http://www.ourtimebd.com/beta/2019/05/29/smart-cities-in-bangladesh/
Smart cities in Bangladesh Published Time: May 29, 2019, 12:01 am Updated Time: May 28, 2019 at 9:15 pm
M S Siddiqui writes for DOT We are familiar with smart phone, smart building or smart television etc developed in the recent years. During the latest years of 20th century, two important phenomena have been emerging: urbanization and information and communication technologies (ICT). Due to development of in both urbanization and ICT and economic growth contributed to increase well-being, mainly in the greater urban areas. These urban areas are now known as intelligent city, knowledge city, ubiquitous city, sustainable city, green city, digital city, etc. and very recent smart city. Some of the cities around the world have been branded a smart city. The recent introduction of some on line store for different shopping solution, UBER, Pathao etc in trans port sector, online ticket purchase platform and Bkash/ Rocket for money transaction has given us a test of digital city. Our cities can initiate some projects of digital city. The Population Division of the United Nations estimates that by 2025, the world will have 447 of these so-called mega-cities of ten or more million residents, among them such behemoths as Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi, Dhaka, SaËœo Paulo, Mexico City, and Calcutta, each with more
than twenty million residents. The current projections suggest a rise to 70% urban by 2050, a percentage that will surely increase still further toward the end of this century. Expert suspects that some of these cities shall have to abandon due to lack of civic facilities in near future. Ironically, it is estimated that 80 per cent of world GDP comes from urban centres. Bangladesh is not exception, currently, the contribution of Cities to GDP in Bangladesh is 60% and Dhaka city is contributing 30% alone. There is no choice to keep the cities active and productive for sake of economy of the nations. Some of those cities are struggling to survive but on the other hand some of the cities transformed to smart cities. These cities are often linking together technological informational transformations with economic, political and socio-cultural change and integration and adaption. Smart City is a broad concept including many aspects of urban life, such as urban planning, sustainable development, environment, energy grid, economic development, technologies, social participation, and so on; therefore, also the word smart assumes a large range of meanings, linked with its different field of application. Singapore hosted the world city summit (WCS) on July 8-12, 2018 with theme “Livable & Sustainable Cities: Embracing the Future through Innovation and Collaboration�, It has tried to how cities can be more livable and resilient through better governance and planning, technology and social innovations, as well as collaborations with various stakeholders with other cities. Through shared vision and active engagement, the public, private and people sectors can cocreate innovative and integrated urban solutions for a more sustainable future. It has observed that strategies will be needed to give people good jobs and see their lives improve. They must feel that the social and economic models employed include and benefit them. The policy maker should pay more attention to global trends such as rapid ageing and growing inequality. As more societies are facing an
increasingly larger proportion of older citizens, cities must adjust to accommodate greater demands on healthcare quality and costs, how to engage and include the elderly in meaningful city living, and how to ensure that an older workforce is integrated as an asset rather than as an optional add-on. Social capital and social support will be vital to the wellbeing of the elderly and society in general. The city leaders may motivate the commuters and concerned on looking after the well being On one hand it causes the increasing of cultural level, the creation of new job opportunities and an improvement of economic conditions. On the other hand, concentration in cities increased traffic jam, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases emissions and waste disposal with consequences on health conditions. City dimension drives energy and natural resources demand, the need of territory redevelopment and adequate infrastructures availability. The development of smart city leading to a progressive abandonment of rural areas towards greater cities and metropolis, which can offer many opportunities in terms of work, education, social life and so on. It can solve traffic congestion, school overcrowding, air pollution, loss of open space and skyrocketing public facilities cost. There is just as much value in abstract expressions that can unite people, in particular heritage and culture have a crucial input to social cohesion. There is a role in art and preserved heritage to activate communities through cultural and heritage institutions, as well as through arts and cultural activities by interest groups, that will bring the people together. The governments should not try to intervene to determine whether more people should migrate to cities; this should be left to people themselves and to the market. Mayors of these cities can use technology to simulate scenarios for cities, and, with the help of partners including government agencies and technology companies, use big data to improve urban planning, for example, using mobile data to model flows of people to quantify the infrastructure needed. The next stage is to use technology to help build communities, such as
with gaming technology to nudge behavior that is civic and sustainable, applying big data analytics to understand citizen behavior better, and data mining, including from counter inquiries, hotline calls and emails to improve public services. Dhaka is one of those unplanned cities and all lacking all the amenities of a livable city. The health care, traffic situation make the city at the edge of collapse. Even then, let us dream of digital Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhat, Rongpur, Mymensigh and Barishal cities with an efficient planning and through private and public partnership. Legal Economist, e-mail: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com