and migration from rural areas and smaller towns. Indian cities cannot afford to cater only to private cars and two-wheelers and there has to be a general recognition that policy should be designed in such a way that it reduces the need to travel by personalized modes and boosts public transport system. This requires both an increase in quantity as well as quality of public transport and effective use of demand as well as supply-side management measures. At the same time, people should be encouraged to walk and cycle and government should support investments that make cycling and walking safer. (Singh, 2005) Traffic jams, congestion on roads, parking space problems, pollution, etc. are some of the issues which have become synonymous with cities. It is this overall unconvincing outcome of the current model and its enormous social and environmental cost that has, over the last 30 years, introduced the return to basic questions about the use of urban space. Why cities, why proximity and what are the right transport solutions? (Burdett, 2006) This brings us to the question of Smart cities. Even though the percentage of people residing in rural areas in India outweighs the urban population, it is estimated that by 2050, almost 70% of India will live in cities.
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Figure 5.13.1- 5.13.3 Various apps to make transportation “smarter”; Source: Apps by Apple
Smart City Movement Smart city movement across the globe deems to address these issues. It promises more efficient approaches to be developed in economy, politics, governance, mobility, environment and all other aspects of city life. It aims at providing a high performance urban context, where citizens are interconnected to each other and to the city itself by providing a constant flow of information personalized to the users need and preferences. It does so by means of information and communication technology which stresses upon the importance of integrating communication systems like computers, telephone lines, and various software, etc. Intelligent transportation system is a transportation specific application of ICT and aims to provide innovative services related to different modes of transport and traffic management. It enables the users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated and ‘smart’ use of transportation networks.
5.14 Smart city movement; Source: Authors
Live traffic data on Google, mobile phone applications informing people of traffic congestion and modal movement like when the next bus is due or how crowded the bus is are some of the applications of ITS. While data may be able to tell or predict where traffic jams will happen, it is unable to take cars off the road or to reduce the crowding in the bus. These are the bigger issues which concern India. Hence, we need to think a step ahead and be smarter!
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Travelling in the City Let’s look at the modal split of transportation in Delhi.
Figure 5.15 Modal split Delhi; Source: Authors
Figure 5.16 Delhi which cannot afford public transportation; Source: Authors
Private Vehicle are 23% of the total split. As mentioned in the first segment of the paper, incorporating more cars in the city is not sustainable. Ironically, according to the RITES survey, approximately half of all Delhi households still do not own a car or motorcycle. How do these people travel? The context has changed drastically. Almost 18.7 percent of the city population resides in slums. They cannot afford public transportation, let alone cars. Hence they become captive users. Despite hostile infrastructure, almost 60-70% trips in these modes are because of lack of choice. The policies we have tend to shun them out or not consider them at all. However, they are an unrecognized essential part of the system. The formal sector cannot work without the informal and it would be smarter for us to acknowledge this and plan our city and its transportation system accordingly. Even pockets of Lutyen’s Delhi have the informal sector creeping in. Studies have shown that there is a very strong relationship between access to employment, livelihood and mobility needs of the city. We tried to calculate the various parameters of time, distance, comfort, etc. for a person to move from Rohini to Connaught place, then Lajpat Nagar and back to Rohini.
Figure 5.17 Formal v/s Informal; Source: www.flickr.com
Figure 5.18 Lutyen’s Delhi and informal sector; Source: Authors
The study highlights that any affordable mode of transit takes a lot of time. For example, a bus takes 80 minutes to reach Connaught Place from Rohini for 30 Rupees whereas the same journey by car can be completed in 50 minutes for 150 Rupees during non- rush hours.
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The cheapest way was to take the feeder bus to the Metro station and travel further by Metro. It takes 24 Rupees and 55 minutes to complete the journey so. However, for a large part of Delhi’s population, even this is unaffordable. Similarly from Connaught Place to Lajpat Nagar, Metro and bus charge equally but Metro is able to complete the journey in 25 minutes compared to the bus which takes 45 minutes. If we add the comfort and safety factors, we realize that using a bus on city’s roads is almost unbearable. Metro is only affordable when it is subsidized by 40000 Rupees per person per annum by the Central Government. But central government gets its funding from the taxes paid by people throughout the country. For them to subsidize Metro in Delhi is highly inequitable. This journey is for a person who can afford 30 to 50 Rupees per day as travelling expense. There is a large portion of population from informal sectors whose daily wages are such. They need to be recognized.
Figure 5.19 Travelling from Rohini to Connaught Place; Source: Authors
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A Smart approach to Transport Planning There needs to be a ‘people first’ approach to transport planning instead of ‘car first’ approach. (Rissom, 2012)
Figure 5.20 People’s first approach; Source: Authors
Key to this is recognizing that walking is the most universal form of transport. All cyclists, public transit riders and motorists begin their journey as pedestrians and therefore the transit and automobile network can only be as good as the pedestrian network that brings them to other modes of transit. (Mookerjee, 2012) Hermann Knoflacher, an Austrian civil engineer, did an eye opening experiment wherein he made people wear a contraption called ‘walkmobile’. The walkmobile is essentially just a wooden frame that can be worn by a pedestrian in order to utilize the same amount of space as a car user. It shows us the irrationality of urban motor traffic and its excessive land consumption.
Figure 5.21.1- 5.21.2 Walkmobile; Source: www.colectiva.tv
The issue of excessive cars is also a social issue. Cars have been marketed as a status symbol. The people using cars consider bicyclists a menace on the road. Bruce Appleyard, a PhD scholar in city and regional planning says that it is not possible to change the behavior of all residents of city by means of educational campaigns. Therefore, it is very important to understand what infrastructure features and urban design principles will help people in adopting desirable forms of behavior. (Appleyard, 2012) He conducted an experiment wherein he recorded the behavioral patterns of people from three streets with different kinds of traffic.
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Figure 5.22 Sense of Belonging; Source: www.engagingcities.com
Figure 5.23 Non-Negotiable Pavement widths Source: Authors
Figure 5.24 The three Streets; Source: www.engagingcities.com
The red shows the street with high traffic, orange with moderate and blue with light traffic. With the regards to social interaction, he found that people living on the street with the lightest traffic are most connected to their neighbors. Everyone seemed to know each other. The people on the street with moderate traffic knew their neighbors but werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that close. But the worst off were people living on the high traffic street where people were actually afraid to go to their street and interact with others from the neighborhood. Similarly, when asked about their home territories, people from heavy traffic recognized only the area immediately around their houses whereas people from the street with light traffic felt at home within the entire street. All in all, people living on the street with the lightest traffic recognized their street better, knew more people and essentially had a healthier social life. Their sense of belonging was much stronger than people in the other two neighborhoods. The study also highlighted the invisible harm that traffic does to our daily life. What further inhibits usage of public transportation and increases our dependence on cars is the fact that our transport systems do not interact with each other or with the built fabric of which they are a part. Transport infrastructure needs to be sensitive to the needs of pedestrians. For example metro, as a transport system, fails in this regard. Once you are out of the metro station, you are on your own. There are no strips on pathways which help blind people to move around, the heights of the pavement are almost plinth like and non-negotiable, even for a healthy person. The needs of women, children, differently abled and old people are disregarded. Many a times the very basic human needs are completely ignored.
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Delhi has a heterogeneous mix of people and our transportation system needs to reflect that in the way our road sections are. For example, Moscow had a similar situation. if we compare the pedestrian experience of a person in Delhi with that of New York or Moscow, we find that in Delhi, 27.6% of the road is for cars, 34% for bus, 20.6% pedestrian, 15.8% cycle and in Moscow, 13% roads is for trams, 20% roads is for cars, 53% is for pedestrians and 13% for cycling.
Figure 5.25 Road sections- Delhi and Moscow; Source: Authors
The city of New York is designed in a manner that a subway station is never more than a 20 minute walk away. Delhi metro is also trying to do something similar but it will not work unless we are able to encourage pedestrian movement and make public transportation easily accessible. Otherwise, this would remain only on paper and the number of cars will continue to rise. Another point of importance is that even though the city of New York is pedestrian friendly, the street layout isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always enough. Property owners and residents, often resort to putting up spikes and other means on the horizontal surface of their property to discourage pedestrians from using them as rest stops as they feel unsafe. We need to learn from this.
Figure 5.26 Spikes to discourage people from sitting; Source: http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk
Figure 5.27.People friendly Design practices; Source: http://eicher.in/urbanmobility
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Figure 5.28.1-5.28.2 Following the law; Source: Authors
To be smarter, the road itself should provide for basic needs of the pedestrian. There is an urgent need to link up transportation planning and urban design, public health and transportation safety, wellbeing and built environment. A shaded road with some seating and perhaps a water cooler is definitely friendlier than a barren road with 3 meter sidewalk. Some might argue that the above scenario leads to chances of encroachment. This brings us to another big issue of people not following the law. Breaking traffic rules is not considered immoral by the people. Over speeding, running traffic lights, etc. are so commonplace that no one gives it a second thought. As shown in the very first video, pedestrians and bicyclists end up being the most affected victims. There are many ways to modify the environment which changes driver behavior, without having to resort to telling drivers what to do. Roadway design features and proper signage can influence the drivers to lower their speeds. Some other design approaches are to provide for segregated bicycle lanes on all arterial roads, limiting the width of the road for vehicular traffic, wider pedestrian path, creating different textures, built environments, spaces, etc. Our infrastructure needs to be designed as a forgiving infrastructure. People are bound to make mistakes but shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t die for it. For example a higher pavement, leads to greater chances of a vehicle overturning in case of contact. It should be differently abled friendly. Ramps and voice enabled announcement systems need to be integrated with public transportation access points. Interventions essentially should make the user feel safe. Newly emerging research confirms that the presence of fear impedes activity levels and the ability to move outside freely, especially among populations that are more vulnerable to violence such as children, women, people with disabilities and older adults. It has been shown through research that more eyes on the streets mean reduced crime rates. Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) should be adopted as an alternative approach which slows down traffic, connects people and promotes natural surveillance in neighborhoods. (Mohan, 2012) If there were eye contact and more people on the street, crime would go down. Many of these guidelines need to become the law.
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Figure 5.29 Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED); Source: http://eicher.in/urbanmobility/
Figure 5.30 Streets as Places; Source: http://eicher.in/urbanmobility/
Integrated urban planning is needed to better address crime and violence and to create communities that support active transportation and therefore reduce driving. More and more people thus use public transport which effectively reduces pollution and climate change. Basically, our city layout, design of buildings and zonal regulations have to ensure that all parts of the city experience human activity and increased interaction at all times. Buildings should not be hidden behind boundary walls, fences, and hedges. When street life is visible from inside homes and shops, it becomes a strong deterrent for crime. Apart from this, according to a survey by Tata Engineering and Research Institute, 55% of trips in Delhi are less than 5 kms. (Bishop, 2010) This needs to be recognized. The pushing out of informal sectors is putting unwanted pressure on the already high mobility needs of the city. Urban planning policies and decisions should be guided by collecting data on how far people move and accounted for in the master plan. A smarter way to resolve mobility issues is to reduce the mobility needs in the first place.
Figure 5.31 Urban Planning and its impact on the Mobility needs of the City; Source: Authors
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What we learn What we need is change. Not a just minor tweak in the system but a drastic one. The need for a step change is still following the old paradigm and the story of industrial nations. Most developed nations have realized that this cannot continue and that the path ahead is to go the pedestrian way.
Figure 5.32 Increase in road width and vehicles have gone hand in hand; Source: Authors
Let us look at the example of Amsterdam, where for many centuries canals and waterways were used as the main transportation route. Today these canals are only suitable for smaller barges, pleasure craft and canal tour boats. A project collaborated by the government of Amsterdam and the citizens is called Park and Bike which allows private car users to park their cars at the fringe of the city and complete their trip within the city via biking to their destination. This in turn helped reduce the carbon emission and energy use thus creating a more sustainable and efficient city.
Figure 5.33.1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5.33.3 Amsterdam; Source: Smart City blog
People first initiatives break the traditional norm of a purely hardware based planning paradigm of vehicle capacity through more lanes or flyovers and improve safety by means of mode barriers. By rigorously collecting people centered data and clearly communicating it to the public, the decision to redesign is not politically charged but is based on an empirically based decision making framework. (Cohen, 2012) The experts who design the roads differ in their perception of it with respect to the people who use it frequently. This gap needs to be bridged. Community engagement at a scale 1:1 (in real time and actual scale) embodied by the pilot project approach, allows all citizens to provide informed feedback and leads to designs which are more contextual to the users and their needs. (Mohan, 2012)
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Figure 5.34.1 Before; 5.34.2 After Including people in planning the streets; Source: http://eicher.in/urbanmobility/
However, having a meeting of this sort in a place like habitat center by virtue of its location becomes non inclusive. Hazard center began on a trajectory of participatory research in 1998 that has led it away from the notion of road as a mobility corridor to road as a public space in the social sphere, where there are multiple users and each group has its own perception of how the space can be used. (Mohan, 2012) These types of people collaborative design initiatives are the smarter way to go. The Smart technologies like ICT can be used for collection, analysis and implementation of this data. It helps in improving efficiency, equity, sustainability and quality of life in the city. They can be a means but not an end. Various modes within the city need to be integrated. Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) is trying to fit the city with bicycle stands but the location of bicycle stands is not guided by the user comfort but the visibility of advertising hoardings that defeats the entire idea.
Figure 5.35 Recommended Multi-Modal links within the city; Source: http://www.dimts.in/
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Interventions need to happen at all levels. If we continue to design systems for a person who comes out of his house, sits in his car, drives to work, parks under his office and gets out, then the issues will remain as it is. What if we provide parking in the city only at places where people can access public transport? Then everyone walks the last leg of their journey. Automatically, the infrastructure to support pedestrians or bicycles improves as the demand for it increases. Better sidewalks, bicycle parking, road sections designed to accommodate pedestrians and cycle users, non-motorized transport giving a clear cut sign that government and policy makers support them. To maximize use of active transportation, it is necessary to make people feel safe while walking, biking and using public transit. (Cohen, 2012) ICT can again help with this but the first step has to be design oriented. Experts say that the planning needs to be done at the master plan level such that the informal sector is included as a part of the city plan and transportation needs met as informal grows with urbanization and not reduces. Why should pedestrians go under or above the street and not cross the road at the ground level? The transportation system will reflect change if we change our priorities of which mode we give preference to. Currently on the city roads with a heterogeneous mix of traffic, the cyclist jostles for space, people driving motorbikes cut the movement of the traffic to find their way, car drivers consider the road their private property and drive as they please, the bus driver thinks he is driving a motorbike thereby giving everyone on the road a heart attack, the people who want to cross the road pray to god and run across hoping to be lucky. All of this is a result of years of negligence by the government and authorities and a sheer lack of sensitivity by people towards various modes that co-habit the road system to other people also.
Figure 5.36.1- 5.36.5 A heterogeneous mix of traffic; Source: Authors
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Mobility for an individual depends on adequacy, affordability, effectiveness, efficiency, comfort ability of a transport system. Cities are built for people and so are our transportation systems. Essentially that means pedestrians. The multi-dimensional experience of the pedestrian, cyclists and passengers must be all considered as one, at the eye level of humans in the city. Becoming “smart” is a journey, not an overnight transformation. We have limited resources. To deliver on the range of ambitious goals they have, cities must take account of the interconnected challenges they face and the interrelated systems they influence. (Mookerjee, 2012)This is a journey for cities, not an overnight transformation. But the first step requires a shift in thinking and a break from the past. Rethinking before we face a wall and smartly intervening at all levels, from policies to design to implementation is the only way ahead.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank our coordinators and guide who were with us through the entire semester, helping us to avoid various pitfalls. Also a special thanks to all our class mates. Without their enthusiasm and inputs, this would not have been possible.
Bibliography • Appleyard, B. (2012). Making roads safer. • Banister. (2002). In Transport, Development and Sustainability. • Bishop, S. N. (2010). Multi Modal Transport in a Low Carbon Future. • Burdett, R. (2006). Towards an Urban age. LSE Cities. • (2012-13). Economic Survey Of Delhi. • Finance, M. o. (2010). Economic Survey (2009–10). • Goodall, B. (1996). The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography. London: Penguin. • Habitat, W. H.-U. (n.d.). urban_population_growth_text/en/. Retrieved october saturday, 2013, from http://www.who.int: http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_ population_growth_text/en/ • Kannan, K. (2013). Promoting ‘Walk to Work’ and . The EuroIndia Summit & Mission. Hyderabad. • LARRY COHEN, C. G. (2012). A good solution solves multiple problems. • • • • • •
Mohan, D. (2012). Safety, Sustainability and Future Urban Transport. Delhi: EICHER. MOOKERJEE, J. R. (2012). Integrating mobility and public life. Rissom, J. (2012). Keep the focus on People. Singh, S. (2005). Review of Urban Transportation in India. Singla, S. S. (2009). THE ALTERNATIVE URBAN FUTURES . Thomas Press. Stern. (2006). Stern’s Review- The economics of climate change.
• TERI, R. L. (2010 ). Traffic and Transport Demand.
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SMARTER BUILT ENVIRONMENT Advisor: Mr.Gaurav Shorey | Building sustainability consultant, Swaraj Chairperson: Ms. Priyanka Kochar | Area Convenor Centre for Research onSustainable Building Science Resource persons: Ar.Sanjay Prakash | Principal consultant, SHIFT Ar.Chitra Vishwanath | MD, Biome Environmental Solutions Private Ltd. Ar.Dhruv Chandra | Sud Design Principal, Spidergrass Mr.Vivek Gilani | Co-Founder/President, The no2co2 Environmental Project Presented by: Aditya Kushwaha Kshitij Aggarwal Kuldeep Kumar Gupta Nalin Singh Nikita Verma
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Abstract Responding to context, weaving your building into the urban fabric human scale etc. are the phrases that we often hear in our studios but are they really implemented in the real world? Most of the buildings are built in isolation whereas the built environment is a dynamic entity which is engaged in interaction with eternal stimuli such as nature, climate infrastructure services, transportation, flora and fauna and most importantly Human beings. The conventional use of the term smart with respect to buildings is a trend dictating towards a greater degree of automation and use of plug-in solutions to make the buildings more energy efficient, user friendly, etc. The shift of dependence on artificial intelligence and external sources to control the environment we live in. The energy footprint of ICT and ITS systems is too high to be sustainable. These are all short-term solutions to solve the immediate problems we are facing and ignores the long-term repercussions. Through our seminar we look at the far-reaching solutions, which includes critically looking at the whole education system, growth vs. development debate, insecurities and fear in our social life that ultimately leads to unsustainable decisions and policies. The public should be sensitive enough to not allow isolated buildings that are designed unsustainably. The building is to become part of the environment and not stand as a separate entity as it does today. Oops. The word we were meaning to use was people. Humanity should be sensitive enough to not allow isolated people who are living unsustainably. People should become a part of the social / ecological / economical environment and not stand as separate entities as they do now.
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Smart: a linguistic phenomenon Smart is a linguistic phenomenon introduced to define information and control services that serve the need and expectations of the user. Its concentration is totally centered towards the quantity of life rather than quality. There is no word to word translation for ‘smart’ in Hindi, Infact most languages. It is a western concept driven mainly by leading software and IB system companies to manipulate their markets. Buildings are made for increasing the productivity. These depressing buildings are retrofitted by smart solutions which results in change in behavior of the working or residing population in it. We are heading towards a consumerism centered society and increasing the productivity of the workers to cater the demand of the consumer goods. These approaches lead us to continue building large, resource intensive, unmanageable cities, but ‘smart’ nonetheless. The developed countries are consoling themselves by introducing pseudo solutions to their problems without actually addressing their problems. The mindless utilization of these building systems and solutions without questioning the basic consumption patterns that precipitate the crisis we’re in cannot be called smarter development; it is in fact another way of saying “Lets destruct smartly.” In our opinion, we have more pressing, and confronting issues at hand, which need addressing at the local, regional and national levels. For instance: • Why is concrete omnipotent and omnipresent? How did it come to be so? • Why does everyone aim for a long lasting, earthquake-proof, moisture-proof, termite-proof, fire-proof, burglar-proof, people-proof house with sufficient parking and appliances? • Why is social status measured by number of cars one owns, or the area of one’s house and not by happiness and quality of life? • Why do we think that fossil-fuel based energy consumption is the only way of basic survival? • Why are we trying to create employable youth and not responsible citizens? Let’s delve into the phenomenon that we call SMART Sophisticated knowledge of the natural world is not confined to science. Human societies all across the globe have developed rich sets of experiences and explanations relating to the environments they live in. These ‘other knowledge systems’ are today often referred to as traditional ecological knowledge or indigenous or local knowledge. They encompass the sophisticated arrays of information, understandings and interpretations that guide human societies around the globe in their innumerable interactions with the natural milieu: in agriculture and animal husbandry; hunting, fishing and gathering; struggles against disease and injury; naming and explanation of natural phenomena; and strategies to cope with fluctuating environments. (Nakashima, 2000) Historical, archaeological and anthropological research has shown us several examples of ancient human settlements. Excavations in places like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro included, most such settlements constructed buildings constructed out of mud (sun-dried), clay and other naturally occurring materials. These societies showed innovation and creativity in dealing with periodic climatic fluctuations, and learned to adapt to the natural environment in ways far more evolved than modern science. The end-product (the building, or the utensil or the tool or the instrument) aside, the process of building/ developing was mostly a community driven activity which involved many seasonal and cultural community-based inputs / additions to it. For instance, the process of applying a fresh coating of cow-dung to the walls of one’s residence, or the process of coating the external walls with hydrated lime and neel.
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But the underlying thread in all of such illustrations was the world-view that these communities maintained – man belongs to the world, as against the modern worldview that the world belongs to man. On further studying the origin of such worldviews, we discovered some interesting aspects of what drives human behavior. One such element is the Terror Management Theory.
Terror Management Theory This theory tells us about the psychological conflict that results from the desire to live but realizing that death is inevitable. It also states that as human beings we are probably the only species on the planet that are capable to think about our own demise. The theory determines culture as a symbolic system that acts to provide life with a meaning. People use group, culture, religion or any other community based organization to cope up with this threat. This trepidation or threat in the minds of people makes them vulnerable, seeking for immediate and easy solutions to counter these fears. (Becker, 1997) Nowadays the media, advertisement agencies and movie makers are playing a great role in producing these qualms in the minds of public. These advertisements and videos are largely intended and aimed to “terrify and infect the minds of the crowd or play with their aspirations”, which eventually results in consumption of the goods and products that one might not even need. This thus results in consumerism oriented population rather than responsible and sustainable citizens. (Klimmt, 2011) Shopping is a global phenomenon with a plethora of luxury products available to satisfy our egos and make us happy. Taking an example of any cement advertisement, they always start with the notion that you are unsafe in a kutcha building or your building will someday collapse and will eventually result in your death. The term ‘death’ always triggers the mind consciously or unconsciously, and then we begin to wonder about the advertisement. The advertisements conclude by showing that how using their cement (or other product) one will be safe, secure and lasting. There is always an underlying drive to build bigger, stronger and perpetual. By watching these advertisements one (specially the larger public) involuntarily and unthinkably reacts by consuming these products as an immediate solution to the mind’s anxiety. (Arendt, 1954) The market forces also work on the principle of choices. The notion is that our mind has choices and thus has a control over circumstances, which is not true because the present construction industry and trend is practically not giving us choices amongst cement and other materials, rather it gives us options of different types and companies of cements that we can use. The choices we get in these industrialized materials are the same; they are just covered in a different package, which anyway take us to a definite destination of enslavement (dependence on them). This whole idea is a cycle of providing choices, thus reaping profits from them. Now if one starts analyzing the situation of smart technologies keeping the above theory in mind, we can understand the logistics behind its popularity. The commercials of smart solutions depict how our building and activities are resulting in more energy consumption and thus highlight the need for sustainability. They also relate it to death by showing how more energy consumption will lead to global phenomenon like global warming, greenhouse effect, etc which will eventually result in submersion of cities, floods and other catastrophic events, which is actually true. But then it is demonstrated how one can stop these events from happening by using solutions like ICT systems. That‘s what promotes the consumption and production of the technology based building
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systems because one perceives that technologies are an easy and immediate key to the problem of energy crisis. We need to analyze where the actual problem lies. Smart solutions are short term solutions, somewhere someone will be developing a smarter solution which will be another immediate solution to the same crisis and will have a consumerism centered approach towards maximizing the profits. The mindless utilization of these systems without questioning the basic consumption patterns that precipitate the crisis we’re in cannot be called smarter development; it is in fact another way of saying “Let’s destruct smartly”. (Arendt, 1954) (Jonas, 2006) All of the above points in another subtle but certain direction – man, by himself, is ill-equipped to live a long, safe, happy life. And that nature is a mean, cruel force which would devour us whole if given a chance. So man must utilize technology as an extension of his mind and body to go about living.
Extended mind thesis The theory states that some objects in external environment are utilized by mind in such a way that the object can be seen as an extension to itself. The mind extends beyond the skin because mental processes can constitutively include external devices, like computer, notebook, watch, etc. (Andy, 1998) Artificial Intelligence, the back bone of Smart Building Systems also works on this theory. Intelligent building solutions which are developed to control and direct energy flow in certain directions, running our built environments to maximize our comfort are also an extension to human mind. The increase in technological solutions is casting shadows on human minds and becoming counterproductive. It is described by neuroscientists as a crisis that would threaten long-held notions of who we are, what we do and how we behave. This crisis could reshape how we interact with each other, alter what makes us happy and modify our capacity for reaching our full potential as individuals. They describe this modern technology boom as a bane to the human mind. (Greenfield, 2008)
Figure 6.1: Technology vs. human mind; Source: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain,1997
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) defines Technological Singularity as a theoretical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of being greater than the human intelligence and it will radically change human civilization, and perhaps even humans itself.(Eden, 2013) (Horvitz, 2009) The “technology paradox” says that before singularity could occur, most routine jobs in the economy would be automated. This could cause massive unemployment and dropping consumer demands. Eventually the outcome would be a severe economic and social crisis because many people depend on these jobs which are technology replaceable. We can only imagine the scale
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and impact of such an event in a country like India, given our population. Buildings are a result of humankind’s struggle to shield itself from various elements of nature; a tool of survival. In today’s world, though buildings still are humankind’s first barricade against nature but it is not the only task they are expected to fulfill. Our buildings are no longer considered a passive structure made from inanimate materials coming together to create a shelter. Rather they are a collection of intricate system working at tandem to give us a style of life that we consider comfortable and productive. These systems include HVAC, artificial lighting, circulation systems such as elevators, sewage and drainage, automation etc. Smart solutions
Need of trained work force
Unsustainability
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Figure 6.2 The cement advertisement; Source: Authors
With the advancement of technology and increasing scale of built environment, these support systems became so complex and energy intensive that there was need of a managerial setup that could monitor and run these systems efficiently as well as make them user responsive. These are called Smart systems or Intelligent Building system. The term ‘intelligent buildings’ was first used in the United States in the early 80’s and a definition given by the Intelligent Building Institution in Washington is: An intelligent building is one which integrates various systems to effectively manage resources in a coordinated mode to maximize: technical performance; investment and operating cost savings; flexibility. These system aim at data sharing between building systems as well as with other business applications, improving efficiency and real-time control over building operating costs. (Ler, 2006) But the picture is not all that perfect, especially for countries like India where urbanization is on a steep upward spiral whereby designers, architects as well as users are copying the globally recognized building typologies, most of the times blatantly overlooking the local situations and conditions.
Overlooking the indigenous built environments We have recently started making buildings which are energy guzzling behemoths and supposedly reflect the “modern” lifestyle of excesses in one particular class of society. Now considering such built environments the trend of the day, we are scampering around to cut back resource consumption through plug in solutions. The major drawback of such a growth model is that in a drive to provide global solutions and to manufacture standardized products, the ICT solution companies have left the indigenous construction systems completely out of the loop. Indigenous architectural expressions are rooted in locally available construction materials and have evolved over time to suit the local conditions like weather and topography. These built environments cause
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minimum environmental impact both in conception and maintenance. Due to this very nature, most of the native building typologies limit the scale of construction which restricts the so called wave of development, making them unpopular in real estate sector. Developers, designers and contractors are responsible for the resource demands of the environment they create, whereas owners and occupants are responsible for the waste products they produce. By providing easy, readymade, plug in solutions, the role of designers and architects is reduced to merely providing a structure on which these technological solutions can be mounted. Also the built environment tends to get financially driven rather than regulated and limited by the resources at the disposal of the designer. The role of centralized business entities like those providing smart solutions/ materials increases. The community structure of construction deteriorates and reliance on external corporate sources to have a sustainable built environment keeps increasing. Architects and others in the construction industry are discouraged from becoming responsible and fulfilling their moral contribution towards developing a ‘smartly designed’ built environment. The Phoebus Cartel Treaty signed by light bulb manufacturers across the globe which restricted the average life span of an incandescent bulb to mere 1000 hrs to have an ever-increasing demand to keep the businesses running is a classic example of insensitivity of centralized corporate structure for purely profit factors. Smart building solutions are needed in buildings with a certain level of energy consumption. While majority of the built environment scenarios in India are still struggling to cater to basic needs and infrastructure for human survival like potable drinking, sewage disposal, concentrating on huge built environs with extensive energy requirements and then trying to make them energy efficient is a futile exercise to core. In contrast passive design techniques are well known and hugely explored tool at the disposal of architects to provide a comfortable habitat without overburdening the energy resources. It achieves this by using free, renewable sources of energy such as sun and wind to provide household heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting, thereby reducing or removing the need for mechanical heating or cooling. Using passive design can reduce temperature fluctuations, improve indoor air quality and make a home drier and more enjoyable to live in. It costs little or nothing to incorporate passive design into a new building. The benefits are greatest when passive design principles are incorporated into the entire design and build process, from site selection onwards. Stress should be laid on these principles before thinking about straight away adopting IB systems to solve similar problems. Once a building is completed, some passive design features can be incorporated during later upgrades – for example, insulation can be improved, and it may be possible to alter room layout to improve orientation and solar access.
Technology versus productivity One of the most winning arguments employed by BMS and IB companies is that a controlled high wired environment results in better productivity as compared to an environment which experiences fluctuations of nature and weather. Also continuous data exchange between the systems and displaying the end result to users also leads to better built environment. But contrary to this belief established by ICT companies, studies conducted across the world are indicating that this might not actually be true. Thus, comes the paradox that technology and human productivity at work are not codependent.
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Delivered computing-power in the US economy has increased by more than two orders of magnitude since 1970 yet productivity, especially in the service sector, seems to have stagnated. (Brynjolfsson, 1993) Building as an activity in itself is unsustainable. One must live in forests like a primitive man in order to be living in a net zero energy home. We can only strive to minimize the impacts of our construction activities and buildings by our choice of materials and design. Talking about absolute zero energy and neutral carbon footprints is thus a utopian concept. A sustainable urban built environment needs to keep an account of the carrying capacity of a city.
Carrying capacity of a city A simple illustration of carrying capacity is the number of people who could survive in a lifeboat after a shipwreck. Their survival depends on how much supplies they have, how much each person eats and drinks each day, and how many days they are afloat. If the lifeboat made it to an island, how long the people survived would depend upon the food and water supply on the island and how sensibly they used it. A small desert island will support far fewer people than a large continent with plentiful water and good soil for growing crops. In this example, food and water are the natural resources of the island. Living within the carrying capacity means using those provisions no sooner than they are replenished by the island’s environment: using the ‘interest’ income of the natural resources. A community that is living off the interest of its community capital is living within the carrying capacity. A community that is degrading or destroying the ecosystem on which it depends is living unsustainably. If human activities are to be sustainable, we need to ensure that the ecological systems on which our economies depend are resilient. Carrying capacities in nature are not preset, static, or uncomplicated relations. They are contingent on technology, preferences, and the structure of production and consumption. They are also dependent on the ever changing state of interactions between the physical and biotic environment. A single number for human carrying capacity would be pointless because the consequences of both human innovation and biological evolution are inherently unknowable. Some of the signs of surpassing the built carrying capacity can be: • A community that allows its buildings, roads, parks, power facilities, water facilities, and waste processing capability to decay is eroding its built capital. Additionally, a community that is creating built capital without considering the present infrastructure facilities and future maintenance of that capital is setting itself up for eventual destruction. • A neighborhood that allows its children to be poorly educated, undernourished, and poorly housed is eroding its human resource. • A neighborhood that allows the quality of its social interactions to decline through lack of trust, respect, and tolerance and increasing social insecurities are eroding its social capital. (Hart, 2011) Resilience in this sense is a measure of the magnitude of disturbances that can be absorbed before a system centered on a locally stable equilibrium flips to the other side. A built environment is viable only if the life-support ecosystems upon which they depend are resilient. Even though ecological resilience is difficult to measure and it varies from system to system and from one kind of disturbance to another, it may be possible to recognize indicators and early-warning signals of environmental stress. For example, the diversity of organisms or the heterogeneity of ecological functions has been suggested as signals of ecosystem resilience. (Arrow, 1994)
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Presently, not many people doubt the rapid decline and deterioration of environmental resources (e.g. freshwater, fish stocks, biodiversity, soil, minerals, fossil resources), the overuse of ecological sinks (e.g. waste assimilation in air, water, soil); and the fact that such overuse deteriorates and destroys ecosystems and ultimately living conditions of humans and other species. Undoubtedly, the theory of carrying capacity has played a major part in promoting public and political awareness and understanding of looming and existing limits to building activities. (Seidl, 1999) Therefore, the urban carrying capacity concept is defined as the level of human activities, population growth, land use, physical development, which can be sustained by the urban environment without causing serious degradation and irreversible damage. This concept is based upon the assumption that there are certain environmental thresholds which when exceeded leads to deterioration of quality of human life. This carrying capacity approach can be useful when the thresholds are identified ahead of time. (Kozlowski, 1990) What needs pointing out in this case is that the carrying capacity concept is rather anthropocentric. The concept has no room for the security and development of nature, flora and fauna included, who in turn would have their own carrying capacity demands. If looked at holistically, our cities must stop now! We must learn that we can continue to grow and develop our built within the carrying capacity of our city and must stop once we achieve that. In our estimates, our cities, especially the metropolitan ones like Delhi, Mumbai etc., are ever expanding and have either crossed their carrying capacities or are about to do so. There might not be direct and immediate statistics to prove that but we are witness to the state of our collapsing sewerage system, paucity of garbage landfills, insufficient road space, depleting water sources, greater than ever electricity requirements etc. They are all overboard and the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capacity is not adequate to fulfill the demands. Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demand for power is increasing by 10% every year. We need about 4,200 million litres of water per day and face a daily deficit of about 1,000 million litres. In New Delhi, the sewage lines 25000 laid by the British have not been changed. Delhi generates 6,500 tonnes (1,625 trucks) of garbage every day. Last year, it touched the 10,000 tonnes (2,500 trucks) mark. 20000
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Delhi currently has four landfills. The height of garbage piles at three of them - Ghazipur in east, Bhalaswa in north and Okhla in south - have crossed the 30-metre mark, a good 10 meters more than permitted. With the highest number of high-rises after Mumbai and Bangalore, Gurgaon lives on groundwater, extracting three times of what is naturally replenished and may go dry by 2017. Back-up power bills run in five digits across such townships and gated communities are inundated with sewer backflows. (Singh, 2013) Improved civic infrastructure can indeed improve the living standards in Delhi or increase its carrying capacity but simultaneously straining the resource pool available to us. But whatever is the capacity and aspiration of man-made infrastructure, no city can sustain more than its finite natural resources permit. This brings us to the theory of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Limits to growthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The point to be noted here is that growth is not equal to development. While limiting the growth after achieving the carrying capacity limits might be imperative, but it does not translate into limiting the development as well.
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Growth vs. Development Growth refers to a positive change in size, often over a period of time. It is an increase in some quantity over time. The quantity can be physical or abstract. Development, on the other hand, is the gradual growth of a situation that becomes more advanced and strong than previous one. It incorporates the notion of measures of human welfare. Development is a progressive change. It is improvement in human welfare, quality of life, social well-being and satisfying the populationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs and wants (without harming the future & others needs and wants). Growth is quantitative and Development is qualitative but not always quantitative.
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20% 40% 40%
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Figure 6.5 Percentage of energy usage; Source: www.mospi.gov.in
In terms of built environment, the carrying capacity of a city should be calculated and a limit be put to the number of buildings/ built up areas such that we don’t put pressures beyond what our natural resources can take. We cannot keep on exploding incessantly. The urban sprawl can never be controlled if we don’t restrict the growth of cities- which is primarily urban buildings.
A word about urban sprawl Urban sprawl is the phenomenon of unplanned, uncontrolled spreading of urban development into areas adjoining the edge of a city often on undeveloped or agricultural land. The Sprawl design has impacted on nature and agricultural land, created an increase in demand for new infrastructure and the resources necessary to support the needs of residents. Housing is characterized by subdivisions and networks of roads leads to car-dependent communities and job sprawl. Sprawl is the result of a process whereby technological advances and business and marketing strategies spurred demographic shifts and altered consumption patterns in favor of privacy, local control, and flexible personal transportation. Sprawl typically has the following characteristics: Unnecessary land consumption • Widespread strip commercial development along roads • Auto dependence. Physically and economically segregated subdivisions • Fragmented open space, wide gaps between developments and a scattered appearance • Separation of uses into distinct areas • Lack of public spaces and community centers • Automobile dependency. New wide roads • Utility expansion/extension • Segregated land uses by zones • Lack of centralized or coordinated planning • New development that is outside established settlements • Large financial inequalities among localities (Gray, 2005) Delhi, which was not even among the world’s top ten urban sprawls by population in 1990, is already the second largest, just behind Tokyo and will continue to retain that position till 2025, according to a UN projection.
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In the two decades between 1971 and 1991, Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population increased by 4.8 million with the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sprawl extending by 239 square kilometers -an increase of 53 per cent in area to accommodate 132 per cent increase in population. Like hermits in the desert, the international conferences such as those held in Rio de Janeiro, Kyoto, Aalborg, Leipzig, that proposed more sustainable and efficient urban models, have been ignored. Instead, there has been a continual commitment to the development of cities following guidelines that are totally contrary to the agreements set out in these meetings. According to JNNURM the migration growth in Delhi is 645 people per day. That translates to 235,425 people annually.
The case of Delhi With population growth, built-up areas in Delhi are rapidly increasing and it is leading to several environmental consequences (air and water pollution, traffic congestion, urban heat island formation, etc.) On the other hand there is growing socio-economic disparity (epidemic break outs, social disparity, and informal economy). Hence the urban environment in Delhi is under severe stress due to the pressure of rapid urbanization. Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total built up was about 35,000 ha in 1987 and 70,000ha in 2006. During the course of 19 years, an area of around 10,000 ha of agricultural lands was lost to built-up areas and road infrastructure. These agricultural lands were prominently spread in the north-western and western part of the Delhi up to 1987. Forest land loss was also accounted in the course of urbanization. Approximately 11,000 ha of forest land (open forest & dense forest) was lost during the period. The other alarming indicator of unsustainable growth in NCR was the loss of water bodies. These reduced by 1,464 hectares. (Mehta, 2011) 16000000
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Figure 6.6 Delhi statistics increase in builtup area; Source: www.mospi.gov.in
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The built up area in Delhi is expected to increase from 53% in 2008 to 66% in 2021 and 85% in 2031 to accommodate the increasing population. There are better and more sustainable ways to nurture this growing urban population and technical growth. An example of this is the Compact city urban model. The return to the traditional city concept contrasts with the current centralized pattern because of its compact and complex design. Public space is organized so it has multiple uses. In a compact and multifaceted urban model, citizens have the services they depend on within walking distance. Their homes, workplaces, institutions and opportunities for leisure are close by. The need for excessive consumption of resources is therefore lessened.
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Migration Increase in opportunity
Increasing population
Expansion of city
Residences, office spaces, infrastructure Requirement of more land
Figure 6.7 City cycle; Source: Authors
The model sees growth over the long-term. Its aim is to create a sense of community that will endure over time. It will therefore seek to expand its range of public transportation choices, local employment opportunities, and public and private housing choices. The benefits of this type of development are distinctly holistic and can preserve and enhance economic, natural, and cultural resources .The compact city seeks high residential density with land used for various purposes. It requires good public transport and its layout promotes walking and cycling, low energy use and less pollution. A large resident population in close proximity allows for social interaction. It is a more sustainable type than urban sprawl because it is less dependent on the car and there is less need for infrastructure. (www.sustainablecities.eu, 2013) Historically, Indian cities, which were very compact, were organized around two types of spaces: • The public green/square, a meeting and gathering place par excellence, a place of politics broadly speaking, a privileged space where events and festivals are held; • Neighborhood spaces: streets, landings, gardens; they correspond to the gaps in which there is ongoing neighborhood life, with its local shops, its smells, its lifestyle, its identity and close relationships. The current urban design is car oriented. We have created centralized cities with an everincreasing spread out, which ultimately leads to distances between workplaces, residences and other services, increasing dependency on automobiles, thus the very approach is unsustainable! Another model of the compact city planning idea is the SDZ- Sustainable Development Zones. Building upon basic New Urbanist tenets promoting walkable communities, SDZs feature mixeduse, high-density urban centers with more low-density outer rings. Whether SDZs and their alternative built environment have the potential to reshape India’s continued development in terms of environmental sustainability through improved urban form is still to be assessed. The compact and complex city not only provides mobility and accessibility, but also enables the commitment of more time to social or personal activities; time that is often lost in the traffic jams
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of sprawling cities. This is derived from the new urbanism theory that promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walkable, compact, vibrant, mixed-use communities composed of the same components as conventional development, but assembled in a more integrated fashion, in the form of complete communities. These contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks, and civic facilities essential to the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other. It is an international movement to reform the design of the built environment, and is about raising our quality of life and standard of living by creating better places to live. New Urbanism is the revival of our lost art of place-making, and is essentially a re-ordering of the built environment into the form of complete cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods - the way communities have been built for centuries around the world. New Urbanism involves fixing and infilling cities, as well as the creation of compact new towns and villages.
Figure 6.8 Compact cities; Source: www.urb-al3.eu
Some principles that need to be considered are: PROXIMITY (24/7 Mixed-use Continuum) Efficient and equitable access to most of the city’s parts. Richness in life may be measured not by possessing ‘more’ materials as individuals, rather by requiring ‘less’ materials through a more fully shared and higher quality environment. URBAN SCALE (Pedestrian Environment) Human scale is generally recognized as physical proportion we can personally relate to. Urban scale results from having a densely organized human environment. However, when dense and efficient urban spatial arrangements are adopted for pedestrian (and cyclist) mobility, such robust three-dimensional living can become human scale once again. Eliminating automobiles from the city core can lead to an environment that is less polluting and wasteful and healthier overall for urban residents. ECOLOGICAL ENVELOPE (Bounded Density) In order to sustain the health of a city, we define the ecological envelope as the carrying capacity of the environment containing our human activities. Opposed to sprawling development, “Growth
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within limits” is the inward developmental mindset necessary to reduce our environmental footprint. LESS CONSUMPTION (Embodied Efficiency) By applying appropriate technologies such as passive climate control systems, innovative water/ sewage treatment systems, and using proper green building materials and recycling technology, we can certainly increase the ‘lean’ factors in our project, as long as the effort results in less material and energy consumption within the community. ELEGANT FRUGALITY (Jugaad) “Doing more with less” is certainly something we Indians are good at. It is about making do with resources you have. At the building level, it becomes very essential to look at the energy factor. A building design should not only minimize the energy requirements of the building when in use but also look at the energy footprint of constructing it. The materials, construction process etc come into play here. Embodied energy represents inputs consumed throughout a product’s life-cycle. Initial embodied energy represents energy used for the extraction of raw materials, transportation to factory, processing and manufacturing, transportation to site, and construction. Once the material is installed, recurring embodied energy represents the energy used to maintain, replace, and recycle materials and components of a building throughout its life. The total amount of embodied energy may account for 20% of the building’s energy use, so reducing embodied energy can significantly reduce the overall environmental impact of the building. Buildings should be designed and materials selected to balance embodied energy with factors such as climate, availability of materials and transport costs. Lightweight building materials often have lower embodied energy than heavyweight materials, but in some situations, lightweight construction may result in higher energy use. For example, where heating or cooling requirements are high, this may raise the overall energy use of the building. Conversely, for buildings with high heating or cooling requirements but where there is a large diurnal (day/night) temperature range, heavyweight construction (typically with high embodied energy) and the inclusion of high levels of insulation can offset the energy use required for the building.
Economic development Economic Growth Private Profit Market expansion Externalize Cost
Ecological Development, Carrying Capacity, Resource Conservation, Balance
Community development, Local Self Reliance, Basic Human Needs, Equality Participation, Social Accountability, Appropriate Technology
Figure 6.9 Jugaad; Source: www.trp.dundee.ac.uk
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When selecting building materials, the embodied energy should be considered with respect to: • • • • • • • •
the durability of building materials how easily materials can be separated use of locally sourced materials use of recycled materials specifying standard sizes of materials avoiding waste Selecting materials that are manufactured using renewable energy sources. Maximizing the reclamation of materials at the end of a building’s life cycle.
Academic studies have illustrated that embodied energy accounts for the majority of a building’s energy footprint for approximately the first 15-20 years of a building’s life-cycle. Architects, interior designers, and engineers need to be conscious of the embodied energy of the materials specified on projects so that they can select products that help reduce the overall energy footprint of buildings. Given that the envelope and structure alone account for approximately 50% of a building’s total embodied energy, we can reduce the footprint of our designs by selecting existing buildings for interior build-outs, renovations, or adaptive reuse projects. Interior finishes account for approximately 13% of a building’s embodied energy, so adaptive reuse or interior build-out projects have an overall smaller energy footprint that new construction. (Design, 2012)
Figure 6.10 Cradle to Cradle; Source: Cannon Design, 2012
For the most positive impact, we need to select materials with lower embodied energy, higher durability, lower levels of toxicity, and overall favorable life-cycle impacts. The industrialized materials like steel, concrete, gypsum etc have the highest embodied energy, whereas locally available materials like earth, bamboo, and local-stone have the least.
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13% 24% SITE WORK
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Figure 6.11 Embodied energy of an office building; Source: Cole and Kernan stduy, 1996
Another crucial factor of making smarter built environments is making inclusive, well responding buildings rather than isolated building systems. The building systems which are being followed currently create an indoor environment which is completely disconnected from the natural environment causing greater dependence on energy resources as well as creating a disturbing disconnect between man and nature.
Figure 6.12 Embodied energy of materials; Source: Centre for Building Performance Research
Moreover we are continuously moving towards more and more complex building systems which on one side further intensify the pressure on our planet’s resources, while on the other hand allows the planetary atmosphere to be altered by man at his whim. They act as an ‘objects’, indifferent to the public or hierarchical role they play in the value of our society. Architectural styles are like languages. If you want to be understood, you have to speak using the language of and for the people. If one was to give a lecture to an Indian audience, it would be
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foolish to speak in Chinese. And it would add insult to injury to grunt unintelligibly. This, in brief, is the significance of designing buildings with the architectural context in mind. Building in context primarily means to satisfy the climate, site and local culture with local traditions and materials. For example Hawa Mahal. (Figure 6.14) 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 INITIAL
25 YEAR WOOD
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Figure 6.13 Recurrent energy; Source: Patrick Troy, 2001
The building in Figure 6.15 is called World Trade Park. Does it look like a building that could be called smart? Yes you definitely need to know where is it located (apart from other factors) to even start thinking about an answer. The building is located in the heart of Jaipur. Leaving aside the fact that one cannot relate to the people, land and culture at all, the building is hardly responsive to the climate. Large glass facades and ACP panels on all faces- the building has extremely high embodied and end user energy figures.
Figure 6.14 Hawa Mahal near Jaipur; Source: www. jaipurthepinkcity.com
Figure 6.15 Jaipur world trade park; Source: commons.wikimedia. org
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A call to changing the thinking for a smarter built environment Education System The most far-reaching and long-term solution is changing the life style and way of thinking. But as Ar. Sanjay Prakash aptly said that changing the aspirations of our current society seems impossible, we can start with most impressionable and significant part of our society – children. According to M.K Gandhi “If you want a long term result you have to work with children”. Education is one of the most organised and efficient way of bringing about this change. Our current education system which is a continuation of the system introduced by the British is focused on creating employable citizens and not responsible ones. It has not been adapted to the changing times or Indian value systems sufficiently. There is an urgent need to reconfigure the education imparted so that all the above mentioned concepts can be simplified and imparted so that the future generations are smarter than what the world is today. We need citizens who question and think instead of blindly following the global trends. Another field that needs rework is our professional education. For example, architectural education is the whole and soul of our Built environment. Creating a sustainable and human centric environment is the duty and responsibility of designers. The professional curriculum should be such that it inspires and stimulates the students to look at our cultural heritage in terms of built technologies. They should be able to translate the wisdom of our ancestors in modern world context and keep us rooted to our belief systems. We will always have set easy solutions being offered to us for our problems. The professionals should be able to question them, critically analyse and look at long term impacts and root causes. Architecture has always been about monumentality, to achieve something that remains on the face of earth and can be seen by future generations for eternity. We as architects want to immortalize ourselves beyond the call of time through our buildings. It is time for us to recognize this flaw in our approach. In traditional Indian belief, house was regarded as a place of abode as well as transition. Somewhere it had a notion that nothing can be permanent, everlasting. A building is, at root, nothing more than an assemblage of materials forming an enclosure. We recognize that these materials came from somewhere, are held together for a time by the techniques of construction, and will at some future time transition into another state. While we tend to think of buildings as permanent, they are in fact only a resting state for materials, a temporary equilibrium that is destined to be upset by the entropic forces that drive the physical universe. (Timberlake, 2008) This might be the smartest solutions of all.
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Acknowledgements We take this opportunity to thank all those who helped and encouraged us and guided us from time to time. We express gratitude to Mr. Gaurav Shorey , our advisor for his patience, cooperation and most importantly for all the valuable guidance and suggestions. We thank our seminar coordinators Ms Jaya Kumar and Ms Ranjana Mittal for their efforts and advice without which this Seminar paper would not have been possible. We are really grateful to our resource people ‘Ar. Sanjay Prakash, Ar. Chitra Vishwanath, Ar. Dhruv Chandra Sud and Mr Vivek Gilani for their valuable inputs. Last but not the least our parents, friends and google.com for being supportive and available all the while.
Bibliography • Andy, C., 1998. Extended Mind Thesis. • Anon., n.d. http://www.sustainablecities.eu/local-stories/catmed/cat-med-urban-model/. [Online] • Available at: http://www.sustainablecities.eu/[Accessed August 2013]. • Arendt, H., 1954. The Crises in Education. pp. 1-14. • Becker, E., 1971. The birth and death of meaning. New York: The Free Press. • Becker, E., 1997. The Denial of Death. New York: Simon and Schuster. • Brynjolfsson, E., December, 1993. The Productivity Paradox of Information Technology: Review and Assessment, Massachusetts: Communications of the ACM. • Cannon Design, 2012. Material Life- Embodied energy of building materials. [Online] Available at: http:// media.cannondesign.com/ [Accessed 21 october 2013]. • Dash, D. K., 2012. Delhi and Mumbai in world’s top four urban sprawls. Times of India, 25 October. • Eden, A., 2013. Singularity Hypotheses. A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment. • Greenfield, S., 2008. Dopamine release and uptake dynamics within nonhuman primate striatum in vitro. pp. 8209-8217. • Hart, M., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/ [Accessed 23 10 2013]. • Horvitz, E., 2009. Technological Singularity. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Technological_singularity#cite_note-1 [Accessed 20 September 2014]. • Irmi Seidl, C. A. T., 1999. Carrying capacity reconsidered: from Malthus’ population, Brisbane: Department of Economics, The University of Queensland,. • Jonas, E., 2006. Terror management and religion: evidence that intrinsic religiousness mitigates worldview defense following mortality salience. Chicago: s.n. • Kenneth Arrow, P. D. C. H. D. P., 1994. Economic growth, carrying capacity, and the environment, stockholm: ELSEVIER. • Klimmt, C., 2011. Media psychology and complex modes of entertainment experiences.. Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, pp. 23, 34-38. • Kozlowski, J., 1990. Sustainable development in professional planning: a potential contribution of the EIA and UET concepts, s.l.: s.n. • Ler, E. L., November 2006. Intelligent Building Automation Systems, Southern Queens Land: University of Southern Queens Land. • Mehta, R. K., 2011. Land Use Land Cover Change Detection Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS Tools : a case study of Delhi, Gangtok: Sikkim manipal university. • Nielsen, Z., 2006. Applying Terror Management Theory to Death in Television News. p. 41. • Pories, L., 2013. Sustainable Development Zones: India’s New Urbanism?. [Online]. • Singh, S., 2013. Our ground realities must decide Delhi’s vertical limit. Hindustan Times, 17 February. • Taylor, L. D., 2010. Death and Television:Terror Management Theory and Themes of Law and Justice on Television. pp. 340-359. • Timberlake, K., 2008. cellophane_house. [Online] Available at: http://kierantimberlake.com/featured_ projects/cellophane_house_1.html [Accessed 20 11 2012].
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07 SMARTER PEOPLE Advisor: Anjali Mittal | Architect, Faculty at SPA Delhi Chairpersons: Mr. Kanu Agarwal | Architect, Faculty of Urban Design, SPA New Delhi Prof. Pramila Agarwal | Professor, Community Worker program, George Brown College, Toronto Resource Persons: Prof. Vinod Gupta | Space Designs Prof. Ashok B Lall | Ashok B Lall Architects Presented by: Mebanshanbor Marbaniang Nongan Perme Zothankimi
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Abstract In the established approach towards Smart Cities, smart systems collect and use data to design and control the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s infrastructure, buildings, transport, safety, etc. Citizens of such a city would be required to adapt to the new technological systems. Studies have shown that this top-down approach tends to fail as it does not incorporate the specificities of a particular society/social group. People are inherently different in their behavior and reaction to change. They are incredibly individual even within a particular group. Barr and Gilg (2006) in their studies, have proven that any system when applied to people cannot force behavioral change. Rather it should work from the ground up and involve them right in their very own personal space. India already has certain large scale systems of people that function exceedingly well without using any form of ICT, which we call Indigenous Smart Systems. They are culturally and socially inclusive, are sustainable and based on an intensive labour force that is networked together because of a common need. We believe that the people are our biggest infrastructure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; our biggest resource. And a Smarter System of people will network them to achieve sustainable lifestyles, using whatever means we have at our disposal to do so.
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Essentially us “The downfall of the attempts of governments and leaders to unite mankind is found in this- in the wrong message that we should see everyone as the same. This is the root of the failure of harmony. Because the truth is, we should not all see everyone as the same! We are not the same! We are made of different colours and we have different cultures. We are all different! But the key to this door is to look at these differences, respect these differences, learn from and about these differences, and grow in and with these differences. Because in this, we all have an underlying belief that everyone should be the same as us at some point. We are not on a journey to become the same or to be the same. But we are on a journey to see that in all of our differences, that is what makes us beautiful as a human race, and if we are ever to grow, we ought to learn and always learn some more. We are all equal in the fact that we are all different. We are all the same in the fact that we will never be the same. We are united by the reality that all colours and all cultures are distinct & individual. We are harmonious in the reality that we are all held to this earth by the same gravity. We don’t share blood, but we share the air that keeps us alive. I will not blind myself and say that my black brother is not different from me. I will not blind myself and say that my brown sister is not different from me. But my black brother is he as much as I am me. But my brown sister is she as much as I am me”. (C. C.J n.d.)
We have a big problem India’s population is 1.21 billion. (India Demographics Profile, 2013) This number will increase year after year. Of this, 30% of the population lives in urban areas or cities and the rate of urbanization increases at 2.4% every year. (India Demographics Profile, 2013) This is because the growing economy, the growth in the industrial sector, the need for quality standard education and jobs has caused a massive part of the population to move into and reside in our cities. This massive urbanization has in turn produced a huge strain on the availability of resources and infrastructure in our urban centers (India Demographics Profile, 2013) Our cities are badly planned or not planned at all with a lack of infrastructure for most of the basic needs required to maintain a healthy and comfortable way of life. Most of them have bad sewage systems, badly maintained transport systems, outdated water transport systems, rising pollution, lack of adequate housing, lack of public spaces, etc. The word town, in India, conjures up images of dingy, graffiti-spattered concrete jungles, teeming with people, potholed roads and choked streets. (Chatterji, 2003) This huge population that resides in our cities is comprised of people of all kinds and types and sizes who are extremely different in their social statuses, jobs, cultures, religions, beliefs, food, clothing, temperaments, etc. These different kinds of people – a messy plethora of needs and wants have to live with each other, work and play with each other, face challenges together and try and sustain for themselves a good standard of living. Designing cities that provide for each one’s needs would be a huge challenge because there would be just too many different needs to address. The paper does not include architectural details as it would include material culture, spatial representation and the direct relation between spatial orders and the way people respond to them through lifestyle. Though there can be a way in which the above entities can be a way to map this in order to have a better understanding of smart in an urban context. (Agarwal K. , 2013)
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The master plans that we come up with for our cities cannot cope with the ever-increasing population and the number of people that migrate to our cities every year. Master plans mainly demarcate land for different uses and design cities with the viewpoint that people will fill them, use them according to the laws provided and adapt accordingly. (Chatterji, 2003) This is in fact almost difficult to believe as history has proved and common sense dictates that cities only exist because of people living in them. So conversely, when a city is designed, it should be done in such a way that the needs of the people who live there or who will do so in the future are kept in mind first and foremost. A big problem with the way our cities are planned is that there is a lack of resource mapping. There is no track of movements in terms of people and material or in relation to the flow of ideas and decisions about the physical and social form of the cities. (Chatterji, 2003) Keeping in mind the huge number of people who migrate into our cities every day, it is scary to think that there is no real understanding of where these people go, or live, or work. There then arises a lack of basic infrastructure like employment, housing, health amenities, water, food, etc. where people cannot get the basic things they need to have a decent way of life. (Three-fourths of Indian cities functioning without a Master Plan, 2012) This is the reason why there is a high rate in crime, a sense of detachment and fear, a sense of anxiety, lack of trust in each other, etc. (Heidegger, 1962) Policies designed by governmental agencies are implemented through a top-down approach. (Chatterji, 2003) However, people are too dynamic to live according to a rigid plan that is designed for say the next 10 or 20 years. What is required is a proactive system that functions in a bottomup approach and involves people in the decision making process and takes into account first he present needs of the people, and then also plans for a future keeping in mind these needs. In the US and Western Europe, public participation in plan preparation and review is institutionalised. The debates between pro-growth and pro-conservation groups are often held at the local community level, where planning officials moderate, and try to evolve a consensus. With the strength of public support behind them, the planners can face effectively political maneuvers and lobby for budget sanction. (Chatterji, 2003) What is clear is that there is a lack of an interface between those who make the rules and those the rules are meant for. Because of this, there is a lack of communication between the two. According to Prof. Ashok Lall (Lall, 2013), this interface is the most necessary thing that is missing from the everyday lives of people in our cities. Most people have no idea about what is going on behind the scenes. They do not know of the government’s plans to make the city better or of the ways different problems are being addressed. It is a situation where solutions are given without first finding out what solutions would work best for different groups of people. It is in such a time like this that the Smart City concept has been brought forward as the remedy for our cities’ problems.
Be “Smart” A child is taught that smart means to understand that a stands for apple. As he grows up he is taught that smart is to get good grades in school. Then as a young adult, smart is to look good, to have a social circle, to act cool and be hip. When he grows a little older, smart then becomes getting a good job and a family and having a good lifestyle. To be successful is seen as smart. This is a popular understanding of smart. However what is smart is different for all of us. And for all of us, the notion of what is smart changes continuously over time. What may have been smart yesterday may not be as smart today or tomorrow. From this we realize the following points of discussion. Firstly, that throughout a person’s life, smart is something that is taught to him. He is smart if he does certain things and not smart if he doesn’t. This is a social construct that is, a mutually agreed upon idea of what is considered smart. Secondly, smart is a relative notion. What is smart for me might not necessarily be smart
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for you. Thirdly, whatever the notion of smart may be, it will always be judged against certain criteria. Fourthly, what is considered smart is something that changes over time. So what then is smart as applied to cities and what are the criteria against which the notion of a smart city is judged? “Smart cities use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and quality of life, and reduced environmental footprint – all supporting innovation and the lowcarbon economy.” (Stott, 2013) Hence, • Smart is to use our resources carefully • Smart is to achieve an improved quality of life • Smart is to treat our environment better • Smart is to find better ways of doing things • Smart is to be able to keep on doing these things for the future In other words, it means that to be smart is to be sustainable. The main criteria for which smartness of a city is judged against, is its ability to sustain itself for the future.
Figure 7.1 Popular notions of Smart; Source: Authors
Figure 7.2 Criteria for Smart; Source: Authors
What they mean by “Smart” Historically, the use of technology to network cities in terms of data traffic is an idea that started much before the word ‘Smart City’ was coined (Mossberger, 2013) The fact that the internet has made the transport of data so cheap and efficient means that it is now possible to collect and manage data instantaneously and analyse it and provide feedbacks all in real time for the present. For much of the twentieth century, the idea that a city could be smart was science fiction that was featured in popular media. But suddenly in the past two decades, information and communication technologies are connecting people in ways that have never been seen before. This in turn is affecting how day-to-day functions are now being handled. An event occurring thousands of kilometres away can directly influence the decisions we make in the here and now. This availability of a vast and quick network of technology is a big asset in terms of the way we can automate functions serving individual persons, buildings, traffic systems, etc. but in ways that enable us to monitor, understand, analyse and plan the city to improve the efficiency, equity and quality of life for its citizens in real time; and also planning for the future. So in fact, the idea that data is the crux of city management and planning is an idea that has been
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present for a while. They were referred to as Digital cities - connected communities that combined broadband communications infrastructure; flexible, service-oriented computing infrastructure ; and innovative services to meet the needs of governments and their employees, citizens and businesses. (Mossberger, 2013) However what makes the idea of a ‘Smart City’ different is that it also encompasses amongst its many facets, the wise and efficient management of people. (Sustain, 2013) According to Rick Robinson (Robinson,2013) and many other purveyors of this concept, a ‘Smart City’ needs to have ‘Smart People’. This is what socially at least, makes a Smart City more relevant in today’s time. The performance of a city depends not only on the availability of infrastructure, but how knowledge and information is communicated between people and also the nature of the social structure of the city.
Figure 7.3 IBM’s Key to a City; Source: www.ibm.com
Fig.8.3 is one of IBM’s advertisements for a Smart City. It embodies the whole idea of the current Smart City movement as is seen by IBM – the perceived leader amongst many companies that have taken initiatives to design Smart systems. This idea which is considered the consensus amongst most parties involved in this movement is usually this: the city will start to collect data about everything that happens in it, and that data can then be used to make cities smarter or more efficient. (Sustain, 2013) The many companies like IBM, CISCO, HITACHI, etc design the Smart technologies required to collect and analyse this data. They also design the technologies required to then use this data to control the city’s infrastructure, buildings, transport, safety, etc. (Sustain, 2013) Because of the growing need for our cities to function better, there is also a big and growing market for Smart Cities. (Sustain, 2013) As such, most of the models that are available and are provided by all these corporations are all mostly business models. The corporations look at cities as clients and also refer to them as clients. As a result, it is portrayed that Smart Systems will help in creating what are called ‘Smart’ and ‘connected communities’ – but what most of these corporations mean by ‘communities’ is a group of consumers or clients using their services to better their lives.
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There is no real involvement at the ground level between these corporations and the people whose lives they hope to better. Of course this isn’t a bad thing in itself. This data can make the lives of people better and will result in economic growth, more jobs, better infrastructure, and thus will make the community a better place. All this is true to some extent. But what happens if someone wants to do something that is not provided in this framework. It then becomes unsuccessful when such a model fails to incorporate the specificities of a particular society/social group. And in the Indian context, this issue is of grave importance due to the demographic composition, cultural and regional diversity.
City Models vs. Community Models There are a few examples of such Smart Systems applied to cities where there have been both successful and not. Here we study the reasons why. One of IBM’s first ever clients, Rio de Janeiro is considered a fine example of a city that has aimed to be smarter and achieved it up to a considerable level. (Magyar, 2013) Two years ago Rio de Janeiro in partnership with IBM, established a unique centre of operations that revolutionized city management and continues to draw many visitors from all over the world who are eager to experience its new technology. The system consists of hundreds of cameras and sensors and devices scattered around Rio that live-stream data onto a vast video wall for round-the-clock monitoring. Working with the meteorological institute and watching the action on huge Google map displays, city operators immediately know about unusual occurrences such as accidents, power outages, or torrential storms, and can quickly take steps to prevent or solve problems. This system aims to make Rio intelligent by providing citizens and administrators a way of integrating all forms of intelligence to make city management a smooth operation. (Magyar, 2013) An innovative advantage of this system is that social media plays a key role in its success. Citizens are encouraged to access the system through the online citizen’s portal and take an active role in operations via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Not only can they get information and understand processes, but by expressing their opinions on different subject matter, citizens can influence how the city is run (Magyar, 2013)
Figure 7.4 Rio’s Centre of Operations; Source: www.ibm.com
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However, a research conducted by the New York Times, brought out other aspects of this system. (Singer, 2012) One of the sad things is that many inhabitants have yet to hear of the centre or, if they have, are not really sure what it does. Because the system prevents certain accidents or dangers from happening, it is less easy to appreciate it than if it was a system that had to clean up after disasters. One of the big problems in the way people reacted to this system was that a section of society felt that it was only something done for show; a part of Brazil’s continuing efforts to make it a worldclass safe venue for hosting the 2014 World Cup. They feel that the system will only really cater to the rich and high people in society and would fail to help the thousands living in favellas across the city. There is also a fear that with so much monitoring, a lot of personal freedoms and privacy would be curbed and be subject to constant observation and analyzing. According to Mayor Faes, (Magyar, 2013) the cultural way of thinking in Rio is “reactionary and not preventive.” This meant that the system could not be understood by some people because there already existed amongst them a certain way of thinking and dealing with things. Because of this misunderstanding, people feared that the system would resolve a problem when it happened, but would not resolve infrastructure problems that already prevail in different sectors of the city. In short, though it succeeded exceedingly well in its main agenda of monitoring the city and providing data back and forth for the prevention of disasters, regulating of traffic, etc. it failed when it came to addressing the present needs of the people. Another instance of a successful smart system is the Helsinki Region Infoshare project which aims to make regional information quickly and easily accessible to all. The data may be used by anyone whether school children or students, people working in different businesses, R&D facilities, administrations etc. The data that was ready online could be accessed for free. (Summary, 2013) The data published during the project is mainly statistical, giving a comprehensive and diverse outlook on different urban phenomena, such as living conditions, economics and well-being, employment and transport. (Summary, 2013) The availability of an online interface made it easier for users to access the different data that they wanted, and made it possible for them to not only know about their own lives but also give them a chance to make better informed decisions in day to day lives. The advantages of this system lay in the fact that its main aim was to network people at a community level. Unlike the previous example of Rio, the Helsinki Region Infoshare is a more regional “sharing” of information, materials, resources, etc. which was made more successful through the closer proximity of the users. Also, the ownership of the data pools belongs to the people who are networked in the system itself and not some governing body. However, the data pools were also open to being used and analyzed by ICT’s for the development of applications. Because the cost of the data was free, it was available for everyone and was made easier to understand for everyday normal people. In such a situation like this, Anthony Townsend (Sustain, 2013) postulates a possible scenario where people using Smart technologies could actively use information gathered from a system such as the Infoshare Project, and they themselves create solutions for the problems that the face. This could be done easily through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. and could actually reach levels where people design apps for themselves that suit the particular needs of a particular group or society, etc.
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Figure 7.5 Community Level Networking; Source: Author
According to Prof. Lall (Lall, 2013) this possibility to use technology in a more personal way that suits our more day to day needs is probably the Smartest way that people can live. However, it can only be achieved if the technology is easy to understand and is accessible, if the information exchange is reliable and if the technology itself does not intrude on people’s privacy or their security.
Do we like the tag “Smart”? The examples we’ve put forward above give us a certain understanding of how people are actually viewed in the present definition of “Smart”. According to the present definitions of Smart People as has been studied from IBM, people are smart in terms of their skill and educational levels, as well as the quality of social interaction in terms of integration and public life and their ability to open to the “outside” world. They are well‐ educated citizens who also take an active part in public life and in their own governance. The last part is especially important as administrations have the ability to develop infrastructure, support emerging groups and sectors and encourage R&D. (Harrison, 2013) Inherently, it is believed that a city with better educated and informed citizens is in fact a Smarter City. This is because it is believed that a city with Smarter Citizens will obviously have better businesses and hence a better economy. This in turn will provide a better way of life for the citizens. The easy thing to see about the way that people are defined as Smart is that it is a very “technologically” driven definition. A problem with this definition is that the large scale platforms that companies have to offer for smart cities may not tag well with smaller scale and sometimes indigenous technologies that already exist in different regions. In a country like India, it is a fact that not everyone is well educated. Not everyone may find certain technology readily available, or easy to use, or if it is; certain people may choose to not use it at all. It is also a deliberative model in as such that especially at the urban scale; it is a model that is applied from the top-down with the corporations taking a very managerial position and the city itself functioning as a client. It is made considering theoretical practices that may work for a particular context or set of conditions but fail for others. For example, what succeeded in Rio de Janeiro or Helsinki may or may not work in our own city of Delhi. It is important to understand at some level the actual attributes of what makes each one of us so
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different. And why in a city with teeming of millions, it is important to recognize and respect this fact. The reason why people prefer to live and work and play in our cities is because cities are inherently the cradles where great ideas can be realised and social bonds can be formed. They are the places where all people from all sorts of fields and skill sets and beliefs and cultures, etc. meet and thrive together. Cities provide the opportunities required to democratically pursue a good standard of living. Diversity is the range of different types of people in a place. The diversity of the population –by age, race, national origin, political outlook, and other attributed — helps provide a fertile ground for combining and recombining ideas in novel ways. (Harrison, 2013)
Figure 7.6 Technological Model; Source: Authors
Figure 7.7 Deliberative Model; Source: Authors
How would we respond to a “Smart” system? From the examples that we studied earlier and from the definitions and explanations of Smart People, there are two main things that are clear about Smart Systems as they exist today. One is that they are deliberative models and secondly that they are highly technologically driven. (Sustain, 2013) There is a problem with both when they are applied on a very large scale of people over different classes of society and this stands especially true in India. A deliberative model for the smart city approaches things from the top down. It is made considering theoretical practices that may work for a particular context or set of conditions but fail in other scenarios. It is made and applied; almost like a readymade solution that may or may not address the smaller issues that exist like the differences in how different types of people respond to technology. As mentioned, what we studied in Rio de Janeiro may or may not work in our own city of Delhi. For one, we lack the infrastructure and necessary resources to perhaps optimize such a system. There is also the attitude of people towards such a system. Issues of privacy, gentrification, security, etc. then come into play. As stated earlier, the smart city model as it exists now is majorly propagated and driven by big corporations who see cities mainly as consumers for the technological platforms that they can provide to control a city’s infrastructure, buildings, roads or safety. Their outlook is to improve the business models of cities so as to improve the state of living, health, provide jobs, etc. “The thing about a lot of the big technology company visions of smart cities is that there aren’t
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any citizens in them.” (Sustain, 2013) People in a smart city should not only be educated, wellinformed, have access to information technologies (ICT’s), be part of a smart governance, etc. but they should also have the ability and innovation to use the information at their hands to make better decisions about their lives and in effect the life of the city. These are the pre-requisites of the new age smart city in its search for utopia. Citizens are not employees or customers; they have to be dealt with on a different basis. So thinking that one can just apply new systems to people and expect them to adapt to them will never work. They have to be engaged and grow with the system from the bottom up. The real case scenario is that not everyone is educated. Not everyone has a smart phone. Not everyone is an IT expert. But there is scope for using these technologies linked with traditional systems to achieve smart efficient systems in our cities. There is a big difference in the way people respond to different technologies in our society. This is majorly dependent on the age-group demographics, class, education, religion, etc. Behavior changes will be needed to deliver smart and sustainable development. However attitude and behavior change is a complex subject. Information alone does not lead to behavior change. One of the key elements needed for this approach is to engage people at a smaller scale. (Gilg, 2006) To better understand this aspect, a social survey was conducted in different regions of Delhi. (Author, 2013) It identified certain parameters common to everyone for setting the base work for a study on how different people react to technology and the idea of what can and should be smart. These include age, sex, educational qualifications, income, class and also heritage and culture. The social survey was conducted within two different Socio-spatial systems, namely- urban villages and planned colonies. The three key aspects that the social survey would explore are outlined below. According to Barr and Gilg (Gilg, 2006) these three key factors have been conceptually developed over almost 40 years of research by socio-psychologists and sociologists. Each of the three factors provides a useful framework for the purpose of this paper and has been further detailed based on its applicability to the research. i) Situational Circumstances in which individuals are placed a) Demographic Profile (Age, Education, Gender etc.) b) Structural Characteristics i.e. Provision of facilities, access to technology etc. c) Situational Factors – Knowledge of environmental issues, Knowledge of Smart technology in this case ii) Socio-Environmental values individuals hold (relates to cultural practices and everyday lifestyles) a) Socio-cultural sustainable practices – Recycling as a cultural tradition b) Sustainable practices related to religion c) Societal Processes resulting in socio-environmental values iii)
Attitudes towards specific behaviour a) Can people be trained to be smart to behave like Smart people in a Smart City? b) Can consumption attitudes be instilled? For example, to what extent does access and knowledge to Smart technology make a person ‘Smart’ and therefore inclusive of the ‘Smart people’ group?
One of the results seen from the study of the survey is that there is a marked difference in people’s attitudes towards the internet, based on their class and gender. This is what we call Social Attitudes. For example, in Taimoor Nagar village which is the urban village socio-spatial system, there were two main types of reactions. One was that a certain class of people had no access to the internet. However, another class of people which did still chose not to use it. This was especially prevalent amongst the women in the society. This was also the trend amongst the elderly and the more senior members of society as most of them are already used to a way of life without so much technology. However, the survey did show that a lot of the youth do use ICT’s and the internet for doing a lot of things like staying socially connected, or watching videos, or
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downloading songs, or reading the news, etc. However it is still unclear as to how much even they would adapt to a totally new Smart System of living. They felt that they would adapt if: • • • • • •
It was an Economically viable system It made life easier It created a better standard of living It resulted in employment opportunities It was understood easily It was culturally responsive
And it would be more difficult for them to do so if a system failed to incorporate these specifics. The biggest deterrent to the Smart City concept as it exists and the top-Down approach of implementing it is that it can marginalize people. It puts tags on people. It segregates where it should be uniting people. It can be the reason some people may have a very negative viewpoint on the smart city concept as a whole. Any system that involves people right at the beginning will have less risk of this.
Figure 7.8 Problems of the Top-Down Approach; Source: Author
Smart people share ideas, innovate, are creative and always find ways to make a better way of living which may or may not require huge capital and technology. Technology is good and there are many new ways in which it could be used in cities. But understanding how in practice people might respond to those ideas is more complex. Will they be motivated to adopt a new technology, or a new technology-enabled service? Why? Will they appropriate it for some purpose other than it was intended? Is that a good or a bad thing? What might the side effects be? In the case of real innovations, it’s not always possible to answer those questions definitively, of course; but it’s important to consider them in the course of the design process. And to do so we need the skills not just of technologists and businesspeople but social scientists, urban designers, economists, community workers – and basically everyone else. Perhaps we need to start with a simpler understanding of “Smart”. We have already stated that the present model stands a chance of not being able to succeed fully in our Indian context due to issue of social attitudes and behaviour and resistance to marginalisation. So perhaps, we need a better way of doing things that is more suited to our needs.
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Our understanding of the Need to be “Smart” Smart is to be sustainable. Smart is to use Efficiency for Sufficiency. (Gupta, 2013) It is a way of using resources efficiently so as to sustain a system for the future. When this applies to people, then it basically equates people to resources. And this is the crux of what smart people are within a city. They are the infrastructure, the building blocks. They are the lawmakers. They are the rulers. They are the ruled. They are the formal sector. They are the informal sector. They will live in the city and hence should be a part of the design process. Any one person can be a game changer. Any one person can come up with new ideas to design better. And these ideas can come from new technologies or they can come from age-old practices or spontaneous innovation. Social sustainability is one aspect of sustainability or sustainable development. Social sustainability encompasses human rights, labour rights, and corporate governance. Social sustainability is the idea that there should be adequate social resources for future generations while at the same time having equally adequate social resources for the present generations. (Wikipedia, 2001) Social capital is another aspect of it. It refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social interactions. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable. Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society – it is the glue that holds them together. (Smith, 2000-2009) Architects can attain a role in the smart development of people. People can get involved in the decision making process as a community. In such a scenario, the community itself can start to function as the main decision makers with the architects themselves and other parties involved being providers and facilitators of information and ideas. (Agarwal P. , 2013) The third thing that we should look at is sustainable practices that use human capital. Sustainable practices are not only critical to us, but also for the benefit of future generations. Sustainable practices are necessary for any city to attain sustainable growth, both profitably and responsibly. They involve a strong sense of ethics. Culturally, there are already practices of sustainability present in our country and our cities. These may have their origins in our traditions, economic necessities or even religious beliefs. Whatever the reason we have to at least identify practices already existent that work well in our context, identify why these practices or systems work and then see if there is any need at all to use modern technologies and ICT’s to make them better. The use of any sort of system or combination of systems should come from a need for it and not because it is the general consensus to do so. Jugaad is a concept of practices that combine sustainable cultural practices with modern innovation. Jugaad in the literal sense can mean an “innovative fix or a simple work-around, sometimes used for solutions that bend rules, or a resource that can be used as such, or a person who can solve a complicated issue. It is used as much to describe enterprising street mechanics as for political fixers. This meaning is often used to signify creativity to make existing things work or to create new things with meagre resources.” (UDHR, 2013) Jugaad as a concept encourages the need to do what needs to be done for the moment perhaps disregarding the norms of what are considered conventionally acceptable or possible. It identifies the need to provide perhaps quick and innovative solutions for the moment to any given problem. We now study a fine example of a large scale system based on a cultural practice in India that has been extremely successful for a very long time: the Mumbai Dabbawallahs.
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“In Mumbai, India, 4,500 dabbawallahs collect and deliver 175,000 packages within hours. What should we learn from this unique, simple and highly efficient 120-year-old logistics system?” (Dabawalla, 2010) The Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is a 120-year-old organisation with 4,500 semiliterate members providing a quality service that delivers to almost anyone door –to-door. This system has managed to survive for so long because of a twin process that combines competitive collaboration between team members with a high level of technical efficiency in logistics management. (Dabawalla, 2010) For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed that this virtually achieves a Six Sigma performance rating, (i.e. 99.9999% of deliveries are made without error).This is almost impossible to comprehend considering the fact that for over 80 years of its existence, the system never used any form of ICT or telecommunications.
Figure 7.9 Mumbai Dabbawallahs; Source: www.apnnews.com
There are many reasons why this system is so successful. First of all it is a trade that has lasted a hundred years and has become an integral part of Mumbai’s life and culture. It is a service that is very dependable and does not stop functioning even on bad weather days. The local dabbawallahs at the receiving and the sending ends are known to the customers personally, so that there is no question of lack of trust. Their knowledge of the localities and areas that they serve in allow for smooth deliveries. In earlier times, the system also served as a way of communication between people at the work place and those at home via notes that would be put inside the tiffin boxes. The system uses 25 km of public transport including trains and bicycles, 10 km of footwork and involves multiple transfer points. However mistakes rarely happen. According to a Forbes 1998 article, one mistake for every eight million deliveries is the norm; the system limits the routing and sorting to a few central points. Secondly, a simple colour code determines not only packet routing but packet prioritising as lunches transfer from train to bicycle to foot. (Dabawalla, 2010) Politically MTBSA is a very simple organisation. There are three tiers of which there is the governing council, the mukadams and the dabbawallahs. Hence in this system each dabbawallahs is a shareholder and an employer. They work for themselves and as such this system encourages fierce competition and quality work. This is an example of a system that networks people really well. Likewise there are other systems in India that function just as well. For example the rickshaw service is one of the “Smartest” ways of travelling in our cities. With the high traffic on roads leading to almost standstill hours in vehicles, the use of public transport is considered a wise alternative. Adding to the reduction of
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pollution on the roads, travelling by rickshaws also allows for a cheap, clean and sustainable way of travelling. Of course as we mentioned earlier, that with the rise in technology, perhaps people can use Smart Systems to network information better as to suit their more localised needs; so perhaps we can use technology to better some of the systems we already have, if not all. These are instances of what we call Indigenous Smartness – smartness already existent that arose because of the socio-economic space we live in, our culture and hence our attitude, behavioral tendencies and lifestyle. Of course as we mentioned earlier, that with the advancements in technology, perhaps people can use Smart Systems to network information better as to suit their more localised needs; so perhaps we can use technology to better some of the systems we already have, if not all. A good example of newer technologies doing this would be the new e-rickshaw service that has recently come up. Or consider a possibility of our rickshaw-wallahs and kabadi-wallahs being equipped with GPS. This is not such a far-fetched idea considering the example of BTIS (Bangalore Traffic Information System) that used mobile phone usage and taxi radio systems to create a GIS infrastructure that reports traffic real-time to citizens via text messages. A combination of sustainable practices and a better understanding of how to use technology to complement them could be the secret to improving the quality of life in our Indian cities.
Conclusion So based on these examples, what would a SMARTER system in India be based on? It should • Be friendly to cultural practices • Be labour intensive • Be available for everyone • Be innovative • Use technology, but in a more personal way. Perhaps integrating technology with systems and practices we already have. • Be aimed at helping create better communities for people through providing better possibilities for social capital and social sustainability Standardizing a way of living may work well on paper but it isn’t so easy to implement at the ground level. Likewise saying that only a particular way of doing something is “smart” may not be the right thing to do. The smart city concept originated in the west. It gained impetus with big companies and corporations formulating models that they felt would work towards achieving a smart city. In this present model, people are smart in terms of their skill and educational levels, as well as the quality of social interaction in terms of integration and public life and their ability to open to the “outside” world. A key element in the development of cities is having well‐educated citizens. This definition completely disregards social, religious and cultural attitudes and the social dynamics that result within different socio-spatial environment. It does not actually identify “smartness” that may already exist and work towards ways to use the already existing knowledge in designing the urban fabric of a city. This knowledge base may be instances of Jugaad, or it could be ageold concepts of recycling and indigenous smartness like the system of dabbawallahs in Mumbai. A smart city model could actually be an ever growing network of people who find their own way to act together to make things better. It could define “Smarter people” as people as networked infrastructure: everyday people who work together locally and network regionally and nationally for attaining sustainable lifestyles and use whatever means they have at their disposals to do so.
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Figure 7.10 Smarter People; Source: Author
It maybe that we need a better model or system for smart, that works on a bottom-up approach. We need a better understanding of people that looks at them as the core of a city and not just the inhabitants whose worth is defined by their ability to use new technologies. People cannot easily become adept to a new system that promises better things. They need to grow with it. And more simply put, we may not really need to apply new and sometimes complex technology to everything. We may not need buildings that can turn off tube lights on their own. Maybe we just need people who are willing and engaged and smart enough to do it on their own. Cities are tremendous engines of innovation. The urban centre is where the dreamers, planners, engineers, builders, social activists and artists live and meet, ply their trade and have the opportunity to share with each other. The more people interact with one another, the more likely it is that new ideas will form and perhaps lead to new directions. Cities need public administrations, businesses and citizens that have a greater capacity to understand and use technology, that are ready to be more innovative in their efforts, more creative and better informed. These values, along with other social values, such as ethics, integration, transparency, participation, social cohesion and sustainability, could lead to Smarter Cities.
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Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge and thank the following people: Mrs. Anjali Mittal, urban designer-planner and guide extraordinaire. Our chairpersons for the presentation, Mr. Kanu Agarwal and Mrs. Pramina Agarwal. Kanu Kartik Agrawal IS an architect, urban theorist and curator. His research focuses on modernism and city-making practices and their various media representations. He curated the first show on Indian cities in New York in 2011 called "Jugaad Urbanism, Resourceful Strategies for Indian cities." He is the editor of a journal titled Re-Urbanism which included essays on capital cities across the world. He currently teaches an interdisciplinary course on the city called "Imagining Cities" at the urban design program at SPA and is a design principal at the Delhi-based design firm called Urbanist. Pramila Aggarwal is a professor in the Community Worker program, in George Brown College, Toronto. She teaches Sociology, community development, women's studies and human rights. Her current research is on Punjabi grandmothers and their role in Canadian society. She is a recipient of George Brown College’s Board of Governors’ Award for Excellence in Service to the Community and the City of Toronto’s Award for Race Relations and was recently recognized for her outstanding work on economic justice. She has published widely on issues of work and workers, good governance, democracy, and lives of workers. We would also like to thank Prof. Vinod Gupta and Prof. Ashok Lall, two brilliant architects in India for their time and invaluable insights on the subject. Prof. Jaya Kumar and Prof. Ranjana Mittal for their perpetual support and gentle chiding. Our family and especially our friends for their help, support and coffee through all the sleepless nights we had.
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Bibliography • Agarwal, K. (2013). Post seminar discussion. New Delhi. • Agarwal, P. (2013). Audience response. New Delhi. • Author. (2013). Demographical survey. New Delhi. • Wikipedia. (2001). Social Sustainability Definition. Wikipedia. • Avriel-Avni, N., & Spektor Levy, M. Z. ( 2009). Developing a Perception of a Place as Home among Children in an Isolated Desert Town. Children, Youth and Environments 19(1), . • C, C. J. (n.d.). goodreads. Retrieved August 19, 2013, from www.goodreads.com: http://www.goodreads. com/quotes/362423-we-are-all-equal-in-the-fact-that-we-are • Chatterji, T. (2003, September 8). City Blights: Master Plans as Masterly Failures. The Times of India . • Dabawalla. (2010, July). Retrieved September 11, 2013, from www.studymode.com: http://www. studymode.com/essays/Dabbawalla-361803.html • Freier, N. G. ( 2009). Accounting for the Child in the Design of Technological Environments:Constructivist Theory. Children, Youth and Environments 19(1), 2009 . • Gilg, B. a. (2006). Sustainable lifestyles: Framing environmental action in and around the home. University of Exeter. • Gupta, P. V. (2013, October 26). (Author, Interviewer) • Harrison, C. (2013, August 13). The London Meeting – Smart People and the Limits of Smart Cities. Retrieved Ocotber 14, 2013, from www.urbansystemscollabrative.org: http://urbansystemscollaborative. org/can-smarter-cities-improve-our-quality-of-life-by-rick-robinson/ • Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and Time. Harper and Row. • India Demographics Profile. (2013, February 21). Retrieved July 14, 2013, from www.indexmundi.com: http://www.indexmundi.com/india/demographics_profile.html • Karen Mossberger, C. J. (2013). Digital Cities: The Internet and the Geography of Opportunity. Oxford University Press. • Lall, P. A. (2013, October 10). (Author, Interviewer) • Magyar, J. (2013, May 13). How Intelligent is Your City. Retrieved August 15, 2013, from SAP.info: http:// en.sap.info/how-intelligent-is-your-city/93208 • Singer, N. (2012, March 3). Mission Control, Built for Cities. Retrieved August 18, 2013, from www. nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/business/ibm-takes-smarter-cities-concept-to-riode-janeiro.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3& • Smith, M. K. (2000-2009). Social Capital, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from www.infed.org: http://infed.org/mobi/social-capital/ • Stott, R. (2013, April 2). Without Architects, Smart Cities Just Aren’t Smart. Retrieved September 3, 2013, from www.archdaily.com: http://www.archdaily.com/353281/ • Summary. (2013). Retrieved September 24, 2013, from Helsinki Region Infoshare: http://www.hri.fi/en/ about/ • Sustain. (2013, May 1). Susutain Magazine. Retrieved September 3, 2013, from sustainmagazine.com: http://sustainmagazine.com/smart-cities-smart-citizens/ • Three-fourths of Indian cities functioning without a Master Plan. (2012, August 30). The Hindu . • UDHR. (2013, April 9). Jugaad – principles of cheap and intelligent innovation with limited resources. Retrieved September 11, 2013, from www.wordpress.com: http://uhdr.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/jugaad-
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SMARTER URBAN VILLAGES Advisor Ms. Amrita Ballal | Architect, Founding Partner, SpaceMatters Chairperson Dr. Iqbal Malik | Anthropologist, Director, Vatavaran Resource Persons Dr. Iqbal Malik | Anthropologist, Director, Vatavaran Prof. Jamal H. Ansari | Former Acting Director, SPA New Delhi Mukta Naik | Architect, Minerva Research and Media Services Pvt. Ltd. Special Mention Prof. Jamal H. Ansari | Former Acting Director, SPA New Delhi Presented by: Anushri Kumar Rajesh Kuppili Rojan Thomas Joseph Surbhi Kamboj Syed Husain Aijaz
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Abstract Development and the resulting expansion of cities invariably saw them grow and engulf the surrounding villages. In India these villages, which were engulfed as a result of this rapid development, came to be known as Urban Villages. These, then became the nodes of transitions; between the rural and the urban; the informal and the formal. Today, they exist in a turmoil as the remains of the villages struggles to cope with the pressures of the ever-growing city. The seminar explores whether the smartness is in the ‘village’ or in its ‘urban-ness’. It also looks for ways in which they can be made smarter by allowing for an active dialogue with the city. When an expanding Delhi came in contact with villages, it took over their agricultural lands and demarcated the village by a ‘Lal Dora,’ in order to protect and preserve their identity. Forced into shifting from their agrarian economy, the villages became centres of informal housing and commerce, which resulted in a haphazard development. The Urban Villages of Delhi, today, suffer from poor physical and social infrastructure, and absence of an environment conducive to creating a sustainable, inclusive, resilient, and authentic lifestyle for a smarter community. This requires specific ingenious interventions that will create a more engaging and integrated urban village in the city which is self- sufficient, and more productive. The seminar explores planning and development of strategies for creating smarter communities within the Urban Villages. It stresses upon how the smarter approach for the city would be to rectify the mistakes it made in the past and develop the villages that are yet to be urbanized in an innovative way.
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The Villages of Delhi The villages of Delhi stand witness as Delhi, one of the most historical and culturally significant heritage cities in the world, became the capital of empires that ruled the subcontinent over a thousand years. The city of Delhi witnessed rapid urbanisation post-Independence. The growth from 1911 to 2011 in the urban area is 20.4 per cent. This massive urbanisation brought a sizable rural area under urbanisation and growth, resulting in the genesis of the phenomenon of ‘urban villages’. In 1931, 25 such villages were brought into the urban folds. At the time of Independence, another 22 were added to the list. The 1981, census declared 111 urban villages in the urban limits of Delhi. (Begum, 2005). In 2011 the number stood at 135. The rate of Delhi’s urbanisation has increased at the rate of 4.1% since 2001. At this growing rate the entire NCR area will be urbanised by 2021 (Economic Survey Delhi, 2012-13). The urban villages of Delhi are essentially the remains of the city’s earliest settlements. Urban villages have been crucibles of culture and have gifted the city with heritage that is relevant even today (Bhateja, 2009). Monuments like Khirki Masjid, the ruins of Tughlaqabad Fort, Dargah at Chirag Delhi continue to thrive, along with the traditional festivals such as Phool vaalon ki sair in Mehrauli and the qawaali at Nizammudin Dargah. On the other hand, the identity of some urban villages has been transformed. Munirka has become a residential area, Mayapuri has become a centre for small scale industries, while Hauz Khas and ShapurJat have developed into high-end commercial centres for boutiques and cafes in the city.
Figure 8.1 Essence of Urban Villages: from top left: graffiti at Huaz Khas, Nizammudin Dargah, Jungi House lane, Munirka Industry, Jungi House, Phool Vaalon ki Sair, Kababs at Nizammudin Basti, Chirag Dilli Dargah; Source: www.flickr.com
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The Phenomenon called URBAN VILLAGE The urban villages were an aftermath of the confrontation between a rapidly urbanizing Delhi and the surrounding rural villages. Due to an inevitable internal migration and limited city area, the city engulfed the vast cultivable lands resulting in the inclusion of the villages in the urban framework and the villagers losing their means of survival (Soni, 2011). The residential area of the villages was demarcated in red on the map and thus came to be known as “Lal Dora” (Union Ministry of Urban Development, 2007). This action was justified by the authorities as done in order to ‘protect’ and ‘retain’the village character.
The Lal Dora Syndrome The Lal Dora tag sealed the villages from any development or an action plan for its sustenance by the development authorities. The villages remained in the confines of Lal Dora while the city grew around them on their agricultural lands. The abadi areas were exempted from regulations in order to retain the character of the village and undergo an organic growth. (Mitchell, 2010). What does it mean to a village when it is labelled as ‘Urban’? The legal consequences of urbanization of a village is that the provisions of Master Plan and Zonal Plan become applicable like any other urban area, and the provisions of Lal Dora and the Delhi Land Reforms Act cease to exist. Depending on the body having territorial jurisdiction, development plans of urban villages are prepared by DDA or MCD in accordance with the norms stipulated in Master Plan of Delhi (Union Ministry of Urban Development, 2007). Being notified as urban, exempts the residents of the abadi area from getting their building plans sanctioned, however, it does not exempt the building from purview of building bye-laws. (Begum, 2005) How do you regulate the usage of Building Bye Laws if obtaining building permit is not mandatory? This loophole has been exploited extensively, which has led to illegal haphazard development and uninhabitable living conditions. Thus, the urban villages are akin to planned settlements in terms of tenure security, and land ownership but comparable to slums and unauthorized colonies in terms of public infrastructure facilities and haphazard development characteristics. Hence, the special case of urban villages in the chain of formal and informal settlements in the city.
The State of Villages Today The Urban Villages of Delhi suffer from a number of issues which may be the result of, overcrowding and the planning approach in dealing with the Lal Dora areas. • Deprived of the agricultural lands, which were taken away for a pittance and resold at huge profits, the villagers, who depended on farming, were forced into alternate means of livelihood. Thus the Urban Villagers resorted to setting up shops, small scale industries and even renting out their premises as godowns, offices and housing (Begum, 2005). • Due to the collusion between developers and enforcement agencies, sub-standard unauthorized colonies mushroomed in Urban Villages during the notification period. 1432 of such colonies are set to be regularised today. • Construction was driven by the inefficiency of the city development bodies to cater to the need of Delhi’s booming affordable housing, and relaxation in building regulations (Kumar, 2006) • Exploitation of resources has caused environmental issues: For example, Vatavaran, a Delhi-based NGO, reported ground water contamination in ShapurJat because of the dye production industry which drives the fashion boutiques of the area. Recently, 34 restaurants in Hauz Khas were shut down because of improper waste disposal (Kelkar, 2013).
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• The villages which got urbanized have followed two extreme trends of development – Gentrification and Slumming. The urbanization is driven by the real estate market and rising aspiration values, and lack of affordable housing in the city, respectively (Andersen, 2003). • •Over-crowding has led to uninhabitable living conditions. Some urban villages have seen population rise of up to 700%. • Inadequate public amenities such as sanitation, electricity, drainage and social infrastructure such as schools, health clinics etc. (Union Ministry of Urban Development, 2007) • Urbanization has largely affected the social fabric of the villages. There has been a considerable loss in social interaction because of changing lifestyles. Caste based discrimination and segregation are still prevalent. • Migrants rarely have a sense of belonging. They are denied of social and rental security. Other social issues include discrimination of women, alcoholism, anti-social activities, crime and safety issues (Gangmei, 2009). • Destruction of heritage monuments is common in and around the villages. • The urban villages face administrative and governance issues such as rampant corruption and lack of transparency. • Politicians resort to short sighted decisions to gain votes in several issues concerning urban villages. • The villagers have lost faith in the system and are generally resistant to any major interventions because of repeated promises not kept by the authorities.
To be Smart
Figure 8.2 Deteriorated condition of the kotla mubarakpur tomb; Source: Author
If migration is inevitable and set to continue, then the habitat conditions in urban villages will get worse. With the future of the village ,thus threatened the following questions arises; Why should the urban villages take the burden of providing spaces for housing and commercial activities? Why can’t it contribute to the city without compromising on its traditional systems and characteristics? What is the alternative to the approach of segregation of abadi area from development? What is the smarter approach to dealing with urban villages? What would a Smart Urban Village be? In order to foster a development process that helps retain the villages’ original character and yet benefit by its proximity to the city an inclusive rather than segregating approach is required. A smart urban village would be effectively integrated into the city through a relationship which is based on interdependency and mutual benefit.
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Figure 8.3 The living character and identity of Urban Villages; Source: Author
We believe that technology is not the driving force for being Smart, but merely a tool for this purpose. The Philips liveable cities think tank (Peach, 2011) describes a liveable city as being resilient, inclusive and authentic. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, imagined our villages to be self-sufficient. Thus, we derive a smart urban village in the Indian context to be as shown in figure 8.4.
Figure 8.4 The Four Check-points for SMART URBAN VILLAGE; Source: Author
Resilient: The capacity of the urban village to be adaptive, flexible and balanced. It is about the
ability of the village to withstand external or internal shocks and stresses, to harmoniously amalgamate the traditional and modern values and to be able to adapt to its own functional requirements. Its resilience is about its capability to balance continuity with change, heritage with innovation and open green spaces with the urban built environment to the benefit of its citizens. Resilient community aims towards economic stability and reduces its dependency on any one economic model.
Inclusive: It implies the social cohesion and cooperation of its inhabitants from different cultures
and backgrounds. Inclusive communities aims for open participation from the widest range of civil society to participate in the development process of the village. It enhances the community sense, the sense of ownership and belonging to the place. By involving the common man in the decision making process, one paves a way for better life for the community on whole.
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Authentic: The ability of the community to maintain its local and cultural character in the face of changing needs occurring due to urbanisation and uncontrolled developments. The approach to authenticity needs to be sustainable and beneficiary to the overall development of the villages (Peach, 2011).
Self–Sustaining: Till now we have talked about the villages being smart, however, a SMARTER urban village would be the one that can sustain itself through its own internal mechanism. The smarter cities respond to the problems created by their constant rising population and strive to achieve sustainability by being smarter (Kakderi, 2012).
Diverse urban villages Delhi, through its long history and geo-political importance, has evolved an urban experience that is a syncretisation of various cultural influences. Due to its non-linear evolution, the city’s character, cultural practices and identity are unique. (Bhateja, 2009). It reflects in a way the same phenomena as the historic villages of Delhi. Thus, the sheer diversity of urban villages in Delhi makes it difficult for one common set of parameters for a development and integration strategy. The diversity of the Urban Villages can be broadly classified based on the predominant role they plays in the city today.
Figure 8.5 The diversity of urban villages; Source: Author
Strategic Planning The approach to development would have to be liberal enough in order to cater to the special needs of the individual villages. It is inevitable that the urban villages require a village-specific approach. Every village has to be tackled strategically, by solutions specific to the requirements of the village (Gangmei, 2009). Since it is necessary for a smart urban village to be authentic, its developmental approach will be least invasive and be able to bring maximum possible results for multiple issues so that its local and cultural character is preserved. This is where the concept of strategic planning comes into the picture. Strategic Planning depends on the concept of one intervention being the cause for a set of subsequent positive results within the urban village, similar to the “domino effect”. For example, education of women can lead to empowerment of women, increase in family income, child welfare, skill improvement, which in turn would be instrumental in habitat improvement and upward social mobility.
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The Action Plan for SMARTNESS The smart way of dealing with urbanised villages would be to identify its predominant character and use strategic planning as a tool to integrate it with the city.
Habitat Development - Residential For a predominant residential urban village the priority would be habitat development. Amongst the numerous habitat development techniques, incremental housing is the most promising smart approach towards solving housing related issues. Incremental housing is a step-by-step process. The user is provided with a basic structural system and services, such as, core, utilities, kitchen and toilets. It provides flexibility to the owner to control the usage and expansion of the housing based on his needs and resources. In a condition like urban village it would be an affordable way to provide a safe housing by reconstructing strategically. By involving the citizens in the process, it would help in building communities with strong social networks that can support services and small-scale commercial opportunities (Goethert, 2010). According to Prof. Jamal Ansari, this technique can be strategically applied in urban villages, where by which, initially a few dilapidated structures may be replaced (Prof. Jamal Ansari, 2013). With time, the development can spread to other pockets of the village, making way for an organised and controlled redevelopment.
Figure 8.6 Incremental Housing at Netaji Nagar, Pune; Source: Basulto 2009
In Netaji Nagar, Pune, incremental housing was implemented in collaboration with the benefactors. The project included three distinct developments as follows: House A:
A 2 story house structured as a 3 story house, allowing the owner to extend the house vertically without structural risks in the future.
House B:
A 2 story house on pilots, allowing for the owner to either leave the space open for parking or to increment it as a shop or an extra bedroom.
House C:
A 3 story house with a void in the middle. This void can be used like a veranda, living or working space, and the family can close it in order to create a new bedroom in the future. (Basulto, 2009)
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Incremental housing is inclusive since it encourages participation of people in the development of their own housing and develops social networks that can support services and small-scale commercial opportunities. It is resilient since it offers a flexible solution to the housing needs. Thus, Incremental housing equates to Social Network + Urban Inclusion + Better living condition.
Creative Industries - Commercial For urban villages with commerce being its predominant activity, the smart approach would be to channelize the commercial activity such that the local economy and job markets are encouraged hence, giving birth to creative industries. Creative Industries are those activities which originate from individual creativity, skill and talent, and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through generation and exploitation of intellectual property. Advertising, architecture, arts and antiques markets, crafts, design, fashion design, film, music, television and radio, performing arts, writing and publishing, are examples of fields that contribute to the creative industries. (INTELI, 2011) The Creative Economy Report defines creative industries as the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. (UNCTAD, 2008) The report classifies the creative industries in four groups: heritage, arts, media and functional creations. Artists, cultural organizations, and arts firms need affordable and flexible spaces and infrastructure to spur creativity and productivity. They usually come up in mixed-use spaces, and requires a mixture of cultural and creative activities with leisure and entertainment elements: bars, restaurants, shops etc. in close proximity. The creative sector usually comes up in degraded industrial and logistic spaces, historic centres, empty spaces with history and heritage (example: SoHo in Lower Manhattan, New York). Another characteristic of this sector is its need of identity, sense of community and diversity with strong social networks and high levels of informality. (UNCTAD, 2008) This can explain the reason why the urban villages of Delhi are the centers of the city’s thriving creative sector. Lado Sarai has also become an art hub, with art galleries mushrooming on the main street, along with furniture and carpet stores, and other creative practices (Poshvine, n.d.). The urban village of Shahpur Jat has huge untapped potential to develop as a cutting-edge arts space (Maddox, 2011). Other prominent potential urban villages which can be developed in this way include Sheikh Sarai, Hauz Khas Village, Khirkee Village and Chirag Dilli. Why is promoting the creative sector in urban villages a smart idea? According to a study done by anthropologist Alaka Wali at the Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College Chicago: • Informal arts activities help bridge social boundaries; age, gender, race or ethnicity, and occupational status; often used to sustain structures of inequality. • Informal arts practice helps build individual and community assets by fostering social inclinations and skills critical to civic renewal. • Provides opportunity to revive traditional arts and crafts. • Contributes to Community Capacity Building through participatory arts. • Increases job opportunities and rental returns. (Seifert, 2007) The current development model existing in Shahpur Jat has done more harm than good as there is a rising trend of gentrification displacing a number of migrants who were dependent on the affordable housing which existed there in the past. Popularly known as the ‘SoHo Effect’, it describes an artist-led gentrification that turns an area into a safe residential / commercial locality for affluent people to move into, thereby displacing migrants and traditional artists. Currently, most of the people who benefitted from the industry there are outsiders. This is in contradiction to the ‘self-sustaining’ model of a smart urban village. According to the NGO Vatavaran, there has been considerable contamination of ground water because of unregulated disposal of wastes
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from the production of colours and dyes for the thriving textile industry, which has in turn made certain rainwater harvesting techniques not viable in the village. Also, 34 restaurants in Hauz Khas village were ordered to shut down by the National Green Tribunal after it was found that they lack environmental clearances and that they dispose untreated wastewater directly into drains. (Kelkar, 2013)
Figure 8.7 Map Showing the placement of Boutique shops in Shahpur Jat; Source: Littleblackbookdelhi. com
Clearly, there needs to be comprehensive planning and enforcement of regulations to avoid such situations in the future. If the creative sector can be promoted within the village with active participation of the villagers within the industry so that the village need not depend on outsiders, then considerable changes will happen in quality of lifestyle of the inhabitants. Villagers can be trained to contribute to the textile industry, especially women. Gentrification can be avoided by stabilizing existing renters by creating rent stabilization policies such as eviction controls and rent increase schedules. Currently there are no rental laws being implemented in urban villages of Delhi. Another method to curb gentrification is to control land for community development and develop proactive financing strategies for people facing eviction which is neighbourhood specific If the creative sector can be promoted within the village with active participation of the villagers, then the village need not depend on outsiders for its workforce. Self-sufficiency, inclusivity and authenticity are achieved through this approach (Seifert, 2007).
Cultural Revitalisation - Cultural The urban villages played an important role in contributing to the eclectic culture that we see in Delhi today. The plethora of villages that got urbanized contributed different elements to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture. Over the years, the urban villages became the nerve centres of this culture. The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hafta bazaarsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; run by travelling vendors which move, according to their schedule, from one historical Delhi village to the next, are always held right outside an urban village even today, thereby continuing a tradition that has been in existence for centuries. (Hashmi, 2007)
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Most of the historical urban villages like the Haus Khas Village, Chirag Dilli, Mehrauli and Lado Sarai developed around city centers of the past. These areas have come up around the heritage monuments of the city. These historical monuments are usually in degraded and neglected state within the urban villages completely out of bounds for the villagers and outsiders so as to ‘protect’ the monuments from decay. The cultural heritage of these urban village holds a remarkable resource that can be tapped into to create smarter urban villages. Promoting an urban village as a cultural destination within the city and incorporating it into the cultural tourism map can be a smarter way to make the urban village self-sustaining, thereby creating job opportunities and reviving traditional arts and crafts. The urban villages become more resilient by adapting harmoniously to accommodate the old and the new values and thus, reinventing itself to adopt the change but at the same time, be authentic by maintaining the local heritage, culture and environment. The roadmap towards promoting an urban village as a cultural destination can include providing for heritage walks within the village, adaptive reuse of existing historical monuments so that they are more useful to the villagers, restoration and revitalization of heritage monuments and precincts and markets and revival of traditional arts and crafts through social interventions. This will in turn result in up-gradation of public infrastructure and sanitation facilities. This smarter alternative can ensure that the urban villages are better integrated into the city and contribute more towards conserving the overall cultural heritage of the city. An example of such an initiative is the Humayun’s Tomb - Sundar Nursery - Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti Urban Renewal Initiative. It is an urban renewal project done under a public-private nonprofit partnership. The Nizamuddin basti is in the precinct of the Humayun’s tomb, the conservation of the tomb offered an opportunity to not only revive fast-disappearing skills of the craft industry but simultaneously created employment for the urban villagers. A collaborative approach has been adopted to improve the urban environment, develop public parks, provide for efficient basic services through intervention in education, health and sanitation and environmental up gradation. The project engages community participation through regular cultural activities, which in turn reaps social, urban and environmental development (Foundation, n.d.).
Figure 8.8 Nizammudin Basti Urban Renewal Project; Source: Culture 2013
Apart from Heritage Conservation, other community based development initiatives included in the Urban Renewal Project are: • Early Childhood Care & Development • Vocational Training for the youth and women • Street Improvement, Waste Management, Housing Improvement, Sanitation Improvement, landscaping of parks, and improvements in healthcare and education facilities. • Environmental Development of the Sundar Nursery. (Culture, 2013) A similar approach can be employed in other historical urban villages such as Haus Khas Village, Chirag Dilli, Mehrauli, Lado Sarai, Siri Fort, Tuglaqabad etc, in order to promote them as cultural and heritage centers in the city.
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Capacity Building- Industrial Urban Villages where the industrial activities constitute the predominant character, Capacity Building initiatives have immense relevance. It focuses on understanding “the barriers that prevent people from achieving their development goals while enhancing capabilities that allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results.” (UNICEF, 2012) It is the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training. It offers to provide for an income support, thus, fostering an upward social mobility. Strategic planning is necessary here, to give the right skills and knowledge to the right people, so that they can be ensured of a source of livelihood and also, contribute to the economy of the village. Development Program of the United Nations stressed that capacity building can take place on an individual level, at the institutional level or at the societal level. This type of classification can also be applied in urban villages. Capacity building of the community on an individual level requires the development of conditions that allow people urban villages to build and strengthen existing knowledge and skills. It also calls for the establishment of conditions that will allow individuals to engage in learning and adapting to change process. On the institutional level, the capacity of the community can be involved in creation of new institutions such as clinics, schools etc. and upgrading the existing ones. Also they can help form norms for healthy policies, organizational structures, effective and transparent management methods and revenue control. Finally, at the societal level, the capacity of the community can support the establishment of a more interactive public administration. An entity which learns from its actions and the feedback it receives from the general population. ‘Capacity of the Community’ must be used to train public administrators are responsive and accountable (Wikipedia, 2013). In other words, the people of urban villages should be active participants in making their own society.
The case of Sunder Nursery and Nizamuddin Basti The Urban Renewal Initiative of Nizamuddin Basti by the Aga Khan Development Network is an exemplar of how capacity building can be used for development of an urban villages. The youths of the Nizamuddin Basti will be provided Skill Enhancement Training through the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) Grant. The grant supports the training of 200 youth in the basti in 11 different fields ranging from home based trades for women such as block printing and crochet to computer courses and travel and tourism courses. The training programs will also incorporate construction based trainings such as tile making and mason training. As part of the project, the women and youth will be trained in the fields of education, health, sanitation, waste management like plumbing, refrigeration and book binding. Embroidery and tailoring courses will be implemented for adolescent girls and women of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, which can generate revenue from the market through formation of SHG’s (Self Help Groups). This would further result in forming and building capacities of a core group of 40-45 skilled workers for production and marketing of products. At an institutional level, the Jangpura School and the MCD School located within the area, has already been enhanced. This was achieved through physical improvements of the schools, faculty development, placing community teachers, emphasis on better school management including regular parent-teacher interactions and by introducing a variety of co-curricular activities, and setting up reading rooms and a computer training centre. This process consequently resulted in a 300% increase in student enrolment. The local MCD health clinic has also been upgraded with both equipment and staff. Over 32000 patients have accessed the upgraded Polyclinic where there has been a 32% increase in OPD patients. The Early Care Childhood Development (ECCD) and Community Health programs have now begun to have significant impact in the community. A group of almost 100 women are currently using the facilities of the gymnasium setup in the basti as part of the project. Family Cards introduced in 2011 have documented the reach of project activities directly to 52% of the population. Environmental sanitation works such as improvement of toilets, garbage disposal has also been worked upon (Aga Khan Development Network, 2011).
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It should be accentuated that capacity building should be developed specific to every urban village. In Nizamuddin the craft industry is a major means of employment and thus can be instrumental in its growth. In Shahpurjat the development of the community can be based on the textile industry. Thus, Capacity Building is validated to promote self-sufficiency, resiliency and authenticity, especially in industrial urban villages of Delhi.
Resource Mobilisation - Finance Apart from these smart interventions, a number of initiatives can produce smarter lifestyle changes for villagers. Resource constitutes everything that makes up our environment. Resources which are culturally acceptable, economically feasible, technologically accessible, and environmentally sustainable end up contributing to the creation of the material bases for the realization of meaningful existence. Self Help Groups (SHG) are defined as small groups, formed voluntarily with members who want to solve their common problems through mutual aid. SHGs are usually small, informal and homogenous groups of not more than 20 members. The homogenous nature of the groups ensures that the members do not have conflicting interests and thus can participate freely. The Government establishes SHGs in urban villages through NGOs. Once SHGs are established they get assistance from financial institutions. Financial resources can also be mobilized in urban villages. Microfinance, as defined by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is the provision of a broad range of financial services such as deposits, loans, payments services, money transfers and insurance to poor and low income households and their microenterprises. The advantages include; the ability to reach out to the poor, promise of financial sustainability and potential to build on traditional systems. It is an informal and flexible financial services and is a provision for experimentation and innovation.
Figure 8.9 Process of resource mobilisation through SHGs; Source: Authors
This works in the following manner. Since members have poor risk taking ability and no collateral to offer on their own, they form a group. A fixed amount of thrift is collected from each member. With this amount, it starts lending to members for petty consumption needs. Scarce resource and more demand for credit compel groups to make appropriate decisions. The working fund grows over time and establishes credibility. The group can now approach a financial institution for a formal credit. This method inculcates joint asset management skills and is innately promotes self-sufficiency and inclusivity. (Dash, 2012)
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Participatory Planning - Governance As emerging cities follow the path of rapid urbanization, many issues relating to the urban experience not fall within the competence of formal titles of planning and urban policy (Bhateja, 2009).Since the local Panchayat is dissolved and the city administrative structure is introduced in villages once it gets urbanized, the once inherently participatory village governance ceases to exist. As discussed in the smart governance seminar, participatory planning and decision making with tools such as ICTs, can bridge this gap, and pave the way for a smarter transparent governance which will be self-sufficient, resilient, inclusive and authentic.
Place-Making: Spatial Interventions The many social issues such as caste-based discrimination and segregation, and the feudalistic tensions between migrants and natives can be released using intelligent and smart spatial interventions (Malik, 2013). Introducing open green spaces which are democratic and socially equitable, and designed to improve or embibe social interaction can create behavioural changes in the villagers. Place-making techniques can be employed in providing gathering places and focal points. These can be located near and around village landmarks such as chaupals, maidans and banquet halls, to revive the dying social interactions (Shaw, 2009). Place-making is a multifaceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. It capitalizes on a local communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assets, inspiration, and potential, ultimately creating good public spaces that promote peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health, happiness, and wellbeing. Place-making is a process as well as philosophy (Wikipedia, 2013). It is necessary for an urban village to employ such techniques in its spatial planning, to foster healthy environment and community networks.
Smart Policies The current norm of applying urban building laws onto urbanizing villages proves to be counterproductive. In urban villages, it is well recognized that the normal building bylaws cannot apply due to historical factors and regulation issues. Therefore, special Building Bylaws need to be framed for village abadis keeping in view of its special character. There is also a need to prepare individual ownership records, and post them in a public domain like a website for anyone to access at ease. Scrutiny of these records can happen online in a democratic manner so that every villager is included. This has already been recommended by the Expert Committee on Lal Dora. The Report goes on to suggest that any building generating safety concerns should be earmarked for remedial action within a time bound period, failing which they should be dismantled. Strategic Implementation of Incremental housing again gets relevance here (Union Ministry of Urban Development, 2007).
Integrated Development Plans The urbanization of rural villages in Delhi is inevitable. Integrating the villages into the city is a challenge that needs to be dealt with smartly. Village specific Integrated Development Plans show a promising future in this direction. IDPs aim to reinforce zones of integration, weaving the settlement seamlessly into the surrounding urban fabric. For this purpose, it is imperative to provide for infrastructure at par with the surrounding urban development. This is done by allocating a virtual buffer which acts as the integration zone between the village and the city. Here, the required public amenities, physical and social infrastructure and recreational areas are provided. Land use plans, Circulation Plans, physical and social infrastructure needs, open spaces and development controls are prepared to regulate growth within the village. One such, integrated development plan has already been prepared for Pochanpur village and few other villages in Dwarka. The aim of the IDPs is to:
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• • • • • •
The Development Plan aims to combat issues that lead to segregate urban village from the surrounding urban areas. It aims to reinforce zones of integration in turn weaving the settlement seamlessly into the surrounding urban fabric. To enhance the unique characteristic of the village by addressing the quality of public realm, continuity and enclosure. By focusing on the built environment, ease of movement, legibility, adaptability and diversity. Providing for infrastructure and amenities at par with the surrounding urban development Explore models of revenue and employment generation. Create ecologically sound models of development. Initiate a dynamic process that achieves short term goals while creating flexible systems that can adapt and address changing needs while facilitating sustainable growth (SPA).
Thus, we create an understanding that the need is to deal with urban villages at its birth and integrate it well into the city fabric, while retaining the celebrating its diversity and identity as a village.
Conclusion Being Smart is a journey, not a destination. Therefore, it is important to prepare a roadmap for the future which enables urban villages to get smarter in course of time. Learning from the past allow us to prepare for the future better.
Figure 8.10 Model Urban Village; Source: Author
It is imperative at this point in time to realize that the villages were once inherently inclusive, having mixed land use, pedestrian friendly public open spaces and strong social, interactive environments with minimal use of natural resources, which is, currently, what the western ‘urban village’ model of planning is striving to achieve. Ironically, it is the western urban planning models of the past, based on fragmentation and zoning of land use, which when employed in the Indian context, suggested the segregated ‘Lal Dora’ approach to dealing with urbanizing villages. This proved to be failure. The urban villages today present a unique case, where we witness the aftermath of the conflict between two different development strategies, namely formal planning and informal organic development. If this is the case, isn’t urban villages a microcosm of Delhi’s Planning Issues in both the formal and the informal? Then, as Mahatma Gandhi pointed out that “The Future of India lies in its villages”, then perhaps, the future of Delhi lies in how we deal with our urban villages!
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Acknowledgements The journey of the Seminar from the days of literature survey to the final presentation day was enriching and an exciting one. We are really in debt to our coordinators Prof. Ranjana Mital and Prof. Jaya Kumar, who gave us an opportunity to explore the untouched concept of “Smart Cities” in Indian context. It would not have been possible without their guidance and patience to produce such an enlightening series of seminars. Through the course of discovering the uniqueness of urban villages and conceptualising their smartness our advisor, Ms. Amrita Ballal has been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. We are obliged to Dr. Iqbal Malik for spending her valuable time with us, and giving her valuable and experienced insights into the topic, which paved way to the right direction. We are grateful to Prof. Jamal Ansari for providing us with his expert advice on the issue of urban villages and Ms. Mukta Naik for her guidance and advice. We are very grateful for our friend Nidhi Sohane’s help.This journey would not be complete without the unity and strength of our class, who always helped each other by providing with relevant information or constructive criticism during class discussions. Lastly we thank, our parents for their constant encouragement and support.
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6 TH NOV 2PM
CHAIRPERSON DR. RENU KHOSLA ADVISOR MUKTA NAIK
ITS TIME TO SHARE
THE BURDEN MAKING SLUMS SMARTER
09
SMARTER SLUMS Advisor Mrs Mukta Naik | Architect, Micro Home Solutions Chairperson Dr Renu Khosla | Director, Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence, CURE Resource Persons Dr. Aroop Mitra | Professor of Economics, Institution of Economic Growth Mr. Sanjay Bhargava | Innovation coach, HUDCO Prof. Moulshri Joshi | Faculty, SPA New Delhi Mr Kush Choudhury | Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania Mrs Durba Chattaraj | Senior Fellow, Critical Writing Program University of Pennsylvania Presented by Kota Kesava Karthik Sandesh Tony J Shashank S Shruti Shubham Vinjam Harshavardhan Vishal Jayan
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Abstract Delhi has been a major centre for trade and commerce for the past ten centuries. Today, it holds a large settlement within; a population of over sixteen million, and a large influx of immigrants yearly. The brunt of this rural to urban migration is largely absorbed by slums, as they are the most affordable housing options present in Delhi. These slums which have high human concentration and in case of Delhi, house one eighth of the population, do not feature even remotely in the global discussion of “smart cities”. How can the slum be brought within the folds of smart cities? While Delhi thrives to become smart, the seminar provides an insight into the ingenious and innovative means for a slum to cope with the challenges posed to it, both, from within and by the city, and eventually become a part of this global phenomenon. For this purpose, a few baselines for the vision of smartness have been set and entities such as the ‘slum’ (Indra Gandhi camp, Taimoor Nagar), an ‘Indian city’ (Delhi) and a ‘notion of smart city’ (Amsterdam) have been quantitatively compared. From the knowledge that we acquire from these quantitative studies, an unbiased comparison of the slum, the city, and the smart city can be made standing at the same pedestal. Also, it provides a perceptivity of how Delhi and its slums can together move towards smartness, creating a vivid future for the city as a whole. Due to the challenges that the slums face, they are the hotbeds for new concepts and innovative ideas, which can potentially impact millions living within it. There are certain tools readily available to the slum dwellers with which they can carry out this task. The seminar attempts to detach the slums from their present repute and place them in a new light, which is distinct from the traditional psyche of retrofit/redevelop and rather focusing on the idea of capitalizing on strengths and working on weaknesses. Through these innovative solutions slums will advance into ideological trade-offs and reach an equitable situation with the present infrastructure, environment, economic condition and, governance provided to them towards an acceptable standard of living.
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“Kishen was a young man, from a small village near Jaisalmer. His predecessors were prolific craftsmen, but Kishen has a dream distinct from theirs. He wanted to open a mobile shop of his own, and his friend Alok had assured him that Delhi is a city where he could fulfil this dream. Thus, Kishen travelled to Delhi endowed with hope. Little did he know that more than 3900 people just like him had reached Delhi on the same day with parallel intentions. Kishen started to live in a makeshift shelter near Patel Nagar. Today, after 15 years, Kishen has a mobile shop in Patel Nagar. He lives in the same shelter as before. The locality has advanced to pakka makaan, and has a thriving neighbourhood today. It is known as Kathputli colony.” Throughout the world, humans aspire for a better lifestyle than the one they have. With the advent of industrialisation in the 16th century, man made machines to reduce effort in his work, thus making his life easier. With globalization, location barriers ceased to exist, and the economy of the world unified. This led to an uplift in the lifestyle all across the globe. Today, the entire world is on the threshold of yet another lifestyle change due to the advent of a concept called “Smart City”. A smart city seeks to become more live-able, functional, competitive and modern through the use of new technologies, promotion of innovation and better management knowledge. Delhi, being one of the most densely populated cities in the world should feature explicitly in this global phenomenon and become competent in all aspects. (Lynn, 2000)
What Is Smart When a task is assigned to an individual, he/she tends to fulfil the task, applying minimum effort. An individual strives to device means and ways to do a task efficiently, judiciously, with minimum time taken, thus, smartly. An entity can be considered smart if the following aspects of the work done by it comply with the following: Time tends to zero implying the time taken to perform a task is minimalized • Resource tends to zero implying the resources that are needed to perform the task are minimalized. • Achievement tends to infinity implying that the task is performed with maximum aspiration of achieving the highest or the best possible result. • Wastage tends to zero implying that the when the use of resources is minimalized the wastage in resources while performing the given task is also minimalized. • Efficiency reaches the maximum implying that the when the previous four processes are performed the efficiency of the task reaches the zenith. (Giffinger, 2008) Aspects of smart city development can thus be classified broadly as • Management and organization • Technology • Governance • Policy • People and communities • The economy • Built infrastructure • Drainage • Transport • Innovation (Harrison, 2010)
The Indian Smartness The global idea of smart is of a ‘digital’ or a ‘cyber’ city, where though technological and machinedriven innovations, the city aspires to enable its citizens with a better, more comfortable lifestyle. Such a lifestyle is coveted by all. In India this is particularly hard to achieve because of the
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resource deficit, huge population and vast demographics. Also, such kind of machine driven innovations have a huge environmental impact, rendering it morally wrong. If these issues are combined with the pressure of providing a modern lifestyle to the sheer population of the country, it is evident that the global ‘smart city’ concept as preached in the world, is highly unsustainable and uneconomical for India. Most of the western cities have urbanized and developed at the cost of large carbon footprints. As a city, Delhi strives to become developed, and be at par with them. Presently we are a part of an ecologically aware society, thus we should move forward with this goal causing least impact on the environment. Urban infrastructures will need to better to meet the challenges of city environments: energy and water scarcity; pollution and emissions; traffic congestion; crime; waste disposal; and safety risks from ageing infrastructures (DELHI MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR, 2013) To achieve the Indian Smartness, a concept has to be synthesised, which takes into account India’s strengths i.e. the workforce, demographics, diverse skills, and combine these strengths with new ingeniously evolved concepts. This amalgamation of all the strengths and a new way of thinking will empower us to reach the same pedestal as the western world. Vision for an Indian Smart City: • A city well performing in a forward looking way, which works as an entity with all its constituents i.e. economy, lifestyle, environment, and people. • A city, connecting the physical infrastructure, the IT infrastructure, the social infrastructure and the business infrastructure to leverage the collective intelligence of the city. Thus a city driven by social, infrastructural, and conceptual innovations. • A city which tends towards sustainability through minimal use of resources and effective use of manpower and technologies keeping in mind the environmental effects of development. (Marceau, 2000)
Migration There are thousands of Kishens who flow into the city of Delhi, every week, in search of employment. In fact, the total influx of migrants is assumed to be 39,000 per day. Due to this unending rural to urban shift, the population of Delhi is steadily increasing. The pressure of this increase is largely conveyed to the informal settlements Delhi. These settlements are perceived as plausible option for most of the migrants because; • They consist of the cheapest accommodations • Legalities of an individual are not questioned Today, half of Delhi’s population lives in unplanned settlements and many of them live in extremely impoverished conditions, in highly dense and sub-standard settlements, known as SLUMS. (IIHS, 2010)
Slum Slum is a frequently used term for thickly populated urban areas with dilapidated and substandard housing and squalor.
Defining Slums UN-HABITAT defines a slum household as a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following: • Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions.
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• Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room. • Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price. • Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people. • Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions. (Puri, 2009) The Census (2001) of India has defined Slum as “a compact area of at least 300 populations or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities. (Chandramouli, n.d) The Master Plan of Delhi 2021 defines a slums/JJ clusters as a condition of living where the total livable area of a dwelling unit is less than 30sqm or if there are more than 600 dwelling units per hectare. (Authority, 2010) Therefore, slum in the context of delhi can be understood as a liveable area having more than 600 dwelling units per hectare, which lack durable housing, safe drinking water, hygienic environment and security of tenure.
Figure 9.1 Defining the scope; Source: MPD 2021
Slum Life There are specific characteristics which are particular to a slum, for e.g. Ownership Economic Physical • Tenure and security • Job opportunities • Shelter • Hurdles to legality • Irregular employment • Sanitation & hygiene • Political • Expansion capabilities • Water • Potential vote banks • Ability to earn livelihood • Electricity • Politically vulnerable Social • Transportation • Easily accessible education • Legal • Community ties
Why Is It A Problem The population is increasing in the city and there is not enough land to accommodate this number, moreover, the resources are diminishing by the day. Today, Delhi holds a population of 16 million, about 49% of the which live in slum areas, unauthorized colonies and about 860 jhuggi-jhonpri clusters with 4,20,000 jhuggies. Therefore, one needs to deal with the mammoth challenges posed by this phenomena rather firmly as its implications can be drastic. A massive entity, in terms of economics, number of people, transport system, governance network etc., such as Delhi, tend to become inordinate and messy.
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Problems at the slum-city interface These particular nodes within the city are highly populous. Owing to the organic growth and the large population, these entities become highly unorganised in terms of their infrastructural layout which is mostly inadequate or randomly provided. A city which engulfs such an entity, in order to take care of the inhabitants needs to integrate the slum’s unorganised systems, and weave them into an organised frameworks of the city. For example electricity, gas or water supplies. Intra-slum problem A slum from within consists of another set of problems. The space is highly dense, thus, there is a fight for every resource and amenity that is provided to them for example community space, community toilet, water supply, etc. due to this there are unsanitary conditions that prevail in the neighbourhood. Criminal activity, makeshift shelters which puts many at risk in event of a calamity and essentially low of standard of living. Such problems discourage the integration of slums with the city. There is a need to innovate on the existing systems of the slum and the city and integrate them with one another. There is a need of SMART concepts which can increase the efficiency of the systems operating within the urban fabric to increase without putting its environment, society, or economy at stake.
Why Can’t We Eradicate The Slum? We have discussed previously the cons of an entity such as the slum. Its inadequate infrastructure, sub-standard living conditions, prevalence of criminal activities etc. Given these, there are a few pros to these entities, which enable the city of Delhi to function as a well-oiled machine. The study on the ‘economic contribution of urban poor in India’ indicates that 7.5 percent of the GDP generated by urban India is actually contributed by the slums of India. (Bureau, 2013) Regular influx of migrants Delhi still continues to be an attractive destination for those seeking better employment — 75,000 people come to Delhi every year according to the Economic Survey. Most migrants come to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh (46.5 per cent) and Bihar (30.7 per cent). (S, 2013) Even if we remove slums, a pressure would remain on the city of Delhi to provide for cheap, minimal, accommodation. Such a phenomena will ultimately result into newer populous nodes within the city. The benefits of slum Delhi’s employment is getting more informal. The share of the organised sector in employment, particularly that of the public sector is falling and 85 per cent of Delhi’s workers are now in the informal sector. Eradicating slums would mean unemployment of 85% of the population. (S, 2013) It is the hotbed of new inventions Necessity breeds invention, this is a widely accepted fact. These necessity driven slum dwellers today make them equipped to face the future which poses obstacles such as over-crowding and the scenario of being resource strapped. Today slum residents are using creative approaches to address big, global problems like urban density, technology access and waste disposal. These have been discussed under the sub-head ‘solutions’.
A Slum In A Smart City Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the slum-dwellers, we need to ensure a smooth transition of a slum into a ‘smart slum’. Slums of Delhi house one eighth of Delhi’s population. Even though they serve as a major source of services, they do not feature remotely in the global phenomena of being smart. Clearly, there is a need to bring these slums within the folds of smart cities. Slums have a positive relationship with the city’s economy, infrastructure, and society.
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For the creation of such an entity which not only provides a better standard of living but also is empathetic to its surroundings (physical or social environment), we need to create a step by step pragmatic framework which will enable us to create a new city with a new kind of slum. This vision highlights the broad goals of the city for the long-term. The plan addresses the most immediate pain points and opportunities first, building momentum and civic confidence in the overall vision. The following quantitative analysis is an attempt to chart out such a framework that would point out the shortcomings and advantages associated with a slum, a city and a smart city. (Singh, n.d)
Quantitative Analysis A typical qualitative analysis of the slum would generate case studies and provide information for a particular slum. In order to study and propose a solution for slums across the entire city, we take generalised cases. This will not only help us to assess the positives and negatives of a particular slum but will also give us a broader perspective on the situation of slums in Delhi and how it can be upgraded. In this research we are comparing entities which seem largely incomparable, as one is a slum, one is a city and one is a smart city. We compare them on population is to land, or population is to amenities ratio. (Audience response, 2013) We quantitatively analyse the 3 entities, Indra Gandhi Camp, Taimoor Nagar is present in the southern part of New Delhi (Zone F1 MPD 2021). It is one of the oldest settlements of Delhi, named after the Taimoor Lung and therefore has a very rich social factor. The Indra Gandhi camp houses 685 dwelling units in a total area of 2 hectares and is a subsidiary growth of the Taimoor Nagar urban village. The slum lies in the vicinity of colonies such as Maharani Bagh and New Friends Colony and a larger percentage of residents rely on these colonies for employment. These colonies are also dependant on the slum for the feeder and labour works. Thus there is a strong interdependence between Indra Gandhi camp and its adjacent areas. New Delhi is chosen as a city for this analysis as remains the city that needs to be converted into smarter city. Having a very rich heritage, Delhi as a city has grown and evolved over the ages and seen the transformation of the country. Presently being one of the axial points of the Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) for development the analysis would give an idea of the rate and need for development. Employment opportunities have improved trade and commerce through urbanisation and interventions in the city. Amsterdam is a standing example of a modern day smart city. The old city of Amsterdam, in order to be made smart, has been retrofitted. The city is a very mixed in which the middle income householders can afford to live in popular neighbourhoods. This heterogeneity makes Amsterdam an attractive mix of people and activity. The city is currently working on the Housing Vision of 2020 with 3500-4000 new built homes per year. The city annually saves 815 tonnes of carbon dioxide majorly through public transport. The city considers its citizens as key pillars for the development of smart city. The 2020 project includes sustainable living, working, mobility and public facilities. The city also has the largest waste water treatment plant in the world. For a living city like Delhi to be made smart retrofitting is one of the few methods and Amsterdam is a perfect example.
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Parameters Certain factors affect lives of all individuals. For basic living, one needs food, clothing, and housing. For social activities, one needs community sharing. For development, one needs education and infrastructure. Keeping these points in mind, the parameters have been listed from the various aspects which endure the well-being of people as individual and a society. The entities will be mapped across the following PARAMETERS: • People • Governance • Economy • Environment • Infrastructure These five parameters that form the basis of the smart city concept are essentially intangible entities. They cannot be calibrated in a numerical manner. Thus, for the sake of comparison, we introduce sub-parameters. (De Soto, 2000)
Table 9.2 Parameters, sub-parameters and formulae
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Sub-Parameters In order to convert these parameters into a numeric value they are broken down into smaller sub parameters and assessed individually. Individual assessment of each of the sub parameter provides a cumulative for the parameter as a whole and thus provides a clear comparison supported by factual and numeric data. Numerical value of sub parameter—comparison of sub parameters across the study areas Cumulative addition of sub parameters – numerical value of parameters Cumulative addition of parameters—comparable value of one study area to another Calculations are done for each sub-parameter using the indicators that have been derived. Thus a cumulative of each parameter is thus measured for each of the three site areas. Choosing the one of the parameters ‘Infrastructure’ as an illustration.
Table 9.3 Illustration of parameter-infrastrusture Sources: (Sheikh, 2008) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam) (http://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/NY/Amsterdam-Demographics.html) (http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/living/housing/housing-policy) (http://en.gvb.nl/ovinmamsterdam/soortenvervoer/Pages/Soorten-vervoer.aspx) (http://amsterdamherald.com/index.php/7-news/39-20111123-lifeexpectancy)
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Parameter Matrix Using the above parameters and sub-parameters a matrix is created for each of the scenarios and shortcomings are analysed.
Figure 9.4 Typical parameter matrix; Source: Authors
Analysis Indra Gandhi Camp The slum being highly dense has limited resources available. The residents of the slums have adapted to judicious use of their limited resources, hence they score high on reuse of waste and low carbon emissions. Infrastructure and governance is a major area of concern as high population density proves to be a hindrance. The people usually are a well knit community within the slum hence high social interaction. Small scale industries thrive in a slum.
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Figure 9.5 Parameter matrix response slum; Source: Authors
New Delhi The well-knit society of Delhi leads to high levels of social interaction. The society is well cultured and well educated, which act as strengths for Delhi as a city. High carbon emissions, inefficient recycling techniques and inadequate area per person due to inefficiency in resources and unplanned growth of the cities are some of its flaws. With a little progress, employment opportunities can be created and the government can reach more people with the help of e-governance.
Figure 9.6 Parameter matrix response Delhi; Source: Authors
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Amsterdam With high use of technology, the city of Amsterdam fares high in terms of infrastructure, economy and governance as co-ordination becomes easier and efficient. There is a heavy reliance on nonrenewable resources to fuel these technologies. This would lead to higher carbon emissions until efficient waste management systems are devised. Further, Internet age has drastically reduced physical and social interaction within the society.
Figure 9.7 Parameter matrix response Amsterdam; Source: Authors
Exegesis There are certain strengths and certain weaknesses in case of the slum, city and the smart city. In order to make an entity comply with our definition of smartness, there is a need to bank upon its strengths and work on the weaknesses. That has been pointed out by the above approach. It becomes evident what are the pain points. Which issues should be addressed first and how should we prioritise our actions. We have provided this information for all three entities. Let’s look at the results for slum, in detail, and find ways and means to exploit this information for the betterment of the slum dwellers. The areas of concern within a slum include • Healthcare and sanitation • Population density • Crime • Transparency in governance • Technological awareness • Economic wellbeing The slums excels in • Social Interaction (Inclusivity) • Public Transport Usage • Carbon Emission • Reuse and recycle of waste • Innovation
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Using the strengths present within a slum a number of tools and solutions which can allow a slum to be integrated into a smart city are developed.
Tools Within The Slum The households in a slum are densely woven in a compact manner. We need to make these households into entities which are highly efficient and sustainable. This progress in terms of infrastructure and society can be maximised by the usage of resources. Through our research, we have mapped five resources which can be exploited to achieve the above goals. The feature that makes these resources appealing is that their initial cost inputs are minimal, they have a nominal environmental impact and the prime reason is that these tools are easily available to a common slum-dweller. • ICT • Materials • Policies • Crowdsourcing • Innovation
Information And Communitation Technology Information and communication technology or ICT is associated with storage, retrieval, manipulation, transmission or reception of digital data. It includes computer technology which can be made accessible via personal computer or mobile phones. Secondly, it consists of digital communication technologies which allows us to communicate through virtual systems, over a network. In case of the slum we are not delving into complex ICT systems. The innovations we are aiming at involve the mobile phone driven by basic interface. It talks about reaching the masses through their cell phones and weave an alternate network of information dissipation. (Audience response, 2013)
Figure 9.8 Skyscape app for ict; Source: www.apple.com
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An example taken from Lwala Kenya illustrates how I.C.T. can be used in slums through the Skyscape App on the IPad. Skyscape aims to empower the masses with tools that can create a safer health care environment. It enables early diagnose of a disease and prevents its spread. This is done by initially educating volunteers about the app on an IPad which is instrumental in collecting the data. Subsequently the collection of data will enable researchers in devising safer measures. (NSN) (Kroes) (NEWS) (Kalan, 2010)
Materials Careful selection of environmentally sustainable building materials is the easiest way for architects to begin incorporating sustainable design principles in buildings. Usually, prices are the foremost consideration when comparing materials designated for the same function. However, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;offthe-shelfâ&#x20AC;? price of a building component represents only the manufacturing and transportation costs, not social or environmental costs. The Rapid Pane roofing slab system uses cast in-situ pre-fabricated panels that allow construction teams to install and cast load-bearing roof and floor slabs in a fraction of the time of traditional systems. The biggest advantage of this system is that it is highly cost effective and environmentally viable due to use of thermocole which is generally obtained from industrial waste and wired mesh replacing the conventional slabs. (Building with Rapid wall)
Figure 9.9 Rapid wall techonology; Source: Worldhaus
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Policies Indian government has been introducing a lot of policies for development and eradication of slums. Many of the policies haven’t been successful due to their improper enforcement. The problems in the policies include 1. Slum Relocation: Leads to further poverty. • People relocated far from place of work which causes additional expenses on travel. • Informal employment by other household members and women decreases drastically as no high income households or commercial hubs in vicinity If policies such as relocation are proposed near to the place of work of these people, it is likely that it will become a successful venture. Even so, their relocation would depend on the rent proposed on these new dwellings provided. 2. Children’s future: • Limited resources available for children, such as community parks. • Lack of good quality education. For education, the slums heavily rely on the city. It ranks as the most important reason (40.4 per cent) for new migrants coming to the city and its importance appears to be growing with time. (S., 2013) Multipurpose usage of a single public place, whose smooth functionality can be ensured by creative policy making, may address multiple issues present in the slums. In Situ-upgradation Improving hygiene in the vicinity, providing common toilets, adequate water facilities but they have been largely unsuccessful because • Maintenance of amenities • Lack of awareness of public facilities • Hooliganism and slum mafia issues These issues can be addressed by better surveillance and also creating awareness among the inhabitants. Through our analysis we know that the slums lack in certain parameters, those parameters can be individually targeted and site specific policies can be formulated which can be subsequently exercised. (Roy, 2010).
Crowdsourcing Crowd sourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. This is often used to divide tedious work or to fund-raise start-up companies and charities. This process can occur both online and offline. It combines the efforts of self-identified volunteers or part-time workers, where each one on their own initiative adds a small portion that combines into a greater result. (Crowd sourcing) The Tandale Mapping Project aims to map sanitation services in the fast-growing, chronically under-resourced urban slums of Dar-e-Salaam, Tanzania. With an Open Street Map interface the project team crowdsourced geo-located data from Tandale residents and students. By tapping into local knowledge, the project allows the community themselves to take ownership of the project. (Miettinen, 2011)
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Innovation Innovation is a necessity in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s situation. Due to the challenges that the slums face, they are the hotbeds for new concepts and innovative ideas, which can potentially impact millions living within it. Constant and unprecedented growth of these spaces have forced citizens and organisations in finding ways that are most economical, easy to use, simple and practical means of handling situations. Here is an example of innovative technology developed in Brazil which is now used in many slums all over the world. It uses discarded plastic bottles filled with small amounts of bleach and water, which are fitted on to the holes made in the roofs. The sunlight from above is refracted consequently illuminating the room. (Gaia, 2011)
Figure 9.10 Bottle of light; Source: www.literoflightswitzerland.org)
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Conclusion These solutions when applied to slums would enable them to advance into ideological trade-offs and reach an equitable situation with the present, infrastructure, environment, economic conditions and governance. These trade-offs would thus provide them with an acceptable standard of living. We cannot look at the slum in isolation from its context. The context is the city of Delhi. Through our seminar, we have tried to device viable methods to make Delhi smarter. Betterment in the slum will in turn work for betterment of Delhi. Delhi comprises of Governance, Economy, Mobility, Built environment, Typology of shelters, Energy, Waste and Materials. Progress in each of these aspects will lead to overall progress of Delhi. We can fulfil our dream of making Delhi • A city, with interconnected infrastructure • A city, well performing in a forward looking way • A city, which tends towards sustainability • Thus, fulfilling our dream of making Delhi a smarter city.
Figure 9.11 Present slum matrix; Source: Authors
Figure 9.12 Proposed smart slum matrix; Source: Authors
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our advisor, Mrs Mukta Naik for being our support system. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our coordinators Dr Ranjana Mital and Mrs Jaya Kumar for their keen insights and Dr. Aroop Mitra and Mr Sanjay Bhargava for their comments and reviews. We would also like to thank Prof Moulshree Joshi, Durba, Kush and the entire Hands On Factory Team and our fellow classmates for incessant and lively discussions on our topic.
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SMARTER ENERGY Advisor: Mr.Gaurav Shorey | Building sustainability consultant, Swaraj Chairperson: Mrs. Akshima Tejas Ghate | TERI
Presented by: Andapalli Disha Ankit Bhagat Mareedu Rama Kiran Narotham Kumar Medi Priyanka Purty
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Abstract “Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today’s problems are a result of yesterday’s solutions.” - Thomas Sowell Today the energy thirsty world has identified the issue of ‘depleting resources’ and is trying to address it. India has also awakened to react to this global issue. It being a developing country with a population of 1.2 billion, is simultaneously aiming at coping with the west and sustaining growth. More growth needs more energy and more energy needs even more resources. This counters the issue of ‘depleting resources’. The Integrated Energy Policy states that ‘coal shall remain India’s most important energy source till 2031-32 and possibly beyond’. Its approach is also directed towards ensuring availability of gas, developing solar power industry and expansion of hydro, wind and nuclear power capacity. Taking into account the energy used for the production and maintenance of required equipment, the paper is trying to answer some basic questions. Do the non-conventional sources of energy outweigh the conventional ones? Do they account for the ecological damages? Would addressing these issues eradicate the crisis of ‘energy security’? In the long run, how smart or not, are these solutions? What other measures could possibly be considered? The paper also tries to evaluate the proposed solutions, based on economic, social and ecological terms. After all a smart city is one which has a perfect balance among economy, society and ecology.
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Understanding energy The intangible properties of energy make it difficult to be understood. Energy can be defined as: • The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity. • The power derived from utilization of physical or chemical resources especially to provide, light and heat or to work machines. (Wikipedia) To define smart energy, it is necessary to understand the laws of energy. Among the four laws of thermodynamics, the first and second laws are significant in defining smart energy. First law of thermodynamics: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It merely changes from one usable from to another often less usable form. Second law of thermodynamics: The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium. (Laura, n.d.) Another important law to be studied is the Lindeman’s ten percent law. Sun is the source of all forms of energy. Human get energy from the food that they eat. It comprises of plants and other animals which eat plants. Lindeman’s ten percent law of energy transfer states: “During the transfer of energy from organic food, from one trophic level to the next, only about ten percent of the energy from organic matter is stored as flesh. The remaining 90% is lost during transfer, broken down in respiration, or lost to incomplete digestion by higher tropic levels.” (Lindeman, n.d.)
Figure 10.1 Lindeman’s 10 % law; Source: Authors
From the above illustration, it is clear that energy efficiency decreases as we move from lower tropic levels to higher tropic levels. Lindeman’s 10% law also applies to manmade energy cycles such as lighting a bulb where, out of 100J of electrical energy provided, only 10J converts into light energy and the rest is lost as heat energy. Every calorie of packed food has 10 calories of embodied energy in it.
Figure 10.2 Energy usage in a bulb; Source: Authors
Figure 10.3 Embodied energy in packed food; Source: Authors
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Defining smart energy With respect to the above laws Smart energy can be defined as following: • Smart energy is a form of energy that undergoes least transmissions, from the main source, before end use, thus reducing the amount of energy lost as heat during the process. • The generation, transmission and consumption of which has least impact on the environment.
Need for smart energy People and other living beings depend on natural resources for food, shelter, protection, as well as for generating energy and all the products we manufacture. In the past century, an unprecedented increase in population resulted in exponential use of resources. Owing to this excessive use of fossil fuels, groundwater, forests, minerals, cropland soils, marine fisheries, and other natural resources, they are getting depleted more rapidly than they can be replenished. We are living well beyond the earth’s carrying capacity (carrying capacity is a measure of the number of people and the kinds of activities that the environment can sustain indefinitely). Overconsumption, utilising more than the earth can provide, is threatening sustainability. The major forms of energy used are fuel and electricity. Fuel caters to transport, industrial, cooking, lightning, machinery, electricity caters to domestic, commercial, industrial uses as well as mobility. Of the total consumption of petroleum products in our country, 51% is used up by transport sector. (Energy Statistics 2013, 2013) In such a scenario, 75% of the energy from fuel combustion escapes as heat, and only 25% is converted into motion power. Increasing the efficiency in usage of these fuels is the first step towards achieving smart energy. Efficiency in transport system can be achieved by revitalization of public transport and adopting policies such as transit oriented development and innovation. This paper elaborates on the electricity sector as the transport sector is covered in the paper titled on ‘Smart mobility’. Electricity undergoes 3 phases namely, generation, transmission and distribution before consumption. The challenges faced by the power sector in these phases are as follows: Generation • Inadequate power generation capacity • Lack of optimum utilization of the existing generation capacity Transmission • Inadequate inter-regional transmission links • Lack of grid discipline and poor grid management • Transmission losses up to 17% Distribution • Inadequate and ageing sub-transmission and distribution network • Large scale theft, skewed tariff structure, insufficient use of electricity by the end consumer. Inadequate power generation capacity is posed as a challenge. • Out of the total electricity generated 40% is lost as AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) losses and only 60 % reaches the end user for consumption.
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AT&C losses Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses (AT&C losses) is the sum total of technical loss, commercial losses and shortage due to non-realization of billed amount. (Kapoor) (Energy generated-Energy consumable)/Energy generated x 100 = AT&C Losses It is the energy generated minus energy consumable by energy generated multiplied by 100. Reasons for AT&C losses:
FIgure 10.4 Reasons for AT&C losses; Source: Authors
According to R.V. Shashi, former Power Secretary, Govt. of India, these losses can be reduced by the following practices • High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) HVDS envisages running 11 KV lines right up to a cluster 2 or 3 pump sets, employ small sized distribution transformers (15KVA) and extend supply to these 2 or 3 pump sets with least (or almost nil) LT lines • Aerial Bunched Cables (ABC) Where LT lines cannot be avoided, ABC (Aerial Bunched Cables) with a bearer wire can be used.
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Major advantages of ABC are total elimination of faults on LT lines, improved reliability, avoidance of theft by direct tapping, avoidance of overloading of distribution transformers. • Metering Static Energy Meters are utilized now-a-days at HT services and LT high value industrial services. The static energy meters are microprocessors based. • Prepaid Meters- A New Concept Payment before use of electricity by the consumer will eliminate difficulties involved in reading of energy meters periodically, preparing bills and collection of revenue. Under this scheme, the consumer buys a specific number of units of energy as per his requirement by paying the cost in advance. The electricity metering devices (consumer’s meter) have the facility to read and store the number of energy units bought by the consumer, to subtract the energy consumed by the user and to cut-off the main supply on exhausting the units. • Distribution Automation The automation system can be designed using available technology in computer systems, control systems and metering systems, and dovetailing the same into the existing power systems. • Commercial Loss Reduction The commercial losses in power distribution utilities involve mainly the following: Direct tapping by the non-customers Pilferage by the existing customers Defective metering, billing and collection functions Reducing losses are important, though this solution is predominantly short term. There is still a quest of a long-term and worthier solutions.
Albert Bartlet’s exponential theory When a quantity such as the rate of consumption of a resource (measured in ‘tons per year’ or in ‘barrels per year’) is growing at a fixed percent per year, the growth is said to be exponential. The important property of the growth is that the time required for the growing quantity to increase its size by a fixed fraction is constant. For example, a growth of 5% (a fixed fraction) per year (a constant time interval) is exponential. It follows that a constant time will be required for the growing quantity to double its size (increase by 100 %). This time is called the doubling time T2 , and it is related to P, the percent growth per unit time by a very simple relation. (Bartlett, 1978)
T2 = 70 / P According to the Integrated Energy Policy, published by the planning commission, Govt. of India: To deliver a sustained growth of 8% through 2031-32 and to meet the lifeline energy needs of all the citizens, India needs, at the very least, to increase its primary energy supply by 3-4 times and, its electricity generation capacity/supply by 5-6 times of their 2003-04 levels. Applying Albert Bartlet’s Exponential theory to the above statement, if the current rate of energy generation continues, in 30 years the energy generated would be half of the energy required to sustain the current economic growth rate; and in 50 years, it would be one third of the energy required. So the gap keeps increasing exponentially.
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Figure 10.5 Graph showing economic growth rate to energy relation; Source: Authors
How can this gap be bridged without an adverse environmental impact? Can renewable sources of energy be the primary energy source for the future? Majority of the people might say yes, but the policy makers have a different take on this. As per integrated energy policy, Coal shall remain India’s most important energy source for at least 80 years and possibly beyond. With a concentrated push and a 40-fold increase in their contribution to primary energy, renewable sources may account for only 5-6% of India’s energy mix by 2031-32. If this growth continues, renewables will be able to meet the demand in possibly 40 years. Implementation of these growth rates would result in devastating impact on resources and environment. Land as a resource, the area required to generate 1MW of power from solar is 0.025 to 0.03 sq.km, while it takes 4 sq.km for hydro power and 0.12-0.57 sq.km for wind power. (http://www.cseindia. org/, n.d.) That would mean, the amount of land required to generate India’s annual energy recorded in 2011-12 by solar power would be almost one sixth of the total usable area of India (www.pacsindia.org, n.d.), and to generate 50% of India’s estimated annual energy generation after 70 years, it would require 3 times the usable area available in India.
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Figure 10.6 Graph illustrating the growth rate of renewable energy generation; Source: Authors
Figure 10.7 Area required for solar power generation- Comparison; Source: Authors
From the above analysis it is clear that renewable energy generation alone cannot be relied upon as a long term solution. This brings us back to the question, where does the solution lie? Man who is dependent on electricity for almost all his activities rarely tends to think about the source of this electricity. A parallel example of buying a pack of juice from a supermarket is considered to elaborate this. Though the act of bringing home a pack of juice is simple, it involves a lengthy process: acquiring land, buying seeds and fertilizers to cultivate large centralized farms and transporting the yield to the factory to produce the juice which is subsequently packed, bundled & sent to the wholesale market, from where it is distributed to the supermarkets and then reaches the consumer. This
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process is largely unacknowledged while making a choice. Similarly, in the present electricity transmission network, the energy generated at the huge power plants is sent to the step-up transformer system, which then through the high voltage transmission lines reaches the stepdown transformer station and then finally reaches the consumer. With so many intermediate levels between the source and consumer, there are possibilities of losses and thus inefficiency in the system. (http://www.centreforenergy.com/, n.d.)
Figure 10.8 Current Electricity Transmission Network; Source: Authors
Smart grid systems are being proposed as a method to overcome this inefficiency in the network. It is considered reliable, efficient and flexible. Jeffrey Clair’s statement that, “Smart Grids look like another Build-it-now-Deal-with-the-Consequences-later fiasco” is supposed to be a larger loop, which requires much more energy and emit harmful radiations. Instead of packed juice and supermarket, what if we choose to buy fruits from a ‘thelawala’? The energy put in the system is enormously reduced, and this would also imply revitalization of local markets and lesser inorganic waste. Decrease in gap between source and end use implies increase in efficiency. Thus the solution is likely to be in smaller energy loops.
Decoupling The current longer energy loops can be transformed into shorter energy loops through the concept of decoupling. Decoupling means, to separate, disengage, or dissociate something from something else. (Oxford Dictionary, n.d.)To be successful in delivering a mode of economic development that
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is physically and environmentally sustainable, it is essential to decouple economic growth and energy usage. CO2 is a widely known cause of global warming, and in near future, there will be a need of cleaning up the atmosphere in order to reduce its content. This process clearly requires a huge investment. Through application of the concept in power sector this process can be enforced and here is how: The equivalent of the money required can be given to the discoms and transcoms to reduce distribution and avoid extended transmission respectively. This would imply decrease in generation resulting in larger energy networks turning into smaller energy networks. The decrease in generation can result in two scenarios Case 1: Decrease in generation causing increase in energy demand The casual loop for residential energy efficiency shows that increase in demand supply gap will result in energy conservation by using energy efficient appliances. This allows for savings on energy bills which can be spent on luxury items increasing the tendency to waste energy, thus increasing the demand supply gap again.
Figure 10.9 Casual loop diagram for residential energy usage; Source: Authors
Case 2: Decrease in generation causes decrease in usage This is possible only when people consume less by choice. In the current paradigm, more development implies more energy consumption. Weekly expenditure on food by a family in various nations is represented in the following graph. (formyhour.com, n.d.)
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Figure 10.10 Graph comparing weekly expenditure on food in various nations; Source: Authors
The graph indicates that developed countries spend a lot on their food. It does not imply that they consume more amount of food, but that the embodied energy of their food is high resulting in higher prices. The graphs show that as we move from under developed to developed nations, there is more consumption of packaged food. The above is the energy indication of food that humans consume. For their sustenance, humans consume various other products. In what way can the energy related to these products be minimized? It’s through the choices we make. Several years of dependency on technology of our human race has created a false notion that technology is a solution to everything. We fail to realize that our capabilities can be the driving forces in lowering energy consumptions. Reformed education system and gender equality will help reinstall faith in our own capabilities as a social being in contributing to a smart, sustainable environment. “Every solution breeds new problems.” - Murphy’s Law; until humans act by choice to be the change.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank our guide Mr Gaurav Shorey for his invaluable insights and for helping us through this seminar. We would also like to thank our coordinators Dr Jaya Kumar and Dr Ranjana Mital for giving us this opportunity to explore and research into other spheres.
BIBLIOGRAPHY • (n.d.). Retrieved from formyhour.com: http://formyhour.com/cost-of-weekly-food-indifferent-countries • (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.centreforenergy.com/: http://www.centreforenergy.com/ AboutEnergy/Electricity/Transmission/Overview.asp?page=1 • (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cseindia.org/. • (n.d.). Retrieved from www.pacsindia.org. • (n.d.). Retrieved from Oxford Dictionary: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ english/decouple • Bartlett, A. A. (1978). Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis. • (2013). Energy Statistics 2013. NATIONAL STATISTICAL ORGANISATION. • Kapoor, N. (n.d.). AT& C Losses in Power Distribution. • Laura. (n.d.). Thermodynamics. Retrieved from http://www.physicsforidiots.com/: http:// www.physicsforidiots.com/thermodynamics.html • Lindeman. (n.d.). Ten percent law. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_percent_law • Wikipedia. (n.d.). Definition: Energy. Wikipedia.org.
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SMARTER MATERIALS Advisor: Mr Pashim Tewari | Architect Chairperson: Mr Alex Nyembo | Architect and Green consultant Resource person: Mr Alex Nyembo | Architect and Green consultant
Presented by: Mahboubeh Touri Mbaya Lenduka Guy Davis Tshering Wangchuk
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Abstract Every building material undergoes a process which comprises of steps from manufacturing to recycling. This seminar focuses predominantly on the USAGE component of a Smart material. Details like calculations, manufactures process and chemical component havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been considered. Smart Materials have already reached the Indian domain of research and science, although they havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reached the common citizen yet. This doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop a citizen from exhibiting smartness by using the available resources in a judicious and ingenious manner. Does it make us smart if we try to impose technologically advanced materials on a country like India where the demographics is vastly varied? What is intelligent may or may not be smart. Smart is highly contextual and time related. Smartness can be achieved only when what is actually smart and how it is being mobilised is identified. The evolution of science and technology has proven that there is a need, and therefore we must, in the coming future, disseminate the role of architect and planners as advocates for popularization of smart material, so that through material choice in designs, architects can achieve urban level implications and create space for future expansions.
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Smart The following are few interpretations of smartness as understood in varied fields. International Business Machines Corporation believes: “Smartness is intelligence being infused into the system and process that makes the world into things no one would recognize as computers/appliances /roadways.” A person is considered smart when he is, connected with fashion and up market, attractively neat and stylish, bright and fair in appearance, and is prompt in action. Smart is when a devise is so programmed that it is capable of some independent hi-tech action, for example smart weapons controlled by a computer, can make us believe that it is inherently intelligent even though it owes its smartness to the programmed device. In his book Smart Architecture, Edvan Hinte said, smartness is “in terms of interaction, minimum use of materials and energy, and careful planning over longer periods of time, to reduce the environmental impact of this major human activity called building.” (Hinte, 2003)
What is a smart city? Smartness is a solution which is subjected to and dependent on the context and time. Smart materials lead to smart designs. Smart designs result in better spaces, and smart architecture. Smart architecture leads to creation of smart cities. Therefore smart materials can be considered the basis of a smart city.
Figure 11.1 Smart city pyramid; Source: Authors
Smart architecture
• it does more with less. • it depends on what the use and purpose of a space is. • it is always time-based, • it reacts differently in differing tie cycles, user exigencies, climatic conditions, functions and society. • It is an ally to nature, and the challenge of being ‘sustainable’ is the basis of its for innovation.
Smart design
One which “doesn’t use complex technology unless it is absolutely necessary’’. (Ed Van Hinte, Marc Neelen 2003)
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Establishing the definition of smartness, now let us see how a material with such qualities can be incorporated in daily use. In the past when materials were discovered, they were used in a certain manner. Subsequently, humans discovered novel and efficient ways of using the material creatively and innovatively. Hence, through innovation, smartly used material are created, leading to invention of smart materials. The research on smart materials directed the authors to the future of material technology, presently known as Nano-system. This technology has been elaborated next in the paper.
Smart materials According to Wikipedia, “smart materials are designed materials that have one or more properties which can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture, ph., electric or magnetic fields.” The Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology says, “Smart materials and structures are those objects that sense environmental events, process that sensory information, and then act on the environment.” ‘’There will not be innovation if everything has to be sustainable, the balance between invention (scientific progress) and sustainability should be there, may be 80%, sustainable and 20%, innovation’’ (Tiwari, 2013) Consequently we can deduce that, ‘’smart materials are those which are invented or upgraded to form successful collaboration with the environment & society by using resources, time and energy efficiently’’. Characteristics of a smart material (Michelle Addington, 2005): • Immediacy (they respond in real-time) • selectivity (their response is discrete and predictable) • transiency (they respond to more than one environmental state) • self-actuation (intelligence is internal to rather than external to the ‘material’) • directness (the response is local to the ‘activating’ event)
Typology of materials Type 1: Materials that undergo changes in one or more of their properties (chemical, electrical,
magnetic, mechanical, or thermal), in direct response to an external stimuli. The energy input to a material affects its internal energy by altering its microstructure. Such an input results in a property change of the material. (Addington, 2005) For example: • Shape memory: an input of thermal energy (which can also be produced through resistance to an electrical current) alters the microstructure through a crystalline phase change. This change enables multiple shapes in relationship to the environmental stimulus. • Phototropics: materials that change colour when exposed to light. • Phase-changing materials: use chemical bonds to store and release heat. • Electrochromics: materials that change colour when voltage is applied across them.
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Type 2: Materials that undergo change in energy from one form to another. The energy input to a
material changes the energy state of the material composition. This does not alter the material (chemical properties). (Addington, 2005) For example: • Piezoelectrics: materials in which elastic energy strain produces an electrical current. Most piezoelectrics are bi-directional, that is, the inputs can be switched and an applied electrical current can produce a deformation - strain. • Photovoltaics: an input of radiation energy from the visible spectrum produces an electrical current. • Thermoelectrics: an input of electrical current creates a temperature differential on opposite sides of the material. • Electrostrictives: the application of a current produces elastic energy - strain which deforms the shape of the material. • Magnetostrictives: the application of a magnetic field produces elastic energy - strain which deforms the shape of the material. • Light emitting diodes: LEDs • Light-emitting materials: converts input energy to output of radiation energy in the visible spectrum.
Contextual nomenclature Material can be used in one of the following context
House Design
A “smart material house” is a new form of residential building in which adaptable architectural designs can be combined with intelligent technologies and construction materials. Houses today don’t only act as energy consumers, they can also become energy generators. (Hamburg, 2011) Energy efficiency: materials capable of energy-exchange, are materials and products capable of storing energy. They can store both sensible and latent energy in the form of light, heat, electricity or hydrogen, and exhibit some reversibility. The energy-storing smart materials available today store energy in different forms and are thus classified as, light-storing smart materials, heat-storing smart materials, electricity-storing smart materials, hydrogen-storing smart materials
Urban design
Smart materials are replacing installations in architecture. Imagine replacing heating and conditioning installations (air conditioners, heaters) with materials! A coating of paint to retain energy, sieving material that can control light, or a bag of salt for cooling? Multifunctional, smart and interactive materials can dramatically change the future of buildings, making them more efficient and sustainable.
Environmental intervention
Smart materials which will have extensive positive impact are the ones that sense changes in the environment, react to it, and even signal their state. Thus materials assume the role of both sensors and actuators. These materials would need power, albeit in small amounts. They can draw this initiating energy from their environment, for example, the sunlight, air currents, tidal waves, or they can be powered by fuel cells.
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Transport services
In transportation, the largest effort in research and development in smart materials has been in the military aerospace sector, followed by the automotive sector and the marine sector. There appears to be very little application in the rail industry. This is perhaps due to conservative attitude and lack of investment.
Classifications based on function Passive (steady function): reactive material which have exhibited stable behaviour accrediting constant properties to their use.
Active (evolving function): Influenced, acted upon, or affected by some external force, cause or
agency. Such a material becomes the subject of action rather than causing action. (j. Clarence, 2009).
Application of smart materials • A ‘wear’ detection system can be implanted in trains to monitor the wear in its wheels. The idea is to detect the changes in the vibration behaviour of the entire wheel caused by the surface changes on the rolling contact area. Scientific name : piezoelectric, Context : transport Typology : passive
Figure 11.2 The proposal method for the assessment of the roughness of the wheel. A piezoelectric sensor detects the vibration of the wheel, leading to an assessment of its wear status; Source: Tu darmstadt
• Shower valve: These are shape memory alloys thermal actuators are one of the most frequent causes of injuries in the household and in hospitality buildings. This is mainly because there is no control over the unbearably high temperature of water being discharged. • An anti-scald valve is now being produced which employs a small cantilever element which, when heated to 48°c, the temperature above which scalding will occur, closes the valve. The valve automatically reopens when the water temperature is safe(Figure 11.3).
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Scientific name Context Typology
: shape memory allows : housing : passive
• Shape memory tendons: the tendons can absorb energy and at the same time provide a righting moment after the shock wave has passed. Structural damage can be curbed as it acts like rubber bands, which can be tightly stretched by hydraulic jacks to increase the tensile strength of the core-wall.
Scientific name Context Typology
: shape memory allows : structural element : active
• Self-cleaning membrane skin: A garden chapel in Osaka, Japan, is constructed with two concrete surfaces. The material is titanium oxide, which forms a white membrane on the exterior and has the capability to interact with rain and wash away dirt. As the surface coating eliminates the need for painting, it reduces long term maintenance costs. Thus it can be said that this construction is covered by a mono smart material, which has the capability to adhere to its surroundings(Figure 11.4).( Tuğçe Akin,pg111,2009)
Scientific name Context Typology
: self-healing materials : energy efficiency : active
• Nanotube: Also known as carbon nanotube, is a tube-shaped material or cylindrical nanostructure made of carbon, having a diameter to the order 10-9. Carbon nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest materials discovered, in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus respectively, as told by Avansa company Kanpur (Figure 11.5).
Scientific name Context Typology
: nano technology : environmental interventions/ structural element : active
• Nanogel panels: This material exhibits incredible strength. It can take load that is 2000 times greater than it’s self-load, even though it is only 5 percent solid (by volume) and the rest is filled with air. These can be applicable on fabric architecture or structures.
Figure 11.3: Memorysafe antiscald shower valve used in antiscald safety valves; Source: Authors
Figure 11.4 Garden chapel; Source: Ritter 2007
Figure 11.5 Conceptual diagram of singlewalled carbon nanotube (swcnt) (a) and multiwalled carbon nanotube (mwcnt) (b) delivery systems showing typical dimensions of length, width, and separation; Source: isaaa.org
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Architectural applications of aerogel include windows, skylights, and translucent wall panels. They are also transparent and have a low refractive index, making them useful as light-weight optical materials (George, 2007).
Scientific name Context Typology
: nano technology : environmental interventions : active
â&#x20AC;˘ Luna: This material is a cast glass with a phosphorescent chemical, which absorbs light during the daytime and glows in the dark. Being a light emitting smart material, it can be used by industrial designers to create fascinating effects.
Figure 11.6 Nanogel panels provide translucency and insulation; Source: arcat.com
Figure 11.7 Kinetic glass; Source: wordpress.com
Luna is known as kinetic glass. Morphing into transparent surface, kinetic glass detect s hazardous levels of carbon dioxide and provides warning to the inhabitants of the building. It also protects the building by curling or closing the flaps of its gills, preventing the excess of carbon dioxide from penetrating the building interior. (tuÄ&#x;çe akin,pg115,2009)
Context Typology
: energy efficiency : active
Smart materials v/s smartly used material
Figure 11.8: Smart materials vs smartly used materials, Source: Authors
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A smart material is subjective to research, whether it is controlled or self-mobilising. A smart material is the one which reacts to its environment by itself or through a computerised programme. In the latter stimulus such as volume, colour and viscosity, may occur in response to a change in temperature, stress, electrical current, or magnetic field. In comparison to smart materials, ‘smartly used materials’ are evolved through innovation. They are ingenious solutions to the problem at hand worked out in scarcity of resources, basically known as Jugaad. When everything fails, Jugaad works. Jugaad is perhaps the only option when no other option is left, it is a technique in which you ‘do it now, somehow’, an intermediate solution at a very low cost. Nobody can teach or learn Jugaad, for this we have to indulge ourselves in the practice of thinking creatively. There is no particular formula, each and every Jugaad is of its own kind, and the techniques may vary from person to person and from situation to situation. Moreover the multiple utilization of single product is also a Jugaad, it is all about innovation either it is a product or a process. This word enunciates the infinite capacity of the Indian mind to resourcefully innovate or invoke Jugaad (a word that‘s become prevalent internationally).
How smart materials can be used in different contexts Piezoelectric energy Example 1 The Mumbai suburban railway: With the length 303 kilometres it has the highest passenger density in the world with 6.3 million people travelling daily. Now imagine if we can place piezoelectric tiles in all suburban station entry point. Let say an average person weighing 60 kg , takes two steps across the piezoelectric tile of size 2 feet x*2 feet, which will produce 0.1 watt in a single second. So if we multiply with the total population, this could be around 600 kilowatt of electricity per day (Sandeep Goswami,2012).
Figure 11.9 Schematic; Source: Authors
Now if we increase the scope of the usage of this material and use it in malls and hospitals the city would start to generate a copious amounts of energy.
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Example 2 Solar power sports complex: Design by studio symbiosis, has proposed a solar power sport complex proposed in India that would harvest piezoelectric energy from the anticipated heavy foot traffic of the crowd that enter its gate. The roof of the various stadium cells are lined with both solar and pneumatic panels which collect and generate energy.
Figure 11.10 Sports complex; Source: inhabitat.com
Figure 11.11 Retrofit tower in day; Source: trehugger.com
Example 3 Straw scraper: Stockholm-based architecture firm Belatchew is proposing to retrofit a tower on one of the city’s island neighborhoods with 14 new floors and millions of tiny piezo-electric ‘straws’ (Figure 11.11). Calling the idea the straw scraper, Belatchew said the retrofit of the landmark Södertorn would result in the building being an urban power plant, with the millions of strands of piezo-electric straw collecting energy as they vibrated in the swirling wind. Example 4 Urban Field: Designed by Anthony Dimari, a piezoelectric field of hundreds of air cleaning artificial trees through the streets of Boston that is able to collect rain water and generate electricity. ‘’Smart materials invented by Indians, there is an IIT Pragpur’s group that has done multi research and invention on piezoelectric, phase changing materials for energy storage.” (Tiwari, 2013)
Figure 11.12 Urban Field; Source: Infoniac.com
Figure 11.13 Pranidhan chapel at Ernakullam; Source: cristalactiv.com
Regenerative brake It is an energy recovery mechanism which slows a vehicle or object down by converting its kinetic energy into another form, which can be either used immediately or stored until needed. The Delhi metro saved around 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide (co2) from being released into the atmosphere by regenerating 112,500 megawatt hours of electricity through the use of regenerative
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braking systems between 2004 and 2007. It is expected that the Delhi metro will save over 100,000 tons of co2 from being emitted per year.
Photocatalytic cement Air pollutants that would normally result in discoloration of exposed surfaces are removed from the atmosphere using the energy from ultraviolet rays by the cement, and the residues are washed off by rain. Example 1 The first application of the Photocatellytic cement in India was in Pranidhan chapel in Kerala, using it as paint (Figure 11.13) (Zuari cement, 2011). Example 2 Photocatalytic material can also be used in futuristic projects such as the floating “ecopolis”. In this case, the double skin would be made of polyester fibres covered by a layer of titanium dioxide (TIO2), which would react with ultraviolet rays and absorb atmospheric pollution via a Photocatalytic effect in the same way as the air-purifying concrete and paving stones(Figure 11.14).( Quick, 2011) Example 3 Self-cleaning buildings and pollution-reducing roadways: these may sound like futuristic ideas, but they have been realised owing to the advanced techniques of today’s concrete. Recently introduced formulations of cement are able to neutralize pollution. Harmful smog can be turned into harmless compounds and can be easily washed away. (portland cement association). Italian architects Iosa Ghini Associati designed smog eating eco house in Cyprus which is composed of four single family units joined by a flowing fusion of glass and “smog-eating” photocatalytic concrete, creating a series of separate yet structurally connected spaces (Figure 11.15). ( Mike Chino,2008).
Figure 11.14 Floating Ecopolis; Source: www.gizmag.com
Figure 11.15 Smog eating eco house in Cyprus; Source: www.inhabitat.com
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Popularization process ‘’If you just go by return in investment you will never use smart materials’’ (Sohane, 2013) For the commercial success of every material it has to be made commercially viable. All the pros and cons of the materials such as energy consumption, pollution, waste, management etc. have to be calibrated accurately. The products are subsequently taken forward and advertised by advocators such as, NGO’s, associations and institutes, to help the production in a small scale. This will eventually spread awareness about the product to the government and other stakeholders in the media, enabling mass production of the product.
Figure 11.16 Popularization process; Source: Authors
Conclusion After analysing from characteristics to contexts of smart materials, it can be understood that the need and demand for smart materials is growing by the day. The new and evolved materials are resolving the issues that are concerned with environment, usage, energy consumption etc. As architects, we will have to play the role of advocators to popularize materials more. On the other hand, smart materials are extremely resource intensive, energy consuming and made from rare earth material, therefore, until and unless resources used in production are not changed, we will continue to cut down from our natural resources at the cost of the future of coming generations. ‘’We should use whatever materials available considering the future generation and it should be sustainable, a material which is not sustainable is not smarter’’. (Mkande, 2013) Thus the question still stands, “Is this process of making smart materials smart? Or are we destroying our planet smartly? “
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Recommendations 1. Advance a world-class nanotechnology research and development program. • Foster the transfer of new technologies into products for commercial and public benefit. • Develop and sustain educational resources, a skilled workforce, the supporting infrastructure and tools to advance technology. • Support responsible development of smart materials. 2. Our planet earth has some resources which are very valuable for human life but these resources are limited. Once these resources are over, it will take ages for natural reproduction. So what happens in the mean while? What are we going to rely on? What are the replacements and alternatives for such resources? Just an Idea! Exploring within the scope of words smart and smartness finding an alternative resource of materials for human begins doesn’t seem so unachievable. Today, the journey to Mars become a reality, by Mission- Mars One, a Netherlands-based non-profits organization that plans to establish a permanent human colony on the red planet by 2023. 202,586 people from more than 140 countries have already registered in which 24 percent are U.S. citizens and 10 percent Indians. So in our search of alternative resources, we can also continue producing or consuming smart materials and look at Mars as an alternate bank of resources!
Acknowledgements In the process of realization of the paper we were privileged to work with many professionals. We would like to thank them for their unwavering support and guidance. First and foremost, we want to thank our Seminar Guide Ar.PashimTiwari for his support as well as constructive criticism. This project could have not been completed without his enthusiasm and guidance. A special thanks to Ar. Alex Nyembo Kalenga. His worthy suggestions, advices and perpetual encouragement, helped us put together our seminar as well as this paper. Last but not least, we would extend our gratitude to our Coordinators Prof. Jaya Kumar and Dr. Ranjana Mital who invested full effort in guiding the team in achieving the goal and helped maintain our progress. We would also like to thank the panel present during our seminar whose comments helped us enrich this paper.
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Bibliography • Dr. George, 2007. Insulation, nanotechnology for green building. Retrieved from http://esonn.fr/ esonn2010/xlectures/mangematin/nano_green_building55ex.pdf • Goswami, sandeep, green business idea, 2012, retrieved from http://oyeta936.wordpress. com/2012/02/10/green-business-ideas-bombay-can-produce-2mw-day-of-electricity-by-just-walkingon-railway-stations/ • Hinte, E. (2003). Smart Architecture. • Michelle Addington, D. S. (2005). Smart Materials and Technologies in Architecture. • mike chino, Smog Eco house in Cuprus, 2008, retrieved from, http://inhabitat.com/iosa-ghini-cyprusresidence/ • Mkande, E. (2013). Audience Respose. Delhi: Smart City Seminar. • Portland cement association, building a better (cleaner) world in the 21st century, retrieved from, http:// www.cement.org/tech/self_cleaning.asp • Quick, Darren, lilyap floating city concept, 2001, retrieved from http://www.gizmag.com/lilypad-floatingcity-concept/17697/ • Sohane, N. (2013). Audience Response. Delhi: Smart City Seminar. • Tiwari, P. (2013). audience response. Delhi: Smart City Seminar. • Tuğçe akin, pg111, 2009, communication of smart materials: bridging the gap between material innovation and product design retrieved from http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12610999/index.pdf • Zuari cement, tx active application, 2011, retrieved from http://www.zuaricements.com/eng/ media+center/press+releases/20110502.htm • http://www.architectural-world.com/2008/05/characteristics-of-smart-materials-and.html, Characteristics of smart materials and systems • Davies, Clarence, pen( 2009, april) oversight of next generation nanotechnology
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SMARTER SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT Advisor: Prof. Chidambara | Professor, Dept. of Urban Planning, SPA New Delhi Chairperson: Dr. Shyamala Mani | Professor, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi Resource persons: Dr. Shyamala Mani | Professor, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi Dr. Iqbal Malik | Founder, Vatavaran NGO Dr. Bharti Chaturvedi Toxics Link NGO Chintan NGO Presented by: Akanksha Singh Deblina Pandit Mridul Jain Shubhi Aggarwal Syed Hamdan Hussain Venugopal Agrawal
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Abstract According to the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), the capital is now faced with the enviable task of finding as much as 28 sq. km of landfill space to meet its needs till the year 2021, and another 100 sq. km by 2050. In the present scenario, the waste management process is scattered over the informal and formal sectors, being a source of livelihood for certain sectors of the society, a responsibility for some and a nuisance to others, all the while being greatly environmentally degrading and exploitative. Recent policy changes and efforts leave much to be desired in increasing the effectiveness of the system and bringing the informal sector in the realm of the overall framework. This paper aims at understanding the contribution of government, private organizations, informal sectors and citizens and their mutual dependence in the waste management process keeping in mind all the other factors in an urban scenario, future needs and the environment. A â&#x20AC;&#x153;smartâ&#x20AC;? system in Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s context would be equitable in terms of labor, socio-economic viability, environmental sustainability and application of technology. Further, it would look at embedding the principles of the 3Rs, that is, reduce, reuse and recycle in a more pro-active manner.
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What is waste? Is “waste” everything that we throw away? As defined by Oxford dictionary, waste is defined as a material, substance, or by-product eliminated or discarded as no longer useful or required after the completion of a process (Oxford, 2013). As far as the common man is concerned, waste is whatever he has no use for. And in a society where he has been trained only to consume, he throws away what he has no use for. This results in cities and streets that are saturated with waste which has been around for so long, that it has become a normal part of our cityscape. The United Nations Statistics Division defines waste as – “Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is products produced for the market) for which the generator has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of production, transformation or consumption, and of which he/she wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other human activities. Residuals recycled or reused at the place of generation are excluded (United Nations).” The word ‘waste’ and the act of ‘wasting’ are human inventions. Waste doesn’t exist in nature. In nature, everything has a purpose. Waste was created by humans for short-term convenience and short-term profit. Wasting results in long-term harmful consequences for humans, nature, and the economy. Unfortunately, both definitions reflect a widespread attitude that does not recognize waste as a resource. Zero Waste America – An Internet-based environmental research organization defines waste as “a resource that is not safely recycled back into the environment or the marketplace.” (Zero Waste, 2010) This definition takes into account the value of waste as a resource, as well as the threat unsafe recycling can present to the environment and public health. “Even though reduction of waste seem to be a smart way of Solid Waste Management, it would be ineffective in India. Indias per capita waste generation is relatively very less compared to other countries with a developed economy like the US and the UK. There is not a large scope for reduction of waste in the majority of the people anyway. There is however, a certain portion of the society with a very high level of consumption, and this is only going to enlarge. This is the same sector that has continually been taught in their schools and through the media that using more is not right, and we must create less waste, however, this segment of the society has never lessened their consumption and waste production. Thus reuse and recycling of waste will be discussed in the paper.” (Audience Response, 2013)
History of waste management The modern waste management process started with onset of industrialization and the sustained urban growth of large population centers in England. Corbyn Morris in 1751 proposed London waste strategy: • “One uniform public Management”, an integrated London-wide strategy • Conveyance “to proper distances in the country”, well away from the city • Use of the Thames to landfill downstream (As still used in 2007 for barging from Inner London until that runs out) • Use of the waste as a land improver. (Herbert, 2007)
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Figure 12.1 Streets saturated with garbage; Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
Classification of waste Waste can broadly be classified under the heads- origin, composition and management.
Figure 12.2 Streets saturated with garbage; Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
Out of these, municipal waste covers most of the waste produced in cities as the main management process is controlled by the respective municipalities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Municipal waste includes wastes resulting from municipal activities and services such as street waste, dead animals, market waste and abandoned vehicles. However, the term is commonly applied in a wider sense to incorporate domestic wastes, institutional wastes and commercial wastes.â&#x20AC;? (NIC, 2010) According to PAHO: Solid or semi-solid waste generated in population centers including domestic and, commercial wastes, as well as those originated by the small-scale industries and institutions (including hospital and clinics); market street sweeping, and from public cleansing. (Urban Development Series â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Knowledge Papers, 2012)
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The Curious Case of Delhi Urban India generates 188500 tons of waste every day. During 1947 to 2001, an area equal to half the area of Mumbai was needed to dispose all of India’s waste. By 2047, the area needed will have grown to the TOTAL area of Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad combined. (Annepu, Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India, 2012).Of this, 26.6% waste is generated in tier 1 cities. Delhi is famous for being a city of dualities and sharp contrasts. The duality is also evident in the waste of Delhi. There are parts of the city that are very clean, and there are parts of the city that are overflowing with garbage.
Figure 12.3 Delhi – A city of duality; Source: Wordpress.com, Authors
Every day Delhi generates 9000 tons of solid waste from houses, markets, institutions, parks etc. which is equal to 750 full truckloads of waste. From this 75% is collected and stored at dhalaos which are secondary collection points created and maintained by the MCD and the rest ends up in open dumps.
Figure 12.4 A typical Dhalao in Delhi; Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
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Figure 12.5 Landfill sites in Delhi; Source: https://towmcl.com
From the dhalaos, the waste is transported to the 3 landfill sites in the city, where it is either dumped on top of the towering mountain of garbage or processed in WTE or Composting Plants. 0.3% goes to second hand markets in the city. 23% of the waste is collected by the informal sector from various points in the above chain for recycling. (Chintan,May 2003) It can be seen that the present system of waste management is based on a linear model, in which a raw material is extracted, made into consumer goods, consumed and then trashed creating piles of useless waste.
Firgue 12.6 Linear model of waste management; Source: Authors
Looking upon its efficiency, a mind boggling fact is that only 15 percent waste of whole of Delhi is dealt by the formal system of Solid Waste Management. (Singh, 2013) This means that 85 percent of Delhi does not have a formal door to door pick up system which explains the presence of stinky heaps and mounds of waste all around the city. Delhi is witnessing and will continue to see a sharp growth in its population, as well as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of that population (Central Intelligence Agency). This population growth and rapid urbanization would mean bigger and denser cities, with increased MSW generation. World Bank predicts that, in India there is going to be an increase in waste generation by 243 percent (which is way more than USA-12% and China-168 %). (Hoorenweg & Thomas, 1999)
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So can the existing system handle more load? At present, the 3 civic bodies of Delhi are responsible for Solid Waste Management (SWM) in the city: • • • • • •
Municipal Corporation of Delhi North zone South zone East zone New Delhi Municipal Corporation Delhi Cantonment Board
In 2012, Rs.1350 crore were spent on SWM out of which only 15 percent was used for disposal or treatment and the rest went into collection and transportation. But still, the 2500 old filthy, overflowing, municipal bins demonstrate the miserable failure of civic bodies in managing waste. (Singh, 2013) The three dysfunctional waste to energy plants and several biogas/compost plants have not helped, instead they have only added to pollution of natural resources. By 2021, waste generation will grow to about 15000 TPD of waste, to dispose off which, a landfill of 28 sq. km. area will be needed. (Chintan,2003) This is equal to the area of Lutyen’s bungalow zone. It is evident that we do not have the land that is needed to dispose of the waste we will produce, neither are our present systems equipped to handle the coming load. Our only approach can be to look at a new, smart system that allows minimal waste to reach a landfill.
Smartness According to IBM, smart cities will be interconnected systems of infrastructure, operations and people that will analyze data to make better decisions, anticipate problems and resolve them proactively and coordinate resources to operate effectively and drive sustainable economic growth. (IBM The Smarter City) SWM systems have traditionally been centralized to a great extent and the most common approach to adding smartness and increasing the effectiveness of SWM proposed by different NGOs and intellectuals has had, at its core, the idea of decentralization. But different modules of implementation have had varied rates of success in Delhi and other cities depending mostly on scale and people’s attitudes towards waste and its problems. However, we recognize that a truly smart system of SWM will selectively centralize different aspects of a decentralized SWM system.
Figure 12.7 SWM systems; Source: Authors
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This system will need to work at 4 separate stages: • • • •
Citizen level Community level Industrial level Central level
Figure 12.8 Levels of SWM; Source: Authors
Citizen Level Most waste generation can be traced back to its use by a single individual. We all produce waste in our daily life ignoring the journey of that waste after we dispose it off. The simplest example would be the plastic glasses used at the college canteen. After we drink from them, they are simply left anywhere to be collected and disposed. We never care about what is going to happen to them. Nobody who produces waste really wants to manage it. Therefore at the level of individual citizens, waste management must be either a process of gain, glamour, ease or fear. (Malik, 2013) Segregation of waste at the source, is one of the easiest and smartest ways to make solid waste management more efficient as it can solve the issue of the waste getting mixed up more and more as it moves down the SWM chain.
Figure 12.9 Segregation of waste; Source: Authors
Any further process of waste management rests on this one foundation. If the individuals are educated to segregate the waste while disposing, the further process of SWM becomes manageable. Nowadays, Big Bazaar, a popular departmental store, offers cash discounts for certain types of well segregated waste on purchases. Employing composting methods to decompose the domestic organic waste can further help in making the SWM process more efficient. In Trivandrum, up to 20,000 households now use anaerobic digestion plants in their houses, which even at 50% efficiency reduces their LPG needs by half. This can effectively lower the organic waste generation of a household by almost 100%.
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Loads and loads of plastic bags, bottles, Styrofoam, packaging material and other trash are becoming permanent fixtures on the Earth without us even realising its ugliness in the bigger picture. Reducing, re-using and recycling such waste is the need of the hour. In China, subway tickets can be purchased from vending machines using empty pet bottles as the mode of exchange. Such initiatives can be developed to encourage individuals to easily return and re-use the products.
Figure 12.10 Vending machines giving tickets in exchange of plastic bottles; Source: Greenhotelparis.com
The concept of returnable glass bottle (RGB) of cold drinks is a successful venture for Indian users. Statistics show that people in India have preferred Coca-Cola’s Maaza more than Parle Agro’s Frooti because only Maaza comes in reusable bottle. (Malviya, 2011) Frooti is set to launch returnable glass bottle packaging for their fruit-drink as well. Such a move increases re-usability of the product and thereby reducing a part of packaging waste. If other packaging materials could be returned back to the producer like the RGBs, a huge weight would be lifted off the solid waste management process particularly in today’s time when use-and-throw concept is gaining popularity over re-use strategies. Delhi used to have and still has several second hand markets but it has never been glamorous to go and buy from there. However, with the advent of Ebay, Olx, Quickr etc., an increase can be seen in the number of products that get passed down to second hand users instead of going to the landfills. Re-using or extending the use of electronic products is a common practice in India. The old mobile phone is either given to the servant or kept safely for use in emergencies. In addition to this, there are entrepreneurs working towards the refurbishing and reuse of electronic products. One such organization is ReGlobe in Delhi where users can sell their laptops which are then sold to relevant users. Fear of law can be exploited to ensure that individuals perform their duty. According to the Municipal Solid Waste rules 2000 (Management and Handling), littering and throwing garbage in public places is a criminal offence, but these rules are never implemented. Strict fines and penalties must be implemented to ensure adherence to the rules.
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Community level The next level of decentralized waste management can take place at the level of a community – a group of citizens bound together under one administrative structure. At present the smallest level of the administrative structure is the District. It is important to understand that for SWM to be effective at the community level, a major reorganization will be needed. It will be based upon: • • • •
Community Involvement in decision making Adaptation of member’s behavior Skill Development Economic Incentives
The role of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) needs to be enhanced to increase decision making ability at a regional level. These can act as a link between the government and the people, which is sorely needed, and the regulation of money, provision of services and registering and resolving of complaints can be done at the local level. Lack of source separated collection systems, public awareness and involvement make large scale anaerobic digestion and bio-methanation unfeasible SWM options in India. However, anaerobic digestion on a small scale (called small scale biogas) has emerged as an efficient and decentralized method of renewable energy generation, and waste diversion from landfills (Annepu, 2012). Communities can set up collective practices such as large composting or anaerobic digestion plants that serve the constituents of the community and provide incentive for continuation and management. The responsibility for maintenance of community plants and development of skilled labor for the same will also rest with the RWAs. The cost of development of labor and maintenance of infrastructure can be made from the profits generated by the services that a community RWA can offer – collection, treatment plants etc. and the aid needed to setup the infrastructure can be procured under government programs/NGOs etc. The website of Gujarat Pollution Control Board is preparing a module for the inventory of waste generated by consent holder industries which will be made available to all other industries through website for its suitable use as a raw product. (The Best Practices, 2013) Dhalaos will transform from simple points of storage of garbage to workstations where there will be extensive segregation of waste by workers who are currently employed in the informal system. These workers will replace the rag pickers, as here they will be provided with a clean healthy environment to segregate the waste into its different inorganic components before it is input into the recycling chain. These dhalaos will be managed by the community and will act as waste collection and management centers for the community. In an initiative by Chintan, female rag pickers were organized into a group named ‘Metamorphosis’. This group collected discarded and torn plastic bags from around the city and weaved them with cotton on a handloom to produce more durable bags and extending the use of plastic bags. However, the project was discontinued after Delhi government banned use of plastic bags. (Chintan,2003)
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Industrial Level Most of the waste that cannot be processed at a local level is inorganic in nature. This waste is derived from natural resources like wood, oil, mines etc. and all these natural materials go through complex industrial processes, consuming vast amounts of energy, to become consumer products. However, all these resources are exhaustible. Therefore recycling the existing waste is necessary to reduce the load on virgin natural materials. Informal Sector There is a vast recycling industry in Delhi, of which 20% is registered and the rest, 80% is informal. The inefficiency of the formal waste management system, migration and lack of employment options has given rise to a huge informal system of waste management. The informal sector in SWM is created and sustained because there are certain things in the waste stream which still have value after the primary consumer has used them for their original purpose. (Gill, 2009) The workforce in the informal sector is spontaneously driven by profit and achieving maximum cost efficiency, making it a highly specialized and well organized system. This sector includes waste pickers, small kabaris (they collect waste at a small scale), thiawalas (collectors), big kabaris (they collect waste at a larger scale) and recyclers.
Figure 12.11 Organization of the Informal Sector; Source: Authors
A number of JJ(Jhuggi Jhopri) settlements and slums are present near the landfill sites in Delhi. The people in these slums are engaged in waste collection from these landfills. The waste which can be sold to the kabariwalas is collected by the waste pickers. The kabariwala further works according to the needs of the dealer above him. Thus, selection of waste to be collected depends upon the informal market of recycling in Delhi. The informal sector of recycling works like a pyramid. The following figure shows the hierarchy of the informal sector.
Figure 12.12 Informal Sector Pyramid; Source: Authors
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Figure 12.13 Major Informal Sector Site within Delhi; Source: Authors
The above map shows the overall informal network in the city. The major centres of work are the 3 existing landfill sites and the main recycling areas, near Mayapuri Industrial Area for metal and in the Industrial areas surrounding Mundka for plastics. Advantages of the Informal System All the recycling of Solid Waste in Delhi is undertaken completely by the informal sector. It has several key advantages like (Annepu, Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India, 2012) (Chintan, 2009): • It supplements the formal system • It subsidizes the formal system financially : in Delhi, it saves up to INR 795 million per year in collection and transportation costs to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi • It generates employment for almost 1 % of the city’s population • It operates competitively and is very efficient • It is profit oriented, creating profits for everyone in the system • It links up with the formal economy at the end of the chain • It offsets carbon emissions by reducing the need and use of virgin raw materials • Informal sector in Delhi avoids up to 1 million tons of CO2 emissions by collecting up to 1088 TPD(Tonnes Per Day) of waste. • This is equivalent to removing 176,215 cars from the roads of the city or providing power to 133,444 homes in the city. • Additionally, it saves far more CO2 emissions than any of the other current established formal recycling methods.
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It can be seen that the informal system compares well in terms of weight of recycled material with many established, infrastructure intensive formal systems in developed countries. The informal system is capable of recycling up to 56% of recyclable wastes generated, while maximum efficiency in the US and Europe is up to 30%. (Annepu, Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India , 2012) Issues and Inadequacies The informal sector has its roots inpovdrty and receives little or no support from ULBs and other government agencies. Thus despite its many advantages and the National Environment Policy’s (2006) call for inclusivity, the informal sector faces mant hurdles. The most important among these are (Annepu, Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India , 2012) (Singh S. P., 2009) • • • • •
Health hazards for the workers, as they cannot afford gloves and boots etc. Entire chain being subject to market forces, which may become adverse at times Informality of the sector makes it very difficult to systemise it. No controls or guidelines for small scale recycling plants. These are generally centralized within cities having dense population.
There are a number of different policies in place for different types of wastes within the legal framework in Delhi. Waste management is essentially the responsibility of the municipal bodies and improper administration and implementation have largely been responsible for ineffective SWM in the city. (Chintan, 2011) For a detailed description of administrative structure of SWM in Delhi, please refer to Appendix. Until the 2000s the complete responsibility for SWM was with the municipal corporations. Ineffective implementation and management on their behalf and the opportunity to use waste as a resource for generating profit has resulted in a late policy shift towards the privatization of solid waste management services in the city. The flow of Waste and Money in the earlier policy system can be seen below.
Figure 12.14 Money and Waste Flow in the Past; Source: Authors
The changes in SWM in Delhi towards privatization of the service needs detailed attention. The key issues with Municipal Urban Waste Management in Delhi have to do with mismanagement by the ULBs of Delhi and privatization is seen as a way out of these issues (Schindler, Demaria, & Pandit, 2012).
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The flow of Waste, Energy and Money intended by the Delhi Administration in the present policy system can be seen below. It is interesting to see that this is not in accordance with the National Environment Policy.
Figure 12.15 Money and Waste Intended in the Present; Source:
The actual flow of Waste, Energy and Money in the present policy system can be seen below.
Figure 12.16 Actual Flow of Money and Waste; Source: Authors
The private service providers operate under contracts awarded to them by the ULBs of the city. The terms of these contracts distort sustainable waste management with the logic of “more waste, more money” because companies are compensated for the amount (in tonnage) of waste they transport to landfills (regardless of whether or not it is recycled). On the contrary, waste workers do not receive any compensation from the state for the waste they collect, so in effect they subsidise the formal system by recycling “for free”. (Gidwani & Reddy, 2011) In most contracts, the waste would become the private property of the firms once it reached their transfer stations and the firms were responsible for moving it to the landfill sites. By granting private companies the right to operate transfer stations, these contracts reduced the waste workers’ access to waste as well as recycling rates. (Gidwani & Reddy, 2011) All of this has happened contrary to the provisions of the National Environment Policy (2006) which clearly states that the ULBs must work towards mainstreaming the informal sector. In Delhi’s case, several NGOs and consultancy services had suggested several ways of including the informal system in the formal sector, such as creation of co-operatives of waste workers, recognizing their presence and rights, training program, creating decentralized systems within the city, etc. The focus of the ULBs does not seem to be on public welfare, but influence of large corporations on policy seems to suggest deeply rooted corruption within them. (Malik, 2013)
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Reorganization Any reorganization of the recycling industry must understand that it is rooted in poverty and that its focus is not strictly environmental. The reorganization must aim to change this focus by alleviating poverty and maintain the economic gain in the system. (Malik, 2013) Corrections to the industrial system will take the form of 3 major steps; recognition, formalization and aid. The recycling industry must be given access to waste throughout the city and processes that compete with the recycling sector need to be stopped or regulated. The informal nature of the industry needs to be formalized by the creation of cooperatives. A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons who voluntarily cooperate for mutual social economic and cultural benefit. An excellent example of a cooperative is Amul, which is owned by 3 million farmers and works efficiently and profitably. (Amul, 2011) The organization of waste workers into cooperatives has been in use in several countries around the world. Several successful cooperatives are working in Latin America. In Indonesia, the government has drafted legislature and enacted policy to organize waste workers into cooperatives. Formalization of the informal sector is different from a Private SWM system based on the current model. The present SWM system based on WTE and RDF plants is owned and operated by large private companies and their primary focus is not environmental. There is heavily subsidized by the government. These companies are compensated based on weight of waste that they process, not the quality or correctness of the waste for the process and therefore they are responsible for the sudden increase in SPM pollution that has been seen in the city over the last 2 years. A cooperative based formalized recycling industry would be a far better performer because it would not require subsidization in the first place, it is self-evident that the industry is capable of self-sustenance. Also simpler pollution control technologies can be applied to multiple small scale plants more easily.â&#x20AC;? (Audience Response, 2013) The advantages of a cooperative society are that it can, first and foremost, give a basis of recognition to the workers of the society. It can help them organize and be part of a collective making them eligible to receive aid and work under that collective. (Mani, 2013) It can also help in better control and monitoring over the industry. Cooperative bodies can ensure that rules are followed and penalties imposed within themselves. If we examine carefully, most of the schemes or programs needed for poverty alleviation and financial aid for industry are already in place. The main issue is that the industry has no basis of organization or recognition to access these funds. Cooperatives, along with microfinance institutions can facilitate proper technological implementation via access to existing government schemes. (Mani, 2013) Within the cooperatives, the aid provided will aim at converting the small scale industry to a medium scale industry, where the efficiency can be improved and better control and monitoring systems be used. The financial aid is needed to set up the correct technology for recycling. At present all the recycling happens in a mechanical or a chemical process. While this is acceptable for recycling certain materials like paper and metal, other materials like plastic and rubber need to undergo a different process of recycling known as feedstock recycling. (Mani, 2013) Feedstock recycling is when complex polymeric materials are broken down into the smallest
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constituents of the polymers. These are then used as raw material to manufacture product that is similar in quality to products produced from virgin materials. This is an important concern as mechanical recycling methods considerably degrade the quality of recycled material which can be extremely hazardous, for example, recycled plastic in food containers. (Mani, 2013) Because feedstock recycling involves large capital and infrastructural input, mechanical methods cannot be completely replaced. However, strict controls need to be maintained to ensure that mechanically recycled products are only used for structural purposes. (Mani, 2013) Of all the inorganic materials that are collected at the dhalaos, the most hazardous and damaging can be e-waste. However this is also the waste that contains the most valuable and rare substances, such as silicon, gold and platinum, in its Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other components. E-waste At present E waste produced in foreign countries is imported by India at Chennai and Mumbai. From there this waste travels to Delhi for recycling. Thus Delhi has emerged as the main hub of e waste recycling in India. The recycling of e-waste first involves its breakdown and segregation into its constituents â&#x20AC;&#x201C; glass, metal, plastic and electronic parts like PCBs Wires Etc. of this, the glass, metal and plastic needs to be taken to the now established cooperative industrial recycling sector. The electronic parts, however, need detailed attention as they are the most toxic and difficult to recycle. (Research Unit (LARRDIS), 2011) Their recycling requires the input of large infrastructure and technology that requires strict monitoring for environmental control measures as well as worker safety. Therefore the recycling of existing waste must be monitored by the government. Also, the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) needs to be thoroughly applied, so that corporate giants that are responsible for electronic product manufacture and who possess the required resources to set up the recycling technology become involved in the waste management process. (Malik, 2013)
Figure 12.17 E-Waste and Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Components; Source: Authors
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Central level After most of the waste has been processed at the community/industrial levels, the surviving waste will actually be “waste” - a resource that cannot safely be recycled back into the environment or the market place. And this waste will mostly be in the form of fluff – a mixture of organic and inorganic waste that cannot be profitably recycled, hence it will be possible to use this waste in RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) and WTE (Waste to Energy) plants, recovering the maximum possible amount of energy possible form this waste.
Figure 12.18 Fluff; Source: https://intechopen.com
However, RDF and WTE plants require the input of advanced pollution control technologies that has not been installed at the existing WTE plants in the city. These systems are also needed for the disposal of the existing waste that has accumulated around the city and at the landfill sites. The residual waste from the above chain will need sanitary dumping in properly created and maintained landfills which need to be created. The present indecisiveness on the part of the central authorities regarding creation of new landfills needs to stop and strong decisions need to be made regarding this issue.
Figure 12.19 Example of a sanitary landfill; Source: www.wikipedia.org
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Conclusion Smartness in the Indian context needs to be environmentally, socially and economically inclusive. The SWM system will need to be one where the citizen, the community, the industry and the state work together – towards a sustainable future. It will try to close as many loops as possible, damage the environment as little as possible, and involving as many people as possible, giving them something in return for all their services.
Figure 12.20 Smart SWM in India; Source: Authors
It is a system where waste management is a spontaneous process, as spontaneous as waste generation, resulting in the much desired equilibrium between man’s and nature’s activities. What can we do? It’s glaringly obvious that with our earth’s finite resources and our current model of ‘take-makedispose’, we’re going to reach a crisis point very soon. Paul Hawken in his book “The Ecology of Commerce” observes, “Packaging lasting for four hundred years that is kept on the shelf for two months for a product that we consume in two minutes is senseless.” (Hawken; 1994) Mobile phones are a perfect example of products that need to be redesigned urgently. There are around 4.25 crore handsets in Delhi, each containing on average 40 elements including gold and rare earths like Tantalum. These elements are all currently lost to us, in the same way that the millions of tonnes of resources in landfill are. We need to find a way out of this peculiar situation where we seem to be digging holes in the ground to throw rubbish in, and more holes to mine minerals out. A staggering 80% of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the concept and design phase, proving that design plays a vital role in any discussion of waste management. Products designed for longevity can be taken apart easily without breaking any security seals or glued components. Designing for re-use in manufacture can help switch the focus onto value of material rather than volume. Designing for material recovery can help make products that are easier to recreate and
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convert to new products. “Sustainable design must not continue to be left behind or added as a last minute thought.” (RSA, 2013) It’s also about encouraging creative approaches, with new and existing tools that address the challenge of designing for a new smart minimum waste generation. Established tools like the teardown process – the act of disassembling a product to identify its component parts, needs to identify its place in design process. We as designers need to take account of provenance, longevity, impact and the end of the life of our products. We need to create education programs and facilitate information exchange between the designers, suppliers and waste industries in order to collaborate and connect the dots in the smart chain- the chain that will lead to a smarter living environments for all.
Acknowledgements Working on the paper for Smart Solid Waste Management was a truly eye-opening experience for each of us and for the same we would like to thank first and foremost Prof Jaya Kumar and Dr. Ranjana Mittal for assigning us this topic. We are also deeply grateful to our guide, Prof. Chidambara for her unstinting support, encouragement and insight. We would also like to mention the various NGOs and professionals who guided us through our work and gave us a great understanding of our topic – Dr. Iqbal Malik, Mr. Aman Luthra, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Chintan, Toxic Links, Mr. Kasim Ali and Safai Sena. Also we would never have been able to complete our effort without the very valuable insights and guidance of Prof. Shyamala Mani. Ma’am we are extremely grateful to you for agreeing to chair our seminar A big thank you to our friends and colleagues, who have kept the entire process fun and colourful, and stuck together through thick and thin.
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Bibliography • Audience Response. (2013). New Delhi: Seminar, Smarter city. • Annepu, R. K. (2012). Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Ind. New York: Waste-to-Energy Research and • Chintan. (2009). Cooling Agents - An Examination of the role of the Informal Recycling Sector in Mitigating Climate • Chintan. (2011). Failing the Grade. Delhi: Chintan. • Chintan. (n.d.). A Voice for waste. Retrieved from www.chintan-india.org: http://www.chintanindia.org/initiatives_a_voice_for_waste.htm • CIA. (n.d.). COUNTRY COMPARISON :: GDP - REAL GROWTH RATE. Retrieved October 23, 2013, from www.cia.gov: • Gidwani, V., & Reddy, R. N. (2011). “The Afterlives of ‘Waste’: Notes from India for a Minor History of Capitalist • Gill, K. (2009). Of Poverty and Plastic. Oxford: Oxford University press. • http://www.amul.com/ • http://www.cbdelhi.in/ • http://www.envforguj.in/images/pdf/wastes%20reduction%20at%20source.pdf • http://www.ndmc.gov.in/Departments/Default.aspx • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2003rank.html • JNU: http://www.jnu.ac.in/SSS/CSSP/Delhis_Waste_Conflict.pdf • Mani, D. S. (2013). Seminar Discsussions. (M. Jain, A. Singh, & V. Agrawal, Interviewers) • Research Unit (LARRDIS). (2011). E-WASTE IN INDIA. New Delhi: RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT. • RSA. (2013). The Great Recovery. London. • Singh, S. P. (2009). NEP 2006 - Not aa Paradigm Shift. CUTS Hanoi Research Centre, Viewpoint Paper. United Nations, S. D. (n.d.). Glossary of Environment Statistics • Technology Council (WTERT). • The Best Practices. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.envforguj.in/: • Amul. (2011). Amul - The Taste of India. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from www.amul.com: • Schindler, S., Demaria, F., & Pandit, S. B. (2012, October 20). Delhi’s Waste Conflict. Retrieved July 24, 2013, from • Singh, D. (2013, April 29). Delhi may drown in its own waste. • Chintan. (n.d.). Metamorphosis. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from www.chintan-india.org: http:// www.chintan- india.org/initiatives_metamorphosis.htm • NDMC. (2013). NDMC - Departments. Retrieved September 12, 2013, from New Delhi Municipal Corporation: • CB Delhi. (2013). Delhi Cantonment Board. Retrieved September 12, 2013, from Delhi Cantonment Board: • MCD. (2013). MCD Online - Departments. Retrieved September 12, 2013, from MCD Online: 12
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